The Thanksgiving table is the one place where Americans truly feast. On the fourth Thursday of each November, generations of family and friends gather to create sumptuous dishes, eat heartily, drink merrily, and enjoy each other’s company with hearts of gratitude. This year’s Thanksgiving comes after our staff had the opportunity to meet with many of our parents. Reflecting on conferences while looking ahead to the Thanksgiving meal has…

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first installment of the beloved “Chronicles of Narnia” series.  So as winter swiftly approaches here at Chapel Field, it is especially fitting this year to devote special attention to the “forever winter” that C.S. Lewis created for generations of readers to explore. To honor the book and the essential position that it has held in the modern Christian imagination for the last 75 years, the upper school will be gathering to read the entire book together during part of the school day on both November 24th and 25th before…

On Friday, September 5, 2025, Chapel Field held its third annual convocation at Goodwill Church in Montgomery, NY. Our Academic Dean, Mr. Henry Listenberger, welcomed attendees with a greeting, which we are pleased to share below as a Bell Tower article.

Transcript of Greeting – Academic Dean, Henry Listenberger Welcome and good evening! It is my distinct pleasure and honor to greet you all at the beginning of tonight’s event. As the Academic Dean, and as someone who is still a relatively recent…

I am not Scottish, at least not that I know of. I’ve never really put much stock in my genetic makeup. I teach my theology students that for Christians our anthropology is eschatological before it is biological anyways. I won’t attempt to explain what that means here, but it is true. Christ shatters linear time in such a way that what is last is actually first. So I am not a Scot but I am a Presbyterian whose Christian heritage is much indebted to many a Scotsman. I love that tradition even if I don’t always see eye to eye with many of those from it in regards to the way that tradition is interpreted, lived…

This Independence Day, as we celebrate the birth of our great nation, we at Chapel Field invite you to read these six short excerpts from American texts, speeches, and sermons. As we reflect on our country’s storied history, it is good and right to soak in the wisdom of our forefathers and to give thanks to our God. We hope you’ll read along with us…

When parents ask me for book recommendations for their kids to read over the summer it is usually because they are facing one of two problems: 1) Their child reads ferociously and they have no idea how to find enough good books to throw in front of them, or 2) their child does not like to read at all, and they wish they knew how to find any book that will actually compel them to sit down, read, and finally be quiet. The child in problem…

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 — It’s fitting to frame any discussion on the value of art by quoting the very first verse of the Bible. If we truly believe Scripture to be theopneustos or “God-breathed”, we must then recognize that the first description that God provides about Himself is that He is a creator. In Classical Christian education, the traditional academic rigor we strive for should always be infused with…

I never cared for my name until, when I was around 10 years old my family was having dinner talking about where their names came from and what they meant. We all went around talking about what our names meant until it got to me. My aunt looked it up and Micah meant “one who is like God.” After that I didn’t think about my name until in my junior year in theology class we read “Parker’s Back” by Flannery O’Conner. In O’Conner’s short story…

Here’s the text with extra space added between the paragraphs for better formatting on your blog: My father is not a fish. I don't believe that he ever will be. But for the past few days it has felt like my father is a fish.I often implore my students to furnish the interior of their hearts, to decorate their minds, to wallpaper their souls with great literature and poetry. It's a hard thing for...

What a joy it was to see so many of you at our 2024 convocation service last week.  We are hopeful that more and more of our families will join us each year as we seek to begin our school year by asking for the Lord’s blessing.  It was an evening of beautiful singing and prayer.  We were also blessed by a message from Rev. Tim Goodwin who is the Director of Operations at The Geneva School, a classical Christian school in Manhattan.  Tim spoke...

A day or two after walking a group of teachers through a magnificent old fairytale, an old myth: The Handless Maiden, one veteran educator came up to talk to me about the story. But in reality it wasn't a discussion about the story simpliciter, it was about the role of stories—stories told, stories heard, stories written. The teacher said to me, “I…

A Proclamation: Any American who has ever listened to a bugler sound Taps, the last salute, whether on a green and grassy hillside, a muddy field halfway around the world, or a lonely tarmac stateside or anywhere freedom is cherished and defended, knows exactly why we set aside a special day each year to honor those who have died for our country and to pray for permanent peace. We do so for the sons and daughters of our land who have perished in the cause of liberty…

One of the insights of classical, Christian education is that education is much more than information transfer, or preparation to take tests. It is a rigorous training of the whole soul: body, mind and spirit. As Plutarch wrote long ago, “the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be…

One of my all-time favorite poems is “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” by W.H. Auden. It is just hard to beat one of your poetic heroes writing a dirge for another one of your heroes. This poem was bouncing around my mind all day yesterday, the 2 year anniversary of the passing of Coach Spanjer—the founder and patriarch of Chapel Field Christian Schools. It is poetic, providential, fitting, that a passage from Mark’s gospel was also swirling inside my skull, mixing and…

This week concludes the fourth week of Advent according to the church calendar.  Advent refers to the four weeks prior to Christmas and has historically been a season of expectation and contemplation of the coming of the incarnate God.  While we are very acquainted with the national and cultural calendar of America, its seasons and holidays, we are less…

Just a couple of weeks ago, a handful of faculty and I had the privilege to chaperone the Juniors and Seniors on a field trip to Plymouth and to Boston. What an incredible feeling it is to stand where the pilgrims stood as they entered this strange new world filled with hopes and fears, but most of all with resolve, strengthened by their faith in the Triune God. We stood there with…

“I’m just not a math person. I don’t get math. When will we ever use this stuff?” Throughout my 25+ years of math instruction, I have occasionally caught wind of these student phrases. You may have heard them too, or even uttered them yourselves. Understandably, the mental acrobatics…

If you’ve been around Chapel Field for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard snatches of something called the “Non Nobis.” You’ve probably heard it sung, too, because one of the distinctive things about a Chapel Field education is that Chapel Field students sing…

It is the danger of any school to think that education is a mechanical process that students move through on their way to inevitable maturity. As such, classes are taught with the short-sighted goal of “getting through the material” and simply preparing the children for the next grade. At Chapel Field we…

“I don’t like to read.” More often than I’d like to admit, I hear students (even my own children!) exclaim, “I don’t like to read.” (If we’re honest, many of us sympathize with this statement). Sure we “know” that reading is important. We’ve skimmed through…

In the book of Proverbs, Solomon guides his son to maturity by passing on his wisdom to him. In Chapter 2 Solomon challenges his son to set out on a hunt for wisdom as if he were searching for silver or for gold. “Cry out for it” he tells him…

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves […] are, and henceforward shall be free." The Proclamation changed the legal…

Every academic year at Chapel Field centers on a spiritual theme. Chapels, morning assemblies, discipleship groups and our book studies bring us back to these themes and help…

Mark Twain is credited with challenging parents not to let schooling get in the way of their children’s education. Of course, for many people, education and schooling are…