{"id":3279,"date":"2014-03-07T09:24:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T09:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalconversations.com\/?p=3279"},"modified":"2025-04-07T13:27:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:27:31","slug":"what-is-classical-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalconversations.com\/blog\/what-is-classical-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Classical Conversations?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. — <\/em>Genesis 35:18 (KJV)<\/p>\n

This seemingly inconsequential detail reveals to us the importance of names. With her dying breath, Rachel wanted to name her newborn \u201cson of my sorrow.\u201d Jacob knew that a terrible legacy would accompany such a name, so he renamed his son Benjamin\u2014\u201cson of my right hand.\u201d What a difference!<\/p>\n

Most parents spend hours pondering the names for their children. We acknowledge that there is much meaning to these names. In order to understand the mission of our communities, let us consider the meaning of the name Classical Conversations.<\/p>\n

Let us first look at the word \u201cclassical.\u201d We mean two things by this word. First, we mean that we are attempting to recover an understanding of classical education and to apply that model in our communities and in our homes. We are turning our heads toward the ancient wisdom of the trivium (literally translated from the Latin as \u201cthree roads\u201d or \u201cthree ways\u201d). We follow this model in service of our mission \u201cto know God and to make Him known.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can we know God? Our contemporary society says that there is no truth; in other words, there is no knowing anything with certainty. As Christians, we believe the opposite: we believe that we can know God. We believe that He has revealed himself to us in two ways\u2014His Word and His world. How can we help our children to find Him in these two places by following the classical model?<\/p>\n

When our children are very small, we know that they are generally good at memorizing information. We choose to work with the grain instead of against the grain as we teach them to memorize Scripture\u2014important knowledge about God\u2019s Word\u2014and academic subjects such as history, math, Latin, English grammar, science, and geography\u2014knowledge about God\u2019s world. As our children grow into adolescence and adulthood, they learn more through conversation than through recitation. By following the classical model, we hope to work with their natural inclinations instead of against them.<\/p>\n

The word classical also implies that we are recovering not just the model <\/strong>of classical education, but also the content <\/strong>of classical education. There are certain books that all educated people should read so that they can enter the conversations that have been going on since the beginning of time. There are certain questions that have always been asked:<\/p>\n