Adapting religious education to individual requirements : a means of being faithful to the pedagogy of God in the classroom

Abstract

All through these years of study I felt that this research was after all a spiritual journey. A journey that has helped me discover myself and my ultimate vocation, that is, the search for Truth and making this Truth known to others. However, I also feel that through this thesis I have been journeying with the believing community in order to find a language that is consonant with the language of the present human community. Thus, this thesis can be seen as part of the Christian community's struggle to communicate its' most precious treasure: the Good News that every individual person has been created by an all loving God who wants to elevate us to a higher dignity and bestow upon us life in abundance liberating us from death, sin and suffering. Through study and reflection, I have come to understand and appreciate that the secret of understanding the human reality lies at the core of our being created in the image and likeness of God. Like the persons of the blessed Trinity every individual is unique and has his/her own individuality. But this uniqueness and individuality cannot be understood as complete autonomy. Just like the persons of the blessed Trinity, every human person can only find fulfilment in communion with others. All salvation history has been a call to create a human community that is a reflection of the Divine community. This understanding should be reflected in all activity of the believing community, not least in the areas of Catechetics and Religious Education. I have come to understand that the respect for the message implies respect for the human nature, and thus respect for the individual person in his/her totality in relation to the web of relationships that constitute him/her. I believe that this is a powerful concept especially today, in a world subjected by the ethic of Authenticity, where the culture of the "I" is pervasive in every human thought and action. Understanding and communicating with the individual person ultimately leads to adapting to individual requirements. Such pedagogy is not new; it is, after all, the pedagogy that the triune God has adopted all throughout salvation history. However, I am aware that I am nothing but a toddler taking his first steps in a long journey that has to be made in company of others [...]