| This study situates itself within an emerging trend in Christian religious education to draw on the resources of the past to inform and inspire contemporary praxis. It develops and demonstrates an approach by which today's Christian religious educators can engage in conversation with John Chrysostom for their own ongoing formation. These conversations are appreciative, critical and creative. They employ a sound hermeneutic of retrieval: identifying one's own context, interests and biases and those of the text/s being read; openness to critiquing Chrysostom and being critiqued by him; careful examination and eschewal of texts that might inculcate patterns and practices of oppression; and creatively appropriating Chrysostom's life-giving teaching for one's contemporary vocation and praxis.;Employing this method of conversation, the study engages Chrysostom in three areas. First, his approach to teaching Scripture: Chrysostom insists that laypeople study Scripture for their ongoing transformation. His use of the tools of classical rhetoric (comparison and metaphor, rhetorical questions, encomium and ekphrasis, and narrative engagement) invites contemporary educators and learners to imagine similarly creative ways to appropriate a Biblical faith.;Second, the vocation of the educator: As Chrysostom stressed that the educator must be loving and humble, know the student, be persuasive, and teach by using corporeal signs, progression and variation, so contemporary educators are exhorted through conversation with him to reflect on their own vocation and praxis in these areas.;Third, the agency of learners: Chrysostom focuses on the needs, interests, motivation, and struggles of his learners and their approach to the learning process. He stresses a contrite heart as prerequisite for learning that is useful for the soul, related to living purely, and pervades everyday life. Conversation with him invites contemporary educators to give similar precedence to learners' agency.;Appreciative, critical and creative conversations with Chrysostom around these three emphases offer today's Christian religious educators ongoing inspiration and wisdom for their task. This study hopes to encourage religious educators to engage in their own unique conversations with Chrysostom as a resource for their vocation and praxis. |
