Early Foundation of Christian Education

It is interesting to consider where Christian Education started and how it is where it is today.

Below is an excerpt from “Christian Education, foundations for the 21st Century” – edited by Michael J. Anthony. Here he considers the foundation of Christian Education.

Jewish education before the Exile

Throughout the early history of Israel, the family was the chief educational institution of society. Children learned through informal participation in family life and by parental example. Fathers were to teach their children God’s law and a trade to earn a living.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 the Shema, presents both the goal and process of education. The people were called to acknowledge and love the one true God and to reach his Word to their children in the daily activities of life. There were no formal schools for the children to attend, but as parents grew in the knowledge of God’s law, they were to teach it to their children and reinforce it through their own example and conversation.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁴“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^[a] ⁵And you must love the Lordyour God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. ⁸Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. ⁹Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.