CViE FEATURES: Selden College (Part 2)
Welcome to the seventh in our series of “CViE FEATURES” – today featuring further details of Selden College – where we profile a Christian organization devoted to educating children and resourcing parents from a Christian worldview.
Part 1 introduced Selden College, an in-person Christian Liberal Arts College offering degrees built around a common core curriculum undertaken by all students.
The vision for Selden College is to recover the heritage of Christian university education our forefathers provided for us. What would such an education look like?
The Foundations
Historically, the foundations of Christian higher education are:
1. The worship of God
2. The formation of the student in true Christian virtue
3. The advancement of learning
The worship of God is foundational. Without it there is no real formation of virtue within a student nor any advancement in true learning. To ignore this foundation would be to undermine everything we are trying to achieve in establishing a Christian college.
The Christian formation of the student can only happen in a college founded on the worship of God, with a faculty and staff who are primarily interested in their students and their well-being; who love God first, then their neighbour, and whose scholarship serves rather than puffs up.
To advance learning is subordinate to the first two foundations, but still central to the college’s mission. Selden College will seek not only to provide a rigorous academic education within the Christian liberal arts tradition, but also to model what Christian scholarship looks like.
The Mission
Selden College exists to graduate faithful Christian men and women who are prepared to act justly, skilfully and magnanimously in each and every office, private and public, in peace and war.
Such a mission encapsulates a vision for a Christian higher education that serves the purposes of God for family, church, and nation in all situations, rather than simply providing a qualification for individual advancement. Such a mission enables Selden College to be specific in its goals for individual students while maintaining a broad range of applications for such an education within the various spheres we are called to work. Such a mission also values character as highly as ability, without trading one off against the other.
Why Christian Liberal Arts?
The liberal arts curriculum we are developing is not a mere replica of historical models; rather, it builds creatively on the foundation they provide for our own times and needs. Thus we walk in the footsteps of Christian educators such as Augustine, Cassiodorus, Hugh of St Victor, and Melanchthon, without trying to reenact any specific, irretrievable historical moment. We aim, under God, to develop a curriculum for a particular place – the British Isles – at a particular time, with roots deeply embedded in the long tradition of Christian education.
The education will be broad in scope and interdisciplinary in nature, but will avoid the ‘choose your own adventure’ style of education that has become associated with the term ‘liberal arts’ in the modern academy. Our education will focus on developing truly Christian intellectual habits while studying the broad range of disciplines (Theology, Literature, History, Philosophy, classical languages, Music, Science and Maths) in keeping with the Christian liberal arts tradition. As a Christian college, Theology will be ‘queen of the sciences’ and provide the interdisciplinary framework that links the varied disciplines together.
2024 Summer School
The 2024 Summer School will be held in the Oxford area – details can be found here.
Regional Meetings
Saturday 6th April, 2024 – Salisbury
Christ Church, 43 Barnard St, Salisbury SP1 2BJ
2.30-4.30pm
Contact: Alan Finch – alanjfinch@gmail.com
Saturday 13th April, 2024 – Northern Ireland
Ballymena, Northern Ireland (exact venue tbc)
Time: tbc
Contact: Crawford Gribben – crawford.gribben@gmail.com
More details to follow.
Saturday 20th April, 2024 – Ealing, London
Ealing IPC church, 53 Drayton Green, Ealing, W13 0JE
2-4pm
Contact: Sarah-Jane Bentley – sjlbentley@googlemail.com
Saturday 27th April, 2024 – Cardiff
St Mark’s Evangelical Anglican Church, Cardiff
2-4pm
Contact: Rev Marcus Nelson – marcusjrnelson@gmail.com
Scotland TBD
If there is sufficient interest in a regional meeting in Scotland please reach out to Katy Wright who will coordinate with us on potential venues and dates.
Contact: Katy Wright – katy@wraight.net.
Selden College Faculty
Timothy Edwards D.Phil
Dr Timothy Edwards has taught at Bristol and Oxford University in the UK. For the last eight years, he has served as Academic Dean and professor at New Saint Andrews College, a Christian Liberal Arts college in Idaho, USA. He is married to Anna, and the father of six children.
Steven Keen Ph.D
Dr Steven Keen has over 25 years experience in research, lecturing and supervision at three UK universities (Leeds, Bournemouth and UWTSD). He is married to Ruth, and the father of six children.
You can contact Timothy Edwards at tedwards@seldencollege.co.uk and sign up for updates at seldencollege.co.uk.
| This is the seventh in our series of “CViE FEATURES” where we profile a Christian organization devoted to educating children and resourcing parents from a Christian worldview. So far in this series – CViE FEATURES: Valley Christian School Online – here. CViE FEATURES: Christian Family Helps – here. CViE FEATURES: Association of Christian Teachers – here. CViE FEATURES: PX Classrooms – here. CViE FEATURES: The Gospel Banner – here CViE FEATURES: Selden College (Part 1) – here |
