CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In times past God spoke in varied ways to our fathers through the prophets; in this, the final age, He has spoken to us through His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). Christian life is based on the conviction that God has spoken to humanity and has

revealed the central truths of faith.1 In Christian religious parlance revelation refers to the

free manifestation of God which lies beyond the normal reach of human inquiry.

Revelation is the initial action by which God emerges from his apparent hiddenness and

addresses humanity. The locus of God’s revelation and faith as a positive human response

to God, is the ordinary daily life of every Christian. Revelation is always mediated

through the human experiences in the world through symbol–that is to say, through an

externally perceived sign that works mysteriously on the human consciousness so as to

suggest more than it can clearly describe or define. Revelatory symbols express God’s

self-communication2 and revelation reaches human beings through symbol primarily on

the level of imagination.

1 Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Catechism for Filipino Catholics (Manila:

CBCP/ECCCE, 2005), no. 61. Hereafter referred to as CFC with paragraph number. 2 Avery Dulles, “The Symbolic Structure of Revelation,” Theological Studies 41/1 (March 1980):

55-56.

2 Symbolic disclosure is the language of the imagination.3 When nothing is

revealed, nothing is known, and there is nothing to contemplate, nothing to marvel at, or

nothing to imagine.4 The mystery of Christ, the fullness of divine revelation, gradually

unfolds and is encountered through persons, events, symbols, stories, metaphors, and

images in daily life. The revelation of Christ is written in Sacred Scripture particularly in

the Gospels that are the principal source of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, the

Incarnate Word (cf. DV 18).5

The human person is drawn towards an inexhaustible knowledge of God in Christ.

This is true even for non-Christians who unknowingly seek God. The person is attracted

to the symbol that contains a rich source of the truth. The person is drawn to know more

about the truth. The symbol summons the person to continue pursuing the truth and is

ever in need, therefore, of imaginative interpretation before such knowledge of God can

“speak” to the present situation.6

The mystery of Incarnation grounds imagination in Christian life because the

Incarnation is the Son of God’s entry into the concrete reality of human existence making

the particulars of life vessels of grace.7 Imagination, in the light of Christian faith,

enables one to see that the very commonness of everyday things harbors the eternal

3 Kathleen Fischer, The Inner Rainbow: The Imagination in Christian Life (Ramsey, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1983), 31.

4 Avery Dulles, Revelation Theology, quoting John Henry Newman from an excerpt (V.F. Blehl,

The Essential Newman [New York: paperback, 1963]), 74. 5 Vatican II, “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum in the Documents of

Vatican II, ed. Austin Flannery (New York: Costello Publishing, 1975), no. 18 (hereafter cited as DV). All documents from Vatican II cited in this work are taken from the same source.

6 Thomas K. Carr, Newman and Gadamer: Toward a Hermeneutics of Religious Knowledge (Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, 1996), 176, 179. 173.

7 Fischer, The Inner Rainbow, 8.

3 marvel and silent mystery of God.8 Christian faith is a “Yes” to God’s fullness of

revelation in Jesus Christ in the concreteness of human life: personal decisions, human

relationships, daily events, and even death.9

Jesus Christ completed and perfected God’s revelation by words and deeds, signs

and miracles, and, above all, by his death and glorious resurrection (cf. DV 4), thus Jesus

is the unique, irrevocable, and definitive revelation of God (CFC 70). The heart of the

New Testament is that the definitive, universal revelation is given in Jesus Christ.10 God

made himself known through Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, who worked with

human hands, thought with a human mind, acted by human choice, and loved with a

human heart (cf. Gaudium et Spes, no. 22, hereafter GS). Thus, revelation imparted by

Jesus Christ has a symbolic structure.11 A symbol is a sign filled with a plenitude of

meaning that needs to be evoked because it eludes direct statement. Revelation in Christ

is symbolic in the sense that he is the plenitude or fullness of God’s self-communication.

The divine Son, the Word of God, is present and active in Christ’s human nature, which

is the visible image through which the divine manifests Godself.12

While God’s revelation reached its climax with the coming of Christ, the divine

revelation is continuing or ongoing through the Church’s mission of evangelization by

which she now communicates the entire mystery of salvation in Christ without

8 Fischer, The Inner Rainbow, 8, quoting Karl Rahner, Belief Today (New York: Sheed & Ward,

1967), 14. 9 Fischer, The Inner Rainbow, 8. 10 Dulles, Revelation Theology, 21. 11 Dulles, “Symbolic Structure of Revelation,” 73. 12 Avery Dulles, “Faith and Revelation,” in Systematic Theology: Roman Catholic Perspectives,

ed. Francis Schussler Fiorenza and John P. Galvin, vol. 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 99.

4 adulteration or mutilation.13 Evangelization is the mission of the Church to proclaim the

Good News of salvation to all, generate new creatures in Christ through baptism, and

train them to live in the awareness that they are children of God.14 Evangelization

consists in the proclamation of Christ as Lord to those who do not know him, in

preaching, catechesis, baptism, and the administration of the Sacraments.15 Today,

Christians encounter Christ through the mediation of proclamation, Scripture, liturgy, and

the sacraments.16

The “proclamation of the good news, or kerygma, that is preaching or catechesis–

occupies such an important place in evangelization that it has often become synonymous

with it; and yet it is only a part of the whole work of evangelization” (EN 22). Catechesis

and religious education are aspects of evangelization. Religious education helps students

in discovering the meaning of their lives and the world, and leads them towards maturity

in the faith in the light of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. It transmits and proclaims the

words and deeds of Jesus Christ, and at the same time makes clear the profound mysteries

they contain.17 Catechesis has the same aim but its context is the parish or a family

setting. This study will focus on religious education as a systematic and progressive

13 Congregation for the Clergy, General Directory for Catechesis (Bangalore, India: Theological

Publications, 2011), no. 33. (Hereafter referred to as GDC with paragraph number). 14 The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School (Vatican City: 1977), no.

7. (Hereafter referred to as TCS with paragraph the number). 15 Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi 17 (Pasay City: Paulines, 1975), no. 22. (Hereafter referred to as

EN with the paragraph number). 16 Dulles, “Faith and Revelation,” 99. 17 Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education, National Catechetical Directory

for the Philippines (Manila: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, 2007), no. 164. (Hereafter referred to as NCDP with paragraph number).

5 education in the faith within a formal school setting that covers the formative period from

grade school to college.

Religious education takes place in the context of the Catholic school wherein

Christ is the foundation of the whole educational mission. His revelation gives new

meaning to life and helps students to direct their thoughts, actions, and will according to

the Gospel (TCS 34). The aim of religious education in Catholic schools is not simply

intellectual assent to religious truths but, more importantly, a commitment of one’s whole

being to the Person of Christ (TCS 59).

Religious education aims at leading the students towards a deeper loving

knowledge of Jesus Christ in and through their daily life. To achieve this, it needs to have

a methodology that helps the students discern God’s revelation in Christ as written in

Scripture and Church Tradition, and reflected on in their daily life. The students have to

discover God both starting from and through their ordinary experience consisting of

images, persons, symbols, stories, and metaphors; and God motivates them to respond by

believing, loving, and trusting. God calls them to relate with Himself in thought, word,

and deed. It is in and through daily life experiences, in daily dealings with family, work

and recreation, and above all, in prayer and Sacraments–all within the Church context–

that God in Christ is close to them.18

Statement of the Problem

Religious education is a systematic and progressive education in the faith

spanning from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and to college which informs, forms, and

18 CFC 98.

6 transforms the practice of the Catholic faith. This involves a lifelong process of maturing

in the faith and commitment to Christ in the Church and in the world. This kind of

education includes a critical and systematic transmission of culture in the light of faith. In

the process, the power of Christian virtue is brought forth by integrating culture with

faith, and faith with life.19

Systematic education means teaching the essential truths of the faith in a well-

ordered manner using a program with a definite goal, and not merely arranged in an

improvised or haphazard way.20 It deals with the essentials of the faith and does not

intend to discuss disputed questions or perform scientific exegesis.21 Progressive

education, on the other hand, means that teaching the faith is guided by a well-worked

out syllabus with a gradual progression of topics that will correspond to the age,

background, capacities, grade, or year level of the students. Teaching the faith in a

developing manner then implies two things: first, that the teacher knows where the

students are at, and second, that the content of the faith is presented in its integrity, with a

well-ordered development, scope, and sequence corresponding to the formative age of the

students from grade school to high school and college. Thus, religious education is a

formal school of faith that follows the major stages of human life and development, like a

beacon lighting the path of a child, the adolescent, and the young adult (CT 22).

The aim of religious education is to put people not only in touch but in

communion–in intimacy–with Jesus Christ, who is the unique center and focus of

19 TCS 49. 20 NCDP 117. 21 John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae (Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1979), no. 21.

(Hereafter referred to as CT with paragraph number).

7 Christian faith, since only he can lead all to the love of the Father in the Spirit, and make

all share in the life of the Holy Trinity (CT 5) and thus, build up the Catholic Church, the

Body of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 12). The main objective, therefore, of religious

education is to gradually lead the students to know, love and follow the person of Jesus

Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf. John 14:16). Through a systematic and

progressive Catholic religious education, the students will be led to know Jesus as the

Truth (Christian faith as doctrine); to follow Jesus as the Way (Christian faith as morals);

and to lovingly trust Jesus as the Life (Christian faith as worship). They are led to

hopefully practice their Christian faith holistically by believing (head), doing (hands) and

trusting (heart).

In religious education, the person of Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, is taught to

the students, and everything else is taught in reference to him (CT 6). The primary and

essential object of religious education is the mystery of Christ in all its dimensions–

knowing (doctrine), doing (morals), and loving (worship) (NCDP 365). Mystery,

however, is not something just that cannot be known or understood – a common

misconception of the meaning of mystery (CFC 1356). Mystery, used here, refers to a

reality can never fully grasped because there is always more to know or learn. Through

the use of the imagination, one is able to grasp the connection between ordinary

experience made up of persons, events, symbols, stories, metaphors, and the mystery of

Christ that is both revealed and concealed by the same images.22 There is always more to

know about Christ.

22 Fischer, The Inner Rainbow, 12.

8 The three dimensions of faith–doctrine, morals, and worship–flow from the

Person of Christ who is the Truth, showing Christians that he is the Way, and sharing

with them his divine Life through prayer and the Sacraments. When Christians live these

three inseparable aspects of the faith they share in the very mission of Christ as Prophet,

King, and Priest (NCDP 145). Religious education aims to help the students grasp the

mystery of Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life through an ongoing process of

education in the faith that will hopefully open their mind, motivate their will to action,

and speak to their heart in prayer.23

This study, therefore, presents imagination as an effective way of teaching the

Christian faith. Particular attention needs to be given to how to teach students who belong

to the postmodern fiberoptic, wireless generation. They are digital natives24 who are born

in an image-laden and electronic-gadget-driven environment. They breathe in air suffused

with images and sounds that are both real and virtual. Three characteristics of how these

digital natives think and behave are worth noting. First, they have a new category of time

and space. They spontaneously move from the real to the virtual world as if the two are

one and the same reality. Everything and everyone is accessible regardless of time and

location. They get their message across in just one click of a mouse or one tap of a

gadget, and, in turn, they often expect an immediate response right there and then.

Second, digital natives are multi-sensory because images and sounds continuously

stimulate their sight, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, and an apparent sixth-sense of

23 Joseph L. Roche, “Imagination and Integration in the NCDP and CFC,” in A Companion to CFC, ed. Joseph L. Roche and Leonardo Z. Legaspi, vol.1 (Manila: ECCCE/Word & Life Publications, 1984), 58.

24 Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” On the Horizon 9/5 (2001). See

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. Accessed March 15, 2017.

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdfhttp://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

9 decoding unspoken language. Images speak to them louder than spoken words. Digital

natives automatically shut down when they hear long and boring discourses, nagging,

childish reminders, and seemingly senseless, empty chatter. But they become fully-

charged when they get involved in meaningful and inspiring conversations and

worthwhile cause-oriented hands-on activities. They can easily shift from parallel to

linear or to spiral way of thinking as different situations call for. This leads to a third

quality in the capacity of multi-tasking. They can do several activities at the same time,

whether in the real or virtual world. They can engage simultaneously in interpersonal

communication with a number of interlocutors at any given time, both in social media

and in actual face-to-face encounter. To teach digital natives is a real great challenge for

teachers who are digital immigrants25 into cyberspace, challenged especially with how to

communicate to and with them the matters concerning the faith which may often seem

abstract concepts for digital natives unless related to their concrete experience.

The use of imagination in religious education can still be developed more

adequately. In his book, Practical Catechesis: The Christian Faith as a Way of Life,

Joseph L. Roche26 underscores the importance of the role of imagination in religious

25 Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” On the Horizon 9/5 (2001). See

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. Accessed March 15, 2017.

26 Fr. Joseph L. Roche, S.J. is the founder of the Formation Institute of Religion Educators or

F.I.R.E. (since 1979) which is the Graduate Program of the Theology Department of the School of Humanities, and supported by the Loyola School of Theology. He gave a major contribution in the writing of the National Catechetical Directory of the Philippines and the Catechism for Filipino Catholics. He was a professor of Philosophy and Theology for many years at Ateneo de Manila University. He was a guest professor in other institutions and a well-sought speaker on catechesis and religious education. He helped in the formation of many religious educators, catechists and gave valuable assistance in establishing catechetical centers and formation programs for catechists in the Philippines. He served either as a mentor or author or editor of a good number of Religion textbooks published in the Philippines. He wrote many articles on catechesis and religious education in journals like Landas, Docete, Educator’s Journal, to name a few. He was ordained in 1958 and earned his doctorate in Systematic Theology from the University of

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdfhttp://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

10 education, particularly in the students’ learning processes. He notes that the great

difficulty is how to integrate imagination in teaching the faith in its dimensions of

doctrine, morals, and worship. This affirms that there is indeed more work to be done in

the actual use imagination in religious education.27

The role of the imagination is crucial to the teaching of the Christian faith as

doctrine, morals, and worship. When religious education gives due importance to the

part played by imagination, teachers can communicate the Christian faith more

holistically and more effectively, leading the students to a holistic response to God by

believing, doing, and celebrating the faith in prayer. Imagination is a key element in the

integration of faith because, like an inner rainbow28 which bridges the illuminative

dimension (knowing) of faith with its performative (doing), and fiducial (trusting)

aspects, imagination links these three constitutive factors of faith harmoniously together

as a response of the whole person to God. These dimensions of the faith go beyond the

tests of factual knowledge, learned attitudes, and acquired skills which are the expected

outcome of the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor objectives. These behavioral

learning objectives that target measurable results cannot be used as criteria for evaluating

the graced human response of faith that is primarily a divine gift. Social science cannot

measure the interior religious transformation brought about by God’s grace.

Faith that seeks understanding involves much more than mere factual knowing or

head knowledge. Understanding the faith involves much more than rote memorization of Louvain in 1963. He is one of the pioneer residents of the Jesuit Wellness Center at the Ateneo de Manila University inaugurated in 2016.

27 Joseph L. Roche, Practical Catechesis: The Christian Faith as a Way of Life (Quezon City:

Phoenix Publishing House, 2008), 177. 28 Fischer, The Inner Rainbow, 8, 10.

11 facts that does not touch or transform lives. A faith that truly grows in understanding and

can give reasons for its hoping (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15). This includes four essential elements of

the so called “Reality” principle: 1) relating the term or word to the concrete reality it

expresses; 2) showing the basic relationships of words with other terms or realities;

3) realizing that terms used in communicating the Faith resonate in concrete ways in the

personal and cultural life as the students; and 4) grasping faith realities primarily not by

theoretical academic analysis alone but by affective, imaginative, aesthetic, and active

sharing and participation in the Christian way of life (its teachings, moral actions,

sacramental, prayerful rituals) with fellow believing Christians. The real challenges are

drawn primarily not from testing the students’ abilities, but from relating the personal

faith to the realistic, objective difficulties, obstacles, and specific needs of the Christian

community.29

Faith consists of a loving knowledge of God that leads students to serve others

and celebrate their faith in prayer. This is not measurable by educational parameters and

terminologies. Imagination is able to grasp the realities of faith which are beyond the

cognitive, affective and psychomotor criteria of evaluation of academic subjects. By

using behavioral objectives in religious education, faith becomes superficial and

trivialized.30 Instead, five objectives are helpful in evaluation: first, there is

understanding of the faith (NCDP 76), then, second, educating in the basic principles and

practice of Christian morality (NCDP 77); third, developing the ability to pray and

29 Joseph L. Roche, “Toward Raising the Quality of Teaching and Learning,” FIRE Orientation

(unpublished notes, 2009). 30 Ma. Lucia C. Natividad, “The Use of Scripture in Catechesis and Religious Education” (Ph.D.

diss., Ateneo de Manila University, 2000), 265.

12 actively participate in the Church’s liturgy (NCDP 179); fourth, nurturing a sense of

belonging in the students to become active members of the Church community

(NCDP 80); and, fifth, translating the Christian faith into attitudes and values in daily

life (NCDP 81). Imagination enables the believer to integrate the three inseparable and

essential elements of the faith as doctrine, morals, and worship, each of which stands for

what a person believes in, what one decides for, and what one hopes for–all three

significantly influencing one’s vital choices and identity as a Christian.

When religious education uses imagination, it will address the problem of

teaching the faith in a manner that tends to be repetitious, boring, irrelevant to, and far-

fetched from the students’ life and experiences. The teaching of the faith is at times

disconnected from the students’ search for answers and meaning, from their aspirations

for what really matters, from their thirst for something more, and from their longing for

authenticity and true happiness. With the use of imagination, religious education can go

beyond a method of teaching that tends to be too doctrinal, moralistic, and pietistic, all of

which are a negative and reductionist approach to teaching the faith. With imagination,

therefore, religious education would be able to help the students see more clearly the

connections of the doctrine, morals, and worship components of faith with one another.

Thus, the use of imagination bridges the ever-widening gap and disconnect between how

faith is taught and how the students actually live. With imagination, the integration of

faith as believing, doing and praying which touches the whole person–head, hands, and

heart–is fostered, thus lessening the danger of fragmentation and reductionism. Religious

education, then, can communicate the Christian faith in a way that is more vibrant and

lifegiving.

13 This study, therefore, draws inspiration and follows the lead from Joseph L.

Roche’s insights about the important role of the imagination in religious education. This

study wants to develop imagination as a method in religious education specifically in

teaching the Christian faith in its doctrinal dimension. This method will be developed

using the insights of three theologians who have written on the use of imagination in the

process of maturing in the faith.31

Imagination is a key factor in the process of personal integration of the Christian

faith.32 For example, in the Ignatian use of imagination, a Christian can experience,

embrace, and internalize spiritual truth. Through the Spirit-infused imagination, the

Christian moves from sterile head-knowledge to life-transforming, heart-healing, and

biblically informed ways of being and doing33 The desired integration of faith and life

can be brought about through the use of imagination that involves four stages: first,

imaginative meditation that confronts the person with their frailty and dependence on

God; second, imaginative visualization of Gospel scenes where Christ calls the person to

Christian service; third, imaginative engagement with scenes from the Passion of Christ,

with emphasis on God’s love for the world; and, finally, exercises that fill the

31 The theologians chosen to shed light on the meaning of imagination vis-à-vis faith as a human

response to God in Christ through the Spirit are John Henry Newman, William F. Lynch, and Sandra M. Schneiders.

32 Roche, “Imagination and Integration in the NCDP and CFC,” 57. 33 Larry Warner, Journey with Jesus: Discovering the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius

(Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2010), 36-37.

14 imagination with life from the Resurrection, leading the person towards greater

wholeness, and greater love for others.34

Imagination is the human person’s ability to express both what is present to the

senses, and what is beyond sensible reality, enabling the person to integrate and draw

together the concrete, specific reality with the universal idea or concept it represents.35 It

also becomes the link between the sensible and the spiritual knowledge. The use of the

imagination in religious education will be able to present the connection between

concrete human sensible experiences and universal spiritual realities of faith. It is through

imagination that religious education can establish the much-desired interrelation of the

universal truths of faith that are taught and how these are actually lived in the concrete

experiences of daily life. Imagination is the human capacity that links the mystery of the

Christian faith with the central mystery of Christ which is not something that cannot be

known or understood, but rather, something that cannot be fully known or understood

(NCDP 249).

This study, therefore, is an attempt to respond to the problem of how to use

imagination as a methodology in religious education specifically in teaching the doctrinal

dimension of the Christian Faith.

Scope and Limitations

This study begins with a discussion on imagination and examines its use in

religious education, specifically, in teaching faith in its doctrinal aspect. Drawing from

34 Sandra M. Levy, Imagination and the Journey of Faith (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans,

2008), 128. 35 Philip S. Keane, Christian Ethics and Imagination (New York: Paulist Press, 1984), 81.

15 Roche’s insights on the role of imagination in the learning processes, the way the

students grasp and understand the Christian faith involves integrating it with their life.36

Imagination, as used in this study, is understood as a positive aspect of the human mind

enabling one to grasp what is real in its true depth and universal meaning in relation to

concrete and specific life realities and experiences. This study will use specific sections

of the National Catechetical Directory of the Philippines (NCDP) as well as the

Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC) that instruct and illustrate how imagination can

be an effective methodology both in teaching the faith and its practice in daily living.37

This study of imagination is presented as a method in the teaching of the doctrinal

dimension of the Christian faith. First, this study draws on Roche’s insights and

guidelines on imagination’s important role in teaching the faith. Then, this study looks at

the rich reflection on imagination and its nuances drawn from three theologians, namely

John Henry Cardinal Newman with his insights on religious imagination, Sandra

Schneiders on paschal imagination, and William F. Lynch on ironic Christic imagination.

Based on their insights, the study then articulates three practical principles on how to use

imagination religious education specifically in teaching doctrine. Newman’s religious

imagination relates to how the Christian faith is a real loving knowledge that goes beyond

the misconceptions of faith in a make-believe God and of heaven as a pie-in-the sky

fantasy world that has nothing to do with real, down-to-earth life experience. Sandra

Schneiders’s paschal imagination compares faith to a stream that runs through the in-

36 Roche, Practical Catechesis, 177. 37 The NCDP and the CFC are two documents published by the Episcopal Commission for

Catechesis and Catholic Education of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. The NCDP inculturates the guidelines of the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) in the Philippine context while the CFC articulates the content of the Catechism for the Catholic Church (CCC) for Filipino Catholics while enriching and creatively adapting it.

16 depth meaning of God’s Word in Scripture and connects God’s revelation to the Church’s

living tradition as its continuation. Both Scripture and Church tradition become the

source, meaning, and direction of human experience and history. Lynch’s ironic Christic

imagination serves as the missing link that connects the dots in the paradoxes of Christian

faith and life. It reconciles apparently opposing characteristics of faith and seemingly

contrasting experiences which are two necessary aspects that complete one reality.

The study then proposes three principles to address several problems in religious

education. Principle 1, the loving knowledge principle, addresses the problem of teaching

doctrine only on the level of notional concepts or “head knowledge. Principle 2, the

reality principle, counters teaching doctrine that is not grounded in Sacred Scripture,

Church teaching, and human experience. The third principle, the integration principle,

addresses teaching doctrine in a unidimensional, one-sided way that can lead to

reductionism.

While this study will neither develop a syllabus nor actual lessons for use by a

particular grade or year level, but will illustrate how to use the principles in using

imagination in teaching Christian doctrine.

This study also limits its discussion to the teaching of doctrine, rather than morals

and worship, for three reasons: First, there is an urgency to teach Christian doctrine

clearly and effectively today because of the deficiencies in the faith of students as seen in

their misconceptions–if not ignorance–of the doctrines of the faith. Second, there is a

need to address two misleading postmodern tendencies of either teaching the faith in an

overly intellectual and indoctrination approach that neglects the faith dimensions of

loving service and prayer, or, on the other hand, teaching the faith based only on the

17 latest trends and theories that oftentimes mislead and distract both the teacher and

students from understanding, deepening, and maturing in the faith.

While this study affirms the importance of Scripture and Church Teaching as the

primary sources of faith, it will not develop the use of imagination as a method in

understanding Scripture and Church Teaching. It will not also develop the method of

imagination in teaching the morals and worship dimensions of the faith. However, in

articulating imagination as a method in teaching doctrine, the integration of the two other

dimensions of faith with the doctrinal aspect is inevitable.

There are various methods in religious education like, Berard Marthaler’s

socialization paradigm of faith formation that describes how the community of faith

transmits its culture from generation to generation;38 or Thomas Groome’s method of

sharing the Christian Story and Vision, which is a relational, reflective, and experiential

way of knowing the faith by a community that shares its story and vision in a Christian

education context;39 or David Hay’s Experimental Approach or Experiential religious

education which addresses students’ hearts (and emotions, feelings, and sense of

identity), as well as their minds through the study of religion in a context where they can

feel safe to reflect on who they are, their hopes and fears, and get closer to the world of

the adherent of spiritual practice or faith than that of the scientific scholar of religion;40

and other methods. This study will neither discuss the different methodologies in

38John Roberto, Becoming a Church of Lifelong Learners: The Generations of Faith Sourcebook

(New London: Twenty-third Publications, 2006), 32. 39Anthony Y. Naaeke, Kaleidoscope Catechesis: Missionary Catechesis in Africa. Particularly in

the Diocese of Wa in Ghana (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006), 44. 40John Hammond, Experiential RE in http://www.re-

handbook.org.uk/section/approaches/experiential-re. Accessed March 11, 2017.

http://www.re-handbook.org.uk/section/approaches/experiential-rehttp://www.re-handbook.org.uk/section/approaches/experiential-re

18 religious education nor give a comprehensive discussion on the use of imagination in the

inculturation of the Christian message. It will only focus on imagination as a method in

teaching Christian doctrine.

Significance of the Study

Objective Significance

There is no single best method in religious education (NCDP 342). The variety of

methods is a sign of life and richness in religious education that also shows respect for

the age, intellectual development, level of maturity, and other personal circumstances of

the students (CT 51). The inexhaustible richness of the Christian message lends itself to a

plurality of methods because it cannot simply be contained in only one method. The

breadth and length, and height and depth of the mystery of Christ that surpasses all

knowledge (cf. Ephesians 3:19) cannot be grasped by one single methodology in

religious education. The fullness of God’s Revelation in Christ, the Incarnate Word,

cannot be captured by one single approach (NCDP 343).

Various teaching methods and techniques in religious education are therefore

valuable only insofar as they are adapted for the service of education in the faith in order

to communicate God’s revelation in its entirety (CT 58). There is freedom in employing

whatever methods are most effective, provided they are not harmful to the unity of the

faith and are not contrary to the Gospel but are at its service (NCDP 336).

Imagination as a method has been used in spirituality and theological studies.

John Henry Newman’s “appeal to imagination”41 highlights the value of imagination as a

41John Henry Newman, Grammar of Assent (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1955).

19 way to grasp what is real, and therefore meaningful. Sandra Schneiders’s “paschal

imagination”42 puts premium on reading and interpreting Scripture in the light of the

paschal mystery of Christ. The experience of the early Church is a living witness of the

saving action of the Risen Lord through his passion, death, and resurrection. William F.

Lynch’s “ironic Christic imagination”43 emphasizes the importance of accepting and

integrating paradoxes inherent in Christian life if faith is to be truly authentic. This study

will use the insights of these three authors to address the problems in teaching the

Christian faith. Newman’s religious imagination focuses on assent made possible by

imagination, making faith truly personal. Schneiders’s paschal imagination highlights the

paschal mystery as the lens to bring together different Christian doctrines, making faith

more Christ-centered. Lynch’s ironic Christic imagination underscores the paradoxes,

recognizing faith as mystery.

In religious education, there is still room for improvement in using imagination.

By relating imagination’s role to Christian faith, teaching can more effectively affect the

whole person because it will encourage participation.

Other theologians who used imagination in theological studies are Richard M.

Gula’s moral imagination,44 David M. Tracy’s analogical imagination,45 Karl Rahner’s

42 Sandra M. Schneiders, The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred

Scripture (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991). 43 Gerald J. Bednar, Faith as Imagination: The Contribution of William Lynch, S.J. (Kansas City:

Sheed &Ward, 1996). 44 Richard M. Gula, “Let the Mind of Christ Be in You: Moral Formation and the Imagination,”

Theology Digest 51 (2004): 315-26. 45 David M. Tracy, The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism

(New York: Crossroad, 1998).

20 exploration of self-transcendence as a graced openness to God,46 David Brown’s

imagination and its role in discipleship,47 Mary Catherine Hilkert’s sacramental

imagination,48 William J. Bausch’s imagination and faith embodied in stories,49 Luke

Timothy Johnson’s scriptural imagination,50 and Paul Avis’s creative imagination in

using metaphor, symbol and myth in theology.51 These authors will serve as valuable

sources for affirming the importance of imagination in the life of faith, but the insights of

Newman, Schneiders, and Lynch will be the paradigms used in this paper.

Subjective Significance

This study of imagination as a methodology in religious education is a valuable

step in helping teachers teach the Christian faith more effectively to the students in three

ways.

First, such method which is experiential and personal calls for the students’

participation. Since digital natives learn more by doing than by just listening, the use of

imagination allows teachers to engage the students in participatory learning and knowing

46 Michael Paul M. Gallagher, “Karl Rahner: The Magnetism of Mystery,” in Faith Maps (New

York: Paulist, 2010), 38.

47 David Brown, Discipleship and Imagination: Church Tradition and Truth (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).

48 Mary Catherine Hilkert, Naming Grace: Preaching and the Sacramental Imagination (New

York: Continuum, 2006). 49 William J. Bausch, Storytelling: Imagination and Faith (Connecticut: Twenty-third

Publications, 1984). 50 Luke Timothy Johnson, “Imagining the World Scripture Imagines,” in Directions in Modern

Theology: Theology and Scriptural Imagination (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), 2-18. 51 Paul Avis, God and the Creative Imagination: Metaphor, Symbol and Myth in Religion and

Theology (London and New York: Routledge, 1999).

21 by which they are led to make sense of life. Faith must be understood not from without–

through sheer spectator knowledge–but rather, from within one’s very own experience. If

the students are led to appropriate faith for themselves and rely upon it, their knowledge

becomes participatory.52 Thus, teaching becomes more engaging and effective.

Second, an imaginative method will help teachers enable the students to grasp the

truths of the Christian faith as embodied in symbols, metaphors, and stories that make up

human life. The images that bombard the senses of digital natives can be sorted out in a

discerning manner so as to draw from these images the seeds of faith which the students

can use to understand and deepen the faith. Imagination as a method opens up the

students to new awareness, new meanings, and new understanding through their familiar

language of symbols. The realities of faith are expressed in symbolic language that has

far more depth than the symbols alone. Imagination makes room for mystery that offers

and suggests something more.53

Third, imagination as a method of evaluative knowing54 appeals to both the

affective and emotional dimensions of the students, directing and motivating them

towards transformative action. Digital natives are capable of simultaneous interpersonal

relationships because they want to belong and to feel loved. Only when they see and

experience their real worth as beloved children of God can they be daring and audacious

in committing themselves to Him and His cause. Faith shared by and in the community

52 Dulles, “Symbolic Structure of Revelation,” 61. 53 Proceedings - Religious Education Association

http://old.religiouseducation.net/proceedings/2009_Proceedings/12Zsupan_Jerome.pdf. Accessed August 05, 2014.

54 “Evaluative loving knowledge” is how Fr. Joseph L, Roche calls the objective epistemology

used by Religious Education. Cf. Roche, Practical Catechesis), 177.

http://old.religiouseducation.net/proceedings/2009_Proceedings/12Zsupan_Jerome.pdf

22 matters to them more than adults tend to imagine, because young people do not want to

feel alone, especially in important life concerns such as faith and what it means and holds

for them. The symbolic language of faith stirs the imagination and releases hidden

energies in the soul giving strength and stability to the personality, arousing the will to

consistent and committed action.55 Furthermore, imagination as a method favors an

ecclesial-transformative influence on students’ behavior and action. By fostering an

affective emotional bond and sense of belonging to the faith community, teachers

accompany and encourage the students to willingly immerse themselves in the life and

liturgy of the community which is the symbolic mediation of God’s self-communication.

Such participation gradually molds and shapes their world-view by which they see the

world and, in turn, transform it.56

The practical principles in this study will be a valuable resource in preparing

syllabi and lessons, and in actual teaching in Religious Education particularly in its use of

Scripture, and in the exposition of faith as doctrine, and its integration with faith as

morals, and worship. By doing so, lessons rendered will hopefully be able to help bring

about a transformation not only of the mind, but also of the imagination, affections, heart

and will of the students who are deeply touched by faith in Christ (CFC 737).

This study will hopefully have an impact on how religious education in the

Philippines can imaginatively draw from Filipino symbols, stories, and metaphors, folk

religious traditions, artistic creativity which will also include digital language and images

55 Dulles, “Symbolic Structure of Revelation,” 62. 56 Proceedings - Religious Education Association

http://old.religiouseducation.net/proceedings/2009_Proceedings/12Zsupan_Jerome.pdf. Accessed August 05, 2014.

http://old.religiouseducation.net/proceedings/2009_Proceedings/12Zsupan_Jerome.pdf

23 to better communicate the mystery of the Christian faith in concrete language

understandable to Filipino students. This study is just one modest attempt to contribute to

a sustained effort in communicating the Christian message by using a method of

imagination.57

A methodology using imagination is the human capacity that links human realities

with the divine mystery not as something that cannot be understood, but something about

which there is always more to know. Imagination as a method in religious education

gives an insight into deeper truths that can only be expressed in symbol and metaphor.

Through an imaginative method, these truths are related more meaningfully to moral

living, and to a life of prayer and liturgical worship.58

Methodology

The following steps have been taken in this study:

First, the problem of how to bridge the gap between faith and life has been put

forward as something that needs to be addressed by religious education in a new way.

Then the study begins with a review of the nature, aim and context of religious education

vis-à-vis catechesis will be done.

Second, a study on misconceptions about imagination that lead people to

undervalue it in the way they think and understand, and consequently prevent teachers

from maximizing its use in education. The philosophical underpinnings of these

57 Roche, “Imagination and Integration in the NCDP and CFC,” 63. 58 NCDP 249.

24 misconceptions are traced in three historical periods of Modernity, the Enlightenment,

and Postmodernity. The educational value of imagination is also highlighted.

Third, the important role of imagination in Christian faith will be discussed. This

section will be developed by drawing on the significant reflections of three selected

theologians who have worked on imagination and faith.

Fourth, the insights of Joseph L. Roche on the role of imagination in religious

education in the NCDP and CFC will be used. He was part of the group which wrote

these two major resource books for the Church in the Philippines, the National

Catechetical Directory of the Philippines and the Catechism for Filipino Catholics which

are the inculturated versions of the General Directory for Catechesis and the Catechism

for the Catholic Church for the Philippines.

Fifth, the use of imagination in religious education specifically by proposing three

guiding principles in using imagination in teaching the doctrinal dimension of the

Christian faith. The final step will exemplify the use of the three principles on how to

teach the Trinity using imaginative methodology and showing its intrinsic grounding in

Scripture, Church teaching, and human experience specifically integrating the Filipino

value of family and community as Tayo-para-sa-kapwa (We-for-others).

Organization

This study will be presented in five chapters:

Chapter one, the Introduction, is an overview of the dissertation consisting of: the

Statement of the Problem, Scope and Limitations, Significance of the Study,

Methodology, Organization, Definition of Terms, and Review of Related Literature.

25 Chapter two entitled “What Is Religious Education,” reviews the nature, aim, and

context of religious education drawing on Church documents. It discusses the nature of

religious education vis-à-vis catechesis. Catechesis and religious education are both life-

long processes involving initial conversion, formation, education and ongoing conversion

(NCDP 120).

This chapter also discusses how the various methods used in communicating the

vibrancy and richness of faith, are necessary for a more effective teaching that

respectfully considers the age, intellectual development, level of maturity, and other

personal circumstances of the students. The inductive and deductive approaches, and

memorization are good methods prescribed by the GDC. The inductive method starts

from concrete faith realities to arrive at the Christian message while the deductive

method proceeds from the Christian message to arrive at its meaning and application in

concrete life experience. Both methods are necessary for a holistic understanding of the

faith. In all the types of methodology, integration needs to be strengthened to bring

about a more effective education in the faith. Imagination as a method in religious

education is essentially related to integration. It is not another method added to the list

but a way to deepen the method of integration. The method of imagination hopefully

will encourage the students to appreciate and use the gift of imagination in

understanding and deepening their faith.

Chapter three responds to the question, “What is imagination?” It clarifies and

rectifies three basic misconceptions about imagination by presenting the nature and

purpose of imagination as an essential aspect of human cognition and an indispensable

factor in the educational process.

26 Imagination is presented for what it truly is to address the three problems. First,

the human imagination is the power to represent the real more fully and truly than it

appears to the senses, and in its ideal and universal character.59 The human mind has the

creative ability to see reality, what is real, and to express both what is not present to the

senses now, and what is beyond sensible reality. Second, imagination is the ability of the

human mind to generate, that is, to give birth to, or to produce new knowledge from

fragments of existing knowledge. Imagination is productive, in the sense that it creates

new learning, and is, therefore, necessary for growth in knowledge, thus, making it a

means to attain true knowledge. And third, imagination is an important aspect of human

knowledge and, is therefore, an essential part of the process of teaching and learning in

three ways. First, imagination is a core process through which transformative learning

occurs, that is, the process by which the mindsets of students can radically change.

Second, imagination is the power to give form to human knowing, it is the capacity to

name the content of human thought by employing images especially in teaching. Images

give form or content to human thought. And, third, imagination is an act of creativity

because it manifests an embodied action in the world. Imagination moves and directs the

human mind, heart and hand, and drives the human person into concrete action. When

teachers evoke the students’ imagination, they are led towards creative engagement of the

world, and their teaching can be truly effective and life-transforming.

The philosophical foundation of imagination grounds the exposition of the nature

of imagination as an essential aspect of human knowing, and its purpose that helps in the

broadening of human horizons. A brief excursus on three historical periods of the

59 Frederick G. McLeod, S.J., “Imagination within the Act of Faith,” Review for Religious 46 (March/April 1986): 214.

27 Modernity, Enlightenment, and Postmodernity is done to show how imagination has

passed through the highs and lows of appreciation and devaluation, only to affirm its real

and essential value in the growth of the human person in knowledge, wisdom, and,

especially in faith. The educational value of imagination is discussed as an essential

element in effective classroom teaching and learning towards transformative education.

Chapter four covers “Faith as Imagination.” It gives a holistic insight into the

nature of Christian faith and highlight the paradoxes that mark its authenticity. It also

presents the Christian faith in its inseparable triple dimension of doctrine, morals and

worship. Then it discusses three common difficulties in teaching the faith and attempt at

possible answers to address them: 1) John Henry Newman’s religious imagination is the

response to the problem of seeing faith as fake and fantasy because it presents Christian

faith as a real loving knowledge of God and all that he reveals; 2) Sandra Schneiders’s

paschal imagination answers the misconception that faith has no roots in the lives and

history of people because paschal imagination becomes the lens or the vantage point for

seeing the faith as grounded in real experience of the encounter between the divine and

the human as testified and proclaimed in Scripture, Church teaching and human

experience; and 3) William F. Lynch’s ironic Christic imagination corrects the

reductionist approach to faith as one-sided, fragmented by presenting the integrating

power of the imagination of faith that reconciles the paradoxes inherent in a redeemed

human existence.

The use of imagination as a method in religious education is proposed specifically

in teaching the doctrinal dimension of faith. The creedal truths as essential doctrines of

the Christian faith will be the focus of the development of the method.

28 Chapter five presents “Using Imagination in Teaching Christian Doctrine.” It

discusses the nature and purpose of Christian doctrine before examining three problems

in teaching it, namely, first, as mere notional concepts or “head knowledge”; second, as

having no grounding in Scriptures, Church teaching and human experience; and third, as

taught in a uni-dimensional, fragmented, impoverished manner. All three difficulties

result in reductionism and absolutism. Reductionism means faith is watered down and

reduced only to one aspect while absolutism happens when one aspect of faith is

considered absolute disregarding its other dimensions. Imagination is the key response to

these problems and also the paradigm for a more holistic and life-giving understanding of

Christian doctrine that fosters maturing in the faith. Three basic principles will then be

proposed on how to use the method of imagination in preparing syllabi and lessons to

teach the Christian doctrine. Principle 1 refers to the loving knowledge principle which

presents faith as a real knowledge born out of love and understands Christian doctrine as

the mystery of God’s self-revelation calling for the human graced faith response. This

principle is inspired by Newman’s religious imagination which when awakened and

enkindled, renders faith truly personal and existential leading the Christian to give one’s

“Yes” to God in love.60 Principle 2 touches on the reality principle which emphasizes

that the teaching of doctrine must have its proper grounding in Scripture, Church

teaching, and human experience. This principle is based on Schneiders’s paschal

imagination with which Christian doctrine is understood as dynamic, living, and ever

evolving through God’s loving wisdom at work in the ongoing salvation history that is

testified in the Scripture, in Church tradition and teaching, and in human experience.

60 Michael Paul Gallagher, Faith Maps: Ten Religious Explorers from Newman to Joseph Ratzinger (New York: Paulist Press, 2010), 16.

29 Principle 3 talks about the integration principle which relates to Lynch’s ironic Christic

imagination and addresses the uni-dimensional, one-sided way of teaching Christian

doctrine that leads to reductionism, absolutism. Ironic Christic imagination pulls together

seemingly contradictory realities of Christian life beginning from the paradoxes of faith.

Teaching the Trinity is the primary focus in illustrating the three principles in using

imagination in teaching the faith.

The last part is a brief Conclusion and Recommendations for further study. All the

types of methodology that are being used in teaching the faith are good methods, but are

not always helpful in grasping God’s presence revealed in human experience because

they focus more on thought processes based on educational trends rather than on faith

realities that oftentimes are lost along the process. Integration needs to be strengthened to

bring about a more effective education in the faith. The use of imagination in religious

education is essentially related to integration because it is the contact point between the

spiritual realities of faith and the human capacity for God. Imagination is a way to

deepen the three fundamental principles of loving knowledge, reality-test, and integration

in any method that resonates to Christian faith.

The use of imagination in religious education proposed in this paper is a fruit of

an ardent desire and a humble search for a way to make the Christian faith attractive and

fascinating to the students so that they can allow themselves to be awed by the gift of

God in Christ Jesus through the Spirit, a gift that is communicated to them in ways that

no eye has seen or no ear has heard which God has prepared for those he loves

(cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9). This work is painstakingly completed with the firm hope that

students may be moved to willingly respond to God’s gift in ways that the imagination of

30 faith may inspire in them certain that what God has revealed and continues to reveal

through the Spirit may also be understood in-depth with the guiding Spirit who searches

all things even the depths of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:10).

The use of imagination has been explored in the worship and prayer dimension of

the faith in a book on Reimagining the Sacred: A Fresh Approach to Prayer, Liturgy and

the Sacraments61 written in 2012. It is an up-to-date, critical reflection on liturgical and

sacramental theology translated into more practical, relevant and pastoral-pedagogical

principles and methods. A further study and research is recommended for the use of

imagination in deepening the moral aspect of the Christian faith as well as the other

creedal truths such as the doctrine on the Holy Spirit and the Church.

Definition of Terms

Catechesis is the proclamation of the good news or kerygma and is an aspect of

the whole work of evangelization (EN 22). Catechesis is commonly carried out in non-

school settings like the parish especially for youth or adult groups, or parish-mandated

organizations.

Doctrine is the aspect of the Christian faith that involves the person’s “head” in

understanding the truths of the faith ultimately drawing its source from and finally

leading to its final destiny in Jesus Christ as the Truth. It directly relates to the

dimensions of morals and worship by informing and enlightening them.

Evangelization is the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News of

salvation to all, generate new creatures in Christ through baptism, and train them to live

61 Michael Demetrius H. Asis, Reimagining the Sacred: A Fresh Approach to Prayer, Liturgy and the Sacraments (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2012).

31 in the awareness that they are children of God (TCS 7). Evangelization consists in the

proclamation of Christ as Lord to those who do not know him, in preaching, catechesis,

baptism and the administration of the Sacraments (EN 17).

Faith is the graced human response to God’s revelation that is characterized by

paradoxical qualities of being certain, yet obscure; free, yet morally obliging; reasonable,

yet beyond natural reason; an act, yet a process; a gift, yet a human doing; personal, yet

ecclesial (CFC 141-154). The response of faith is expressed in its three inseparable

dimensions of believing (doctrine), doing (morals), and trusting (worship) which involves

the whole human being who responds with head, hands and heart to Jesus Christ who is

the Truth, the Way, and the Life.

Imagination is the human power to represent the real more fully and truly than it

appears to the senses, in its ideal, universal character.62 It is the human person’s ability to

express both what is present to the senses, and what is beyond sensible reality, enabling

the person to draw together the concrete, specific reality with the universal idea or

concept it represents.63

Ironic Christic imagination is William F. Lynch’s key insight to reconcile the

paradoxes and overcome fragmentation of faith. “Ironic” refers to putting together

relative opposites, and they mutually validate each other’s truth and value. It is “Christic”

because it is attained through an attentive appropriation or personal owning of the life of

Christ who reconciled paradoxical realities in himself.

62 McLeod, “Imagination within the Act of Faith,” 244. 63 Keane, Christian Ethics and Imagination, 81.

32 Methodology or method is a systematic procedure or process for attaining an

objective. It is a technique or mode of inquiry, or a way of doing something. In education,

it means a specific way of organizing and structuring one’s teaching so as to bring about

learning.64 Methodology in religious education is the systematic process of education in

the faith. The ultimate basis all methods is God’s pedagogy, His ways of revealing and

communication of Godself (NCDP 334-37).

Morals is the aspect of the Christian faith that involves the person’s “hands” in

doing or living based on the truth of the faith by following Jesus Christ as the Way who

shows how to lovingly serve one’s neighbor. It directly relates to the dimensions of

doctrine and worship by leading understanding of the faith to a transformed life the

strength of which is drawn from prayer, the liturgy, and the sacraments.

Paradox is a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that

when reflected upon and explained may prove to be well founded or true. It can refer to

something that is made up of two opposite things that seems impossible but are actually

true or possible.

Paschal imagination is drawn from Sandra M. Schneiders’s holistic perspective

of Scripture and is applied to the understanding of Christian faith as holistic because it is

grounded in Scriptures, Church teaching, and human experience. Faith is seen through

the perspective of the Paschal mystery of Christ and the saving message of the doctrines

of faith are interpreted and deepened in the light of the passion, death and resurrection of

Christ as narrated in the Gospels.

64 Pierre De Cointet, Barbara Morgan, and Petroc Willey, The Catechism of the Catholic Church

and the Craft of Catechesis (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008), xiii.

33 Religious education is a systematic and progressive education in the faith which

spans from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and to college which informs, forms, and

transforms the practice of the Catholic faith which involves a lifelong process of

maturing in the faith and commitment to Christ in the Church and in the world. The aim

of religious education is to put people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy,

with Jesus Christ, who is the unique center and focus of Christian faith, since only he can

lead all to the love of the Father in the Spirit, and make all share in the life of the Holy

Trinity (CT 5).

Religious imagination is an insight from John Henry Newman that relates to the

understanding faith’s three essential characteristics 1) as a real grasp and dynamic assent

to the truths of the faith; 2) as experiential and subjective or personal; and 3) as a holistic

understanding that fosters life integration.65 The word “religious” relates imagination to

faith as a bond (from the Latin “religare” which means to tie or bind, or to anchor well)

between the believer and God.

Revelation is the divine manifestation of Godself and the mystery of his will that

all humankind have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the

Holy Spirit, and thus, become sharers in the divine nature. By divine revelation, the

invisible God, out of his abundant love, addresses human beings as friends, and moves

among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company. Revelation is

realized through words and deeds of God in history, and finds fulfillment in Jesus Christ,

who is the sum total of God’s revelation (DV 2).

65 Gerard Magill, “Newman’s Moral Imagination in Theological Method and Church Tradition,”

Theological Studies 53 (1992): 456.

34 Theology is “faith seeking understanding” through a rigorous, systematic, and

scientific reflection, study and research on the divinely revealed truths and their impact

on the contemporary context of God’s people. Theology is undertaken in higher

institutions of theological schools and seminaries for the formation of priests and pastors,

theology professors and writers.

Worship is the aspect of the Christian faith that involves the person’s “heart” in

celebrating the faith through prayer, the liturgy, and the sacraments as an expression of

trust in Jesus Christ as the Life. It directly relates to the dimensions of doctrine and

morals by being their source of enlightenment and deeper moral strength and motivation.

Review of Related Literature

This dissertation addresses the problem of how on the use of imagination in

teaching Christian doctrine. It is a modest contribution in the field of religious education.

Michael M. Valenzuela wrote a dissertation entitled “Apostles, Prophets,

Ambassadors, and Angels: De La Salle’s Mediations for the Time of Retreat and the

Apostolic Imagination.”66 This is a study on the role of imagination in spiritual life and

apostolic ministry specifically addressing the problem of how De La Salle’s Meditations

for the Time of Retreat can contribute in shaping an imagination and spirituality for

religious educators in the Philippines.

Josemaria Roberto V. Reyes’ thesis entitled “A Proposed Approach for

Developing the “Catholic Imagination” in Loyola Schools Students as an Aid in the

66 Michael M. Valenzuela, “Apostles, Prophets, Ambassadors, and Angels: De La Salle’s

Mediations for the Time of Retreat and the Apostolic Imagination” (Ph.D. diss., Ateneo de Manila University, 2004).

35 Teaching of Theology,”67 proposes an approach in teaching theology to the college

students of the Loyola Schools that will develop and cultivate in them the Catholic

imagination. However, the thesis engages the imagination by using the film trilogy The

Lord of the Rings (special extended edition) in explaining how Catholic imagination can

be used in drawing out the theology found in the film. The paper tends to be

progressively complicated and defocused as it moves from the chapter on the theoretical

foundations of Catholic imagination to the chapter on the Catholic understanding of evil,

and to the chapter on the guided exploration of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings

film trilogy. The proposal is valid and helpful but discernment must be done so that

readers especially college students who are not well grounded on the basics of the

Catholic faith may be properly guided in its reading and benefit from it more fruitfully.

Ana Maria Q. Faustino’s thesis on “The Role of the Imagination in a Biblical-

Catechetical Seminar to Foster Authentic Images of God”68 studies how the imagination

can help the students of the Center for Career Development of St. Paul College, Quezon

City have authentic images of God. She designs a biblical-catechetical seminar to evoke

their imagination in the use of Scripture toward formation of imaginative thinking which

will make them understand which images of God they hold need to be corrected,

completed, affirmed and developed.69

67 Josemaria Roberto V. Reyes, “A Proposed Approach for Developing the ‘Catholic Imagination’

in Loyola Schools Students as an Aid in the Teaching of Theology” (M.A. thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 2012).

68Ana Maria Q. Faustino, “The Role of the Imagination in a Biblical-Catechetical Seminar to

Foster Authentic Images of God” M.A. thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 2013). 69Faustino, “The Role of the Imagination in a Biblical-Catechetical Seminar,” 15.

36 Michael Demetrius H. Asis’ book based on his dissertation “Reimagining the

Sacred: A Fresh Approach to Prayer, Liturgy and the Sacraments”70 translates important

up-to-date, critical scholarship in liturgical and sacramental theology into more practical,

relevant and pastoral-pedagogical principles and methods. It is written for a wider, non-

specialized readership, and audience. It aims toward clearly and effectively

communicating the worship dimension of the Christian faith.

70Asis, Reimagining the Sacred: A Fresh Approach to Prayer, Liturgy and the Sacraments.

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