much truth and beauty is to be found in the great Catholic writers and helps us have empathy for
the circumstances that drove the Church to the stands it took.
One problem, however, is that literature produced by authentic Evangelicals (even
including authors like C.S. Lewis for this purpose) does not compare favorably with the beauty
and power of so much of Roman Catholic literature. Of course, they have had a lot longer to
work at it. But we should not conclude that as a result it's too dangerous or too depressing to
read Catholic authors, and instead let our students rise to the challenge of producing powerful
works of theology and literature within the Evangelical tradition that will still be read centuries
from now.
2. Methodology
Torrey uses what we call the Platonic method, a modified version of the Socratic method,
as an effort to return to the kind of tutoring model of teaching that has well served Western
education for many centuries. The current dominant model of education was developed during
the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, based on secular notions of human nature and
education. The unbiblical and incorrect notion that humans are a blank slate at birth led to the
conclusion that one can make equally useful citizens by educating them in exactly the same way.
So educational theory became about determining the ideal form of society, and what kind of
education is needed to populate that utopia, then turning that information into a curriculum. In
essence, open skull and insert knowledge.
The pedagogical model which we follow in Torrey asserts that students learn best when
they are engaged in the learning process. More students are less likely to actively listen to a
lecture. Even if they are listening, their learning is likely to take place after the class is over, as
they reflect on the information. So learning does indeed take place, but the instructor is less