TOP BOOKS FOR THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR'S SHELF
- Called to Teach and Learn: A Catechetical Guide for the Episcopal Church
(New York: the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, 1994) was
the result of a collaborative effort stemming from a National Task Force
report presented to the 69th General Convention of the Episcopal Church
in 1986. Presented and adopted in 1994, this guide is intended to be a
foundational, theoretical document with implied practice for the Church's
educational ministry. Based on our understanding that we are called by
God through our Baptism, The Episcopal Church recognizes that three intentional,
interrelated, life long processes comprise how a person is fashioned into
a Christian within the life of a community. This includes formation: the
participation and practice of the Christian life of faith, education:
a process of critical reflection on participation and practice in light
of the Gospel and instruction/training: the processes in which knowledge
and skills that are important to the Christian life of faith are acquired.
This catechetical manual outlines who we are as Episcopalians: the past,
present, and hopes for the future.
- Joseph Russell has given us a companion to our lectionary and prayer
book with The New Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education (Boston:
Cowley Publications, 1996). Following the church calendar by season,
he overviews each week for Years A, B, and C, summarizing each lesson
and providing themes and key vocabulary from a child's perspective.
Formation in baptismal discipleship, social justice, Christian practice
and liturgical action, hymns, seasonal themes and traditions are
also noted. Designed for those in parish leadership, this is an
especially helpful book for clergy and Christian educators working
collaboratively.
- Centering Christian education on the Episcopal lectionary is the
emphasis of Sharing Our Biblical Story: A Guide to Using Liturgical
Readings as the Core of Church and Family Education by Joseph
P. Russell (Wilton, CT: Morehouse Barlow, 1988). With chapters devoted
to biblical storytelling, an overview of the Bible, and models for
developing programs in a parish setting, the essence of this text
is providing commentary to the lections for every Sunday of the
Church year. Religious concepts are outlined, as well as what stories
are best to share with children on each Sunday.
- In Dialogue with Scripture: An Episcopal Guide to Studying the Bible
edited by Linda Grenz (New York: The Episcopal Church
Center) is a reference tool for using the Bible with a variety of
ages. Several types of Bible Study are outlined, including processes
developed by Walter Wink, Verna Dozier, Patricia Ness and others,
including the African Bible Study Method. Practices and suggestions
for group dynamics are also given, as well as a listing of curricula
for all ages with publisher information and audio-visual centers.
- Published from the Anglican Church in Canada, God, Kids & Us:
The Growing Edge of Ministry with Children and the People Who Care
for Them by Janet Marshall & Susan Walker (Harrisburg,
PA: Morehouse, 1998) is a how-to resource for any parish organizing
a Christian education program. Using The Baptismal Covenant and
The Children's Charter for the Church, these two Christian educators
have organized how to develop a program from start to finish, including
supply lists, evaluation forms for children, parents and adults
and how to incorporate children into the life of a parish community.
- In Fashion Me a People: Curriculum in the Church (Louisville:
Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989) Maria Harris gives new meaning
to the word "curriculum" in her exploration of how the church instructs
and informs Christians on the "course of the church's life". From
the Book of Acts we learn the description and purpose of the various
ministries within the early Church. These can continue to be models
for us as the church educates through worship, proclamation, community
and service. These terms are used throughout Harris' book, with
an explanation (and questions for discussion at each chapter's conclusion)
as to how we can continue to live out these elements in the 21st
church. They are: kerygma (proclaiming the word of Jesus' resurrection),
didache (the activity of teaching), leiturgia (coming together to
pray and to represent Jesus in the breaking of bread), koinoia (community),
and diakonia (caring for those in need). To Harris, the Church does
not have an education program; it is an education program.
- A book geared for parents, Making a Home for Faith by Elizabeth
Caldwell (Cleveland: United Church Press, 2000) offers guidance
and examples to parents who desire to nurture their child's faith
in a home setting. Using the premise of Horace Bushnell's Christian
Nurture, Caldwell believes parents and caregivers have the most
important role in a child's faith development. Using examples of
daily life experiences in the home, suggestions are made as to how
to encourage discussion of faith with children through seasons of
the year, prayer, mealtimes, play and reading. Using contemporary
writers and theologians (such as John Westerhoff, Walter Bruggemann,
Madeline L'Engle, and Rabbi Marc Gellman) practical ideas are given
for connecting daily life with scripture and conversation about
God. Each chapter concludes with questions designed to encourage
parents to reflect on their own beliefs and faith experiences as
a child, as well as activities that can be done in a family setting.
- Gretchen Wolff Pritchard's Offering the Gospel to Children (Cambridge,
MA: Cowley Publications, 1992) is a mother and Christian educator's
vision to tell the biblical story to children without sugar-coating
or editing it to protect them. Interspersing stories of her own
spiritual journey along with being a parent of three girls, Pritchard
shares her vision of including children in the life of the Church,
through its worship, storytelling and rituals of the seasons. Using
art, music and drama, she presents ways in which to engage children
in the Sacred Story so that the Story will become part of who they
are. She criticizes the pattern of segregating children from the
parish community in "Sunday School basements" and offers her dream
of formational parish education for all ages.
- John H. Westerhoff III critiques modern Christian education practices
and shares his theory of faith development for parents, clergy and
teachers in both his books, Bringing Up Children in the Christian
Faith (Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1980) and Will Our Children
Have Faith? revised edition (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing,
2000). Both books speak of faith as a journey that involves life-long
learning in a community of believers. He provides guidelines for
sharing our faith in the context of community celebration, prayer
and witness. Describing four styles of faith (experienced, affiliative,
searching and owned), Westerhoff speaks of how a community lives
in a historical, social and cultural context which impacts the views,
values and lifestyles that are transmitted to our children.
- Living Water: Baptism as a Way of Life (New York: Church Publishing,
2002) is a multi-level resource exploring the centrality of baptism to
one's life long journey of faith. Focusing on water and her personal journey,
Klara Tammany uses prayers, songs, storytelling and symbolic action to
explore our Baptismal Covenant in eight sessions. Practical ideas are
given for using these ideas with adult inquirers, Lenten studies, baptismal
preparation, and Confirmation instruction. It would be a great companion
for those preparing to Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows. An exhaustive
resource list is included, as well as an outline for session planning.
- Caroline Fairless engages the reader in "out of the box" experiences
for fully engaging the whole community in inclusive worship in Children
at Worship: Congregations in Bloom (New York: Church Publishing,
2001). Sharing stories about her ministry with children and families
at Holy Spirit in Half Moon Bay, California, Fairless gives creative
and provocative ideas for telling the biblical story, engaging all
ages through art and meditation. Filled with drawings by children
and scripts to be used in liturgy, this book shows worship and education
in formational language.
- Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey: Nurturing a Life of Faith
by Catherine Stonehouse (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998)
is a concise overview of a variety of developmental theories regarding
children and their relationship for understanding how faith forms
in children. Stonehouse follows several approaches in discerning
what children need in order to experience a faith-full spiritual
journey. Her thesis is that there is more to spiritual development
than what can be learned from psychosocial, cognitive and moral
development. A biblical perspective is needed, as well as the view
of how faith is taught through tradition, working with others, social
science and a combination of all of the above, which she calls an
"integrative approach." Stonehouse reviews child development through
the lens of children living in community (in biblical times and
today), and through the theories of Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Lawrence
Kohlberg, Ana-Maria Rizzuto, James Fowler and Jerome Berryman.
- Beginning with the New Testament and concluding with recent feminist theologies,
The Child in Christian Thought edited by Marcia J. Bunge
(Grand Rapids: William B Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001) is an overview
of the theology of childhood as found in Christian doctrine for
the past two thousand years. A compilation of 17 essays, each overviews
a particular time and place in the history of the Christian Church
in regard to theological approaches and understanding of children
in the Church, society and family. By using childhood as a "lens"
to understand theological movements in the Church, the concepts
of original sin and understanding of baptism, advocacy and responsibilities
of a Christian community are explored. This volume gives an overview
of Church history from a perspective of a wide variety of theologians
while offering insights and challenges to inform our theologies
and practices in the Church today.
- An historical perspective and a vision for the future of religious education
are given by Maria Harris and Gabriel Moran in Reshaping Religious
Education: Conversations on Contemporary Practice (Louisville:
Westminster John Knox Press, 1998). They review the developments
of how a faith community (specifically the Catholic Church) has
understood religious education in terms of forms: the ideas, practices
and attitudes that have permeated the institution. Their thesis
involves challenging the Christian church to reshape its understanding
of these forms in order to remain current with culture while maintaining
the integrity of the Gospel. This involves an understanding of life-long
education, a return to the centrality of justice in the curriculum
we use and the implications of the ecological movement begun in
the 20th century in our relationship to God and creation. The aims
of religious education are explored through the lenses of curriculum,
gender, spirituality and jubilee as well as being open to the voices
of other faith traditions.
- Working from the foundation of many developmental theories such as the
work of Piaget and Fowler, Jerome Berryman in Godly Play
(New York: Harper Collins, 1991) explains his theology of childhood
and how religious education can assist children in more fully developing
their relationship to God. He believes that children have the capability
to think in religious language on a deep level and religious educators
should use the whole learning environment to support the creative
process of imagination and wonder that comes so naturally to them.
"Play" is not play in the traditional sense - it is a life-giving
work in which one engages in the Story in a respectful and carefully
organized way using story, ritual, silence, wonder, time and space.
Communication, laughter and playfulness are necessary for children
to explore existential issues. Godly Play is a way to know God.
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