Contents
PART I:
FOUNDATIONS 7
Prologue 7
Chapter 1.
Educating for Conation in Christian Faith 11
1. The Nature
of Christian Religious Education
2. The Purposes
of Christian Religious Education 14
A. For the
Reign of God 14
B. For Lived
Christian Faith 18
C. For the
Wholeness of Human Freedom 21
3. Shifts in
Foundation and Outcome: "Remembrance of Being"
for
"Conation" or "Wisdom" in Christian Faith 26
A.
"Conation" (or Wisdom) 26
B.
"Remembrance of Being" 32
Chapter 2.
Epistemology Re-visioned: In Search of Conation 36
1. Plato: Ideas
Over All 38
2. Aristotle:
Living “Three Lives" 42
The "Three
Lives" and Hints for Conation 46
3. Christian
Faith and Greek Philosophy: Unlikely Partners 49
Augustine:
Truth Already Within 52
Thomas Aquinas:
First in the Senses 55
4. René
Descartes: A Doubter, No Doubt? 59
5. Empiricism:
What You See Is ... 63
John Locke 64
6. Immanuel
Kant: Knowledge by Construction 66
7. Some
Contemporary Sources for Conation 72
A. Marxism 72
B.
Phenomenology 74
C.
Existentialism and Heidegger 76
D. Pragmatism
79
8. The Shift
Toward an Epistemic Ontology 80
Chapter 3.
The Dimensions and Dynamics of "Being" Engaged for Conation in
Christian Faith 85
1. Engaging
People's "Being" in Their Self-Identity as Agent-
Subjects-in-Relationship 86
Body, Mind, and
Will: Aspects of Human "Being" 87
A.
Maintaining/Remembering/Inheriting-of the Past 90
B.
Engaging/Reasoning/Relating—in the Present 92
C.
Regenerating/Imagining/Committing—Toward the Future 95
2. Engaging the
"Place" in Which People's "Being" Is Realized 98
A. The
Facticity of Culture and Society 98
B. The
Agent-Subject/"Place" Dialectic 100
C. Critical
Reflection on the "Place" of Human “Being"
D. The
"Language World" of a Conative Pedagogy 106
3. Engaging
People's "Being-in-Time" and the Tradition of the Christian Community
over Time
A. The
"Time" of Our Lives 108
B. Of Time and
Temporality 110
C. Curriculum
as Concern for Human Temporality 112
4. Engaging
People's Dynamic Structure for Conation
A. The Dynamic
Structure of "Being" 115
B. Lonergan on
the Cognitional Structure 116
C. Judging in
Coming to Conation 121
5. Engaging
People in Decision for Their "Truth" in Christian Faith 123
A. Dimensions
of "The Truth" 124
B. Decision
Making and Ongoing Conversion 129
PART II. AN
APPROACH:
SHARED
CHRISTIAN PRAXIS 133
Prologue 133
Chapter 4.
An Overview of Shared Christian Praxis 135
1. The
Constitutive Components 135
A. Praxis
B. Christian
C. Shared 142
1) Partnership,
Participation, Dialogue 143
2) Dialectical
Hermeneutics Between "Praxis" and "Christian"
2. The
Movements of Shared Christian Praxis 146
Focusing
Activity 146
Movement 1:
Naming/Expressing “Present Praxis” 146
Movement 2:
Critical Reflection on Present Action 147
Movement 3:
Making Accessible Christian Story and Vision 147
Movement 4:
Dialectical Hermeneutic to Appropriate Christian Story/Vision to Participants'
Stories and Visions 147
Movement 5:
Decision/Response for Lived Christian Faith 148
3. Reflections
on the Shared Praxis Approach 148
A. A
"Natural" Approach 148
B. A
"Public" Faith Approach 150
C. An Emerging
Approach 151
D. An
Inculturation Approach 152
Chapter 5.
The Focusing Activity in Shared Praxis 155
1. Nature and
Purpose of Focusing Activity 155
2. Rationale
for Focusing Activity 159
3. Procedures
for the Focusing Activity 164
A. Selecting a
Theme 164
B. Creating an
Appropriate Teaching/Learning Environment 168
C. Ways to
Effect the Focusing Activity 170
4. Developing
the Art of Facilitating the Focusing Activity 171
Appendix 173
Chapter 6.
Movement 1: Naming/Expressing
"Present
Action" 175
1. Nature and
Purpose of Movement 1 175
2. Rationale
for Movement 1 178
3. Procedures
for Movement 1 180
4. Developing
the Art of Facilitating Movement 1 182
Appendix 185
Chapter 7.
Movement 2: Critical Reflection on Present Action 187
1. Nature and
Purpose of Movement 2 187
2. Rationale
for Movement 2 193
3. Procedures
for Movement 2 198
A. Critical and
Social Reasoning 199
B. Analytical
and Social Remembering 202
C. Creative and
Social Imagining 205
4. Developing
the Art of Facilitating Movement 2 208
Appendix 211
Chapter 8.
Movement 3: Making Accessible Christian Story and Vision
1. Nature and
Purpose of Movement 3 215
2. Rationale
for Movement 3 217
3. Procedures
for Movement 3 222
The
Hermeneutical Task and Guidelines of Movement 3 223
A. The
Pre-understandings the Educator Brings to Christian Story/Vision 227
B. Hermeneutics
of Retrieval, Suspicion, and Creative Commitment to the "Text" 230
C. "Marks
of Authenticity” for Explanation and Application of Christian Story/Vision
4. Developing
the Art of Facilitating Movement 3 240
A. Methods of
Movement 3 Activity 240
B. The Style of
Movement 3 242
C. Attitudes of
the Educator 245
Appendix 247
Chapter 9.
Movement 4: Dialectical Hermeneutics to Appropriate Story/Vision to
Participants' Stories and Visions 249
1. Nature and
Purpose of Movement 4 249
2. Rationale
for Movement 4 253
3. Procedures
for Movement 4 256
4. Developing
the Art of Facilitating Movement 4 262
Appendix 264
Chapter 10.
Movement 5: Decision/Response for Lived Christian Faith 266
1. Nature and
Purpose of Movement 5 266
A. "What
to Do" Decisions
B. "Who to
Become" Decisions 271
2. Rationale
for Movement 5 272
3. Procedures
for Movement 5 272
4. Developing
the Art of Facilitating Movement 5 277
5. Variations
and Flexibility of the Movements 279
Appendix to
Part II 283
PART III:
SHARED CHRISTIAN PRAXIS AS AN APPROACH TO OTHER FUNCTIONS OF MINISTRY
Prologue 295
Chapter 11.
Christian Ministry: An Overview 299
1. The Purpose
and Tasks of Christian Ministry 299
2. Jesus' Style
of Ministry 303
3. Ministry
Evolves: A Brief Historical Review 308
A. The First
Christian Communities 308
B. From Second
Century to Second Vatican Council 311
4. Post-Vatican
II Developments for Ministry to "The Modern World" 322
A. The
Ecclesial Context of Ministry 322
B. The Social
Context of Ministry 329
5. Shared
Praxis as a Style of Ministry 331
Two Instances
334
Chapter 12.
Liturgy and Preaching 337
1. Liturgy and
Religious Education: An Old Partnership 338
2. The
Functions of Liturgy 341
A. "Our
Lives in Faith to God" 342
B. "God's
Life to Us in Love" 345
C. "For
the Life of the World" 347
3. The Form of
Liturgy 350
A. Assembling
as Community 350
B. In Sacred
Time and Place 351
C. With
Continuity and Creativity in Sacred Ritual 352
D. To Proclaim
and Hear God's Word Mediated Through Scripture 353
E. To Celebrate
Eucharist Together 354
F. To Be Sent
Forth 355
4. The
Effectiveness of Liturgy 355
A. How
Effective? 355
B. Persons:
Formers of and Formed by Symbols 357
C. Religious
Symbols: Effective Sources of Ultimate Meaning and Purpose 359
D. Worship
"in Spirit and in Truth" 360
5. A Shared
Praxis Perspective for Attending to the Sacramental Adequacy of Liturgy 361
A. Liturgy of
the Word 363
B. Liturgy of
the Eucharist 367
6. A Shared
Praxis Approach to Preaching 372
Preaching with
the Movements of Shared Praxis 374
Chapter 13.
The Church's Ministry of Justice and Peace 379
1. What God
Asks of Us 379
A. From the
Hebrew Scriptures 380
B. From the New
Testament 383
C. From the
Tradition
D. Catalysts of
Contemporary Christian Social Consciousness
2.
"Church" in Dialectic with "World" as Effective Symbol of
Justice and Peace 393
The Church as
Sacrament of God's Reign 394
3. Justice and
Peace as Constitutive in Religious Education
4. A Shared
Praxis Approach to Social Ministries 400
5. Keeping On
in the Work of Justice and Peace 403
Chapter 14.
Pastoral Counseling 407
The Nature,
Purpose, and Resources of Pastoral Counseling 410
A Shared Praxis
Style of Pastoral Counseling 417
PART IV.
POSTSCRIPT: THE SPIRITUALITY OF SHARED CHRISTIAN PRAXIS
Prologue 425
Chapter 15.
My Pedagogical Creed as a Christian Religious Educator
About the
Person 429
Article 1:
Agent-Subjects-in-Relationship 429
Article 2:
Communal Subjects in Right and
Loving
Relationship 430
Article 3: Both
Capable of Sin and Graced 431
About God the
Creator 432
Article 4:
Transcendent Mystery and Immanent Love 432
Article 5: God
Reveals Godself 433
Article 6: God
as Life-giving and Faithful Partner in Covenant
About Jesus 436
Article 7:
Divine and Human 436
Article 8:
Model and Liberator 437
About the Holy
Spirit 441
Article 9:
Source of Our Faith 441
Article 10:
Source of Communion and Mission 442
About the
Church
Article 11:
Inclusive Community of Partnership 444
Article 12: A
"Mixed Body" 446
About Christian
Story/Vision 447
Article 13: A
Stance of Faith, Hope, and Love 447
About Ourselves
as Christian Religious Educators 449
Article 14:
"Leading Learners" 449
Notes 451
Bibliography of
Sources Quoted or Cited 537
Index 563
