The Rise and Fall of

Christian Education
Patterns and Trends in the
Twentieth Century

Christian Education
(Defined)

The twentieth century

professional school or movement
associated with the teaching
ministry of the church: making
disciples, teaching the Christian
faith, and forming believers, etc.

Christian Education developed as a

unique movement that blended
concepts from the social sciences
with applied theology.

In the early part of the twentieth century

Christian Education was known as
Religious Education and took its
primary cues from liberal theology,
modern educational theories and the
emerging social sciences.

Religious Education sought to apply

the theology of the social gospel
or liberalism and its philosophic
twin, pragmatism, to the churchs
ministry of building a Christian
society.

However, Christian was understood

in the broadest terms as referring to
democratic societies which were
considered the product of and
contribution of the Christianity.

Modern approached to Christian discipleship

can be traced through the influence of
shifting theologies and developments in the
social sciences.

Foundations For Christian Formation Class Presentation, revised September 2004, Jackie Johns, Ph.D.

Trajectories of Christian Education in theTwentieth Century

1890

1900

1940's

1950's

1960's

EDUCATIONAL TRAJ ECTORIES

Social Evolution/Developmentalism/Secular (Scientific) Humanism
First Ph.D. in psychology
Learning Theories: Behaviorism vs Developmentalism
Creation of Teachers Colleges (Normal Schools) Education as a science of the industrial age.
Progressivism(Pragmatism)
National Education Association (1905)
John Dewey / Democratic Education

1970's

1980's

1990s

James Michael Lee / The Shape of Religious Instruction (1970) Religious Instruction
Founder & Editor of Religious Education Press
Timothy Lines /Systemic Religious Education (1987)

Reconstructionism (A revision of Progressiveism)

Paulo Freire / Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) Liberation

**Thomas Groome/ Christian Religious Education (1980) Interpretation

Essentialism (Educational response to the failures of progressive education.)

Admiral Hyman Rickover
Traditionalism

H. H. Horne

THEOLOGICAL TRAJ ECTORIES

Liberal Theology
Religious Education Association (1903)
Emphasis on History of Religions George Albert Coe / A Social Theory of Religious Education (1917)
Harrison S. Elliott / Can Religious Education Be Christian? (1940)
Existentialism

Neo-Orthodoxy
(Theological Response to the Failures of Liberalism) General emphasis on faith, personal knowing, social obligation.
Often aligned with Existential philosophy
H. Shelton Smith / Faith and Nurture (1941)
James Smart / The Teaching Ministry of the Church (1954) emphasis on Scripture
Randolph Crump Miller / The Clue to Christian Education (1950) emphasis on theology
Lewis Joseph Sherrill / The Rise of Christian Education (1944) influence of History of Religions School
The Gift of Power (1955) emphasis on revelation
C. Ellis Nelson / Where Faith Begins (1967) Faith Community
John Westerhoff, III, Will Our Children Have Faith (1976) Faith Community
Reinhold Niebuhr / Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932)
James Fowler / Stages of Faith (1981) Spiritual Development
Susanne Johnson/Christian Spiritual Formation (1989)
James Loder/The Transforming Moment (1989)
Conservative/Fundamentalist Theology
Fundamentalist
Evangelicals
National Association of Evangelicals (1942)
Frank Gaebelein / Christian Education in a Democracy (1951) Traditionalism/Perennialism
Lois LeBar / Education That is Christian (1958)
Findley B. Edge / Teaching for Results (1956), Quest for Vitality in Religion (1963)
Larry Richards / A Theology of Christian Education (1975)
Gene Getz / Sharpening the Focus of the Church (1974)
Evangelical Curriculum is influenced by Developmental Psychology
Donald Joy / Meaningful Learning in the Church (1969) Interpretation
Harold William Burgess / An Invitation to Religious Education (1975)
Burgess identifies Four Approaches to Religious Education (1) traditional theological,
(2) social-cultural, (3) contemporary theological, and (4) social-science approaches. He opts for social-science.
Robert Pazmino/ Foundational Issues in Christian Education (1988)
Daniel Schipani/ Religious Education Encounters Liberation Theology (1988) Liberation
Pentecostalism Azusa Street (Critical of Liberals and Fundamentalists)
Founding Members of NAE
Martin Baldree (1st Pentecostal Doctorate in C.E. 1971) Cheryl Johns Pentecostal Formation
Joined with NAEs National Sunday School Conventions