Chalcedon Report No. 5..........................................................

The Bible accurately
identifies the fact
that without vision,
the people perish. For
many of us, our original
reasons for homeschooling
pale in comparison to the strong
motivations we now have.
Too few of us really knew what
was at stake. We began with the Spirit’s
prompting — in many cases living
quite above our stated theology. But
without a strong theological, intellectual
base, well-meaning friends and family,
an intrusive school board, or political
legislators answering to strong and wellfunded
lobbies would have knocked us
down and knocked some of us out.
The writings of R. J. Rushdoony
(specifically his books on public education,
Christian education, and the struggle
between Christianity and humanism)
provided guidelines to keep us on track.
When my son was young, I would often
threaten to send him to “public school”
when he repeatedly failed to adhere to
my instruction. But after Rushdoony
taught me to understand the extent of
the assault on Christianity and God’s law
in state schools, I never threatened again.
I realized that my threats would be comparable
to telling him that if he failed to
14 Faith for All of Life September/October 2005
Faith for All of Life
How Rushdoony Changed My Family
By Andrea Schwartz
Reprinted from A Comprehensive Faith, edited by Andrew Sandlin (San Jose, CA: Friends of Chalcedon, 1996) 33-34.
The teacher who does not grow in his knowledge of his subject, in methodology and content,
is a very limited teacher, and his pupils are “under-privileged” learners.
The teacher as student is, above all else, a student of God’s Word. To be a student means to advance and grow.
Our growth in teaching requires our growth through and under the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
We must become good learners as a step towards becoming good teachers. Our profession is a very great one
in Scripture: our Lord was a Teacher, and the Holy Spirit is our continuing Teacher.
We cannot treat our calling lightly, nor grieve the Spirit by abusing our calling.
R. J. Rushdoony, The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum
listen to me I would abandon him along
the side of the road to the care of robbers
and thieves.
Rush’s works do more than sound
a warning. His Institutes of Biblical Law
and Systematic Theology give homeschooling
parents the “seminary-like”
education that equips them to teach
every subject from a godly, orthodox
perspective. His experience and expertise
have often led me along paths that
would reap tremendous rewards for me
and my children. Thanks to his teaching
that every area of life and thought is subject
to the law of God, from the time my
children were very little, discussions on
daily problems or situations were viewed
from the perspective of where (not if)
God’s law addressed it. Many times our
dinner table has been the place of important
theological discussions undergirded
by a solid orthodox base.
But these are personal encounters
with a writer and his work. The groundwork
Rush laid by spearheading the
Christian and homeschool movements,
and his participation in landmark cases
involving the rights of Christians to
educate their children as directed by
God, helped me even before I had the
blessing of knowing him. For the work
he and those who worked with him
did paved the way for me to be able to
homeschool without significant incident
or opposition.
Additionally, there were the many
people who had read his work and heard
him speak and began to take dominion
in the area of homeschooling support
groups, magazines, legal assistance, and
writing and designing curriculums, etc.
In other words, others built on his work;
as a result, there are myriads of good
resources available to homeschoolers
everywhere.
Rush didn’t stop there. He continued
to write and challenge Christians to
cast their bread upon the waters. He was
not interested in becoming a celebrityguru
with followers who follow him
blindly. Far from it. He lived humbly,
took time to answer questions (even
from children), and challenged people
to begin a work in their own area and
re-take ground for the kingdom of God.
The quality of the people he drew to
him over the years is astounding. Their
books fill my bookshelves as do the
works of many great men he referenced
and on whose work he expanded.
Over the years, I have spoken to
many home educators who have known
Rushdoony, the work of the Chalcedon
continued on page 32