"Onward"

Coram Deo Academy
Lower School Award Ceremony Address
Rodney Marshall, Headmaster
May 2004

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, school director, members of the faculty, boys and girls. Today marks the culmination of nine months of intensive study, a portion of that education required to prepare each student for the future, equip each student to enjoy life long learning and ready each student to overcome the challenges inherent in every calling.

The students study under teachers and parents that instruct them in a historic Christian worldview through a rigorous classical curriculum. They learn to view God as the Almighty yet personal Father, the creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. They learn to view man as made in the image of God, corrupted by sin, yet redeemed. They learn to view the earth as the Lord’s the world and all they that dwell in it as His. As Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not one inch of the world that Christ does not claim saying, “That is mine. That belongs to me.” And they learn that redeemed man is again called to move positively into God’s world to reclaim and renew it through Christ.

They learn through a rigorous classical curriculum. This is an education that is precise where the dull or obtuse dare not tread too long. This is an education that is formal. It is not casual or haphazard education but rather it is well structured, line upon line and precept upon precept. This is an education that is ordered and developmentally appropriate based on the pattern of the classical trivium where the student progresses from the grammar through the logic and into the rhetoric of learning. For them school is the gymnasium of the mind where all learn to exercise the brain for the glory of God and the future improvement of culture.

This is an education that is content rich. The students learn Latin, English, Spanish and German languages. They learn language in order to read and understand the revelation of God in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. As John wrote in his gospel “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory of the begotten of the Father.” These literate students will become a threat to any kind of human tyranny. They should be able to govern themselves and will then provide for free societies where civil government is limited by the consent of the governed. They marvel at the providence of God unveiled in history and literature. From the Exodus to Alexander the Great, from the rise to the fall of Rome, from the greatness of Christendom and Christian progress in the present age they see God’s hand guiding the affairs of man and nature. They see the grandeur of God in His creation through the sciences and in mathematics. As the psalmist said “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament His handiwork.” They revel creatively in the arts; music, theatre and the visual arts. Here we are sure that these descendants of the enlightenment and of the Sputnik generation develop a soul. They must sense the kindness of God and judge technical knowledge Christianly lest they act upon everything they can invent as did the militarist societies of the bloodiest of all, the 20th Century. They celebrate their physicality through recreation and athletics. “For the glory of the young men is their strength.” In short the content of their education fills them with goodness that they might like Christ, “Go about doing good.”

This preparation for life is not that different from that some ancients received.
It was 500 years after the first advent when powerful rulers made Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) great because they prepared for greatness. This city was part of the eastern Roman Empire that survived as a Christian civilization called Byzantium until the city was conquered by an Islamic army in 1453. One of the most powerful rulers of all was Justinian, the Just Emperor.

Although Justinian’s parents were peasants farming crops and tending animals, Justinian desired to be a great, educated man. He learned to read, studied law, music poetry and religion on his own initiative. He implored his parents to send him to Constantinople to attend school. Finally his parents agreed, packed his clothes, books, bread and meat for the journey. After a long trek Justinian arrived in the city and was overawed by the grand buildings, the swarming population the variety of cuisine and the universal availability of education for the young. He gaped at the Emperors several palaces, reverently admired the churches, was dazzled by the Hippodrome where tens of thousands spectators wildly cheered for the favorite charioteers. This was the center of civilization in his day.

The young students at school concentrated on reading and writing while the older students like Justinian poured over the great books authored by the Greeks, Romans and of course the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Justinian was required to memorize and understand fifty new lines of Greek poetry every day. He studied logic and rhetoric under tutors in the academies. He poured over hours of homework in mathematics, music and astronomy. Justinian received the finest education available in Byzantium.

After completion of his studies Justinian joined the military where he quickly advanced in the ranks. He demonstrated bravery and energy in the field. He served as an aid to the top officers keeping records, requisitioning supplies and planning the campaigns. He distinguished him until many recognized he possessed the leadership qualities to serve as emperor. When the emperor died Justinian was named ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

When Justinian ascended the throne Byzantium began to stir under his visionary leadership. He remembered the greatness of the Roman Empire from his studies in school and set about its restoration. He brought all the empire under one set of laws called the Code of Justinian; a code which informed jurisprudence for most of the middle ages. He expanded the borders of this Christian Roman Empire regaining much territory lost to the Goths and Vandals in the previous century. He strengthened the defenses of the city. His public works included roads, bridges, walls, public baths, law courts and colossal underground reservoirs to hold the city’s water supply. He built hospitals, schools, and monasteries. Churches were his special passion, and in Constantinople alone he built thirty four of them. His greatest achievement of construction was the famous Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom, with its grand dome as it were suspended from heaven by the fabled golden chain. Justinian’s just rein magnified Christian civilization in his generation.

Who is to say whether or not one of the students we teach will serve as such a just and important ruler. Instead and just as importantly he or she may mature into a mother or a father, a minister or a teacher, a scientist or a pro-life medical doctor? That is why each has studied well and even when they have wearied along the way teachers and parents have exhorted them on, knowing better because of experience that the temporary tears from much study will fade into joy when once they mount the stage and turn their tassels when once each embarks upon his/her calling. Onward Christian students, onward and much admiration for Christian parents, and onward Christian teachers until this world knows the mighty hand of God brought to bear on our culture through the well trained Christian student.