p. 10 | The Bible in the Teacher by M. E. KERN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 13, 1908

The Bible in the Teacher

By M. E. KERN

The Bible in Education—No. 2

The Bible in the Teacher

M. E. KERN

In the development of this idea, the Bible the basis of all education, I wish to say, first of all, and because I believe it of most importance, that if the Bible is to be the basis of education, it must first be the basis of the character of the teacher. I believe that in this educational reform there must, in the first place, be a new spiritual life in the teacher (“Special Testimonies on Education,” page 29), and any changes in the curriculum will fail of bringing the desired result unless there is this change in the hearts and lives of the teachers.

I have sometimes thought that there is one great primary rule for teaching; namely, “Know your subject.” So I believe there is one great primary rule for making the Bible the basis of education, and that is that the teacher shall make the Bible the foundation of his own education and character. There are two prime factors in education,—teacher and student. And the character of the teacher is the character of the instruction. He gives himself to his students.

Education is not primarily the imparting of knowledge; it is the communication of life and vitalizing energy which comes from contact of mind with mind, and heart with heart. The Word of God must first be incarnate in the heart of the teacher before it can be made the basis of education.

If the teacher would have his students appreciate the word of God, and receive it into their hearts, he must have more than mere words about the Bible to present before them; more than some mechanical supplementing of other studies with the Bible. He must have an experimental acquaintance with it, and must himself be growing into a deeper knowledge of this wonderful Book, which, like the book of nature, is a revelation to the mind and heart that receives it, and must itself create the taste for it, and power to appreciate it.

What we want, in order to make the Bible the basis, is not a method thrust upon us, but an experience from which will flow the true method.

When the teacher makes the Word of God his constant study, is wholly consecrated to God and his work, with the heart all aglow with a divine enthusiasm for the salvation of his students, and has an appreciation of the world's need at this time,—in other words, when he is wedded to God's work,—we need have little fear but that the Bible will be made the basis of his work. (See “Special Testimonies on Education,” page 165.)

Having this experience and these desires, we can do much in developing plans to give the Bible a larger place in our educational work. This larger place is not merely to have good Bible courses in the curricula, but to make the Bible the foundation of all.

But how? that is the question. How can the Bible be the foundation of all education and culture? the basis for the study of history, language, mathematics, and every science?

The Bible a Book of Principles

The Bible is a book of principles, and contains all the foundation principles which it is necessary for men to know. (“Education,” page 123.) It is a book of the highest and truest culture, as well as of religion; or, as it might be expressed, it is the book of the true religion which embraces all true culture. The Bible is adapted to every faculty and want of the human mind, as well as to the heart and conscience, and is suited to every age and class of humanity. It is a book for all time. As has been said, “It is not behind the age, but before it, and before all ages, because anticipating and comprehending the wants of all.” It does not, to be sure, contain the results, but the first principles of all science and philosophy. If it gave all the results, it would be the pinnacle as well as the basis of all knowledge.

The Bible contains the oldest literature, and the beginnings of all history. It discloses the origin and final cause and the consummation of all things. And as nature is pre-eminently God's revelation for the physical and intellectual wants of man, as a creature of time, the Bible is a revelation for his spiritual wants of man as a creature of time, the guide-book for time and eternity. The extent and grandeur of its truths, and its charming beauty, make it worthy of its name, “The Book of books.”

Now all vital knowledge is comprehended in certain fundamental principles. These principles are comparatively few when we take into account the immense range of knowledge which the mind is able to grasp or comprehend under them. These principles are not like facts of knowledge which may be easily lost or forgotten. When once awakened in the soul, they do not easily pass out of it, but grow stronger and stronger with every increase of knowledge, as the roots of a tree go deeper with every year's growth of the branches. Knowledge is systematized and applied by means of these principles, and the principles shed light upon all departments and subjects of knowledge. It is absolutely necessary that we have some authoritative statement of these basal principles, for without them we would be in intellectual chaos without any assurance of certainty. Without these principles the greatest efforts of reason would end in doubt. For in every attempt to trace a subject back to its foundation or source, we come to a limit beyond which we can not go; as one has said, “a great ocean which bounds the whole continent of knowledge, from which all its streams are derived, and into which they empty and lose themselves,—in whose infinity the mind itself is lost.” That is, there are certain truths at the foundation of all knowledge which must be taken for granted by the mind, which can not be demonstrated or even understood. They must be taken by faith, and known only as they are believed. Such are the truths concerning God, the great first cause, creator and upholder of all; the soul, its freedom and responsibility; right and wrong, and the eternal distinction between them; the origin, nature, and destiny of man. The existence of God, as has been truly said, “is an intuition of reason, and not a deduction of the understanding;” an intuition which is brought to clear light and substantiated by revelation. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Heb. 11:3. The Bible contains a clear statement of these truths, and faith is the evidence.

When the truth is revealed, and received by faith, the reason finds abundant confirmation of it. It has been said that, without this revelation of the mysteries about us, the “foundation-stone of all true knowledge would be wanting, and superstition would take the place of science, and idolatry of true religion.”

The freedom and responsibility of man would not be known except from the Bible. The whole doctrine of human rights is derived from what man has learned in the Bible concerning himself; and where the Bible is not, these rights are not regarded. What meaning could attach to these rights if man is not a spiritual being with freedom of choice, if he is merely the descendant from lower forms of life?

College View, Neb.