The Neglected Role of Religion and Worldview in Schooling for Wisdom, Character, and Virtue

From both ancient biblical times – where the motivation was the “desire for order and continuity” (Crenshaw 1998) – and the period from Aristotle and Socrates onwards, moral formation of children and the shaping of their character have always been regarded as a primary function of both parental nurture and formal education. The central concerns of ancient sages (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel) were about knowledge and religion. The aims of education, for Aristotle, were to teach the intellectual and moral virtues necessary for right action, the pursuit of what is noble and thus of happiness as the telos (natural end) of life (Hollinger 2002, pp. 46–49). At the beginning of the 19th century, “nearly everyone was persuaded that religion and morality were inseparable; so inseparable that moral education must be religious education, and that no sense of absolute obligation in conscience could be found apart from religion. That moral philosophers taught the contrary made no difference” (Chadwick 1975, p. 229).