Principles of religious education : a course of lectures delivered under the auspices of the Sunday-school Commission of the Diocese of New York

Front matter

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PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE LECTURES

Preface

THE following - Lectures were originally delivered in the Autumn of 1899, in St. Bartholomew's Church, Madison Avenue and Forty-fourth Street, New York. They formed what was called ' ' The Christian Knowledge Course of Lectures on the Principles of Religious Instruction. ' ' This Course was arranged under the auspices of the Sunday-school Commission ")f the Diocese of New York, which had been appointed by the Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of New York, at the Diocesan Convention of 1898, to consider what steps should be taken for the improvement of the Sunday-schools of the Diocese. It had long been felt that our Religious Schools were not all that they should be, either in the Curriculum of Study or in the general Training of the Teachers.

The Church has not advanced with the Day-school along the lines of educational reform. The study of pedagogical principles has been made an essential in secular education, while the Church has largely overlooked it, as applied to her Sunday-schools; and almost completely ignored it in the training of her Clergy. And she has done this, in spite of the fact that in theory the Teaching Function of the Church is her most ancient and vi PREFACE.

characteristic one, lying at the very heart of her commission.

The basic principle, therefore, underlying these Lectures is that the Sunday-school is a school. Its problems are educational problems. Its scope of instruction, its curriculum, its . text-books, charts, maps, the equipment and training of its teachers, the hours and times and places of its work, — all these are questions to be considered in the light of educational principles. Hence it is important to consider Religious Education first from the standpoint of acknowledged leaders in the cause of secular education. This Course of Lectures, covering roughly the entire field, each lecture presenting its own point of view, and all converging on the one general object, was arranged and carried out with the generous co-operation of the following gentlemen : The Right Reverend Wm. Croswell Doane, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Albany; the Very Reverend George Hodges, D.D., Dean of the Cambridge Divinity School ; Professor Charles De Garmo, Ph.D., of Cornell University; President G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University; Professor Frank Morton McMurry, Ph.D., Professor of "the Theory of Teaching," in Teachers College, Columbia University; Professor Charles Foster Kent, of Brown University; and Professor Richard G. Moulton, M.A., of Chicago University; together with the following Members of the Sunday-school Commission: Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, Ph.D., LL.D, of Columbia University; Dr. Walter L. Hervey, Examiner of the Board of Education, New York, and former President of Teachers Col-

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lege; and the Reverend Pascal Harrower, Chairman of the Commission.

The particular Topics covered by the Lectures were ' ' The Relation of Religious Instruction to Education as a Whole," "The Educational Work of the Christian Church," "The Present Status of Religious Instruction in England, France, Germany, and the United States, " The Content of Religious Instruction," "The Sunday-school and its Course of Study, " " The Preparation of the Teacher, ' ' "The Religious Content of the Child's Mind," ' ' The Use of Biography, " " The Use of Geography, ' ' and ' ' The Bible as Literature. ' '

With deepest thanks to the learned gentlemen, who by their aid and encouragement have made possible the production of this Volume, and with the earnest hope that it may prove of material benefit to all who are interested in the work of Christian Education, the Course of Lectures is now placed before the Church and her teachers.

Members of tbe Commission.

Rev. Pascal Harrower, Chairman, West New Brighton, New- York.

Rev. Wm. Walter Smith, M.A., M.D., Secretary, 25 West 114th Street, New York.

Henry H. Pike, Esq., Treasurer, 134 Pearl Street, New York.

Rev. Henry Mottet, D.D. Rev. Wm. L. Evans, M.A.

Rev. John P. Peters, D.D. Rev. Chas. A. Hamilton, M.A.

Rev. E. Walpole Warren, D D. Rev. Ernest C. Saunders, B.D. Rev. David H. Greer, D.D. Nichol as M.Butler, Ph.D., LL.D. Rev. Wm. S. Rainsford, D.D. Walter L. Hervey, Ph.D. Rev. Lester Bradner, Ph.D. Charles W. Stoughton, Esq.

Introduction

THE occasion for the Lectures gathered in this volume is one with which thoughtful men and women can hardly fail to sympathize. No one who takes into account the forces that make for the best, whether in character or conduct, can be insensible to the pre-eminent value, in their development, of the influences that touch the deepest springs, and find their sources in the highest inspirations. That, I suppose, is the object of what we call education. We have, in a child's mind, something ductile, fluent, impressionable. His earliest perceptions and apprehensions are apt to be its deepest, most determinative, if not always its most enduring ; and if so, nothing can transcend the importance of the conditions, agencies, and instruments by which these are made.

In this view it must be owned that the modern Church has not adequately recognised its responsibilities nor improved its opportunities, as a teacher of the young. There have been ages when that office belonged almost exclusively to it, and when its failures were due, not perhaps to its want of zeal, but to its want of wisdom. To-day the conditions

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are quite different. Under republican institutions, and with us in the United States, the functions of the State as a religious teacher through an established religion, have as most of us I presume believe, wisely ceased. That fact ought undoubtedly to have awakened and stimulated the Church to increased endeavours to supply what a Christian man must hold to be fundamental to a right education, and which, now, the Church or the family alone can give. Our American situation, in other words, has lifted the Sunday-school into a position of preeminent importance which, we must acknowledge has been but feebly and imperfectly recognised.

Under these circumstances, the pages that follow are opportune, and, I think they will be found, pertinent and helpful. They are the fruit of various and earnest thought, of large experience, and of a high purpose. I am glad to believe that they will lift the office of the Sunday-school to a higher plane in the estimate of thoughtful people, and will open its aims and methods to the more appreciative sympathy of all who, whether as pastors, parents, or teachers, are in any way responsible, to use an old phrase, for ' 'godliness and good learning " in the young.

Henry C. Potter.

Contents

i.

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION AND ITS RELATION TO EDUCATION.

By Nicholas Murray Butler, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and Education in Columbia University.

II. The Educational Work Of The Christian Church

By the Rt. Rev. William Croswell Doanh, DD., LL.D., Bishop of Albany.

Christ's Prophetic, Priestly, and Kingly offices the three functions of the Church. — The Prophetic function illustrated by the Sermon on the Mount. — This mission that of the Church to-day. — The Apostles' work of imparting the Faith 23

" Teaching," in relation to rules of Faith and Life, defined. — This teaching the great Apostolic Mandate. — St. Paul's labours. — The Church the great religious teacher to-day. — Early Christian

Schools and their Influence 24

Extent of true Christion education. — Scott Holland on the old

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Greek masters of theology. — The Church foremost in education in the Middle Ages. — The Church's work to-day inadequate. — Contrasts and contradictions in the Universities. — Not so irreligious as depicted 27

Modern theologians' weakness not the result of weakness in the Faith itself. — The great Verities of the Faith beyond all investigation. — Never in antagonism with science, reason, or philosophy. — No real conflict of Classroom and Chapel 31

Attitude of Church toward education a difficult problem. — State schools secular from necessity. — Parochial schools inadequate. — Broad associations best for the student for later social environment 34 Problem met by Church Halls in Universities. — How the Church Hall would teach. — Correlation of Science and Religion, Philosophy and Faith. — The teachings of history, geography, and literature 36

The Church's existing machinery chiefly the Sunday-school. — A modern makeshift replacing neglect of home and parents. — The Catechism the Church's basis of instruction. — Duty of the Clergy to train teachers. — " Society for Home Study of the Holy

Scriptures " 39

The Pulpit as a Church organ for education. — Not eloquence needed, but teaching of Faith and Life. — The Old Word in modern phrases 41

III

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED STATES.

By Charles De Garmo, Ph.D., Professor of the Science and Art of Education in Cornell University.

Origin of religious instruction in English schools. — Lancaster's labours for the Dissenters. — Bell's Church of England work. —

Lancaster's scheme of paid and pupil teachers. — Its failure 49

Government grants for voluntary schools. — Failure of the system. — Organization of Board schools. — Religious instruction made optional. — Government inspection of secular education. — xiv CONTENTS.

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American schools unfavourably contrasted. — Rise of the Sunday-school system. — Two systems of religious instruction side by side 52 In France no religious instruction in public schools. — Weekly

holiday for denominational religious teaching 56

In Germany day-schools impart the religious teaching. — Thoroughness of the system. — Curriculum broad and complete. — Critical spirit in the Universities. — Difference in teaching for scholars and for the masses. — Religious feeling neglected. — Newcurricula now being formulated 56

The United States compared with Europe. — Threefold purpose of religious instruction. — Deficiency of Christian knowledge compared with Europe. — Superiority over Europe in Christian spirit and Christian conduct. — Improvements suggested. — Better pedagogical system needed. — Arrangement of material for various ages. — Period of adolescence crucial. — Wrong treatment after

adolescence 62

Reaction in England favours subjective spiritual life. — Whitefield's and Wesley's systems of religious exercises. — Similar tendencies in America. — Need for wiser treatment.— Man's relation to his fellow men. — Universal conditions, not accidental circumstances, paramount. — Improvement of Sunday-schools 70

IV. The Content Of Religious Instruction

By the Very Reverend George Hodges, D.D., Dean of the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass.

Content of religious instruction determined by its purpose. — The

day-school, the private school, and the public school 79

Purpose of the Sunday-school to train Christians and Churchmen. — Parish work designed to build up Christian and Church

character 80

Content of religious instruction consists of Church material and Character material. — What constitutes Character material. — Church material. — The light of personality. — Church History.... 81 The distribution of material, or order of teaching. — Found in the

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Sunday-school and the Congregation. — The Sunday-school and

its grades. — Teaching in the Congregation 85

The Infant School. — Small children have only memory and imagination. — Teach what may be partly understood. — Imagination best appealed to through Bible stories. — Systematic and graphic

teaching. — Re-translation of Bible for children's minds 86

The Main School.- — Course of Instruction. — The Catechism recited and explained. — The Bible. — The historical books. — Teaching both content and contents. — What may be omitted. — The Prayer Book taught by use. — Sample Service. — Special Services. — Stereopticon exhibitions 89

The Congregation. — Sunday Services. — Need of systematic instruction. — Haphazard Preaching. — The Preacher's studies. — The Confirmation Class. — What the order of instruction should cover. — Mid-week Services. — The young Minister's experiment station. — Definite Bible-study. — Sunday evening Services. — Sermon or Lecture. — Requirements of a Lecture course 94

V. The Sunday-school And Its Course Of Study

By the Reverend Pascal Harrower, Chairman of the Sunday-School Commission, Diocese of New York.

Principle underlying the present course of lectures. — Church school educational. — Importance of education. — Object of the

Church school. — The school's work for civilization 105

History of the Church school. — The child the pivot of society. — The Jewish estimate of childhood. — Christ and the child. — The early Church and its ministry to children. — Mutual relations of preaching and teaching. — Martin Luther. — Archbishop Dupanloup. — The ministry of catechizing. — Pedagogical training of the

ministry 107

Preparation of a course of study. — Church school more than a Bible school. — Curriculum a problem for trained educators. — The

subject-matter, or lesson-material Ill

The Church Catechism. — Errors in teaching 113 xvi CONTENTS.

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The Bible. — International Sunday-School Lessons.— Defects of this and similar schemes. — What the Bible is. — Its educational value. —Bible-study in American colleges. — Moral value of literary Bible-study. — The method of Jesus 114

Nature-study. — Jesus near to the heart of Nature 121

Sacred geography 122

History. —The "Free Church" Text Books. —The Oxford

Manuals 123

Christian ethics. — The contemporary Christ. — First contact of

youth with the world. — Responsibility of the Church 124

The Prayer*Book and the Christian Year 125

Conclusion. —The Church needs the aid of trained educators . . . 126

VI. The Preparation Of The Sunday-school Teacher

By Walter L. Hervey, Ph.D.,

Examiner, New York Board of Education; Former President,

Teachers Cpllege.

Primary assumptions as to function of teacher and teaching. —

Three problems: Subject-matter; Pupil; Teacher 131

The Subject-matter. — Two ways of learning and teaching : The

Poet's and the Philosopher's ways 132

The Poet's way. — Power of dramatic imagination. — Its use in Bible-teaching. — Illustration : SS. Peter and John at Beautiful Gate of the Temple. — Telling the story realistically. — Illustration : Story of •' Cadmus" as told by Bullfinch. Addison, and Hawthorne. — Application of this method to religious teaching . . 132 The Philosopher's way. — Getting at the meaning. — Illustrations. — Danger of wrong interpretations. — Precise meaning of every

paragraph to be sought 140

Directions for the study of any subject-matter. — Buried metaphors. — Illustrations. — Personal assimilation. — Pupil's knowledge of the subject. — Catechism, etc., compared with the Bible 144 The Pupil. — General principle in dealing with him. — The principle applied. — Ideas in pairs. — Illustrations. — Paraphrasing. — Appreciation of Roman history evidenced in modern slang. — A

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Biblical title-page. — Special rule from general principle. — Introducing a subject to the class. —Additional points of insight required by teacher. — Illustrated by Hamlet and Guildenstern. —

An argument for child-study 147

The Teacher. — Must distinguish between external and internal authority. — Must help the pupil to find the truth for himself. — Must set the Bible in its proper place. — Must lay stress on Jesus

Christ in the child-life 154

General negations. — What not said or meant 157

VII. The Religious Content Of The Child-mind

By G. Stanley Hall, D.D., President of Clark University.

The study of child-development a recent movement. — The child the general type of the species. — Difficult to observe laws of

child-growth in Sunday-school teaching 161

Principles of child-evolution. — The stages passed through in all animal formations. — This law necessary to perfect humanity. — Froebel's doctrine. — The corner-stone of the new pedagogy. —

The coming of Christianity 165

The child's religious evolution follows same general law. — Seen in his fetish -worship and in his love of Nature and his personification of her. — Natural religions also prove it 168

Importance of Nature-study in the Sunday-schools. — Power of Nature in all savage and primitive religions. — Something of such religions should be taught in Sunday-schools. — Proper uses of the Bible in teaching. — Personal application of Christ's saving

grace should come later 172

Importance of the adolescent period of youth. — Altruism the essence of religion. — The end and aim of education. — The time for completing religious education. — Cultivation and elevation of the sentiment of love. — Danger of neglect of these principles. — Religion must not be awakened too early. — Precocity. — Adolescence and conversion. — Science and the reality of sin. — Degeneration.

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— Terrible effects of sin upon conscience. — Bible shows close

connection with Psychology 178

Childhood the best period for teaching and training. — Shown by study of biology. — Childhood the noblest humanity. — The teaching best for children 186

VIII. The Use Of Biography In Religious Instruction

By Frank Morton McMurry, Ph.D.,

Professor of "The Theory of Teaching," in Teachers College,

Columbia University.

The two fundamental principles of all instruction. — Law must control all instruction, religious or secular. — Object of instruction

is to develop permanent interest 193

Importance of biography in religious instruction. — Depends on our aspect of the Bible. — This must be decided before attempting to teach. — This decision equally important in day-school instruction. — Bible content, and hence Bible instruction mainly history 195 Selected summary of a biographical Bible instruction. — This treatment does not exclude Biblical literature or underlying truths. — Illustrations from the story of Joseph — History the

groundwork of this teaching 197

Reason for the biographical treatment of the Bible in teaching. — Tendency of children to personify everything. — Geography, history, Nature-study, and science now taught by personification

method 198

Why biography interests and holds the child. — It gives facts correctly. — Therefore close relation is needed between the various lessons. — No such relation in present systems. — Biography, being concrete, appeals to children. — Literature accepts this principle. — Sunday-schools have ignored it, to their detriment. — Illustration of possible abuse. — Proper relation of concrete to abstract ten to one. — Hence religious instruction should be mainly by narrative. — Biography forms good groundwork for other

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facts. —Helpful in reviews, and a good basis for examination of

teachers 201

Age best suited for study of biography. — Teachers must deal chiefly with facts 210

IX. The Use Of Geography In Religious Instruction

By Charles Foster Kent, Ph.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and History in Brown University.

Biblical geography of utmost importance in any thorough study. — Its use in Sunday-schools. — Makes history real. — Geography of Palestine moulded character and history of its people. — In geography past and present meet. How to make its results of practical value. — Importance in general education. — Biblical geography now incompletely taught. — Importance of good

Sunday-school libraries 215

Suggested books for Sunday-school libraries. — Palestine. —

Egypt. — Babylonia. — Asia Minor 224

Wall-maps 226

Palestine Exploration Fund. — Maps and books 226

Divisions or departments of Biblical geography. — Descriptive geography: Palestine, Egypt, and Assyria. — Physical geography: Palestine, its six zones and rivers. — Geological geography. — Commercial geography. — Racial geography. — Historical geography 227

How to study Biblical geography. — Make its scope comprehensive. — Study the earth in its relation to man. — Geography but a

step to Bible-study 240

Does scientific study produce personal religious interest? — Personal faith seldom unsettled by it. — New interest in the Bible and its teaching is produced. — College students taking elective Bible courses. — Increasing number of Bible students in universities. —

Necessity of true scientific methods 242

Samaria and Judea are merged rather than possessed of a true boundary. ...,,,.,,,,,,., f ,., f ,,,,,,, ,\ ,.,,,,,,,,, , 248 xx CONTENTS.