CMP Review 2023-12-03

One spends but little time in Charlotte Mason circles before one sees images of a massive fresco on the wall and ceiling of the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Although the fresco’s title now is The Triumph of the Catholic Doctrine, among Charlotte Mason enthusiasts it is often referred to simply as “The Great Recognition.”

This informal title is taken from the name of Chapter 25 of Parents and Children: “The Great Recognition Required of Parents.” It is the idea that “God, the Holy Spirit, is Himself the supreme Educator of mankind.”

Across the range of her writings, Charlotte Mason pointed to many Scriptures in support of this idea, including 1 Samuel 10:10, 1 Chronicles 28:11-12, Isaiah 28:24-26, John 16:12, James 1:17, and James 3:17.

In her poetry volumes, however, she drew perhaps the most extraordinary connection between the Gospels and the Great Recognition. Writing in 1911, she said of John 10:14, “It seems to me that there exists no better comment upon the saying, ‘I said, ye are gods,’ than this expression of mediæval philosophy as embraced by the Church.” Read or hear the striking poem that boldly stands on one of the most mysterious verses of the New Testament. Find it here.

@artmiddlekauff