Abstract
A pedagogy of Bible engagement in contemporary secondary education must take account of the pluralistic cultural context as well as the developmental challenges of mid-adolescence. Both contexts require teachers to honour the freedom of young people to make their own spiritual choices. This chapter explores the possibilities that open up by engaging with the Bible as a ‘work of art’ in the manner proposed in the aesthetic pedagogy of educational philosopher Dr. Maxine Greene, and how this perspective might be correlated with a theological commitment to the normative authority of scripture. Christian educators lead students in the task of meaning-making by offering the Bible as an example of how human beings have made sense of their experience. The practices of Christian education focus on reading the text and sharing in dialogue about how the Bible can be used for meaning-making. Such classrooms are characterised by trust and hope recognising the sovereign freedom of the Spirit of God to be at work in young people.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Tracy (1981) regards ‘the event and person of Jesus Christ’ as the Christian classic (p. 233). The New Testament preserves the memory of this event through its confessions and forms of expression.
- 2.
- 3.
All scripture quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (2009).
- 4.
Perrin (2016) has examined the ordinary hermeneutics of young adults in evangelical churches in the UK. A parallel project could be usefully pursued among mid-adolescents.
- 5.
ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρόν.
References
Brueggemann, W., & Linafelt, T. (2012). An introduction to the old testament: The canon and Christian imagination. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox.
Côté, J. (2006). Identity studies: How close are we to developing a social science of identity? An appraisal of the field. Identity, 6(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532706xid0601_2.
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning (trans: I. Lasche). Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Goldingay, J. (2014). Psalms for everyone. Part II, Psalms 73-150. London: SPCK.
Greene, M. (1988). The dialectic of freedom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts, and social change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Greene, M. (2001). Variations on a blue guitar: The Lincoln Center Institute lectures on aesthetic education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Griffiths, P. J. (1999). Religious reading: The place of reading in the practice of religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Holman Christian Standard Bible. (2009). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
Hughes, P. (2013). Bible engagement among Australian young people. In A. Blenkinsopp (Ed.), The Bible according to Gen Z (pp. 7–25). Minto, NSW, Australia: Bible Society Australia.
Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
Kroger, J. (2000). Ego identity status research in the new millennium. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24(2), 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/016502500383250.
Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s letter to the Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Marcia, J. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(5), 551–558. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023281.
Marcia, J. (1967). Ego identity status: Relationship to change in self-esteem, “general maladjustment”, and authoritarianism. Journal of Personality, 35(1), 118–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1967.tb01419.x.
Perrin, R. H. (2016). The Bible reading of young evangelicals: An exploration of the ordinary hermeneutics and faith of generation Y. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.
Schütz, A. (1962). Collected papers I: The problem of social reality (M. Natanson, Ed.). The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
Smith, J. K. A. (2014). How (not) to be secular: Reading Charles Taylor. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Taylor, C. (2007). A secular age. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Tracy, D. (1981). The analogical imagination: Christian theology and the culture of pluralism. New York: Crossroad.
Vignoles, V. L., Schwartz, S. J., & Luyckx, K. (2011). Introduction: Toward an integrative view of identity. In J. S. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & L. V. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research. Volume 1: Structures and processes (pp. 1–27). New York: Springer.
Village, A. (2007). Biblical interpretative horizons and ordinary readers: An empirical study. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 17, 157–176.
Village, A. (2013). The Bible and ordinary readers. In J. Astley & L. J. Francis (Eds.), Exploring ordinary theology (pp. 127–136). Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
Vissers, J. A. (1990). Interpreting the classic: The hermeneutical character of David Tracy’s theology in The Analogical Imagination. Calvin Theological Journal, 25(2), 194–206.
Volf, M. (2010). Captive to the word: Engaging the scriptures for contemporary theological reflection. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Acknowledgements
This chapter contains extracts from my doctoral thesis, ‘Wide-awake in God’s world: Bible Engagement for Teenage Spiritual Formation in a Culture of Expressive Individualism’, University of Queensland, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry. I am indebted to my advisors Prof. Neil Pembroke and Dr. Aaron Ghiloni for their support and advice. This research was made possible through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stanton, G.D. (2018). Making Sense of the World: Reimagining Bible Engagement in Christian Education with Teenagers in Light of Maxine Greene’s Aesthetic Pedagogy. In: Luetz, J., Dowden, T., Norsworthy, B. (eds) Reimagining Christian Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0851-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0851-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-0850-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-0851-2
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)