Joshua Gibbs

Starting A Classical School? Here’s Five Things You Have To Get Right The First Time

“Every year, classical Christian schools open by the dozen. Many start with fewer than forty students, but it is not unusual to see a classical school go from forty students to one hundred in less than a decade, and that decade goes fast. Despite how common such growth is, many schools are not founded onContinue reading “Starting A Classical School? Here’s Five Things You Have To Get Right The First Time”

Cells. Interlinked.

There are Twitter accounts of mid-level Christian intellectuals I check in on occasionally so I remember what it looks like to be a functional intellectual who isn’t a slave to followers and fame. There are Twitter accounts of mid-level Christian intellectuals I check in on occasionally so I remember what it looks like to beContinue reading “Cells. Interlinked.”

Wisdom Literature for Beginners Starts This Friday

Registration is still open for Wisdom Literature for Beginners, the Spring class I am offering through Gibbs Classical. The reading schedule is very light and the lectures will be dense and focused. Here is our schedule: January 13: The Consolation of Philosophy (Book 1) January 20: Ecclesiastes, Chapter 1 January 27: Consolation (Book 1), EcclesiastesContinue reading “Wisdom Literature for Beginners Starts This Friday”

Sadly, I Am Probably Dropping Out Of “Demons” At About The 70 Page Mark

American novels: The plot turns on Tom killing Richard. Russian novels: The plot turns on Ivan Stepovich insulting the servant of Stepan Ivanovich’s brother’s son, who obtains revenge by defrauding Ivan Stepovich’s uncle, who was also the caretaker of Ivanovich’s grandmother’s ex-lover, who hanged himself after Ivanovich insulted his mother.

IYKYK

There are times when this one explains everything.

First Good Book I Read This Year

This is really quite short, but delightful, albeit in a bleak, nihilistic sort of way. I only recently learned of Caroline Blackwood, but this title was good enough I plan on tracking down her other work. Given her upbringing, I get the sense this one is not exactly fictional. It’s more of a composite “likeContinue reading “First Good Book I Read This Year”

How To Keep Classical Christian Education From Falling Apart

“Imagine a league of eight or ten classical Christian schools forming in the future over a shared frustration that the “classical Christian” designation had come to mean so little. Suppose membership in this league were based on obedience to a number of cultural credos, like no smart phones or social media among students (or maybeContinue reading “How To Keep Classical Christian Education From Falling Apart”

For Those Keeping Score

New Year’s Eve, on the other hand, was originally a pagan holiday. And still is, sort of.

Culture Eats Mission Statements For Breakfast

“A Plato and Augustine school which bans smart phones, social media, and has no sports program really doesn’t have much in common with a Plato and Augustine school that allows all three.” -from a forthcoming barn burner for CiRCE

My Favorite Christmas Prose

The Heavenly Christmas Tree by Fyodor Dostoyevsky I am a novelist, and I suppose I have made up this story. I write “I suppose,” though I know for a fact that I have made it up, but yet I keep fancying that it must have happened somewhere at some time, that it must have happenedContinue reading “My Favorite Christmas Prose”