James Stewart and David ben Jesse

While perusing This Classical Life, I stumbled upon a link to one of the internet abodes of the amazing Dr. George Grant. Not only does he blog, but he writes a newsletter column entitled Hubbub Pubⁱ. I browsed through the archives of this column and one particular column caught my eye. Immediately recognizing the name as having to do with the Cave of Adullam (Regnant Mutterings and what I’ve been reading in Samuel), I chose it to read. Sample paragraphs follow:

Tellingly, Stewart called his philosophy of education “The Adullam Strategy.” He took the name from two odd descriptions from the life of David — one when the ruddy shepherd boy had just begun his career, the other when the old king was ready to lay down his mantle.

The first description is found in 1 Samuel 22:1-2 where young David is hiding in the cave of Adullam. There he becomes “the captain” to all the distressed, indebted, and embittered men of the land. It was hardly a promising start. Such a motley crew did not exactly bode well for the foundation of an enduring kingdom. There seemed to be little nobility in the vagabonds, brigands, and renegades that had attached themselves to David’s cause.

The second description is found in 2 Samuel 23:8-39. It had been quite some time since they joined his seemingly hopeless cause, but many of those men were still with David. Somehow though, in the intervening years, they had been transformed from the distressed, indebted, and embittered into the king’s “mighty men.” Their exploits through the years were now the stuff of legend. Few would have believed that the men who emerged from the cave so long ago could have ever accomplished so much with so little.

Now, you must understand that I am the son of educators, and as such I despised the very thought of becoming a teacher all throughout elementary and high school (Naturally, I thought less about it in elementary school. Back then everything was spelling bees and baseball practice. I digress). However, as I went through the college search and looked for viable Christian post-secondary education, the Lord laid a burden upon my heart. There are too, too few affordable institutions of higher learning that strive to instruct students in the paths of righteousness. Notably, it is becoming much easier for those who study the liberal arts to find excellent Christian colleges, but so far as I could tell, there weren’t enough schools that could teach you technology as well as theology. Some schools like Covenant have programs with engineering schools like my alma mater, but knowing some of the students that came from programs like those have since convinced me that it doesn’t necessarily work very well. (Disclaimer: Some students in those programs do very well. I admit my knowledge is highly limited.)

As the months went by, different things I read (The Education of James Madison, Surprised By Joy, and the Harry Potter series in particular) shaped a vision of a Christian university, which would endeavor to take young men from ages of sixteen to twenty (perhaps older) and turn them into veritable mighty men. I wanted a school with almost military-like discipline in conduct, rigorous studies, camaraderie, and above all a supreme appreciation for applying a distinctly Christian worldview in all fields of study.

A lofty dream such as mine is difficult to realize, as there are many, many obstacles to overcome during the foundation of an university , especially in America. When I read biographies on men like Stewart, I am very tempted to pursue my dream in the Southern Hemisphere and contribute to the development of nations like Peru, where my church does most of its mission work. Paper Heroes: Appropriate Technology was also instrumental in causing this shift of focus. Also, one of the career fields suggested to me by my father before I entered college was aiding the development of “young countries.”

There’s still a lot to consider about all of this, but if any of you are interested in teaching positions, let me know. I’ve already got a couple of fellow lined up.

i. I was hoping when I saw this link that it would lead to information about a place like Bucer’s but here in the Southeast. Alack, it was not. What it was turned out to be pretty not bad though.