Caldecott, Stratford. Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education. Brazos Press, 2017
Stratford Caldecott’s Beauty for Truth’s Sake eruditely traces the history of classical liberal arts education while passionately advocating for the central importance of beauty and mystery, particularly in the study of Maths and Sciences, but falls short of its declared purpose of re-enchanting education.
The medieval transcendentals of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty loom large in the modern expression of a classical liberal arts education. Of the three, it is often beauty that provokes the most discussion and disagreement. It is the least well-defined and potentially the most subjective. However, like many devotees, Dr. Caldecott attempts to render any conflict moot with careful exposition and definition to bolster the claim that “Beauty is the radiance of truth and goodness” and is therefore the key to unlocking the treasures of the liberal arts.
In order to establish this Dr. Caldecott explores a brief but erudite historical summation of the western liberal arts education and its close association with beauty. In this section, the book truly excels at providing a historical framework for the modern movement, while extolling the preeminent virtues of this method of education. This culminates in a fascinating appeal to integrate Math and Science more effectively into the liberal arts umbrella through the teaching of the symbolic and mystical nature of numbers. I agree with his premise and the conclusion that in education we have valued the mechanistic properties of numbers to the detriment and exclusion of the mystical.
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Symbolism and Mystery can provoke wonder, so it would be transformative in the education of any student in secondary school or beyond to grasp a sense of wonder over the language of the universe. It is also true that beauty, as an act of the imagination (poetic imagination in Dr. Cladecott’s words) is crucial for inspiring wonder, awe, and curiosity that are all vital to the pedagogy of the liberal arts. In this sense, I admire and agree with the attempt to make beauty fundamental to the educational experience. But, in the midst we see the first cracks in the argument, for it seems that Dr. Caldecott sometimes uses the terms like beauty, wonder, mystery, and awe interchangeably in a way that makes each one less important on its own merits.
However, and more urgently, it is precisely at this point of encouraging the mystical in Math that the book begins to wander from its purpose of being an educational manifesto. It becomes debatable whether Dr. Caldecott is writing a theological treatise or an appeal to education at large. Perhaps in his world, there is no distinction. after all, he points out that the original seven disciplines of the liberal arts were intended to prepare a student for higher-order studies of Philosophy or Theology and therefore all education leads to Christ. In this book, he demonstrates this using theology as his ultimate example of educational activities. In doing so I found my faith to be strengthened but my professional curiosity aroused.
Significantly the book provokes but does not answer the question, of whether or not a classical liberal arts education must also be a Christian education. Dr. Caldecott assumes that it must, and historically there is no doubt that the two were happy bedfellows. However, in the modern context, this union is not immediately apparent. There is a renewal of classical education in the United States of America that is effective and publicly desirable but intentionally secular and non-sectarian. This is for a number of philosophical and political reasons but the point is, it works, and not just in a pragmatic sense. Dr. Caldecott himself acknowledges that one purpose of the liberal arts is to make a ‘gentleman’. This should not be overlooked in importance, as our modern technological age could certainly use a greater degree of public civility, but arguably this does not mean ‘Christian gentlemen’ as much as ‘good citizen of the polis’. In a similar manner, the book often appeals to Pythagoras as the intellectual architect for seeing beauty in numbers. He is esteemed in much the same way Aristotle is beloved as a progenitor of morality. It is endlessly fascinating how these Greek philosophers can be co-opted so easily by theologians, seemingly as pre-incarnate prophets of the church. However, invoking them is also justification for a non-theological telos in education.
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This unresolved question is most apparent in Dr. Caldecott’s conclusion. He argues that both faith and reason must co-exist as products of the liberal arts, which seems valid. However, he concludes that they can only co-exist when in submission to love. Unfortunately in doing so, the author commits the misstep of inserting a hitherto novel idea into his conclusion as the required resolution to contradiction. If this were a theological treatise, then the conclusion is obvious. However, as a logical exercise, the conclusion is invalid and the entire argument is weaker for it.
While reading, my understanding of the historic western education system deepened, I was awestruck by the beauty of numbers, found myself delighting in the revelation of deep truth and felt my own faith was strengthened and encouraged. There is an aspect of the symbolic and mystical meaning of numbers that I would encourage all math and science teachers to appreciate. Above all, I commend this as an attempt to reimagine the quadrivium, an exercise which has been neglected in modern education to the equal but opposite extent that we have embraced the trivium. That idea needs more attention, more publications, and more discourse. Ultimately I found the message of this book fascinating, but as an educational treatise too restrictive; reserved mostly for those operating in a distinctly Christian educational model.
Matthew Ogle is Head of Classical Education for Thales Academy. Matt was born in England but at an early age his family moved to Los Angeles, California. Eventually, he returned to England to attend High School and College. During his senior year of College he met his future wife in Oxford England, but as chance would have it, Jodi happened to live in California. After a long, romantic long-distance relationship he moved to California again, this time to get married. After a couple of years, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona where they spent 18 years and raised 3 kids. Mr. Ogle spent much of that time pastoring a church, teaching Science, and working in school administration. The family is excited to now call North Carolina home. Mr. Ogle enjoys music, the great outdoors, good food, and his beautiful family (not in that order).