A message from Andrew Kern, President of The CiRCE Institute

You may have heard that a “meaning crisis” has engulfed our youth: that they carry the weight of discovering their own meaning in a world that has neither meaning nor guidance to offer. For many, life is as Shakespeare’s MacBeth said, “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”   

This meaning crisis is real and existentially painful. I believe it is part of an even deeper crisis: a crisis of glory. The world has been reduced from a meaningful and glorious creation to a meaningless and mechanical machine.  

Unfortunately, when the world loses its glory and its meaning, so do the people in it. For example, to become a man is no longer a glorious quest demanding faithful courage and manly virtue, and to be feminine is no longer a radiant dream, demanding chastity and feminine virtue. Instead, each person is expected to figure out for himself or herself what he or she wants to be, never considering that if they try to be something other than what they are they reject their own glory and meaning.  

These fundamental post-human errors have deep, every day, practical, painful consequences.  

If the world lacks meaning, how can the words that name it have meaning? If words lack meaning and things lack value, how can you and I deliberate? And if we can’t deliberate, how can we make sound decisions? And if we can’t make sound decisions, how can we build a community, much less a nation?  

The Pragmatic approach that has brushed aside the quest for meaning and glory has cheapened the whole world and the people in it. It has aborted the children of Wisdom, those who our Lord told us would vindicate her.  

So many buildings are ugly, houses are inhospitable, music, that ought to unite a community by embodying its customs and values in bodily movements, instead drives wedges between its members. Literature that ennobles, art that evokes the transcendent, and schools that honor teachers and students, these are reviled.  

None of this is new to you. You have participated with CiRCE in our shared calling and you have joined us in our commission. You know that we have been called out of this age to provide alternative models, ideas, and resources.  

You know that we have chosen the hard path of responding to but not being driven by “the market.” Instead, we are “driven” by Christ the Logos, a high view of the image of God, and piety or reverence toward God, man, and the cosmos. You know because you are driven by them too. 

You remember the story of the Exodus, when the Lord redeemed Israel from their Egyptian slavery and led them to Mt. Sinai where He made a marriage covenant with them and described both the house they would share and the kind of household He would husband. 

Israel broke that covenant, committing adultery with another god. If Moses had not stood in the gap for Israel, she would have been destroyed. But for Moses’ sake the Lord spared her. 

Then Moses uttered what may have been the most daring words any human mouth has ever allowed past the wall of its teeth. “Show me Your glory,” he said to the Lord of Heaven and earth who shook the mountain (Read Exodus 32 through 34!).  

The Lord replied, “No one can see My glory and live, but I will show you…” And then the words defy translation.  

It seems that the Lord tells Moses that He will hide him in a rock, cover his face, and all His goodness will pass before him. Afterward, Moses will be able to see the effects of God’s glory. 

Moses was so transformed by the experience that his face shone. Indeed, his face shone so brightly with the glory of God that he was compelled to veil it so the Israelites could look at him. 

Many years later, the Lord visited another mountain and revealed His glory in a new way. Moses and Elijah were there. So were Peter, James, and John, who were so overwhelmed that Peter, perhaps remembering Moses, suggested that they should build three tabernacles.  

You may notice one especially striking similarity in these two stories: both Moses and Jesus shone. Yet, they shone differently. The glory that shone in Moses’ face was the glory of the Lord, like a sword glowing from the heat of a blacksmith’s furnace. 

The glory that shone in our Lord’s body, face, and even clothes was His own. He was the flame that caused the sword to glow. 

On Mt. Tabor, a veiled glory was revealed. On Mt. Sinai, a “borrowed” glory was veiled. 

  

At CiRCE we put true glory above profit, deliberation above manipulation, and discipleship above training and expertise. 

 As a result, CiRCE’s influence has been quiet but deep:  

• We helped turn the attention of the classical renewal toward wisdom and virtue.  

• Thousands of students have learned to deliberate using the tools of rhetoric as practiced in The Lost Tools of Writing.  

• The teacher apprenticeship continues to mentor teachers and parents around the country.  

 

Indeed, while for many years teachers and parents participated in the CiRCE apprenticeship simply because they wanted to grow as teachers in the Christian classical tradition, their devotion has brought about a significant development. Their devotion and success has led to the apprenticeship being widely recognized as the “state of the art” for teacher mentorship within the classical renewal. 

Over the last couple years, the CiRCE Apprenticeship has been recognized by universities like Belmont Abbey, who now grant credit toward a master’s degree in classical education to those who participate in it. 

Schools like St. Constantine and Thales Academy now grant preferred status to graduates of the CiRCE Apprenticeship when they recruit teachers. And all over the country, dozens of graduates are effectively teaching in schools, homes, and co-ops with gratitude to their mentors. 

You made that possible.  

I could go on talking about the impact you have had through CiRCE: the Supra feasts that extend our commitment to hospitality at conferences and events, our school leadership consulting and apprenticeship, our new books – including one I authored that explores what the temple reveals about the soul and education – our plans to refine and expand our rhetoric resource The Lost Tools of Writing to students younger and older (even including a college program), and any number of initiatives you have enabled. 

What can I say about the scholarships you have provided, the relief you provided to hurricane victims through our raffle, the discussions we conduct in the new office you enabled us to purchase, the regional events you participate in, the Forma Symposium…? 

You have enabled all of this – and so much more.  

Because we are sensitive to how much we share the ministries of the CiRCE Institute with you, we pledge ourselves to faithfully fulfill our shared commitments: to Christian classical education, to logos-centered, humane, and pious learning; to coherence in the way we teach, learn, govern, and assess. 

We are involved in a ministry of transformation: of students’ souls, of teachers’ roles, of families, parents, and schools. 

But I realize it’s more than that. Because of your generosity, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are involved in a ministry of transfiguration. When we gaze on Christ and bear witness to His glory, we all become a little more like Moses, or like the Apostles, or best of all, like our Lord, Jesus Christ, who transforms us from glory to glory when we gaze on Him. 

And when do we find more joy in gazing on Him than at Christmas, when He makes His humility visible to our eyes, is carried in his mother’s courageous womb, and sleeps in the feeding trough of a cow?. 

Filled with gratitude, I am writing to thank you for the many ways you have labored with us and to invite you to participate again through a Christmas gift that will enable us to serve the Christian classical renewal in the coming year.  

Remembering your generosity and our Lord’s provision in 2024, we look eagerly forward to 2025 with a deep sense of responsibility. With that in mind, our strategic theme for the coming year is “focus”: on the needs of parents and teachers and the students they teach by 

• strengthening and growing the CiRCE apprenticeship in order to encourage and mentor parents, teachers, and school leadership, 

• developing resources for teachers and parents who share our dream of a logos-centered education, 

• expanding CiRCE consulting with schools, families, and co-ops; and  

• producing more words through articles, podcasts, presentations, conferences, and books.  

We have watched with amazement as classical education has swept across our nation and, increasingly, around the world (we’ve even been called to Australia and the UK).  

Because you share in and support our calling, we are able to serve this renewal. 

And this is a particularly beneficial time to participate because friends of CiRCE have stepped forward with year-end pledges of $22,000 in matching funds. This means that for every dollar you contribute, up to a total of $22,000, they will match it dollar for dollar.  

Here are three ways you can participate in the growing and focused work of the CiRCE Institute: 

• Contribute a one-time, tax-deductible, matched Christmas gift of $50, $250, $1000 or any amount that you deem best.  

1. To make a one-time Christmas gift, visit our website at https://circeinstitute.org/donate/ * 

• Spread your giving over the year by pledging a tax-deductible monthly contribution of $25, $100, $250 or any amount you find appropriate.  

1. To spread your giving over the year, visit our website at https://circeinstitute.org/donate/

• Become a Benefactor of the CiRCE Institute by contributing $25,000 or more, in one payment or in multiple payments spread out over the year.  

1. To learn how to be a CiRCE benefactor, please contact me directly either by phone at 704 236-3964 or by email at akern@circeinstitute.org 

If you prefer, you can reduce the processing fees by mailing a check to 6125 Lumber Lane, Kannapolis, NC 28083.   

I need to run and you probably do too. I’m rushing off to share the dream of  Logos-centered, humane, pious, and coherent education with a local school committed to equipping young people to lead with integrity. If they’ll see the glory of God’s image and the meaning of the creation, they’ll be better able to deliberate and they’ll come to love the word. Then they will become a source of hope for us all and for the communities they help form and guide.  

Please pray for me and for them. And know that I thank you with all my heart for making these shared ministries possible. 

For all these blessings you have provided to us and through us, may the Lord remember you in His Kingdom! 

Andrew Kern 

President and Founder of the CiRCE Institute