Recently, I finished the last few files for Omnibus VI. Omnibus is a six year pattern of working through the great books. It is extensive (but not comprehensive—after you are done there are plenty of other books that you should be reading). I have been working during the last 10 years on creating curriculum for the project serving as the managing editor of the project. I also wrote a few chapters in each volume. Volume VI is the last volume, so now, some would say, the project is over. (I am glad that I will not be writing quite as much and that I can broaden my reading.)

The project, however, is not over. It is only at the beginning. The goal of the project is to reintroduce our children (and ourselves) to our fathers—in the faith and in the flow of things called Western Civilization. We are still just learning how to do this. We have a lot of work to do. That said, I am proud of what we have accomplished. I am proud mainly of our students (both at Veritas Academy and in other schools and homeschools who are using Omnibus). They are becoming something more substantial than I was at their age (something more than what I could have even contemplated at their age) they are becoming culturally more whole and complete. They know their own story. This does not mean that they are immediately more mature. Sometimes, as parents, we imagine that our children can cut short childhood if we just give them a rigorous Christian education. This is a misnomer (and thank God that it is). Children (even ones who have read Boethius) still need to learn by doing and still make poor decisions—this means that they reflect us not just their education.

Here is what I am thankful for, however (especially in light of our recent Christmas Concert). Our children understand their identity better than we did. They know who they are and they know who the most pertinent stories that help them understand who they are much better than we did. And (or AND) they are beginning to love some things that we did not love. They see the beauty is complex and difficult thoughts, songs, pieces of music, poetry, theological concepts, proper dress, literature, and political philosophy. They still understand this immaturely, but they are beginning to value these things. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis talks about forming the tastes of the youth as being the most crucial and critical part of their education. Classical Christian Education supplies the content and philosophical rationale for taste formation. You are (or should be) a follower of Jesus Christ and you should value the culture produced by the work of your forefather’s in the faith who suffered for your sake and gave you a glorious inheritance. You should strive to learn this inheritance and live up to it. As you embrace it, you will find in it deeper and deeper delights, joys, responsibilities, burdens, callings, and work. These were the work of your fathers; they are now yours; you must improve them where you can and hand them on to your children.

Will this work? I hope so. It is, quite frankly, our only hope culturally and nationally. God can (and may) wipe away the West and send His spirit to raise up new sons in far flung places (Africa, Asia, and South America). When he does this, however, they will begin to become more and more like our fathers—tempered by the rule of law based on God’s Word; affirming of and practitioners of monogamy, fruitfulness, and familial faithfulness. They will look back to our theological heritage, and it will become theirs. Classical Christian education beckons us to look back to our own heritage before it is too late.

This is not the end of an era (I pray) but only a beginning.