Episode 286: Christopher Zehnder, the General Editor for the Catholic Textbook Project (June 12, 2024)

This week on The Open Door (June 12) we complete our series on education. Our focus is developing Catholic textbooks that give history its deepest perspective. Our welcome guest is Christopher Zehnder, M.A. He is the General Editor for the Catholic Textbook Project. A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College, he has worked as a graphic artist, journalist, school headmaster, and teacher of history, literature, theology, and mathematics. Mr. Zehnder has been affiliated with the Catholic Textbook Project since its founding in 2000. He has authored several of its textbooks, edited and contributed chapters to others, and made art selections for many of them. He is a novelist as well! A member of the American Solidarity Party, Christopher is on the town council of Hartford, Ohio. With his wife Katherine and their family, he has made his residence there since escaping Southern California.

The following are among the questions we asked him: 

1.  How did you come to be an educator?
2. Why does it matter how we define education?
3. What led to your interest in history?
4. You write historical fiction. Is there any way to get beyond writing stories about history?
5. Can you sketch for us the history of education in the United States? What has led to the resurgence of interest in classical education?
6. How did the Catholic Textbook Project come about? What does it bring to the table in today’s educational milieu?
7. What do you make of “critical race theory”?
8. How can Catholic educators teach the truth about the uglier dimensions of history?
9. How can Catholic educators help form students into citizens who embody both charity and solidarity?
10. Are you writing a new textbook? How about another novel?