CMP Review 2026-03-08

In 1908, Charlotte Mason lamented the state of Bible study in her day: “We have analysed until the mind turns in weariness from the broken fragments; we have criticised until there remains no new standpoint for the critic.” If that was the situation then, how is it now, a century later? Richard John Neuhaus recently lamented “the slide of biblical scholarship into hyper-specialized critical studies of ancient texts in remote historical context.” It seems that the broken fragments just keep getting smaller.

Mason aimed to reverse that trend by writing a “synthetic study of the life and teaching of Christ.” She believed that “if we could only get a whole conception of Christ’s life among men, and of the philosophic method of His teaching, His own word should be fulfilled, and the Son of Man, lifted up, would draw all men unto Himself.”

In her study, she assumed by faith that the entirety of Scripture — Old and New Testament — provide a unified witness to coherent theological truth. Therefore in her meditation on any particular passage of Scripture, she saw and contemplated the links from the part to the whole.

Today’s poem is a wonderful example of this Christ-centered contemplation. In studying Mary’s three-month visit to Elizabeth, the critic would have us analyze the syntax and grammar of 13 Greek words. Mason would have us take a tour of the Psalms and the Prophets. Read the poem here.

@artmiddlekauff