Spirituality and the relationship between children and adults in Christian education

ECCE conferenceParis 23.2.2010 Martin Ubani

PhD, MThUniversity Lecturer in Religious Education

Department of Applied Sciences of EducationUniversity of Helsinki

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Key concepts

Adult, children, spirituality, Christianity, Christian education

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Vision - Kingdom

Decline in shared religious cultural heritage

Increase in acknowledged interpretations of reality (Pluralism)

Decline in shared inter-generational contact

Decline in Christian institutional religiousness

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Christianity and education

Evangelization & catechesis

Kerygma & didache

Preaching & teaching

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

What is Christian education?

What makes education Christian is the aims?

What makes education Christian is the content?

What makes education Christian is the physical setting?

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

What is Christian education?

The purpose for Christian education is to (help one to) become “more Christian” (Astley 1994)

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Kingdom of relationships – some research

Primary human relationships and the image of God

Family and faith formation & religious literacy

Individuation phase and the return

Interaction: Parents influence children’s religiousness and children the family

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

The adult, child and Kingdom education

Role of the adult? (e.g. Astley 1994)

-A Parent, Coach, Scientist, Critic, Storyteller, Artist, Visionary, Revolutionary, Therapist, Minister…

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Kingdom in Christian education

-Relationship: not the adult and the child but God and human

-Christian spirituality: experiencing of God and the transformation of lives as outcomes (McGrath 1999)

-Kingdom based on Logos

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

The adult, child and Kingdom education

Role of the adult? (e.g. Astley 1994)

-A Parent, Coach, Scientist, Critic, Storyteller, Artist, Visionary, Revolutionary, Therapist, Minister…

… a Child?

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Adults becoming more Christian, more children in Kingdom education

- The adult is a child in the Kingdom…

…who matures

…needs to be transparent

…whose Father is God

…with questions

…of Covenant

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Concluding remarks

Christian spirituality involves the experiencing of God and the transformation of lives as outcomes of this experience (McGrath 1999)

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Concluding remarks

Christian education involves the experiencing of God and the transformation of lives as outcomes of this experience (Ubani 2010 based on McGrath 1999)

martin.ubani@helsinki.fi

Martin UbaniFT, TM

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