CONGREGATION AS EDUCATOR: PROBLEM AND POSSIBILITY FOR THE PROFESSIONAL CHURCH EDUCATOR

This essay examines movements in history that have shaped the field of religious education and the contextual realities of Asia. The plurality of influences also means a plurality of forms in which the field can and should take shape—in terms of contents, approaches and methodologies. The author argues for reclaiming a “more holistic approach” to religious and theological education that explicitly embraces the plurality of faiths in contemporary Asia.     

THE PUBLIC CHURCH AS A MODEL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The concept of Canon in most religious traditions remains that of a static body of ideas, doctrines, and practices usually codified in a sacred book. Jews and Christians share that classical understanding; we are the people of the Book. This essay examines how Canon becomes embodied in religious communities, how that experience forms the faithful in the tradition, and how that experience modifies the Canon of that tradition. Three specific religious communities are examined: Jewish, Catholic, and Lutheran. Each faith is deeply rooted in the Book, yet each is vibrantly alive with change and renewal. Canon is a lived experience!     

THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR AS CULTURAL SPEC-ACTOR: RESEARCHING SELF IN INTERCULTURAL PEDAGOGY

This article seeks to explore notions regarding the conceptualization of culture in the field of Christian religious education. These conceptualizations are central to understanding the social nature of faith communities and the role of religious educators as they respond to this nature. The author proposes that the faith community is intercultural in that people with distinct cultural perspectives come together to forge a shared religious identity. Consequently, the vocation of the religious educator is presented as a call to be a specactor1, a practitioner who constantly assesses his/her own cultural orientations in relation to those of the learners. The article concludes the paper with some suggestions on how to develop a contrastive pedagogy that takes into account both the intercultural dynamics of the Christian educational experience and the vocation of the intercultural religious educator.     

THE VULNERABILITY OF THE POSTMODERN EDUCATOR AS LOCUS THEOLOGICUS: A STUDY IN PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

This article proposes the reconsideration of education's theological significance, proceeding from educators' experiences in a postmodern era. Uncertainty and vulnerability are central issues, not only with regard to the theological plausibility of education, but also with regard to a concrete process of adult faith formation. The responses that are formulated by educators to the perplexities of contemporary education can be fitting to an idea of adult faith formation where adults are themselves discovering, adapting, and constructing new roads of religious commitment and community building. This article contains three parts. First, it redefines the aim of education beyond the "constructability" of the child, in consequence of the issue of child abuse in Belgium. Second, it refers to five competencies to which the educator is inviting the child and to which the educator becomes intrinsically challenged. In a third movement these experiences are reformulated in a theological perspective as five traces for transcendence.     

THE USE OF SUPERVISION AS AN EDUCATIONAL METHOD IN THE LOCAL CHURCH

The use of the model of clinical pastoral care is applied to supervision in the Sunday church school     

THE COUNTRY CHURCH

Using historic documents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and resources of its leaders, the principles of LDS or Mormon education and its key characteristics are described. In particular, the following characteristics are discussed: (1) the critical role of the Spirit in both teaching and learning, (2) the worthiness, expertise, and role of the teacher, (3) the correct standard of realistic and high expectations of the students, (4) the essential role and correct emphasis on pure doctrine and principles, (5) the importance of effective pedagogy, and (6) the role of agency in learning.     

THE CHURCH AND THE CITY

Abstract

This article mingles stories and concepts of young Jewish Israeli children about God, with reflections on the roles of faith, memory, imagination, and cognitive development in children's Religious Education. The stories are meant to illustrate, among other things, the purity and innocence of young children's faith, which is largely untroubled by fact. Then, using Vygotsky's notions of children's spontaneous concepts and the development of more mature and accurate conceptions in the “zone of proximal development,” a central dilemma in Religious Education will be explored. How can religious educators help young people acquire accurate historical information, textual skills, and theological methods of inquiry, while at the same time nurturing the precious flame of faith? Can we do better at combining systematic learning with pure faith? Toward this purpose, three complementary goals of Religious Education will be suggested: cognitive, practical/moral, and spiritual.     

THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION

In the ten years following 9/11 there was unprecedented interest in, and commitment to, religious education in the school curriculum in England. Politicians, academics, and professionals all argued that learning about religion could foster “social cohesion” and even prevent terrorism. Accordingly there were a number of national and international initiatives to develop religious education as a part of intercultural education. With a focus on England, but taking full consideration of landmark transnational collaborations, this article examines developments in policy and professional discourse concerning religious education that occurred after, and sometimes as a direct result of, the events of 9/11. It is argued that this emphasis, often instigated at the behest of politicians, led temporarily to an increased status of the curriculum subject in England, but that this influence may have also led to increased instrumentalism, and with it, associated risk to the subject's intellectual autonomy and integrity.

¹ Although the argument and views presented are my own, and any errors remain my own responsibility solely, I thank Robert Jackson, Joyce Miller, David Aldridge, Victoria Elliott, and James Robson for their comments on an earlier draft of this article. I also acknowledge the contribution of the late Terence Copley who, by telephone in November 2010, gave sage advice on the issues discussed in this article.