Serpents in the Classroom – New Book from CLTS professor

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – Rev. Dr. Thomas Korcok has released a new book entitled Serpents in the Classroom: The Poisoning of Modern Education and How the Church Can Cure It. Dr. Korcok is Associate Professor of Theology at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Dr. Korcok’s new book, published by 1517, is geared towards Christian parents, pastors, and teachers, and answers the question that so many ask: “Why do children so often reject the Christian faith?”

“The answer is found in the theological presuppositions that undergird much of contemporary education,” notes promotional material for the book. “Though the educational establishment often presents its models as products drawn from evidence-based research that is theologically neutral, they are anything but. Rather, they are founded on theologies that are diametrically opposed to orthodox Christian teaching.”

Rather than continuing in the same educational system that has had such detrimental effects on the faith of young Christians, Dr. Korcok encourages parents and educators to return to the classical liberal model of education—the model which undergirded education in western society for centuries until being mostly rejected in the 1900s.

That might sound a bit academic. But “this is not a purely academic book,” Dr. Korcok explains in the introduction to the book. “It is written from the perspective of a college professor who has taught students preparing to teach in Christian schools, a pastor who spent years catechizing young minds, a schoolteacher who struggled to develop a curriculum that was appropriate for a Christian school, and a father whose children have grappled with the issues raised in this book.”

In that sense, the book will find a welcome audience among all Christians who have misgivings about contemporary models of education and are looking for faithful ways to teach their children.

Prominent Lutheran author Gene Veith has praised the book and its emphasis on classical Christian education, noting that Dr. Korcok offers a “helpful explanation” of what classical education entails, “built around the pursuit of what is true, good, and beautiful,” and “grounded in biblical catechesis.” Dr. Veith is himself the co-author of a popular book on classical education entitled Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America. 

Dr. Korcok’s is a recognized authority on the liberal arts and Lutheranism. His earlier book, Lutheran Education: From Wittenberg to the Future, traced the history of the liberal arts model in Lutheran education down from the time of the reformers to the present. That book is available from Concordia Publishing House.

You can order Dr. Korcok’s new book, Serpents in the Classroom, directly from the publisher Here. The book is also available through Amazon.ca.

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