Christian religious education and the development of moral virtues: a neo-Thomistic approach

ABSTRACT

This article explores the implications for Christian religious education of the theory of moral virtues formulated by Thomas Aquinas and developed by the contemporary Neo-Thomists. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part introduces Thomistic virtue theory and presents cardinal virtues crucial for Thomistic ethics: prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, as the reference points for moral education. This part also includes analysis of the relationship between cardinal and theological virtues, leading to the conclusion that Christian religious education also requires the development of theological virtues. The second part explores, through Thomistic theory, what factors condition the development of a person’s moral character (i.e. his/her moral virtues) and what those factors mean for supporting moral education within Christian religious education, initially within the context of Polish schooling. Particular attention is given to three issues: introducing the concept of responsibility for community members, introducing knowledge of moral virtues, and building a relationship with God.     

HOLDING ONTO HOPE: ADDRESSING THEOLOGICAL CONFLICT THROUGH CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Today deep theological differences threaten to divide Protestant denominations. In turn, these differences often mute church education and block mission. This article seeks to offer glimpses for addressing that theological controversy. It is an exercise in historical retrieval examining a generative period in the history of Christian religious education, that is, the theological conflict between the liberal religious education movement and neo-orthodoxy in the 1930s through 1950s. As Christian educators moved through this earlier conflict, underlying theological commitments and theological practices emerged that offered a faithful politics of hope calling the church to mission.     

Fowler's Faith Development Christian Perspectives on Faith Development

The work of James W. Fowler on faith development has become well known in the USA and in British theological and religious education circles in the last 15 years, even if this research has yet to make much impact on general education or any on philosophy of education. Now Drs Astley and Francis have produced a large, one volume collection of papers by Fowler, his associates and his critics. His theory and discussion of it, evaluation and application of it in various spheres, is at last available in a convenient compass (although for a detailed acquaintance, reference must be made to his main publications, cited in this book's bibliography).     

Spirituality Amid Dogma? Some Approaches to Educating for Religious Belief within in a State Religious School in Israel

The religious school, where young people are brought into religious life and practice, the development of a religious belief system is often neglected. Religiousness is often instilled as a linear end product, a monolithic corpus of ideas to be singularly transmitted and subsequently owned by youth. However, educational research by Gareth Matthews, Nel Noddings, and others suggests that youth are thirsting for opportunities to grapple, question, and wrestle with profound theological and philosophical issues—a process that leads to a richer religious identity. This article, based on three years of ethnographic research, looks at the way in which four teachers from one religious girls' high school in Israel executed theological education, from indoctrination with a pretty face, to the theological Bunsen burner. The dynamic between teachers' voices and students' voices sheds light on adolescent religious identity, and offers vital insights for religious education.     

Text and Context: the Passion of the Christ and Other Jesus Films

Looking back on his vocational journey, the author explores three “conversations” among academic and local church religious educators originating in teaching practice that culminate in a discussion of religious education as a field of study. These conversations focus attention on teaching in the transformation of persons and communities, on community as context and agency of teaching, and on public life as the setting for teaching to live responsibly into the providential intent of God. From this perspective religious education is described as an inherently theological practice emerging from the engagement of teachers and students in faith communities at the edges of our collective ignorance of the “intent of God” and at the intersection of our various religious traditions.     

The NOMA of Yishayahu Leibowitz

Stephen Jay Gould presented his position on science and religion – Non-Overlapping Magisteria (NOMA) – without justification. A detailed justification of the NOMA position can be found in the earlier work of scientist and philosopher Yishayahu Leibowitz; his work is especially interesting because it comes from a religious person. This paper summarizes Leibowitz's philosophical and theological position, and claims that his version of NOMA, and by implication similar versions of NOMA, are not applicable in science education.     

塔列耶夫的神学思想

塔列耶夫是１９世纪末和２０世纪初俄罗斯著名宗教哲学家和神学家。作为教会神学家,他的神学思想却不为非官方教会意识所容忍。他企图建立一个普遍的神学体系,但认为只有基督教哲学是不够的,还需要“生命哲学”。在他的神学思想体系里,教会意识遭到贬低,因此,他具有鲜明的改革倾向。在俄罗斯宗教思想史上,塔列耶夫占有十分独特而重要的地位。本文选择塔列耶夫具有独特性的神学思想进行介绍,特别是他对基督教的本质的理解,对生命的意义的理解,以及对宗教生活中的实质观念如祷告、信、望、爱等的理解。     

Courage in Chaos: The Importance of Trauma-Informed Adult Religious Education

This article explores the powerful influence that trauma can have on individuals and the ways in which this influence might be addressed in the development of adult religious education. It asks how we can facilitate deepening a person's relationship with God and others when trauma has damaged a person's capacity to relate. Suggestions are made for future work by integrating trauma analysis from Judith Herman and Bessel van der Kolk with theological insight from Mary Elizabeth Moore and Rebecca Chopp. Five qualities of a trauma-informed approach to adult religious education are proposed.     

THE TWELFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION

This article offers a response to two provocative questions about the relationship of theology to religious education posed by Norma Thompson in her Presidential address given at the annual meeting of APRRE in 1978. I offer contemporary answers to these questions from the perspective of a theological educator. First, I show how feminist theory and practices are transforming theological education. Second, I discuss how feminist pedagogy and theologies inform my teaching as a university professor. Third, I show how the themes of justice, dialogue, and imagination that emerge from feminist practices shape my work and the learning of my undergraduate theology students.     

PRESENT NEEDS IN YOUNG PEOPLE'S WORK

This collaborative article examines hybridity as intercultural threads to weave theological discourses and pedagogical practices. Through narrating their life stories, the authors open up a space for dialogue in agenda and agency of doing religious education. It identifies dualism and homogeneous purity as stumbling blocks to hybrid theology and religious education. The authors explore theological glimpses of hybridity found in such religious traditions as Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Finally, it proposes a hybrid space for threshold religious education as a faithful way to embrace today's changing and fluid contexts where people migrate and cross their geographical, cultural, and national boundaries.     

Vision and Optimism: Empowering New Educators

Abstract

When people of faith participate in movements for social change, how are their religious and moral identities formed, challenged, and transformed? Although they have explicit and tangible goals as they participate in advocacy, protest, and boycotts, religious social activists also, James Jasper argues, craft “lives worth living” (1997). This article examines the identity-shaping power of religious participation in social movements, in conversation with scholarship in religious education and social movement theory; describes the relationship between social activism and theological imagination; and proposes some explicit practices for nurturing religious and moral formation.     

Did My Religious Education Teach Me to Hate My Family’s Religiosidad? An Autobiographical Analysis of My Religious and Theological Education

Abstract

This article begins with a brief autobiographical depiction of my religious education. It then charts the ways in which the inadequacies of that religious education caused me to treat my family's traditional religious expressions with suspicion rather than appreciation, undergirding coloniality as a phenomenon within my religious education. My graduate theological education helped to rectify this phenomenon, revealing important contributions for religious educators as a protection against the erasure of cultural identities.     

哈姆莱特形象之我见

哈姆莱特一直被当作典型的人文主义者,而以此去衡量他的所作所为时,却会发现他无论是行为上、还是言语上,都有很多与此相悖之处。哈姆莱特不仅够不上一个人文主义者,而且其内心世界还存在着严重的宗教神学思想,其特点正好说明文艺复兴时期,刚刚从宗教重压下站立起来的"人",在精神上依然存在着与上帝千丝万缕的联系。     

MISSIONS IN INDIA—BURMA—CHINA

This brilliant survey of current theological trends has important consequences for religious education, going beyond the perspective suggested by David Steward in the July‐August 1968 issue     

Comparative Moments: A Comparative Theological Orientation for Theological Education

Abstract

This article argues for the deep integration of encounters with religious diversity into theological education. Some seminaries and theological schools, like Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology, have made it a matter of institutional mission to prepare students to provide leadership and spiritual care in contexts of religious pluralism. The article draws upon the emerging field of comparative theology to propose methods and resources for this integration at the level of the introductory theology course.     

"世界伦理"构想的宗教依据分析

孔汉思先生所提出的“世界伦理”构想，目的在于为京教问的争平和世界间的和平提供一条可资选择的造径。因此“世界伦理”的提出，必须有它得以建立的宗教依据。在分析宗教依据的过程中，孔汉思先生对“大神学解释学”保持了足够的警惕，并对“世界伦理”在推行过程中可能出现的问题进行了思考。     

THE MISREPRESENTATION OF RELIGION IN MODERN BRITISH (RELIGIOUS) EDUCATION

ABSTRACT:  The purpose of this paper is to articulate a new perspective on British multi-faith religious education that both complements and, in part, subsumes existing critiques. My argument, while controversial, is straightforward: it is that British religious education has misrepresented the nature of religion in efforts to commend itself as contributing to the social aims of education, as these are typically framed in liberal democratic societies. Contemporary multi-faith religious education is placed in context and its underlying theological and philosophical commitments identified and criticised. It is concluded that current representations of religion in British religious education are limited in their capacity to challenge racism and religious intolerance, chiefly because they are conceptually ill equipped to develop respect for difference.     

Educating American Protestant Religious Educators

The voluntarism in Protestant theologies and practices has significantly shaped the education of lay and professional Protestant religious educators in networks of voluntary and academic training programs that through the years have emphasized the interdependence of pedagogical, religious/theological, and social science theories and practices. Cultural changes in the past fifty years, however, have disrupted shared assumptions about the purposes and practices of religious education, calling for the exercise of a new ecclesial educational imagination.     

THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF THE HOME

The process of sophisticated theological thinking in children begins at an early age. Thinking deeply about the ultimate concerns of life is inherent in human beings. This paper, based on the author's conversations with his children, explores the profound processes of theological reflection in playground songs sung by children in public elementary schools, informal conversations with children about prayer and religious insight, and the place of paradox and play in the theological reflection of children. Drawing on the works of such scholars as Winnicott, Gerkin, Rizzutto, and Stivers, the author charts intriguing areas for reflection as well as needed areas for future research.     

Living and learning in the presence of the other: defining religious education inclusively

Recent developments in praxis and theory of religious education point to the growing interest in inclusive forms of didactics. Interreligious learning invites children and young people to deal constructively with religious diversity in the classroom. In this paper, philosophical and theological arguments for inclusive religious education are presented and widened for a learning environment in which people with and without special needs learn in each other’s presence. The experience of radical otherness, of difference and vulnerability of fellow learners, is the starting point to reframe religious didactics, religious pedagogy and theology. It is also the culmination point: radical inclusive religious education ends up with the experience of learning as ‘receiving the gift of friendship’ (Hans Reinders). This framework is helpful to plan different sorts of learning arrangements and to conceive of different sorts of learning relationships, even outside the religious education classroom.