How to Teach Religion: Principles and MethodsBetts, George Herbert
Religion
How to Teach Religion: Principles and Methods
Betts, George Herbert
Religion -- Study and teaching; Religious education
Carlyle, recognizing this truth, exclaims: "This green, flowery,
rock-built earth, the trees, the mountains, rivers, many-sounding seas;
that great deep sea of azure that swims overhead; the winds sweeping
through it; the black cloud fashioning itself together, now pouring out
fire, now hail and rain; what _is_ it? Aye, what?... An unspeakable,
godlike thing, toward which the best attitude for us, after never so
much science, is awe, devout prostration, and humility of soul; worship,
if not in words, then in silence."
In the same spirit Max Mueller exhorts us: "Look at the dawn, and forget
for a moment your astronomy; and I ask you whether, when the dark veil
of night is slowly lifted, and the air becomes transparent and alive,
and light streams forth you know not whence, you would not feel that
your eye were looking into the very eye of the Infinite?" And Emerson
reminds us: "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years,
how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the
remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night
come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their
admonishing smile."
When, then, shall we have become too far removed from childhood to be
beyond the appeal of nature to our souls? When shall we cease to "hold
communion with her visible forms," and to find in them one of the many
avenues which God has left open for us to use in approaching him! What
teacher of us will dare to leave out of his instruction at any stage of
the child's development the beneficent and wonder-working God of nature
as he smiles his benediction upon us from the myriad common things
around us!
MATERIAL FROM HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
God is to be found in the lives of nations and of men not less than in
nature, and the evidences and effects of his presence there should be
taught our children. The spirit which Jesus revealed in his life upon
earth is exemplified in the lives of many of his followers who joyously
spend themselves in the service of others. Men who set the standard for
manliness, and women whose character and lives are the best definition
of womanliness, are as much a revelation of God's work and power as a
constellation of stars or the bloom of the rose.
The example of great lives.--So, along with the great Bible characters
we will bring to the child the men, and women of other generations. We
will bring to him the great souls who, as missionaries, have carried the
Light to those who sit in darkness; those who in honesty and integrity
of purpose have served as leaders of nations or armies or movements to
the blessing of humanity; those who, with the love of God in their
hearts, have gone out as ministers, teachers, writers of books, singers
of songs, makers of pictures, healers of sickness; or those who, in any
field, of toil or service, have given the cup of cold water in the name
of the Master.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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