Abstract
While the topic of Christian nurture is certainly not lacking in literature, this robust text uniquely draws upon a rich resource of interdisciplinary scholarship, highlighting the contributions of seminal educational scholars, biblical and theological insights, and rich socio-cultural analysis from the social sciences with particular application to the contemporary postmodern context. Engaging core theological themes and educational concepts from a diversity of scholarly perspectives, and replete with extensive endnotes, the text offers a fresh approach to the study of Christian nurture with relevant application to today’s world.
Divided into five parts, this ambitious volume of over 500 pages examines historical, biblical and educational foundations in conversation with contemporary socio-cultural analysis and insights from an array of scholars – primarily through the lens of practical theology. In each section, the chapters are well-organized with both introductory and concluding summary remarks, along with reflection questions entitled ‘Interactive Dialogue’, a list of apt resources for ‘Further Reading’ and extensive endnotes. A unique feature of the text is the inclusion of multiple sidebars in each chapter drawn from Kurian and Lamport’s Encyclopedia of Christian Education.
This book is grounded in a holistic view of faith formation which asserts that ‘the Christian way is to be enmeshed in all aspects of a person’s being and in Christ’s corporate body, leading to radical transformation and resulting in the continued mission of God through individuals and the faith community to participate in God’s redemption of the world’ (pp. 8–9). An extended introduction sets out the purpose and overarching framework of the text, including helpful definitions of core terms. Such definitions are especially helpful in a field with so many seemingly overlapping concepts – all in the name of Christian education, faith formation and nurture.
The text’s premise insists that Christian leaders’ formational efforts must be informed not only by Scripture and theology, but also the ‘fields of education, philosophy, and the social sciences to help them understand better what awakens love of learning in persons, how learning is related to forming identity, the relation between knowing and doing, and so on’ (p. 10). In other words, educators must be ‘exegetes of Scripture and tradition, culture, and human development’ (p. 11) – and thus, the text is organized accordingly.
Part 1, Cultural Dynamics of Nurturing Faith, offers a cogent historical analysis of the Western church, describing its ‘failure to nurture faith effectively and divest itself of counterproductive educational strategies’ (p. 27). In a rather provocative critique, the authors claim that ‘At present, Christian faith communities give little attention to educational theory or practice in their efforts to nurture faith…The typical educational default is to learn for cognitive competence (knowing about subject matter) promoted by pedagogies that presume knowledge is passively absorbed by students. Much of this default mode is simply “wrong” by even secular educational standards’ (p. 31).
Continuing to build their case, the authors explain how competing narratives (Christian faith in contrast to modernism and postmodernism) shape the ways in which we both understand and practice Christianity in contemporary context. Of particular interest in this section is its inclusion of helpful insights from faith formation practices in other faith traditions with the focus on ‘pedagogical rather than theological’ (p. 35) contributions for Christian nurture with key points illustrated through clearly depicted charts and figures.
The authors describe Part 2, Criteria for Nurturing Faith, as the ‘heart of the book’ as it attempts to ‘flesh out the theological convictions undergirding the strategic means by which Christians are most enduringly, most profoundly, and most engagingly educated in faith’ (p. 17). Following an interweaving of theological foundations in dialogue with theories of practice and critical reflection, this section concludes with an extensive application of Thomas Groome’s ‘shared praxis’ approach.
Part 3, Colleagues in Nurturing Faith, examines faith formation across the lifespan including children, adolescents and adults; and Part 4, Contexts Nurturing Faith, describes faith formation through congregations, Christian schools and theological education. The final section, Part 5, Conversations in Nurturing Faith, suggests applicable educational strategies for the postmodern world along with commentary by six representative scholars of Practical Theology reflecting on the text’s central concepts for nurturing faith – helpfully outlined in a summary chart (p. 395). While still engaging, this final section may be of less interest to those educators unfamiliar with these scholars or the field of Practical Theology.
Overall, Nurturing Faith is a tremendous contribution to faith-based education, with applicability to Christian educators in a diversity of contexts including church-based Christian education, Christian schools, higher education and theological education.