2016-2017 Study Guide This year s Study Guide will be developed throughout the year with each section developed by members of the Executives Committee working with the Interim Chief Executive. The first month is a reflection of this year s metaphysical theme:... behold, the kingdom of God is within you. The Study Guide continues the approach in past years of identifying citations from the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy s writings as well as articles or sections from Education at The Principia (EAP). The guide provides suggested study questions to support individual and departmental study.
August September 2016 How do these citations and articles differentiate Principia s Christian Science-based character education from other models? What are the suggested characteristics of outstanding character building? What insights does this offer about discipline? Luke 17:21... behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Matthew 18:2-5 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. Science and Health 476:28 32 When speaking of God s children, not the children of men, Jesus said, The kingdom of God is within you; that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God s image is unfallen and eternal. Science and Health 477:4-5 Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy. Science and Health 576:21-23 This kingdom of God is within you, is within reach of man s consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. Pulpit and Press 10:30-1 May the kingdom of God within you, with you alway, reascending, bear you outward, upward, heavenward. The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany 267:28-31 Our great Teacher hath said: Behold, the kingdom of God is within you within man s spiritual understanding of all the divine modes, means, forms, expression, and manifestation of goodness and happiness. Mary Kimball Morgan s article Foundational Trusts (EAP, pp. 20-24) gives her most detailed statements on the kingdom of God and Principia s role in providing and supporting true education. The article was written for a parents meeting in June 1931. This was an important year in the history of Principia, as the first College Commencement was held in Elsah and the institution prepared for the first time to operate on two separate campuses.
Foundational Trusts For a parents meeting on June 2, 1931, Mrs. Morgan prepared a very significant paper on the basic educational philosophy of The Principia, especially as it relates to discipline. Through some untoward circumstance, this paper was lost sight of until rediscovered in the files several years ago. It is a basic statement of the relationship of the parent and teacher to the child during the process of education. The readings presented were as follows: Deut. 6:1, 2, 4 9, 18 25 Matt. 18:1 7 Prov. 22:4, 6 I believe I speak with divine authority when I say there can be no more important conference than one in which parents and teachers unite for the purpose of seeking God s guidance in the Christian education of children. Did not the blessed Master say, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God (Mark 10:14)? And let us see how our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, regarded the Christian education of children. She says in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany (p. 230), It is a joy to know that they who are faithful over foundational trusts, such as the Christian education of the dear children, will reap the reward of rightness, rise in the scale of being, and realize at last their Master s promise, And they shall be all taught of God. Faithful over foundational trusts a sacred responsibility, indeed! Sacred enough to have called forth from the Master a loving but strong rebuke to those disciples who reproved parents who had brought their little ones to Jesus in the hope that he might notice and bless them. What a picture of tender compassion is that of Jesus, in his busy day, making way for the children, even taking them up in his arms and blessing them! Not only did he do this, but he made very clear to adults that it would be necessary for them to become as little children if they were to be fit for the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3). We frequently hear this passage quoted, and many times with but faint understanding of its real significance. Sometimes its meaning is even perverted. There is often a sentimental attitude toward children that arises from a mistaken interpretation of this wonderful saying of our Master a saying that should receive our deepest consideration. Jesus was speaking of children as symbols of innocence, purity, and faith. A naughty, willful thought manifested in a child as a result of unwise training on the part of adults is not the type of thought which commands entrance into the Kingdom. And yet I have known parents, doting relatives, and even Sunday School teachers to refrain from correcting children because they were such loving little ideas of God that they couldn t bear to grieve them. In fact, some children are allowed to grow up with very little training. It is all left to God, or to human associates, who instill poison into the immature thought unprepared to cope with the so-called carnal mind. There is a wide difference between being childish and being childlike. Childlikeness is the type of thought that our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, speaks of in Miscellaneous Writings (ix: 19 20): There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never grows old. The natural man must give place to the man made in the image and likeness of the One altogether lovely (Science and Health, p. 3), and it is this child of God that we must seek to develop in our work with our children. Only as we are intelligent and true to the pattern shewed to [us] in the mount (Heb. 8:5) are we faithful to these foundational trusts. In childhood, it is very essential that right habits of thought become established honesty, truthfulness, unselfishness, industry, thoroughness, perseverance, loving-kindness, and all noble qualities which make for Christian character. The corner-stone of all spiritual building is purity (Science and Health, p. 241). Helping our children to love and express all that is pure and good requires us to
keep very close to them and to seek divine wisdom constantly in our association with them. Human life is much more complicated than it was even a few years ago, and the thoughts of children are much more exposed to claims of evil contagion. The indulgence of the desire for constant entertainment is an active factor in the development of weak dispositional tendencies and the awakening of undesirable emotions. The world may be no worse than it has always been, but its vile purposes and unholy methods have now been more successfully camouflaged with a veneer of broad-mindedness, culture, pleasure, and so-called freedom, the latter especially designed to make itself attractive to our young people. Thrills of all sorts are invited because, as is the case with sugar-coated pills, the inner poison is covered up and the taste is pleasant. Principia would not advise putting children in glass cases, for those cases would soon be broken. It does not believe in narrowing the restrictions of children until they feel that they have no liberty. But it does believe in educating youth in the true meaning of freedom, and it does believe in developing all those truly childlike qualities which make for Christian character, even at the expense of some material pleasures or the indulgence of willful human desires. Since childlikeness is requisite for entrance into God s kingdom, is not the preservation of this most valuable quality one of the foundational trusts referred to by our Leader? The world is doing its utmost to prevent this holy responsibility from being understood and demonstrated even amongst Christian Scientists. How often parents and teachers unwittingly play into the hands of that type of thought that is seeking to slay the innocent! Herod is abroad today, as in the time of the infant Jesus. Principia is not just another school. The purpose of Principia is to serve those who are awake to the significance of our Master s rebuke to his disciples. It is a rebuke and a precious guide to his disciples today, and those who hear are putting their armor on to protect their dear ones from all that would blight their prospects of speedy entrance into their Father s kingdom. If, as we are told, children are to be the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the hope of our race! (Mary Baker Eddy, Pulpit and Press, p. 9), it will be because those upon whom their education depends have discerned the purpose of true education and are faithful to foundational trusts. It is a wise parent or teacher who realizes that a child is never really disciplined until he learns to discipline himself. So education, to be true education, must come from within for our Leader tells us that its entire purpose is to make one not only know the truth but live it to make one enjoy doing right, make one not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and wait on God, the strong deliverer, who will reward righteousness and punish iniquity (Miscellany, p. 252). This means that from infancy children should be taught obedience to Principle, forgetfulness of self, patience, endurance, courage in the right, self-control, and faith in God. Such qualities cannot be developed without constant, wise encouragement and training on the part of parents and teachers. To be really faithful and truly successful in this important trust, one must love children too wisely to be willing to permit them to form habits which are adverse to the establishment of strong manhood and womanhood. And one must reverence and love Principle too well to be willing to see it ignored or disobeyed. A weak indulgence of selfish desires, an unwillingness to see our children corrected or to see them go through hard experiences, a careless ignoring of poor habits of thought or conduct, a submission to disrespect on their part toward ourselves and others, a failure to correct self-will, or a weak excusing of any other undesirable qualities will prevent us from helping our loved ones to reap the reward promised only to him that overcometh (Rev. 2:7).
There is no greater unkindness that we can show our young people than that which arises from an intense desire to please them even at the sacrifice of their character building. To refrain from any correction because the requirement demands some sacrifice on the part of a child or because the struggle entailed is a severe one and causes unpleasantness in the family life is a weakness and is disastrous to the welfare of our loved ones. Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying (Prov. 19:18). Be brave enough to stand by and see even severe suffering if it is the crucifixion of selfishness, willfulness, or any other error that would stand in the way of the establishment of right. Better the suffering than the agony that inevitably comes sooner or later to the one who has not been taught absolute obedience to and love for Principle. The most valuable gift we can leave with our children is the habit of self-training from a basis of Principle. We have undertaken a sacred responsibility in bringing up children, and we have no more important duty than that of learning to carry out these foundational trusts wisely and faithfully. I know of no more vital factor in this responsibility than the demonstration of a beautiful, strong, harmonious home life. There is too little real home life in evidence today. A home which is so full of delightful interest that children find their joy in its attractiveness will counteract the allurements of questionable entertainment elsewhere. A home that is rich in love and Christian courtesy will develop a pure childlikeness that is fit to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Let the children feel their responsibility in making home the dearest spot on earth. Do not be such unselfish parents that you make selfish children. Make it possible for them to do their part in the homemaking. A home in which criticism is never heard, discourtesy is unknown, disrespect finds no place, and God is always reverenced is very sure to send into the world strong men and women who will mean something in the communities in which they live. Principia is striving to help you to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). We are deeply interested in learning better how to be true to these foundational trusts, and together, under the guidance of divine wisdom, we pray that we may achieve the purpose of true education.