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EDUCATION
JOHN S. POBEE
EDUCATION
Education and renewal* have been emphasized in the church from its beginnings. Acts 2:42 attests that the earliest Christians found their unity* among other things by devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching. Indeed, Luke’s task was to pass on the content of the apostles’ teaching (Luke 1:1-3; Acts 1:1-2); and the church through the ages has continued to be concerned to teach and learn the Tradition* for the renewal of the faithful. Timothy is exhorted to “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14-15). Here Tradition is stressed – what has been learned from forebears and teachers, including in particular the scriptures, which are inspired and are therefore useful in enabling human beings to come to wisdom (vv.16-17).
By the 2nd century the catechetical school of Alexandria in Egypt was a centre of the intellectual life of the Christian church as well as instructing candidates for church membership in the principles of the Christian faith.* Emperor Justinian I sought to promote an exclusively Christian form of education, regulating the belief of Christians and removing all traces of pagan philosophy and practices. In 529 he published a decree excluding pagans from positions of public education financed by city councils. The result was a narrower focus of the Christian faith, and the emphasis on correct teaching and doctrine served the imperial idea of total mastery. But Cassiodorus in the West saw the study of the seven liberal arts as the best preparation for higher studies in Christian theology as well as the best defence against non-Christian attacks on the church. The education of the clergy was very much on the agenda of Emperor Charlemagne, who wanted Christian service, including prayers and rituals, to be correctly understood and properly performed (Admonitio Generalis, 789; De Litteris Colendis, c.781-91).
From the 12th century onwards, scholasticism dominated theology and theological education. In its preoccupation with the relationship between faith and reason and with the nature and attributes of God, scholasticism became so erudite that it neglected the needs of the churches, and the aridity of theology set the stage for the work of the reformers and thus contributed to the divisions of the church.
The reformers
Martin Luther’s emphasis on education was linked to his re-discovery of the priesthood of all believers. Convinced that the entire body of Christian believers is called to be intelligent in the faith, Luther published his small catechism* for children and a large catechism for adults. Family education received considerable emphasis in his ministry. John Calvin also emphasized education, and his successor Theodore Beza established what eventually became the university of Geneva. The founding of educational institutions was rooted in the conviction that the church needed learned ministers who could set forth the true faith, as well as an educated laity.
The Reformation stimulated fresh approaches to education by broadening the base and scope of learning and devising new methods to quicken and train the human mind and spirit. Philipp Melanchthon and John Higenkegin developed Volksschule and reconstructed university education. John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) of Unitas Fratrum pioneered an educational theory which influenced the education of the child as a child. The Catholic Reformation also produced new approaches to education. The Jesuits developed the ratio studiorum, and congregations of women (e.g. the Ursulines) arose to pursue education of the masses (see religious communities).
Thus education, Christian and theological, was seen as an important element in the renewal of the church. In general, it was oriented to serving the needs of the church; it was not education for its own sake. The view of education was democratic, in the sense that it was for all the faithful, not just the clergy. This foreshadowed the later ecumenical emphases on ministry by all God’s people (see people of God) and theology by the people.*
18th- and 19th-century development
In 19th-century Europe, education became a function of the state, aimed at preparing young people for service of the state rather than rearing them specifically in the Christian faith. Not only did this reflect the distancing of the state from the church but it also led to a distancing of theology faculties from the church (see church and state).
Already the Reformers had protested that they were not themselves educated enough in theological matters to be entrusted with the Christian education of the faithful. This concern – and the desire to promote Christian education among the young, particularly the unschooled poor – led to the formation of Sunday schools, the first founded by Hannah Ball in High Wycombe, England, in the 1760s. In 1780 the Sunday School Movement was pioneered by Robert Raikes of Gloucester. It grew around the world, and in 1889 was re-named the World Sunday School Convention (later Association), headquartered in London. Its main work was producing materials for Sunday schools. In 1924, the World Sunday School Association became a federation, with an interdenominational and international board, committed to Christian education and to drawing churches together. In 1947 it was re-named World Council of Christian Education* (WCCE); its activities included providing resources for effective educational leadership and programmes, and ecumenical curriculum development for church and day schools in all continents. In 1971 it was integrated into the WCC.
Education was also emphasized by the Christian social action movement arising in the 19th century. Workers in trade unions were educated for political consciousness. The World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches* was founded in 1914 to promote education for peace. The first Life and Work* conference (Stockholm 1925) included a section on “the church and education”; and the Life and Work movement continued this emphasis, holding annual ecumenical seminars in Geneva from 1933 to explore ecumenical education. Its 1937 Oxford conference explored the subject of “Church, Community and State in Relation to Education”.
The YMCA* (1855), the YWCA* (1894) and the World Student Christian Federation* (1895) addressed matters of faith and the world’s agenda through prayer, Bible study and practical missionary and socio-
political involvement. The lay, youth and student movements dealt with general and Christian education as well as the renewal of educational institutions and theories.
Education in the ecumenical movement
A strong ecumenical perspective on education had thus developed from a number of 19th-century sources. Against this background, the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey,* near Geneva, was founded in 1946. Its expressed objective was the formation of an apostolic type of leadership “which not only aims at changing the life of individuals, but also seeks to achieve a peaceful penetration into the various sections of the community and the various areas of life”.
Before the integration of the WCCE in 1971, the WCC in 1969 had set up an Office of Education. Earlier, the mandate of the Division of Ecumenical Action established by the Evanston assembly (1954), had included helping churches to “relate ecumenical thinking to Christian education in all its
aspects”, a task shared by the Ecumenical Institute and the Laity and Youth departments. A joint study commission on education was formed with the WCCE in 1961. The Office of Education established in 1969 had sub-sections on basic adult education (see education, adult), theological education and church education, and administered a fund which financed curriculum projects and initiatives in religious education among children and adults. Several assumptions have governed WCC work in education. One is that all of life is a learning experience – from the cradle to the grave. This has tended to produce a proliferation in the work of the WCC sector dealing with education. Another is the need to pay attention to the roles of both teachers and pupils. What may adults learn from children? What may literates learn from non-literates? What may be learned from peoples with disabilities about true values and the good life? How can a two-way process of teaching and learning in a learning community be fostered? A third assumption is that education in the church context should be not only learning about the faith but also discovering its implications of the faith for personal and social ethical attitudes and decisions.
Theological education
Although theological issues, particularly those related directly to the church, have in the ecumenical movement typically been the province of Faith and Order,* it was the International Missionary Council* (IMC) which took the first steps to structure the concern for theological education programmatically. When the missionary movement gathered momentum early in the 20th century, the churches of the North provided the leadership and set the agenda for church life, style and theology in the South. But some missionaries, notably Charles Ranson, a missionary to India, were convinced that improving the training of indigenous persons was essential for the future of the church. Ranson was tireless in communicating this vision to the IMC, and on the basis of its study of theological education in the South, its 1958 assembly created the Theological Education Fund (TEF), both to promote theological excellence (then still measured by exclusively Western standards) and to develop creative indigenous theological education. The three marks of TEF’s work were quality, combining intellectual rigour, spiritual maturity and commitment; authenticity, involving critical encounter with each cultural context in the design, content and purpose of theological education; and creativity, leading to new approaches and deepening the churches’ understanding and obedience in mission. As a fund, it enabled the churches of the South to share in decision making about the training of their pastors. After the IMC was integrated into the WCC in 1961, TEF was part of the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME); and when theological education later became a separate programme, CWME retained a desk for education and mission.
In 1977 TEF became the Programme on Theological Education (PTE), whose central mandate was “to assist the churches in the reform and renewal of theological education”. The understanding of assistance to the churches, who are seen as the principal actors, includes the role of catalyst, challenging them to reform and renew their theological education and ministerial formation. PTE’s partners also include other funding agencies, mission boards and regional associations of theological schools.
The PTE mandate called for it to give attention to: “(1) the influence of the context and culture in theology and ministerial training and practices; (2) the need to liberate theological education and ministerial formation and practices from bondages which hamper faithfulness in their life and witness; and (3) cross-cultural discussion of key aspects of theological education”. These guidelines led to two special programmatic emphases after the Vancouver assembly (1983): theology by the people and the place of spiritual formation in ministerial formation. The former, rooted in an understanding of the church as the people of God, asks how the people of God are to be equipped for mission and ministry in today’s world. What lessons may be learned, for example, from the basic Christian communities, which actually live out the idea of church as the people of God?
The viability of ecumenical theological education today was the theme of a three-year WCC study in the 1990s. This culminated in a consultation in Oslo in 1996 which emphasized the need for greater integration and wholeness within theological education and ministerial formation, and pointed out that such education is a catalyst for renewal.
The Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE) programme, successor to PTE, supports a range of activities, including innovative and alternative programmes in theological education, original and contextual reflection in curriculum development, the programmes of regional bodies of theological education, training of theological educators, and intra- and inter-regional exchange of students and faculty.
Other initiatives in Christian education .
Important ecumenical educational work was carried out in the 1970s and 1980s by the WCC Portfolio for Biblical Studies, established in 1971 to explore ways in which Christians “can more faithfully live, witness and worship in accordance with the scriptures” (see Bible, its role in the ecumenical movement). In addressing the questions of how Bible study can become operative for Christian obedience in everyday life and how Christians can be helped to mediate the biblical message in light of their own personal, political and cultural situation, the programme developed extensive training and networking of Bible-study enablers around the world, drawing on and teaching a great variety of Bible-study methods.
For a number of years beginning in 1978 the WCC’s Church-Related Educational Institutions Programme (CREIP) evaluated the role played by church-sponsored schools, colleges, universities and institutions, including in human development and nation-building. Among the issues it grappled with were elitism, the influence of governments on Christian education, the relationship between institutional church and private Christian institutions, and the access to education of racial and religious minorities. Another concern was the churches’ development of leaders for church and society. This concern became a growing emphasis in the work of the WCC scholarships programme, as it sought increasingly to ensure that the provision of ecumenical financial support for the advanced education and training of individuals took account of the need to meet the future human resources requirements of the churches from which the recipients came.
The concern for ecumenical learning* and the exploration with churches of how their curricula and educational programmes might be revised to promote education for ecumenism, particularly at the local level, involved cooperative initiatives with other sectors of the WCC and with external networks. One such initiative, for example, was a multi-year study of education in a multifaith environment.
The work of lay academies. The growth of various types of lay centres (see academies, lay) reflects the conviction that the church is called to a dynamic concern for social welfare, and is a sign of a larger renewal of the church’s life and structures. This movement resulted in the establishment in 1972 of a worldwide ecumenical network of persons and centres, the World Collaboration Committee for Christian Lay Centres, Academies and Movements for Social Concern (re-named Oikosnet in 1997). Structurally, the concern for laity* – and relations with lay centres and academies – has been variously located in the WCC, reflecting both the breadth of approaches to the issues and the strong lay involvement in many of the activities and organizations that went into the creation of the WCC. Between the Canberra (1991) and Harare (1998) assemblies, it was located in the Unit on Unity and Renewal, and theological reflection on the laity as the whole people of God was given particular attention. With the 1999 restructuring, it returned to its earlier location in the Education team – within an overall understanding of working collaboratively as part of the new structure. The Wccclc was built on autonomous regional associations, developments and priorities, but its 1993 convention, on the theme “Weaving Communities of Hope”, put new emphasis on the worldwide coordination of a movement – strengthening networks, developing concepts of the laity and laity formation and planning common action.
The centre of the lay movement thus seems to have shifted from Europe, allowing the church to see more clearly its proper location with the poor and disestablished. The ecumenical focus on laity has had consequences for reforms of theological education and the continuing education of clergy, reflecting the need to overcome the persistent dichotomy between clergy and laity.
Education and liberation. In the early 1970s the WCC invited the Brazilian philosopher of education Paolo Freire to set up an adult education desk, drawing on the experiences and insights summarized in his book The Pedagogy of the Oppressed and related closely to liberation theology.* Under Freire and his successors over the next 25 years, this WCC programme carried out pioneering work in education that was firmly rooted in the churches’ “option for the poor”. The central goal of education was seen as enabling those who are poor, oppressed or otherwise marginalized to
become the subjects of their own history. Literacy was thus linked with people’s participation in decision-making, and formal, informal and non-formal education
were integrated. Pedagogy was under-
stood as posing problems in dialogue,
rather than a merely monological transfer
of knowledge from those who know to
those who do not know.
As Freire’s ideas and work – especially in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries of Africa – became more widely known, many of his ideas were taken up by governments, universities, community groups and international and non-governmental bodies involved in education, development and social change.
Women and education. James Kwegyir Aggrey of Africa is quoted as saying, “Educate a man and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you educate a tribe and a nation.” But despite the crucial role of women in the family, the wider community and the church which his statement highlights, women have often been discriminated against and marginalized in education activities. In response, WCC programmes in laity education have collaborated with the Council’s women’s desk to raise awareness of women and the churches regarding the impoverishment of the total community life by the marginalization of women in the community, the causes of their oppression and possible positive actions to eliminate this. Locally and nationally women have been enabled to come together to share stories of struggle and analyze problems, thus promoting the cross-fertilization of ideas, shared leadership and strengthened linkages among groups of women. Among creative educational methods used have been biblical and theological reflection through drama, artwork or sharing stories. Two publications record this experience: By Our Lives (1985), an attempt to relate the experiences of women today and those in the Bible and thus call people to read the Bible with new eyes; and New Eyes for Reading (1986), a collection of biblical and theological reflections by women from the third world.
The continuous recognition within the ecumenical movement of the critical importance of education for the renewal of the church has thus been reflected in the WCC, especially since the 1960s. While taking a variety of different forms, it has always emphasized community and the participation of all. Education which not only trains individuals and makes them whole but also prepares them to serve the community and the renewal of the church will continue to be a key dimension of ecumenical work. Prince Thompson, an Anglican bishop in Sierra Leone, has said that “theological education is our nerve centre, and our willingness to shoulder it is an indication of our growing maturity in Christ”. What he said of theological education in Africa is true of all education in churches from all regions of the world.
JOHN S. POBEE
n P. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York, Herder, 1970 n E.H. Harbison, The Christian Scholar in the Age of the Reformation, New York, Scribner’s, 1956 n G.E. Knoff, The World Sunday School Movement, New York, Seabury, 1979 n H. Kraemer, A Theology of the Laity, London, Lutterworth, 1958 n C. Lienemann-Perrin, Training for a Relevant Ministry, WCC, 1981 n N. Peterse & E. Appia eds, The World Convention of Christian Lay Centres and Movements: Weaving Communities of Hope, WCC, 1994 n J.S. Pobee ed., Towards Viable Theological Education: Ecumenical Imperative, Catalyst of Renewal, WCC, 1997 n Report of the Committee on the Division of Ecumenical Action, WCC n G. Rüppell, Mooring for New Provisions – Sailing to New Venues, WCC, 1991 n W. Simpfendörfer ed., The New Fisherfolk, WCC, 1988 n Voices of Solidarity, WCC, 1981.
The text above is extracted from “ Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement ” 2 nd Edition , published by World Council of Churches (courtesy of World Council of Churches)
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