CMP Review 2026-05-14

May 14, 2026

In her final volume, Charlotte Mason gave us this plea: “Let us observe, notebook in hand, the orderly and progressive sequence, the penetrating quality, the irresistible appeal, the unique content of the Divine teaching; (for this purpose it might be well to use some one of the approximately chronological arrangements of the Gospel History in the words of the text).”

The chronological arrangement she preferred was The Gospel History, a harmonization of the four Gospels by C. C. James. Enriched by Charlotte Mason’s own poems, it formed the basis for a branch of Bible lessons for Forms 3–6. The text of The Gospel History looks unassuming. It reads like the Bible text, which is natural, since Rev. James used the actual words English Revised Version (ERV), an 1881 translation in the King James tradition.

In our homeschool, however, we found the ERV to be a bit inaccessible, so I began making equivalent readings based on the 1982 New King James Version (NKJV). Since one of the goals of the synthetic study is to bring out the emphasis of each Gospel writer, I decided to color-code the source of each sentence or phrase. It was in the process of doing this that I discovered the hidden genius of James’s unassuming work. Verse after verse and chapter after chapter I have thrilled at how he chose to harmonize and reconcile the biblical data.

Now that my son has finished The Saviour of the World, we are continuing our study of “the orderly and progressive sequence … of the Divine teaching.” With C. C. James as my guide, the color-coded texts have enhanced the understanding of student and teacher alike. And “the irresistible appeal, the unique content of the Divine teaching” is becoming our possession for life.

@artmiddlekauff