Larsson Whole Church

for the sake of the world
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-91-8027-289-6
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 220 Seiten

Whole church, for the sake of the world. A church informs about its faith through all that it is, says and does. This threefold way of telling determines what the recipient hears. Therefore, if a church wants to be true to its mission it must constantly ask itself two questions: What is the church's calling, and what is the message it sends? How do our churches deal with this challenge? The Church is not for its own sake, but for the world, one of the analyzed documents says. It is called to be an instrument for our loving God´s plan to heal a broken world. The basic pattern is found in the Holy Scriptures, but in every time and every cultural context the Church must seek relevant ways and forms. And why not do this in conversation and with open ears to the experiences of others, and with the courage to change, if necessary? The first part of the book is the result of such a listening. Perhaps it surprises someone that I turned to three American Catholics to listen to their experiences. Inspired by the radical message of the Second Vatican Council, they challenge their own church to a radical paradigm shift on the way of being a trustworthy church. Using the model they developed as a base, I turned to my own church, the Uniting Church in Sweden, by asking the same question battery, and the same to an ecumenical document, The Church: Towards a Common Vision. And the result? Yet another reminder that every church that wants to be part of God's mission for the sake of the world must constantly test itself in the face of the critical questions of how it faithfully can pass on its message of joys and hope to the world.

Rune Larsson, retired theol. dr and senior lecturer at Lund University in practical theology with a focus on teaching and learning in church and school. Latest publications: Församlingspedagogik (Parish education. A church that teaches throughout its life, 2018), and more in Swedish. The author is member of a couple of international associations in the field of Religious education

Autoren/Hrsg.

Larsson, Rune

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Chapter 2.
Thomas H. Groome – Shared Praxis
Presentation of the author65
Thomas H. Groome was born in 1945 in Dublin, Ireland and grew up in a small village with a strong Catholic character. Studied philosophy and theology and immersed himself in exegestic studies and Thomist theology as well as the documents of the Second Vatican Council. He was assigned to Kansas in 1968 and went on to study at Fordham University in New York, where he earned a Master's degree in Religious Education in 1973. His studies continued at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia Teachers College in New York, which led to a doctor degree in Education in 1976 with C Ellis Nelson and Dwayne Huebner as tutors. During his doctoral studies, he immersed himself in feminist theology and South American liberation theology. Other important impressions came from the likes of Martin Buber, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonheoffer, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, H. Richard Niebuhr and Avery Dulles, as well as through the latter's in-depth studies of Catholic theology and the development of the Catholic Church after the Vatican Council. In 1976 Groome came to Boston College, where he still holds his position as professor of theology and education. Over the years in Boston, he has continued to deepen his theological and pedagogical skills through studies and collaboration with a number of influential personalities. He has also been entrusted with a number of important tasks within his church and related research and educational organisations. In the late 1980s, he left the priesthood. Groome's first major monograph was published in 1980, Christian Religious Education. Sharing Our Story and Vision (second print in 1998). It was followed up in 1991 by Sharing Faith: A Comprehensive Approach to Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry, a deepening of the former and with a pastoral theological orientation. This direction is even more pronounced in Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples (2011), in Swedish translation 2015. In this, Groome's thoughts on Total community catechesis (TCC) also have full impact. In addition to scientific writings, Groome has published teaching materials and writings for a wider readership, such as Education for Life. A Spiritual Vision for Every Teacher and Parent (1998). Revised and truncated version in Swedish 2007. Otherwise, I refer to the biography I have noted above. Overview of the writings of Groome I have used
Groome has dealt with the theme Total Community Catechesis (TCC) in a number of publications. The first time it occurs is in a article, Parish as Catechist (1990).66 In 1999 he returned to the subject with an article about the purpose of teaching, i.e. a defined part of my main theme but still entirely within the framework of the TCC even if the term is still not used.67 The title is The Purposes of Christian Catechesis and presents a complete list of the six ”ministries” that the Church (and the family) have at their disposal to share their faith. Table 2: Compilation of specified ´forms´ in Groome's publications Empowering 1999 TTC 2003 TTC 2006 TCC 2008 Will There Be 2011 Koinonia Koinonia Koinonia (Witness) Koinonia Koinonia (Welcome) Marturia Marturia Marturia (Witness) Kerygma Kerygma Kerygma (word) Kerygma Kerygma (Word/Preaching) Didache Didache (all parts teach) Didache (Word/Teaching) Leitourgia Leitourgia Leitourgia (Worship) Leitourgia Leitourgia (Worship) Diakonia Diakonia Diakonia (Welfare) Diakonia Diakonia (Well-being) In the publications from 1999, 2003 and 2011, the list is complete while 2006 and 2008 have may have put Witness into Koinonia while Didache is probably included as part of Kerygma/Word. In Groome 2011, ´Word´has been distributed toKerygma andDidache. With the article Total Catechesis/Religious Education from 2003 came Groome's first detailed production of TCC, where the term is also used. Here he develops some of his central concepts and presents his most important preferences, primarily general directory for Catechesis (GDC) from 1997. Further contributions on the theme come a few years later with the articles, Total Community Catechesis (2006) and Total Community Catechesis for Lifelong Faith Formation (2008). The latter I see as a kind of preparation for the corresponding part of the book, Will There Be Faith? (2011) although he still seems to be in a process around the designation of the church's ´ministries´. In addition to these publications, I am convinced that Groome – without using the term TCC – already in his major theoretical works from 1980 and 1991 deals with most of the basic elements that would lead to the holistic pedagogy I have chosen to focus on here. What drives Groome to design his model TCC?
Criticism of the Church's previous teachings Groome specifies two main reasons for developing a new approach to church teaching. Firstly, he mentions the general secularism. One can no longer expect people to be socialized into Christian faith and life by today's increasingly secular society.68 As a background, he refers to a former Protestant pedagogy, whose chief representative, Horace Bushnell, has become known for putting the decisive effort for Christian upbringing on the Christian home.69 This premise no longer exists, although the Christian family, the 'domestic church', still plays a crucial role alongside the church.70 The second reason lies with the Church itself. Here the criticism concerns two things. The first is about today's one-sided ´schooloriented´ teaching about Christian faith with a main focus on intellectual knowledge and understanding. Against this he sets a teaching that is aimed at the whole human being and his whole life. Furthermore, the one-sided focus of teaching on children and young people has been called upon.71 Against this, Groome sets out the need for lifelong learning and thus teaching and learning in which all ages are concerned, at once as teachers and learners throughout their lives. Groome has already expressed some of this criticism in Christian Religious Education (1980), in which he strongly rejects ”the extreme conservative understanding” that a small group (the hierarchy) conforms to the knowledge to be transferred to the rest of the church people, who have been reduced to being merely receiving. On the contrary, Groome writes already here, ”The whole Church teaches and learns together”.72 The same you will find in his other great work, Sharing Faith (1991). There he conveys the reasoning in connection with his thesis on the right and responsibility of all baptized for active participation in the ”total mission” of the Church. This also has consequences for the liturgy, where all baptized are involved – ”the whole community of faith. (italic here).73 Finally, I highlight a concentrate of Groome's criticism in the 2006 article, subtitled A Paradigm Shift: Beyond ´School ´ to Community. The headline speaks for itself. Within a paradigm shift 'beyond school to community,' TCC calls us to imagine: beyond teachers and being taught, to communities teaching and learning together; beyond instruction in religious knowledge to inform, forming, and transforming persons and communities (sic!) in the wisdom of Christian faith; beyond didaction to conversation; beyond children-centred to every person and the whole family/parish in 'permanent catechesis´. What is being called into question, then, is: the ´schooling´ form of teaching, which is expressed in a teacher who supplies his pupils with ´ready-made´ knowledge and religious truths that they are expected to embrace, a one-way communication with a focus on children and thus a view of knowledge that can be completed as a young person and when the final goals are achieved. How does Groome design his holistic approach?
The way to a holistic view – Preludium Before I give an overview picture of Groome's view on Total Community Catechesis (TCC) using the 2011 book, Will There Be Faith? I'll make some excerpts from some of his previous publications. Somewhat surprisingly, I end up in Groome's first major work from 1980. Not that the very concept of TCC appears there – it would take another ten years. However, he is already developing several of the basic elements that would be part of the upcoming TCC approach. This is particularly evident in the ninth chapter, Shared Christian Praxis. Here I will mention some examples of the...