Update on New College, Franklin

MESSAGE FROM DR. GEORGE GRANT In literature as in love, courage is half the battle. Likewise, in virtue as in fashion, tradition is the surest guide to the future.                                                                                                                   –Sir Walter Scott Brothers and Sisters: Grace, peace, and joy!  Greetings from beautiful Middle Tennessee. The English novelist and etymologist J.R.R. Tolkien once told his students that all true education is actually “a kind of never ending story–a matter of continual beginnings, of habitual fresh starts, of persistent newness.” Similarly, his great friend C.S. Lewis said that education is “like a tantalizingly perpetual verandah–the initiation of unending beginnings.” This paradoxical perspective was likewise shared by E.M. Bounds, the nineteenth century pastor and theologian who asserted that, “All of life is but a preparation for what comes after…the primer of faith is never closed for the child of God. It’s lessons never end.” For many, it is sad to say, this uniquely Christian perspective is an entirely foreign worldview–an alien notion, an arcane paradox, an unfathomable mystery. Minds dulled by the smothering conformity of popular culture cannot plumb the depths or explore the breaths of the distinctively Christian virtue of hopeful contentment in the force of perpetual tasks. Indeed, the most valuable lesson that education can convey are invariably the lessons that never end. That is the heart of the Christian philosophy of education. Education is, instead, a deposit, an endowment, and even a taste of the future. This Christian philosophy of education once provoked the unprecedented cultural flowering in Western Civilization, and will again if we would but adhere to its principles once again. The question is, how do we reclaim that glorious heritage? How can we both preserve it and then pass it on to the next generation? How do we go about beginning a lifetime of beginnings? The answer, according to renowned educator Leo Brennan, is “to restore the basic educational ideals and principles” that provoked “Christendom’s great flowering of culture in the first place: a strident emphasis on serious and diverse reading and the use of disciplined classical methodologies.” This is the answer to the question, why New College Franklin? In our small way, with humble beginnings, we want to lay claim on the heritage of Christendom for the sake of a new Christendom. Will you join us in this undertaking? Most likely, you know by now that we are seeking fifty New College Founders who will contribute $89 a month for four years. Obviously, this plan is not a short-term commitment, but an opportunity to invest in New College and to walk with us over the next four years and beyond. At the last update, were were a third of the way to our goal of 50 Psalm 89 Founders. Currently, we are almost exactly half way! We are encouraged by the outflow of support the Lord is stirring for this Kingdom work. We are very, very close and would love to complete this project soon. Will you prayerfully consider becoming a Psalm 89 Founder? For some, this is a great sacrifice. For others, $89 a month is a small step, and we would welcome them to fill the place of two, three or more Founders. We would be honored to serve the Lord alongside you. Standfast.  George Grant Chancellor, New College Franklin Pastor, Parish Presbyterian Church Founder, King’s Meadow Study Center For more information on how to support New College Franklin, please contact Matt Vest: mvest@newcollegefranklin.org. One-time gifts are also greatly appreciated. To donate online now, click here. THE CHESTERTON GUILD: RECOVERING THE TRUE MEANING OF “VOCATION” The heights of great men reached and kept, Were not obtained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept  Were toiling upward in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow One of the telltale signs of modernity is the shift in the definition of higher education. Gone are the days when college was primarily a time for true education in the humanities and liberal arts, studies that imparted knowledge and wisdom in students so that they were changed as people. In place of knowledge and wisdom, more than anything else higher education now means training. More precisely: job training. The modern way assumes that college “education” should prepare students primarily for the practical things. Hence the question liberal arts students face is “what are you going to do with that degree?” Doubtless, the assumption behind this question is that college education is primarily about utility and pragmatic ends. Of course “doing” matters greatly, but we must remember that “doing” can only come from “being.” Who we are in Christ leads to what we do, but the modern world has lost this hierarchy.  Education is no longer pointed at cultivating man in the fullest sense of imago Deus. Education no longer cultivates at all; it merely trains man-as-worker. New College Franklin exists to offer true education, not job training. This goal sets NCF apart, but prior to the latter half of 19th century, NCF would hardly be alone in this mission. All colleges were classical colleges offering liberal (liberalis–freeing) education for students, regardless of the job or career they chose. Another way to see the distinction between classical education and modern higher education is to focus on the word vocation. The common assumption today is that “vocation” means career. In one sense, this is right. But career is hardly all that is entailed in “vocation.” Vocation comes from the Latin verb vocatio, meaning “to call.” As creatures made in the image of God, we are called to countless things: to wed, to work, to sing, to laugh, to play and especially to worship. Reducing the word vocation merely to our careers is a sign of what we hold most dear in the 21st century. What does this say of our primary view of man? Are we primarily workers? What is the chief end of man? This is a high calling for college education, and we fully recognize how quixotic this seems to the modern man. However, our confidence does not stem from such modern definitions. We acknowledge that the NCF goals for college education are counter cultural, and hence challenging. We believe we should meet these challenges head on, not thumbing our noses idealistically, ignoring the current expectations. We need to be creative and dilligent as we work to reform higher education back to its classical roots. These desires have led us to begin planning the Chesterton Guild, an auxilary spoke of New College Franklin that will help mentor and connect students to opportunities in the jobs and careers to which they are called. We should be clear that the Chesterton Guild is not a course, a major or a department (on principle, NCF does not have majors or deparments). The Chesterton Guild is truely auxiliary. It is voluntary, supplimental and separate from the program of studies at NCF. Quite simply, the Chesterton Guild will be a group of businessmen, craftsmen and professionals of every stripe that recognize the value of distinguishing between true education and job training. This Guild will be available to NCF students who wish to be mentored by Christians in some area of the workforce. A businessman will be available to guide students interested in business, and a student interested in law would have access to an experienced lawyer who could informally advise and mentor the student, with potential for networking, internships and beyond. “Guild” is a Medieval word, meaning an association of craftsmen or merchants, and we have called on the great swordsman of words, G.K. Chesterton, to help carry the vision for this creative auxiliary to NCF. Chesterton always had a special way of making lofty ideals tangible. His appreciation for culture, economics, family and domesticity make him an ideal figurehead for this guild. As with New College itself, the Chesterton Guild is in the formative stage. Regardless, in this small way, we are calling for dilligence and creativity to see beyond the modern paradigm as we reform higher education in a pragmatic, modern world that has exchanged the timeless for the times. A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it. Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions. The modern world is a crowd of very rapid racing cars all brought to a standstill and stuck in a block of traffic. G.K. Chesterton

NEW COLLEGE FRANKLIN P.O. Box 1575 Franklin, TN 37065 615.440.8851 mvest@newcollegefranklin.org New College Franklin is seeking authorization from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Until authorized, the College is not able to offer credits or grant degrees.

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