My opening question is: By what methodological means may religious education bring clarity to teaching and learning that takes age/stage, cultural and religious pluralism into account?
As an invitation to our thoughts on the question, I want to begin with a particular story.During a cross-denominational pan-African youth group's guided story-sharing and discussion on meanings of hope in the throes of their lives as teens, one teen who had been sitting quietly with head bowed and arms folded, raised her head and spoke out: "Let me tell you what I think! Maybe there isn't such a thing as hope. My situation at home never changes for the better. I can't do anything about it. And, I don't see God changing it either! Sure, you can say that the Bible gives us some answers. I heard the scripture about God's plans for our good and not for harm; and I heard what was said about it. (Ref. Jeremiah 29:11). But, change for good? I don't see it! Has God left me out?" These words of one teen re-opened an entirely new collaborative interchange with like and different stories from the one shared by the youth. It led to the group's deep theological reflection on and answers to the dilemma of God's activity in the realities of life raised in the question, "Has God left me out?"
Whether with participants and leaders in the youth theology program I lead, or in seminary classroom, church school class, or in lay or pastors' study groups across denominations, I have noted that a narrative method to religious education becomes a significant means of entering into what I call a IDEA pedagogy of engagement or deep faith Inquiry,Discovery, futher Exploration, and Application. It becomes a way of framing religious education as a pratical theological endeavor in which tough questions and answers to life and faith are probed. The work of Groome (1980, 1999), Gilmour (1997), Shaw (1999), and my own work (1994, 2005), for example, place narrative at the center of the practical theological task of religious education. Of course, Mary Elizabeth Moore (Teaching From the Heart, 1991, 1998) is correct in her statement that "Teaching narratively is more than a set of techniques that can be thrown into an eclectic bag of tricks. Narrative is a significant mode of human communication, a bearer and critic of culture, and a potentially profound and far-reaching educational method." (132-133)
I would also suggest that narrative helps us bring into focus "theology-in-action" where persons are in their social location and across the plural circumstances of persons' lives.But, is it also possible for narrative methodologies to to invite responses to additional questions: What kinds of narrative methods are needed for what we might consider helpful theological reflection? To what ends or for what outcomes do we see as important for narrative as practical theological method in religious education? Indeed, we might well consider the question: How important is the use of narrative in religious education as a practical theological endeavor?
Anne Streaty Wimberly
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The IDEA pedagogy sounds excellent. I would like read more about it and how it applies to the work of Thomas Groome, Shaw and others. Maureen or Anne, can you post links to the personal works you mention here? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJared Dees
thereligionteacher.blogspot.com
Thanks Anne - for a great question and for introducing the theme of narrative by way of an approach to doing religious education and/or practical theology. Your story of the young woman asking, "did God leave me out" suggests precisely a pedagogical move that must be integral to a narrative approach. Let me say first what the "move" is not!
ReplyDeleteA narrative approach is not simply about telling stories as if people are to passively accept and then repeat them - as if now their own. Instead, the narrative approach, besides inviting people "into" the story to recognize themselves and their lives somehow, must then encourage what I have awkwardly called a "dialectical hermeneutics" toward the story.
In plainer language, the listeners must be prompted to "do" precisely what that young woman in your example did; not to submit to the story but to enter into conversation with it, agreeing, disagreeing, adding to it (from their own story), and eventually making the story their own but not as a replica of the teacher's version of it but by their own personal appropriation of its wisdom. Without this "give and take" with the story (Plato's understanding of dialectics as conversation - not Marx's violent misinterpretation of it), narrative can become simply an imposition upon people rather than a resource for their liberation and empowerment in faith.
Best blessings to all
Tom Groome
Dear Anne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interesting thoughts on the place of narrative enquiry in theological and religious education.
If we really take the human person in his/her uniqueness serious, we also should act authentically with the narratives of the people who are entrusted to us (in the classroom, in the community, in personal encounter, etc.), as Tom Groome argued. Your story about the young person is reflecting this thought: people can come radically to other conclusions when they listen carefully to the inner voice of their story. Religious education is not only about living for God or with God, but also about living without God or against God. In the communication about religion and other belief systems, there should always be a principal openness for personal decision making in freedom. This is not only a pedagogical but also a theological statement: “God created the human being because H/She loves (the multiplicity of) stories” (thus Elie Wiesel).
The educational and methodological implications are far reaching. The interpretation differences that emerge out of a reflection on the same question in the classroom, are at a first glimpse perhaps irritating, but can and should be also stimulating for the learning process. It makes people think: where am I, what is my position to God, how do I believe that H/She is present/absent in my life, what kind of traces for transcendence can I perceive, etc.?
I really believe that a lot of work still needs to be done in the field of religious communication. For me personally the terminology of ‘learning in the presence of the other’ (Mary Boys) is convincing. I would propose the term ‘learning in difference’, which is more than just ‘learning in diversity’: it is about the radical otherness of the other and at the same time about the commensurability of our stories. In all our differences we are able to live together and to share the common value of dialogue. This is our human condition, but also our common hope in these difficult times.
Best wishes from Bert (from the other side of the Atlantic)
Thank you Jared, Tom, and Bert for extending and enriching the conversation.
ReplyDeleteTo Jared, my development of the Inquiry, Discovery, Exploration, and Application (IDEA) pedagogical model emerged out of my growing awareness that youth, seminary students and graduates in the Lilly Endowment, Inc. funded programs at ITC yearn for a sense of self-agency in their own unfolding development and learning processes.
The intent of IDEA is to foster the agentive self by inviting within a hospitable, relational, story-oriented environment persons' questions (Inquiry), about aspects of their life stories and study that they in the process of story-sharing identify (for example, questions about identity, relationships, beliefs, God's activity in life and ministry, understanding and uses of academic disciplines and the meanings of these for their unfolding stories).
Questioning is followed by posing answers to the question(s) (Discovery). This opening to answers results from evocative comments and/or further questions from the guide and group members, and may involve dialogue around readings or other materials. Deeper reflection (Exploration) follows through wider engagement and critical dialogue on potential answers derived from oral, written, and non-linguistic forms (arts, movement, role-plays, etc.) and appearing in biblical, biographical, academic or other sources. Persons complete the IDEA process by considering what has happened to them (Application) in terms of extent of resolution to their inquiries, their vision of their unfolding stories, and/or their uncovering of new questions that form a loop back to re-engaging IDEA.
In response to Tom and Bert.
I too wholeheartedly contend that an invitation to story-sharing must also be an invitation to persons' honest grappling with and disclosure of whatever their own and others' stories evoke in them. In so doing, they own their own story and what this ownership portends for their faith struggle or unfolding faith formation. Moreover, when openness to truth-telling is honored, it mirrors what Bert calls "learning in difference." Others also reckon it as permission to come to their own conclusions.
But, questions also become: Is there an apparent need for follow-up? If so, then what follow-up may assist a story-teller's answers to hard questions of faith (e.g., "Has God left me out?"). It seems to me that Ochs' and Capps' reminder in Living Narrative: Creating Lives in Everyday Storytelling (2001) that the narrated self is constructed with and in response to others is a way of saying that staying in relationship whether through conversation or other means is necessary. It may also be added that story-sharing does not necessarily happen only through face-to-face oral or oral language means.
In the case of the youth who asked,"Has God left me out?", hearing her orally shared story, being intentionally present to and with her, and her becoming part of an expressive mime group resulted in her discovering God who comes in unexpected ways.
Other questions may be raised about narrative as a practical theological endeavor in religious education: If story-sharing does not necessarily happen only in face-to-face oral forms and oral language, then what are the varying types of other forms to be considered and why? What is the place of digital story-sharing in our techno age? What might be the uses and outcomes of various forms of story-sharing beyond face-to-face oral means in cross-cultural and interreligious groups?
I look forward to further conversation.
With gratitude,
Anne Wimberly
Thank you, Anne, for your response. Your remark about continuity in storytelling is important. I understand your questions in this way: how can we create environments for (young) people in which they are stimulated to continue their reflections and their 'work' of narrative identity building? How can we provide them with learning opportunities that are 'safe for diversity'? And how to make them responsible for the story of each other and for their own story in a context of new media?
ReplyDeleteWe discuss this topic (about presenting yourself and caring for others, e.g. on Facebook) often with our adolescents at home. For them, authenticity and sincerity are of great value. Is it plausible that they make the transfer from ordinary life values to values in the virtual world, that they re-enact what they have learned in childhood in the new spaces they conquer? And isn't this a very old wisdom again: dis-covering the story of your life implies the rootedness in initial stories and storytelling. And here again comes the 'normative' element: children and young people, and adults alike, have the right for teachers who show the courage of their convictions (who make a difference), but who are also prepared to justify what they do and say (who make a plausible difference). Is this helpful?
Best wishes,
Bert
Dr. Wimberly,
ReplyDeleteThis a timely and much needed discussion. Thank you for your thoughts and continuous probing as we consider the use of narrative in religious education. As a professor at an undergraduate institution, I teach a course entitled Contemporary Youth Culture, and one of the first assignments is for the students and myself to bring in a story from adolescence that they will share with the class. To engage these stories, I found Girlfriend (Story) Theology--The Method to be helpful as facilitated our understanding of each other's adolescent journey. To further, engage the idea of narrative I showed the film American Teen which is a documentary wherein five high school students share their experiences from their senior year. It chronicles their journey and identifies their struggles, pains and triumphs as they navigate the tumultuous waters of adolescence. After engaging the these two forms of narrative education, I asked my youth ministry students the following question, a variation of the one you asked at the end of your post: How imporant is the use of narrative in youth ministry as a practical theological endeavor? What are the advantages? What are the drawbacks. There are two responses from my students that I will share. "I think using story is important as a practical theological endeavor because it takes real life examples of what God is doing in the world and apply them to what is going on in Kid's lives. It also gives us a chance to see the larger story that we are involved in and then change how we participate in resortation of the Kingdom." The second response: "it is so important to hear the stories of the students you are ministering to. It will help students relate to each other. As a youth leader, hearing the stories of others and watching this movie, my eyes have been opened to experiences I never faced as a high school student. Youth culture is always changing, so the more stories you hear, the better understanding you will gain for youth culture." These two stories are representative of all that I received. Students also cited one common drawback in using narrative in youth ministry which includes students not being open or willing to share their stories. However, with this particular thought, I believe there will always be at least one student who want to tell their story to others who will listen. As an educator, I believe the use of story is essential in Christian education because it "enables people to live as Christians, that is to live lives of Christian faith." (Thomas Groome, Christian Religious Education, p.34) Whether we are telling our everyday stories in conversation with the Christian faith story found in scripture and the Christian faith stories from African American heritage which leads to engaging in Christian ethical decision making, (Anne Wimberly, Soul Stories, p.39)all of this is important in understanding who and whose we are as we are challenged to live out our faith in community and solidarity with one another. Story helps us to understand and identify with each other and prompts us to encourage each other into living out God's purposes for our lives. Again, thank you Dr. Wimberly for your continued probing as we seek to live out our calling as Christian educators.
Peace & Blessings,
Richelle White
Anne, Can you tell me something about your story. I knew a student who on their last day at school removed all the blackboard erasers and hid them. Chaos followed and I wondered if you knew what happened next?
ReplyDelete