Truth, Goodness & Beauty
At the heart of a classical education is teaching a child to recognise, understand and love what is True, Good and Beautiful.
We believe these are things that don't rely on our perception or opinion, but instead are an objective reality that
actually exists - transcendentals that find their fullness in God, Who is Truth, Goodness and Beauty Itself.
What are Truth, Goodness & Beauty?
Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft describes how truth, goodness and beauty
"...are the only three things that we never get bored with, and never will, for all eternity, because they are attributes of God, and therefore of all God’s creation: three transcendental or absolutely universal properties of all reality."
Truth, simply, IS. It is the essence of reality, the objective nature of all things. Jesus said "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." Goodness is when what exists is rightly ordered, when reality aligns with truth. And beauty is the expression of this goodness, for we perceive the good as beautiful.
Beauty draws our hearts towards what is good, which in turn attracts us to the truth. Goodness helps us to love what is true, rather than simply to know it. These three things actually exist and can be known, and direct us to God in Whom all things find their being and end.
Why do they matter in education?
So much of the disintegration apparent in the modern education system has a denial of truth, an ignorance of goodness, and an extinguishing of beauty at its foundation. It is the natural result of a subjectivism that tries to shape the world and reality to itself, rather than submitting and conforming ourselves to reality.
A classical education is one that understands how beauty draws the heart towards goodness and in turn truth. It teaches students to recognise these things in the books they are reading, the ideas they are comprehending, the art they are studying, and the created world that surrounds them. In turn, truth, goodness and beauty nourish the soul and cultivate wisdom and virtue. Ultimately, these are the principles at the very heart of education, and the means by which its purpose can be achieved.
At Newman College we study ideas that are true, art that is beautiful, and stories that are good. We believe in immersing students in the wonder of God and His world, teaching them to recognise Him in all that is True, Good and Beautiful.
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