CHAPTER XXVII. THE HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. TO THE RENAISSANCE. SUGGESTED READINGS. *PRE-CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. Laurie. Index. TEXT-BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. Monroe. Index. THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL. Cope. Chap. II. *THE RISE AND EARLY INSTITUTION OF UNIVERSITIES. Laurie. See Index THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Bryce. It is impossible in the brief space of a book like this to enter at all fully or adequately into the history of the marvellous evolution in progress of the ideals of religious education. It is a subject by itself, yet one of such transcendent importance that no leader in the Sunday School work, no trainer of teachers, should be content with the meagre outline here furnished. Great nations of the past have each stood for a single ideal in education. Each nation as it rose and waned moved forward to a higher ideal than the nation which preceded it. It is a picture of continual progression of entrancing interest and pregnant with educational ideals. As we glance over this past history, we can see that in a way all Education is Religious. Strictly speaking, it has been born out of the needs of the race in its adjustment to the world of phenomena on the one side and its adjustment to the world of spirit on the other. If we were to study the history of Education in detail, which of course we cannot do here, we would enter into the consideration of man's adjustment to the world, first in obtaining the necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter), and second, in his social adjustment (the family, labor, crafts, and caste); and his adjustment to the spiritual world, first in relation to unfriendly spirits, and second, in relation to friendly ones. Let us consider briefly a few of the races that stand as types for particular ideals of education. Chinese Education. China is a type of Asiatic Education. It holds now with them as it held since 1000 A. D., and most of it even goes back to 500 B. C. Chinese ideals are based on the books of Confucius: "What Heaven has conferred is called Nature, and accordance with Nature in the past is beauty, regulation of this past is Education." That is, what is or has been is right, and Education is merely to direct in the beaten path. The Family is the foundation of Chinese Education-in the unit of the state individuality does not exist. All relations are definitely settled by rule. Acts have only an outer or external value-motive plays no part. Punishment is always the same, corporal. There is no moral freedom, and no sense of honor or of shame. There is no Aristocracy in China except through Education, the advantages of which are open to all. The aim of this Education is simply conduct or behavior and the preservation of the past. It consists in committing to memory elaborate sermons and the training to act on these formulae. There is no call for principles, there is no moral element in life. In a word, in China, Authority is precedent. Egyptian Education. Egypt is a connecting link between the immutability of China and the progress of Greek Education. Egypt would retain the best in its essence, though not in its entirety. Progress took place in Egypt, but by chance. There was no conscious attempt to bring it about. The Priesthood and Religion in a polytheistic sense controlled their ideals. They had no definite means of instruction, and education, as such, clustered around. the Priesthood. Their minds possessed much subtlety and acuteness. They were fond of literary composition. It is astonishing what extensive literature they possessed at a very early date; books on religion, morals, law, rhetoric, arithmetic, mensuration, geometry, medicine, travels, and even novels. All of these, however, were very meagre and brief. As early as the Sixth Dynasty (3,500 B. C.) an official bore the title of "the Governor of the House of Books." The literary merit of the Egyptian works is very slight. |