Machen Conference

Caedmon College sponsors Machen Conference in September

“To bring back truth, on a practical level, the church must encourage Christians to be not merely consumers of culture but makers of culture. The church needs to cultivate Christian artists, musicians, novelists, filmmakers, journalists, attorneys, teachers, scientists, business executives, and the like…Christian laypeople must be encouraged to be leaders in their fields, rather than eager-to-please followers, working from the assumptions of their biblical worldview, not the vapid clichés of pop culture.” J. G. Machen

Conference: September 14-15; Three talks on Machen and His Times

Place: Hope Presbyterian Church, Rogue River, Oregon

Presenter: Chris Schlect, historian at New St. Andrews College

Cost: $10 per person; $25 for household of 3 or more

G. Mark Sumpter

Ready to Hit a Blocking Sled

Norman DeJong, an OPC Man, has a Super Book on Education

“Knowledge is unified by nature. Knowledge is an organic oneness, but because of the ingenuously labeled “knowledge explosion,” its unity is obscured by fragmentation. We fail to see its unified arrangement and we get lost in the shrapnel of detail without ever recognizing knowledge’s essential character. In order to grasp and control knowledge, we fragment it, dissect it, and re-structure it into inanimate classifications called subjects or disciplines. We think “in clusters” partially because we are not big enough to grasp the magnitude of knowledge, but primarily because we were taught to think that way…

…The greatest challenge facing Christian education today is that of discovering the unity of all that is known, of formulating for our children a single mental vision, of bringing every tidbit of interpreted fact and every theory of explanation into subjection of Christ…

…Knowledge is not divided by nature; it is not made up disciplines or subjects or studies. The dividing of knowledge into disciplines and subjects and studies is purely a human invention, a human construct. God’s knowledge is one, and is characterized by no divisions…


…What do we mean when we talk about the oneness of knowledge? In the first place, it means that in every instance or portion of knowledge, all of the so-called disciplines are represented. There are no distinctly historical facts or distinctly religious facts or distinctly biological facts or distinctly musical facts. Second, it means that every portion of knowledge is at one and the same time:


[My commentary with his order]

1. religious [moral, devotional, community with symbols]


2. economic [related to man and his work and dominion]


3. historical [persons, events and ideas in a context]


4. aesthetic [concerns goodness and beauty]


5. philosophic [relationship between men and things, and the eternal]


6. mathematical [order, predictability]


7. educational [facts, questions and uses]


…[and] on to the end of our abstracted analytic categories.”


Education in the Truth (revised edition), from Redeemer Books, Lansing, MI, pp. 46-48.

G. Mark Sumpter

The One and The Many—in Creation

Why are we given to isolate and fragment the subjects of day-school education?

“Secular philosophy moves from one extreme to the other, because it does not have the resources to define a position between the two extremes, and because it seeks an absolute at one extreme or another—as if there must be an absolute oneness (with no plurality) or else a universe of absolutely unique, unconnected elements, creating an absolute pluralism and destroying any universal oneness. To find such an absolute in either direction is important if the philosopher is to find an adequate standard apart from the God of Scripture. Thus is revealed philosophy’s religious quest—to find an absolute, a god, in the world. But the Christian knows there is no absolute unity (devoid of plurality) or absolute plurality (devoid of unity). These exist neither in the world nor in the world’s Creator.” p. 49-50 Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame.

As I prepare a talk on approaching Christian learning and studies of the various subjects and disciplines across the landscape of a standard day-school curriculum, I am mediating on man’s inclination to sever the subjects from one another with the hopes of exercising his dominion, albeit in a way that invites him to be his own self-governing interpreter. How? In what way? Our age is the scientific age. Break down the parts to the finest, granular minutiae for study. This age tempts us to fragment for our pretense of intellectual mastery. There’s something attractive about that—it fits like a glove over a hand: man’s pride and boasting, etc.

To use Frame’s reasoning above, severing Biology from History, and Language Study from Economics, and the like, suggests that there’s an absolute oneness, almost a self-contained set of rules and applications within the said discipline, that governs our approach to learning, study and behavior. For example, for some Physics can take on absolute oneness: it’s held so high that it’s thought to contain the basis for fundamental truths for answers to life. Can Physics really and truly carry that much weight? It’s believed—YES, on the basis of it being an adequate standard by which to think and live. In this view, Physics has become a god, an adequate standard.

But what’s the answer to this idolatry?

The Christian’s answer is the doctrine of the Trinity. Just as God is both One and Many, so His creation is One and Many. The doctrine of the Trinity stages us for an invitation to remain the student in our studies. God is His own interpreter of all subjects, and since He is Lord holding all subjects together, we must study them in concert, in an interrelated way. This doesn’t mean, however, that the Christian approach moves into a field of study in an irresponsible way, in a way that refuses to pursue the minutiae of the bits and particles of a discipline. But as it approaches a matter for learning, it’s always approached as something in a context of diversity, plurality and variety in the creation. The pursuit of learning includes interests about the package or interrelatedness of the creation. This means keeping absolute unity and absolutely plurality in a give and take relationship. Such a give and take approach leads to a holy contentment about the resultant mysteries, humility, faith and dependency in our study of the creation, the handiwork of our Lord and God.

G. Mark Sumpter

Reading Group for the Rogue Valley

Caedmon College Tutorials

Four or five students have signed up to tolle lege—as the Bishop of Hippo heard it said back in 385-386 A.D. CC Tutorials welcomes students and young adult learners ages 16-30 of the Rogue Valley, the region of Southern Oregon.

Here’s the scoop….
1. Christian high school students and young adult readers—homeschoolers, Christian and public—are cordially invited to read, discuss and learn through these Tutorials.
2. The format is simple. A book will be chosen by a Teaching Fellow* and will be advertised near the beginning of each month. Near the end of four weeks, we’ll meet in Grants Pass for an evening meal and discussion. You are responsible to obtain the book.
3. Each month, Pastor Mark Sumpter of Grants Pass, the Registrar, will send out an email. You reply—voila!—you’re registered. A confirmation email will be sent to you.
4. Any fine print? Yes. Bring $10 to the dinner (cash only). The $10 covers a nice meal, a small stipend for that month’s Teaching Fellow and any other administration costs.
5. Registration is month-to-month according to your interests in the book, time available, etc. Look for an email notice about each coming month’s new book.


August 2010 Information:
Book: Sophie’s World—A Novel about the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics) by Jostein Gaarder.
Timetable: Read the book during August. The dinner and discussion is Friday, September 10th.
Teaching Fellow: Mr. Sumpter, contact: faithpastor@grantspass.com


*These are men—professing evangelical/reformed pastors, church elders and laymen—who adhere to the Nicene Creed, 381 A.D., the fundamentals of the Christian Church’s faith and life.

G. Mark Sumpter