Jan Comenius and Education

Transcript

The Legacy of Jan Amos Comenius

If you ever have a chance to visit Prague, right next door to the parliament is a national museum to the man that the Czechs call the father of modern education. His name was Jan Amos Cominius. Comenius was heralded by Hermann Bavink as the greatest figure of the second generation of reformers, but he's practically forgotten today. Alexander Bonnard said he was the truest heir of Hus, the chief inspiration of Chalmers, and the first model for Cary, but he's rarely mentioned alongside those men. J. Hudson Taylor said he was the single greatest innovator of missions, education, and literature during the Protestant Reformation, but he's hardly remembered. And though Abraham Kuyper said that he was the father of modern Christian education, as the museum next door to the parliament building claims, his vision of substantive discipleship is only very infrequently practiced.

Today, I want us to look at the legacy of Jan Amos Cominius, learn from it, and hopefully walk in his footsteps for the next generation. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our time together this morning. Brief as it is, I pray that you would, by the power of your spirit, use it powerfully. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.