Paper Summary:

This paper examines the theme of education within the Christian faith, and particularly, the Roman Catholic Church. The writer of the paper contends that, the Church's involvement with education began with Jesus in the role of the instructor and his disciples and followers as the students. The paper's writer examines the developments of education following the death of Jesus both as a means of educating believers as to the tenants of the faith and also as a tool to attract converts to Christianity. The author of the paper contends that the modern day Catholic educational system, adopts a holistic approach to education, seeking to combine religious instruction with secular learning. In other words, the holistic approach involves a synthesis of evangelism, sacred teachings, and culture.

From the Paper:

"Thus, Catholic education possesses as history as deep and rich as secular learning. While secular learning can recall the impressive history of Greek and Roman thinkers, sacred teachers can look to the greatest teacher who ever lectured--Jesus Christ. With a history that predates even the early Church, Christian education is responsible for much of the sacred and secular learning that has occurred throughout history. In fact, historians would not have many of the documents that they currently possess for study without the early Christian education of monks, whose residences were often centers of learning and record keeping. Charged with sacred teaching, or the saving of souls, the church soon undertook secular learning in order to emphasize and continue that evangelism. In this contemporary culture, the Catholic Church is still a major center of learning across continents. While many focus on that learning as secular learning, the primary purpose of the institution is still evangelism. Through a brief discussion of the methods of evangelism used throughout Catholic educational history and an evaluation of the problems and solutions brought about by evangelism in Catholic schools, one can conclude that a holistic approach to Catholic education serves as both an excellent evangelizing and teaching tool."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bright, R. (1985). An Alternative Vision, Paulist: New York.
• Evans, William N. and Schwab, Robert M. (1995). Finishing High School and Starting College: Do Catholic Schools Make a Difference? The Quarterly Journal of Economics 110 (4), p. 941-947.
• Gallagher, Father Michael Paul. (1996). Gospel and Culture: Conflict of Dialogue? Conference 13 (3), p. 19-27.
• Gromek, Michael. (2007). My Half-Year of Hell With Christian Fundamentalists. Retrieved September 1, 2008 from Speigel Online international, http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,448350,00.html
• Haskell, David M. (2007). News Media Influence on Nonevangelical Coders' Perception of Evangelical Christians: A Case Study. Journal of Media and Religion. 6 (3), p. 153-179.

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