Classical Christian Propagandists

An Rough-hewn Argument for Teaching in the Public Square

There is a troubling irony in education. Teachers who are adept at stimulating thoughtfulness and creating learning opportunities for students in the classroom frequently struggle, or are reluctant, to use those same skills to teach the public at large.

To the teacher who immediately responded to this assertion by saying, "Yeah, but who am I to teach the public anything?," I'd like to ask you to deliberate on the following questions of propaganda and philosophy; then, please share your thoughts in the comments.

Pericles Funeral Oration, by Philipp von Foltz (1852)

Propaganda

Propaganda literally means to propagate something: a message, an idea, or an opportunity. There is no world where propaganda does not exist and propaganda is nothing more than teaching the public what they should believe, what they should feel, and what they should do with those beliefs and feelings. Perhaps that sounds arrogant in a society with deep democratic sensibilities. But, realize it or not, it’s happening to all of us ubiquitously.

Edward Bernays understood our unfortunate condition quite well. In his little book titled, Propaganda, he elucidates the phenomenon, but then he champions its employment. He writes,

Propaganda will never die out. Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help bring order out of chaos.

Like it or not, propaganda is the way of the modern democratic world. Truthfully, it’s been the way of every epoch throughout world history. Bernays argues we’ve just got better at it. He also asserts that having some mechanism for steering the demos is more important than ever, especially in a political system where the passions of the masses rule the day. While I don’t exactly like what he is saying, it’s hard to disagree with his assessment.

Without a consensus about absolute truth, what is the alternative in a secular, post-modern society? Everyone with an opinion now has access to a propaganda machine on which he can propagate his ideas to the masses. It is a noisy world and some have been really good at transcending the noise and getting their message heard (i.e. propaganda). And, I hope I don’t have to convince you that there is no shortage of bad propaganda: sophistry or what some might call bad philosophy.

To be sure, I am not advocating here for any kind of Nietzschean will to power. I’m really talking about contending for the Truth of things, for the faith once delivered to the saints, as it were—but strategically.

Philosophy

In C. S. Lewis’s notable lecture, "Learning in Wartime," published in Weight of Glory, he asserts, “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” The context of Lewis’s statement is education. He contends that an education without the principled and disciplined study of philosophy is no education at all.

Consider that modern education claims to be secular. That is, it claims to be neutral, only providing students with the knowledge they need for living in the world but without any religious or philosophical bias. In the tradition of the Enlightenment, modern educators claim there is a bifurcation between belief (what we trust to be true) and fact (what can be supported by empirical evidence); so, the religious and philosophical aspects of the student’s life should remain private and not interfere with or influence his public education. This is not only untrue, but absurd. At best, it is impossible. At worst, it is dishonest.

Of course, modern educators do teach philosophy but they usually do so on two levels: overtly and covertly. Overtly, they may teach philosophy as a discipline (i.e., here is what others have thought), but they also teach students covertly (even if sometimes unwittingly) because all education is built on presuppositions. Therefore, even secular ideology is in fact a philosophy.

Classical Christian Propagandists

Classical Christian educators follow in the vein of St. Thomas Aquinas, who said, “The purpose of the study of philosophy is not to learn what others have thought, but to learn how the truth of things stands.”

Instead of pretending philosophy is solely a private matter, classical Christian educators take a principled and disciplined approach to helping students discover and think about the truth of things as they stand. I propose that, in large part, there is a sense in which teaching this way is what makes a teacher good—although not necessarily good at the art of teaching. Becoming good at the art of teaching, in fact, takes study, discipline, and practice. This means consistency over time.

But my point is something more. Although consistency over time should be encouraged for cultivating good teachers who are also good at teaching, consistency over place is equally important. If we recognize and affirm that it’s impossible to divorce the religious and philosophical aspects of the student’s life from his classroom curriculum, then we must also assume it could never be divorced from the public square. How the truth of things stands in the classroom is how the truth of things stands in the public square, no?

Summarily, the classroom is simply a controlled microcosm of the public square. If we expect students to take what they learn in the classroom into their public life, shouldn’t a teacher who is worth his salt also have a philosophy that extends from his private life into the classroom and out into public life?

I contend that Classical Christian educators need to become better—very good, even—at propaganda in the most natural sense of the word. They need to be good teachers who are good at teaching, not only in the classroom but in the public square as well. If teachers are good for the classroom, why aren’t they good for the public square? And if they’re not good for the public square, maybe they’re not as good for the classroom as one might assume.

So to the earlier question of "Yeah, but who am I to teach the public anything?," I say, a Classical Christian propagandist—not a sophist mind you—but a good teacher who is good at teaching, period—a good teacher who indeed knows how the truth of things stands and one who practices his craft with consistency over time but also one who practices his craft consistently regardless of place.

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