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Thinking Christianly

January 7th, 2015

Dear Friend, What does it mean to teach students to think Christianly?  To begin with, thinking Christianly can mean nothing less than teaching students to think like Christ.  Christ is our model; He goes before us, revealing to us the will of God and what it means to be truly human.  He teaches us how to love all people, to seek truth, and to engage in charitable discourse and debate.  In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge reside. Therefore, the question is not only about thinking like Christ, it is also about learning the way Christ lived in His time and place; then, discovering how to translate that into thinking and living well in our present context. As the poet Gerald Manley Hopkins said, "Christ plays in 10,000 places." Accordingly, at Pacifica-Orange County we welcome students and families from all faiths to join us in the quest for truth.  Your participation with us, as we seek the true, the good and the beautiful, enriches the human conversation and provides a safe environment where students learn to grow together by engaging the great texts with master teachers. A Christian education teaches students how to think in “Christian categories,” so that they might be intellectually formed to make virtuous decisions about how to take truth into new and ever-changing contexts.  Moreover, formation is not merely intellectual, but must be grounded in the context of a community where the teachers provide living models of academic excellence and love. At Pacifica we recognize no division between faith and learning.  Indeed learning is always done from a particular standpoint of faith.  Thus, a Christian teacher invites students to confidently investigate the world from the standpoint that all truth is God’s truth. Rev. Chris Stratton I Academic Dean History & Theology Chair