PAPER NO. 46
THE LOGOS CURRICULUM
Foundational Principles
- Man’s chief end is to glorify God, in all that by which he makes himself known, in all his works of creation and providence. The lasting joy of eternal life comes from knowing God. (SCQ 1, 101; WCF 4.1, 5.1; John 17:3)
- Man is made in the image of God, to know God through the work of dominion, to fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. In dominion, man is to name the creation, which reveals God’s glory, and to rule over it: in the realm of nature—under natural law, through science and technology; in the human realm—under the moral law, through the humanities and culture. (Genesis 1, Isaiah 11:9)
- The skills required for learning and for the work of dominion include the language arts and mathematics. The Logos Curriculum (TLC) recommends specific curricula already available in those areas, along with assistance in implementation.
- TLC incorporates the classical Trivium: grammar (K-4), dialectic (5-8), and rhetoric (9-12). The Trivium is based on the student’s intellectual readiness to progress from fact-based knowledge, to reasoned understanding, to wisdom in applying what has been learned to oneself and to the world.
- TLC is first preparatory, for further academic study and for lifelong learning. TLC emphasizes critical thinking, applying reason to critically examine assumptions and presuppositions for meaning. TLC understands particular beliefs, values and actions as integral parts of a person’s worldview built more or less coherently upon a set of basic philosophical assumptions. And last, TLC seeks to appreciate the highest achievements of all of human culture, manifest, in part, in the Great Books Tradition.
- TLC builds upon a scope and sequence of core knowledge needed at each grade level. Layers of enrichment are added to the core. TLC offers layers of assistance for parents and students in implementing the curriculum.
- The Humanities answers the question ‘What is Man?’ by examining man’s view of himself in the varying worldviews and cultures. The Humanities consists of Philosophy and Theology and History and Literature and the Arts and Music. History focuses attention on the age-long and agonizing conflict between good and evil, between truth and falsehood, in every aspect of human existence, in the hope that only what retains meaning will last.
- The Logos Curriculum seeks to recover, to advance and to secure the highest achievements of civilization built upon the Logos, the eternal Word of God, who makes God fully known. (John 1:1, 4-5, 10, 11, 14; 16:12-13; 3:3; 8:31-32; 17:17)
The Logos is in all men as the light of reason. The basic things about God and man and good and evil are clear to reason. Only what builds on the Logos can last. (John 1:4; Romans 1:20)
