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5:2 Editorial |
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Written by Administrator
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THE BOOK A Vision with a Task: Christian Schooling for Responsive Discipleship edited by Gloria
Goris Stronks and Doug Blomberg has become widely read and much quoted, indeed a classic of its
genre. In his debut article in this issue of JE&CB, Clarence Joldersma takes up the key themes from
that book – unwrapping gifts, sharing joys and burdens, and seeking shalom – and seeks to advance
the discussion from the point at which Stronks and Blomberg left it. His proposal is that, as
Christians in education, we should look at such themes through the lens of social justice rather than
in the more individualistic way we are often prone to adopt. Joldersma concludes that, if we do this,
we will find the theme of seeking shalom to be the key one of the three and the framework within
which to address the other two. We can thereby, he argues, be more true to our Christian calling to be
world-transformative, having a new perspective on thinking about current issues in education, e.g.,
the school as a social structure and the relationship between school and society. (By the way, readers
may be interested to know that the full text of A Vision with a Task: Christian Schooling for
Responsive Discipleship can now be downloaded without charge from the website: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/education/.) |
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5:2 Community and Hospitality in Multicultural Classrooms |
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Written by Samson B. K. Makkhado and Dean Spalding
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THIS PAPER EXPLORES the significance for the Christian school of the hospitality metaphor which sees teacher as host and student as guest, the communal attitude which is more common in traditional African culture than in the West, and the depth of the influence of the Christian gospel which should lead to the ongoing re-orientation of the whole life. The exploration of these themes draws upon insights from African culture and history. |
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5:2 Educating for Social Justice |
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Written by Clarence W. Joldersma
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"Revisiting Stronks & Blomberg's Idea of Responsive Discipleship"
RESPONSIVE DISCIPLESHIP - INCLUDING unwrapping gifts, sharing joys and burdens, and seeking shalom - is a good framework for thinking about Christian education. However, this approach does not address adequately issues of social justice in the context of education. The lens of social justice take education further beyond the vestiges of individualism that 'gift' language carries and also beyond the enclosed classroom that sharing joys and burdens might suggest. Reframing those two in the context of seeking shalom brings out the social justice dimensions of unwrapping gifts and sharing joys and burdens. |
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5:2 The Interpretation of Religious Education Legislation: a case study |
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Written by Penny Thompson
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WHEN ATTEMPTS ARE made through legislation to determine the ways in which Religious Education is taught, the laws that are enacted may be interpreted in ways that are contrary to the intentions of those who draft them. Government education departments may even choose to disregard these intentions. The battle for control of Religious Education in England and Wales following the coming into effect of the 1988 Education Reform Act provides a case study that shows how this may happen. |
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5:2 The Bible and Education: Ways of Construing the Relationship |
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Written by David Smith
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IT IS A basic assumption of most Christian educational discussion that there can be some fruitful relationship between the Bible and education. This idea has, however, not gone unchallenged, and even its proponents often understand the relationship in unnecessarily narrow terms. This article summarises findings from a research project on ways of understanding the Bible's possible influence upon education. It considers in turn the role of the Bible as content, the teacher's character, inferences from beliefs, the potential of metaphor and narrative, and the significance of the canon. |
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Volume 5 (2001) 