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The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What it Means to Be an Educated Human Being

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One of the finest works of Christian Humanist scholarship to come out in the last decade, Dr. Gamble's new book, The Great Tradition, should open forgotten but vital realms of the past to the modern reader. Expertly chosen selections--forming the narrative and educational backbone of western civilization--pull the past, the present, and the future back into continuity. Dr. Gamble lovingly and painstakingly introduces us to a vast treasury of wisdom from Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Tacitus, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, John of Salisbury, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Petrarch, Melanchthon, John Calvin, Edmund Burke, Cardinal Newman, Paul Elmer More, T.S. Eliot, and Christopher Dawson, to name just a few of the authors. Truly, Gamble ably demonstrates, one can find a direct line of thought and a continuing conversation transcending the generations about the most vital questions regarding the nature, limitations, and potential of our humanity. Indeed, Gamble, a true scholar and gentleman, understands liberal education in its proper sense. A proper education liberates the human person from the tyranny of the moment, allowing him to see the wisdom of the human race across time, the cardinal virtues, and the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Most importantly, an educated person sees behind all of these things the One who made them each not only possible but also desirable.

Historian Richard M. Gamble edits The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to be an Educated Human Being is an anthology of essays written by great figures throughout history concerning what it truly means to be educated. Since ancient times, the Great Tradition has described education as the hard work the human soul undergoes in order to better understand itself and its maker. Individual writings quote Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, and many other historical, literary, religious, and scientific figures concerning the goals and true value of education. Each selection is prefaced by a brief yet insightful commentary about the author's life and identity, as well as comments about the selection itself and why it was chosen. The result is a cohesive picture offering much-needed insights into the ever-evolving education system, its purpose and its needs, particularly in today's era of debate concerning public schools and the rise of homeschooling. Highly recommended, especially for public and college libraries.

Richard Gamble has accomplished a Herculean task that we should hope bears fruit worthy of his efforts. Between the covers of this large, but very moderately priced book, is the distillation of thousands of years of thinking about education and what it is to be an educated human being. Every parent, teacher, and educational administrator who is truly concerned about educating our youth, would do well to have this book at hand. Let us hope Gamble's work becomes the inspiration for a new wave of educational reform in America that undoes some of the most damaging trends of the 20th century.

"The Great Tradition" is a heavy tome, both in its size and the material it covers, but it is an important contribution to the field of education. Richard Gamble has assembled excerpts of works on education from the past 2500 years. Beginning with Plato, and including such notables as Aristotle, Origen, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Milton, John Henry Newman, and T.S. Eliot, the writers offer their insights into what they feel is the true purpose of education, and how best to go about that aim. What is perhaps the most interesting feature of this collection is that many of these writers were struggling with the same educational issues we struggle with today. It is somehow comforting to learn that people 2000 years ago were equally concerned about the state of education and the proper way to raise children. "The Great Tradition" would be a great addition to a college class on educational theory. It also makes for valuable reading for anyone interested in the very important question of "what makes an educated human being?"

I had a literature class once that didn't teach me anything about writing; but pushed a decrepit humanist agenda through each selection we studied. This book demonstrates that before Rousseau, Dewey, et. al. got our education system fouled with their socialist indoctrination agenda; there was a way of teaching western thought and methods that made our people groups truly excellent in a global context. Mr. Gamble's compilation is the most concise answer I can give for why I bought a home in Hillsdale, MI - where he is a history professor at Hillsdale College (...). Cheers, Mr. Gamble, and thank you for a great tool for educating my children - and myself!

A happy neighbor