“Few Americans today will dispute that our system of education is broken, ineffective, and in crisis. Students progress from grade level to grade level and then graduate high school with little knowledge, fewer skills, and even fewer virtues. They are as unprepared for the academic rigors of college as they are for the practical demands of the workforce or the physical and emotional sacrifices necessary for marriage and the raising of children.”
Louis Markos opens his new book on classical Christian education, Passing the Torch: An Apology for Classical Christian Education (IVP Academic, 2025), with this sobering reflection on the status quo. And this is even before we consider the impact of AI on education. But classical Christian education is gaining ground right now, precisely because it pushes back on the status quo. There are better ways to educate persons—and some of these have been around for millennia, in fact. Some of these involve a focus on dialogue, discussion, and debate; smaller classroom sizes; and of course, a lot of reading of books—cover-to-cover, rather than in tiny excerpts. Perhaps the best solutions right now are old rather than new.
Markos is Professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Christian University, where he holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. His 28 books include From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics; From Plato to Christ; On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis; and the forthcoming From Aristotle to Christ.
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Nadya Williams: Let's start with a question that may seem simple but is actually quite difficult. How do you define classical education, and how does it differ from classical Christian education?
Louis Markos: The goal of classical education, whether it is Christian or not, is to produce virtuous, morally self-regulating citizens by a study of (and a wrestling with) the Great Books. It is grounded in the humanities and seeks to balance wisdom, virtue, and eloquence. It follows the ancient Trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. What the Christian part brings to classical education is the ultimate touchstone of Christ and the Bible and the role model of Christ himself.
Classical Christian education further rests on the belief that man is created in God's image and therefore has inherent value and worth. But man is also fallen and depraved and therefore needs limits. Although classical education that is not Christian cannot ground those statements in the Bible, it can find sufficient grounds in Greco-Roman literature for valuing man and his achievements while understanding the need for discipline.
Nadya Williams: All of us are shaped in all sorts of ways by our own education, and sometimes we can't even fully articulate the effects until decades later—as I'm realizing in retrospect about my education now that I'm teaching my kids. What was your own educational journey, and how did it shape you as a person and a thinker? In particular, what books and experiences were the most important for your spiritual and intellectual formation?
Louis Markos: I attended public schools throughout my grade school years, as well as in my undergraduate and graduate studies. Since I went to middle and high school during the 1970s, I still was given fair exposure to the Great Books, though there was already an overemphasis on the antihero and considerable influence from the social sciences. Social studies had already taken the place of real history, though a few of my teachers brought in the Greeks and Romans. There was an attempt at social engineering, though at that point the focus was more on hygiene and anti-smoking than on environmentalism, DEI, or LGBTQ.
By talking to the right teachers, I did get to grow in wisdom and virtue. I was the most profoundly influenced by Homer, Plato, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and the British Romantic poets. I also was trained in proper thinking by reading C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity.
Nadya Williams: It is graduation season, so this seems to be a particularly appropriate time to reflect on what "Passing the Torch" means in practical terms. What advice would you give to high school students graduating this year and heading off to college? And, on a related note, what advice would you give to college students graduating this year and heading into bona fide adulting?
Louis Markos: Those who are on the road to college must have instilled in them the Socratic motto of “know thyself.” But this motto must be taken in the biblical sense of “search me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139), rather than in the modern psychological sense of excessive introspection leading to the blaming of parents for everything they do not like about themselves. They must also not give way to cynicism and skepticism, falsely believing that such attitudes and approaches will make them wiser and more mature. What they must do is retain as much wonder, joy, and gratitude as they can. Though it is not wrong to seek a practical major, they must take as many humanities courses as they can and learn to love learning as a good end in itself.
Those on the road to adulting must discipline themselves to continue reading, studying, dialoguing, and growing, even (and especially) when they are in the midst of a demanding career. Let them not fall into a rut and forget the importance of spiritual, intellectual, and emotional growth.
Nadya Williams: Let's say, hypothetically, someone reads your book and loves the truly encouraging vision you present for education, but realistically, this family has no access to a classical Christian school and cannot homeschool. What practical tips would you give parents in this boat?
Louis Markos: Such parents must challenge themselves to read some of the Great Books, starting with the Odyssey, Oedipus and Antigone, the Republic, and plays by Shakespeare. This is a good place to start, one that I hope will blossom into wrestling with Virgil, Dante, and Milton, as well as Aristotle and Augustine. As they read, let them discuss issues about the good, true, and beautiful with their children at mealtimes. The parents must foster an atmosphere of discovery in their home that respects the traditions passed down to them without dismissing all that is modern simply because it is new. They must also hold up heroes from these books as a way of calling their children to courage and virtue. They must also connect what they are reading to the full revelation of Christ and the Bible.
Nadya Williams: What literary classic, ancient or modern, do you wish you had written, and why?
Louis Markos: I wish I had written Virgil’s Aeneid or Dante’s Divine Comedy or Milton’s Paradise Lost because in those three epics there is a perfect fusion of respect for the tradition and radical creativity. All three are at once the most derivative books ever written and the most original. I would like to have written books like those that unite, in an interdisciplinary way, all the knowledge up until that time. As I reflect on Dante and Milton, I would like to have written works that weave together so masterfully the Greco-Roman legacy from Athens with the Judeo-Christian truths from Jerusalem.
I have sought to do that in a non-fiction way in my books From Achilles to Christ, From Plato to Christ, The Myth Made Fact, Passing the Torch, and the forthcoming From Aristotle to Christ. I have also attempted to do so in my children’s novels The Dreaming Stone, In the Shadow of Troy, and the forthcoming Gates of Freedom.
