Horace Bushnell on Christian Nurture and Revivalism

Abstract

Where is the importance of home education today? Home education would be influenced by parents’ values and their teaching methods. We live in an era in which we emphasize the importance of parents' understanding of Christian home education in Christian families. If so, what is the value of parental child education in Christian families and what education would be desirable? This study emphasizes Christian nurturing in the family by studying Bushnell’s Christian nurture. Bushnell’s Christian Nurture tells two significant concerns of his ministry. First concern is all about the prevailing view of infant baptism. Although he did not deny the sacramental grace, Bushnell thought that the rite as practiced implied too sudden and radical a change in the character of the child. The approach seemed to him as unrealistic and verging on superstition. Bushnell’s second concern was a discontent with revivalism as the sole means of salvation. Even he was not opposed to all revivalism and revival conversion, because when he was a law student at Yale, a revival started him on his final career path. But he opposed all revivals because Calvinism did not teach a valid Christian experience. The situation in the United States at that time was the days of the Great Awakening, in which Jonathan Edward and others were active, and the main emphasis was on the total depravity of man, the grace of God, and the salvation through conversion and faith. In this context, it is very unusual for children born in Christian families to be recognized as Christians and to emphasize Christian nurturing for their children. Therefore, we examine Bushnell’s conversion, infant baptism, child care and evangelism, and seek implications for his family education. In addition, the importance of today’s balanced Christian home education is to cooperate with the church to provide Christian education to children with parent education and to become healthy homes.