Millstones & Stumbling Blocks: Understanding Education in Post-Christian America

By Bradley E. Heath and Dashka Slater

Book Overview

Much of the timber of public schooling and evangelicalism is as dry as kindling; Millstones & Stumbling Blocks is an open flame.

Don't read this book if you insist on believing that . . .

Christian children should be educated in public schools

American evangelicalism is on the right track

there are political remedies for our cultural illnesses

Do read this book if . . .

you'll consider that the above points may not be true

you are unhappy with the educational status quo

you accept the responsibility to read, think, and act

"There is no greater failing among Christians than our lack of obedience in the education of our children. Brad Heath understands the stakes and eloquently points the way."

-Bruce Shortt Attorney, and author of The Harsh Truth about Public Schools

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587365561
• ISBN13: 9781587365560
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Fenestra Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Real eye opener

This book makes you think about what we should be thinking about, and not wishing for. The problems in the government schools have been ignored by Christians for far to long. This is not a book that targets people, but the system. I can't be reformed, because it was set up to get rid of Christianity in our society. Christian beliefs go directly against an "open anything goes" society. Bureaucracies don't survive thinking societies, and the Elite don't like sharing power. Individuals are a threat to that kind of power. Weaken the family and their beliefs, and you can be in complete control. Turn families against each other, and you don't have solidarity among the masses. This book is a must read for anyone sitting on the fence while thinking about homeschooling.

Argument for non-public education

This book was very helpful in understanding the worldview of the public school system and how it is detrimental to the education of our children.

Confronting the Church on K-12 Christian Education

Unlike other books advocating Christian education, Millstones confronts the practical and theological errors of the evangelical church in abdicating the education of children to the government schools. Families persuaded of the necessity of Christian education will find useful points of dialogue for helping others understand and commit to Christian schools or home education. Heath's analysis of the cultural and moral consequences of rejecting Christian education and embracing public schooling is among the best yet written. If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound who will prepare for battle? Heath sounds a clarion call for the evangelical church to commit to Christian education as part of their walk of faith and obedience.

fresh and challenging perspective for Christians regarding education

Brad Heath challenges Christians to rethink their educational choices, but he does it with such beautiful and pithy prose that Millstones is a delight to read even as it opens gashes in your psyche. Among the opening salvoes in the first chapter: "Modern public schooling is the wall-mounted trophy head of a formerly lionhearted education. Its truncated and lifeless hulk provides a tamed likeness of the once vibrant and powerful creature whose pursuit exhilarated the hearts and minds of countless students. To be the prey of such learning was to be mauled by beauty, truth, and goodness; to stalk it to its lair was an expedition fraught with danger and delight. Sadly, the taxidermists of modernity have done their work well. Public schooling is a hollow shell, a stuffed charade, a glass-eyed cadaver of the once substantive education preceding it. Public schooling is a poor imitation of true education--an inert imposture that is rigid, posed, and dead" (p. 15). Heath continues to make his case with plenty of stories and examples that make the book a pleasure to read. And he makes a case that should be convincing to Heath's intended audience of Bible believing Christians. The last third of the book adds a secondary but critically related theme that faults modern evangelical Christianity for either abandoning education to the secular world or creating "Christian schools" that merely mimic government schools, adding a veneer of Christianity with a "Bible" class rather than providing an integrated, holistic Christian education rooted in both Scripture and history. Heath traces the root of the problem to much more troubling issues--modern-day relativism within the church, at least partially attributable to nineteenth-century "exaltation of the unlearned and ordinary man" resulting from the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening. Heath claims that American Protestants abandoned distinctively Christian education when they agreed to de-Christianize education to create common schools acceptable to their various denominations. Ultimately, Millstones is about the role of Christians in the cultural war since it's the culture that is stealing our children from the church. Heath says, "Despite our [evangelical Christians'] powerful influence, evangelicals are losing the culture war because we fight with the weapons and tactics of our enemies. We will walk the soles off our shoes electing another born-again President, while letting our children be steeped in secularism at the local public school" p. 80. Heath does offer some suggestions for redeeming the situation, but some of the issues he raises should stimulate intense dialogue and self-examination within Christian circles even if there are no quick or easy fixes on hand. I especially appreciate the size of this book. Heath manages to make his case in about 120 pages of text. Even though the book might be a relatively quick read, I expect it will reverberate in your thoughts for years. I expect it will als

Give Your Kids a Christian Education

Brad Heath has entered the growing arena of authors justifiably condemning the government school system. Before you say, "Oh, no! Not another one!" remember that the apostle Paul wrote, "To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe" (Phil 3:1). Christian parents with children in the government school system can't receive Brad Heath's hard, pointed, and piercing message often enough. Contrary to the firmly held but false beliefs of many Christian parents, the government school system is not a blessing from God, but rather, a millstone about the neck of our nation, and more specifically about the neck of the children that the Lord has entrusted to the diligent care of their believing parents. As Brad Heath aptly points out, "We did not know this" will not be a satisfactory response from parents when called to give an account for giving their children up to "Caesar."