CViE FEATURES: Selden College
Welcome to the sixth in our series of “CViE FEATURES” – today featuring Selden College – 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
The vision of Selden College is to establish an in-person Christian Liberal Arts College offering degrees built around a common core curriculum undertaken by all students.
Lord-willing, Selden College will bring Christian Higher Education to the UK, opening its doors to undergraduates in September 2025.
John Milton famously wrote that the end of education was:
“…to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.”
Such a vision would not have been controversial in 17th century England, where Christian truth and Scripture were central to all discourse, not just theology. For example, centuries ago, Monarchists and Republicans saturated their debates with biblical references because they believed they could not make an authoritative argument if Scripture was not on their side. This was a time when core biblical doctrines, such as God creating man in His own image, and man’s fall into sin, were universally understood. It was no golden age, of course, but the stark difference with today should not be lost. To base an argument on Scripture in a political debate today would seem unthinkable, as would the suggestion that education should have both a Christian theological foundation and object.
Luther understood the importance of university education, citing the reformation of universities as essential for the reformation of Germany:
“The universities also need a good, thorough reformation — I must say it no matter whom it vexes — for everything which the papacy has instituted and ordered is directed only towards the increasing of sin and error.” (section 25, An Open Letter to The Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate (1520))
What then of the challenge before us, in our work towards reformation and revival in the UK? Universities have been captured by every passing progressive ideology, never seeking to ‘repair the ruins’ but instead seeming determined to be ‘directed only towards the increasing of sin and error’. The Church cannot rely on secular academies to train the generations of faithful Christian leaders.
Christian leaders are needed who are theologically literate, historically, philosophically and literarily astute, and competent to understand the biblical and theological heritage that has shaped the laws and customs of the British Isles over its history. Our nation needs leaders who are committed to raising families and building strong churches in the fear of God, conserving and renewing the good inheritance that is under threat. For this to happen we need to recover the heritage of Christian university education our forefathers provided for us, and equip our children to do the same work of recovery in whatever field God calls them to work.
This is the vision for Selden College.
In a future post we will introduce you more fully to that vision and those behind it.
You can contact Timothy Edwards at tedwards@seldencollege.co.uk and sign up for updates at seldencollege.co.uk. Selden College will be running a Summer School in July 2024 offering a taster of the elements of the college – more details available here.
