Teaching for Spiritual Formation: A Patristic Approach to Christian Education in a Convulsed Age

Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, I was privileged to be a part of a group of fellow educators reading through the rough draft of this book with Kyle Hughes. As we read each section of the book and gave feedback, we were all encouraged in our faith and calling as Christian teachers. Having now read the finished product, I am even more encouraged and excited to see how this book will shape the future of Christian education.The book serves the dual purpose of introducing the reader to some of the early church fathers and their views of life, faith, and the purpose of education as well as showing how their writings can offer us insight into our teaching practices today. Hughes raises tough yet important questions that challenge how we think about Christian education and also offers some important and solid insights on how we might answer those questions and truly be used by the Lord to shape future generations of students.This is a book that is accessible to all readers and will hopefully become a regular part of discussions around Christian education in the 21st century.

If you are a teacher or a pastor...if you have a school at your church...if you help run a homeschool co-op...if you homeschool...I cannot recommend this book highly enough. There are not enough superlatives to describe how excellent I think this book is. I realize you may not agree with everything in it. Please don't let that keep you from reading and learning from this book. It does the best job of showing how to implement Christian disciplines and purposeful spiritual formation into a school that I have ever seen. I will be returning to it often. Tolle lege!

This book does a tremendous job showing practical ways Christian educators can apply time honored Christian principles to their unique and challenging calling. As a Christian teacher in my 10th year it offered me a renewed view on how I approach my own practice and inspired me greatly.

The book not only challenged the way I viewed Christian education, but left me with clear steps on what to do about it.

Definitely recommend, especially for Christian teachers!