It need scarcely be added that the biblical stories are exceptionally well suited to such use and that when so employed they yield their profound religious quality directly in deep and lasting impressions. The children who have been so fortunate as to belong to this dramatic club not only "know" these stories, but they have lived them in an intimate and durable experience. CHAPTER I EDUCATIONAL AIMS IN DRAMATIZATION Dramatization is not commonly recognized as a means of vitalizing the religious education of children. The public school has found it to be one of the most effective methods for enriching the pupil's ideas of given units of subject-matter and for leading to the establishment of permanent interests and of habitual modes of action. The use of dramatization in the school in order to accomplish these ends finds its justification in certain fundamental principles of teaching. Subject-matter is so presented that the important ideas stand out clearly. These ideas are mastered by utilizing them in some form of activity which leads to self-expression on the part of the children. Judgments are formed and conclusions are reached when children enter actively into a situation which presents a problem; ideas become their own through experience. Through dramatization children give expression to these ideas in the light of their own interpretation. The formulation of standards, the placing of values, and the realization of truths and ideals follow as direct results of actively entering into the life-experience of others. From a psychological point of view ideas and ideals, whether religious or secular, are developed according to the same general laws. Furthermore, the principles of teaching which are effective in the daily classroom must be equally significant in religious training. It follows, therefore, that dramatization and other forms of self-expression are as valuable in attaining the aims of the Sunday school as they are in teaching the curriculum of the day school. Through dramatizing a Bible story children come into a comprehension of the life-experiences of a highly religious people; they are forming their own standards and ideals through meeting and solving the simple life-problems of the Hebrews. Each child has as great an opportunity for self-expression through dramatizing a Bible story as that afforded through dramatizing any other story. He not only develops his individuality, but through this kind of work he must necessarily come into the realization of his place within the group, as is the case in all well-directed dramatization.