Aquinas’ Big Picture of Education: Charlotte Mason’s Great Recognition

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] told you before that What’s Love Got to Do with It? was the talk — the one that was on my heart all year long — the one I was longing to give. Well, this talk was the talk of 2014. I lived and breathed Aquinas for a number of months, and to be honest, I fell pretty in love with Summa Theologica. After steeping myself in Aquinas’ writings, as well as in this amazing artistic representation of his philosophy of education, I came to understand why Charlotte Mason called her encounter with this painting her Great Recognition. It has become the Great Recognition of my life as well.

The Summary

The directors of the Northwest Charlotte Mason Educators Conference only asked for a one-sentence summary. As I was giving this talk {for the second time since I wrote it — this is the refined and perfected version} on a Sunday, I sent them this:

Almost every Sunday, Charlotte Mason had her college students ponder the wisdom in this Italian fresco. This Sunday, we’ll do the same.

They forgave me that this was two sentences. 😉

This one is really hard for me to summarize — how do I boil down these huge, big, beautiful thoughts? Keeping it to under an hour was difficult enough! But, since I must, I think I’d say this:

Charlotte Mason thought that all parents needed to derive from this Florentine fresco a Great Recognition — the recognition that God Himself is the Imparter of knowledge, the Instructor of youth, the Inspirer of genius. Join us as we explore how this painting teaches us much of Thomas Aquinas’ philosophy of education, and how this philosophy connects to Charlotte Mason’s 20th principle of education, which tells us that we ought to allow no separation to grow up between the spiritual and intellectual life of children.

Get Your Copy!

That’s right! I know that some of you have been waiting over a year due to my technical problems from last year. Head on over to the shop, and grab your copy. When you do, you will receive an encrypted link and a password. Please remember the password.

Just sayin’.

There are two options for listening to the talk. The first is streaming video. I highly, highly recommend this, especially for those of you who are unfamiliar with the painting. Truth be told, the talk doesn’t make a lot of sense without the slides. But also, there is an audio download. Once you’ve seen the slides, you might want to revisit some of the ideas when you are out and about, and the audio recording will allow you to do that. Please note that both options will be available to you on the password-protected page.

Enjoy! I am so excited to finally be able to share this with all of you.