Title A Historical Continuity on
Christian Education for Children
- Focus on Horace Bushnell and Elizabeth Caldwell -
Author’s name :
Professional position
:
Institutional affiliation :
Phone numbers :
Mail addresses :
Cover Sheet and Author Identification: The cover sheet should contain the paper title, author’s name, professional position, institutional affiliation, phone numbers, and electronic-mail addresses.
A Historical Continuity on
Christian Education for Children
- Focus on Horace Bushnell and Elizabeth Caldwell -
Length: Manuscripts should not exceed 15 pages in length, including the abstract and references. The body of the manuscript should bear only the title of the paper on the first page. To preserve the integrity of the blind review process, authors should avoid self-identification in the text as well as in notes and references.
< Abstract >
(Please provide an abstract within 250 words)
The decisive role of education in developing children's faith has become more important in today's society. Even though we live in an ever-changing world, there is an unchanging requirement for children's education in faith. The history of Christian education has shown this concern. Throughout history, Christian educators have pursued a way of providing appropriate and sometimes transformative education for faith and a faithful life.
Key words: Horace Bushnell, Elizabeth Caldwell, Children, Parent, Organic Family, Nurture, Homemaking, Educational Intention (Please provide within 7 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes)
I. Introduction
In our rapidly changing society, education becomes more and more important in the intellectual and spiritual development of a child. Especially for children, education is decisive because they are in the beginning of forming their lives. Family education and the family environment are primarily significant because family is the basis for their lives and they spend most of their time at home in their early years. For Christians, faith community also plays a vital role in children’s faith formation, and further their life formation.
Currently, however, many families have placed less importance on the educational role of children. At least since the Industrial Revolution, families have been changed by technological innovations, demographic shifts, cultural revolutions, social structural changes, and alterations in the political economies of Western liberal democracies (Lyon & Smith, 1998, 1). As society has changed, the educational environment has changed accordingly. Most households let public educational institutions pay for the education of their children. Family and education have been separated. Moreover, the mass media present people almost daily with issues such as teenage pregnancy, divorce, abuse, gender roles, and the effects of consumerism and the media itself on family life (Lyon & Smith, 1998, 2). Our society has been called ‘the age of destruction of morality,’ ‘the age of the corruption of the family,’ and ‘the age of no education.’
II. Horace Bushnell and His Understanding of Christian Education
Headings Numbering:
- Level 1: Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ(…)
- Level 2: 1, 2, 3 (…)
- Level 3: 1), 2), 3) (…)
- Level 4: (1), (2), (3) (…)
In the early 19th century, a man stirred up society with his emphasis on the importance of the family environment for children’s education and the positive thinking of children. He was Horace Bushnell. Arguing against views of childhood sinfulness, Bushnell insisted that children had the seed of faith in side them. In addition, he emphasized the faithful family environment.
1. Understanding of Bushnell’s context and theology
2. Christian Education – Christian Nurture
What is the true idea of Christian nurture? Horace Bushnell (1991) answered this question: “The child is to grow up a Christian, and never know himself [herself] as being otherwise"
For the child, after birth, is still within the matrix of the family life, and will be more or less, for many years. And the parental life will be flowing into him all that time, just as naturally and by a law as truly organic, as when the sap of the trunk flows into the limb (Bushnell, 1975: quoted in Downs, 1982, 199).
3. The Role of Parent (educator)
Bushnell underscored the parental role in Christian nurture. He insisted that if parent(s) live the life of Christ, children will live like them through the Holy Spirit (Bushnell, 16). Contrasting with the ostrich nurture,[1]
4. The Role of the Church
III. Elizabeth Caldwell and Her Understanding of Christian Education
IV. Conclusion
What is the true idea of Christian education? Both Horace Bushnell and Elizabeth Caldwell understood Christian education as a nurturing process. Growth in faith is a life-long process. Bushnell emphasized the atmosphere of the family as an organic unity, in which children breathe. Caldwell stressed faith nurturing with our children and youth in daily lives. Both underscored the importance of a safe environment for the education of children. I think the idea of Christian education of Bushnell and Caldwell implies a broader meaning of family education. For Bushnell, the atmosphere of the family is beyond of a mere place. The metaphor of “making a home for faith” of Caldwell is not limited to the family. “Homemaking,” I think, happens wherever there is faith nurturing.
References, citations, and general manuscript styling should be prepared in accordance with the APA format of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association Sixth(6th)Edition.
Bibliography
Berryman, J. (1991). Godly play. New York: Harper SanFrancisco.
Bunge, M. A. (Ed.) (2001). The child in Christian thought. Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Caldwell, E. F. (1996). Come unto me: rethinking the sacraments for children. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press.
------. (2000). Making a home for faith: nurturing the spiritual life of your children. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press.
Duke, J. O. (1984). Re-review: Horace Bushnell's Christian Nurtur. Modern Churchman ns 26, No. 3, 40-44.
Hwang, B. J. (2007). The role of father in Christian education: a child's image of God through father's education. Journal of Christian Religious Education, Vol. 16, 195-215.
Maddix, M .A (2012). Christian nurture and conversion: a conversation between Horace Bushnell and John Wesley. Christian Education Journal, 3rd ser., Vol. 9, No. 2, 309-325.
Prevost, R. (1998). The prophetic voice of the religious education: past, present, and future. Religious Education Vol. 93. No. 3, Summer, 288-305.
Seymour, J. L. (1997). Mapping christian education: approaches to congregational learning. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Vogel, D.,& Linda V. (1999). Sacramental living: falling stars and coloring outside the lines. Nashville: Upper Room Books.
Westerhoff, J. (1980). Bringing up children in the christian faith. Minneapolis: Winston Press.
1
[1] Bushnell uses the metaphor of ‘ostrich nurture’for the irresponsible attitude of parents in the education of their own children in faith.