The Notebooks of Schubert Ogden

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                                                                                     TEN THESES ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

                                                                                                      Schubert M. Ogden

1. Christian education is a whole comprised of two main parts: education in Christian self-understanding and life-praxis; and education in critical reflection upon Christian self-understanding and life-praxis.

2. As comprising the first part, Christian education consists in: (1) education in Christian faith and, therefore, in Christian credenda; (2) education in Christian life and, therefore, in Christian agenda; and (3) education in Christian ministry and, therefore, in some specific form of service as well as in the general ministry of the church.

3. As comprising the second part, Christian education consists in education in theology.

4. Christian education as a whole and, therefore, in both of its parts can and should take place on two different levels: basic and advanced.

5. Christian education at the basic level is the right as well as the responsibility of every Christian, while Christian education at the advanced level -- otherwise called education for church leadership -- is the responsibility as well as the right of any Christian called to the special or representative ministry of the church or any other office of leadership.

6. Advanced Christian education, or education for church leadership, comprises both advanced education in Christian self-understanding and life-praxis and advanced education in critical reflection upon Christian self-understanding and life-praxis.

7. As comprising the first, advanced Christian education, or education for church leadership, consists in: (1) advanced education in Christian faith and, therefore, in Christian credenda; (2) advanced education in Christian life and, therefore, in Christian agenda; and (3) advanced education in Christian ministry and, therefore, in the specific form of service that is the special or representative ministry of the church or some other office of church leadership.

8. As comprising the second, advanced Christian education, or education for church leadership, consists in advanced education in theology.

9. Christian education in both of its parts and at both levels may take place not only informally but also formally, through programs and institutions specifically devised for the purposes of such education.

10. If formal Christian education in its first part and at both levels is primarily the responsibility of the church, through its programs and institutions, formal Christian education in its second part and at the advanced level is also a responsibility of the academy, through its programs and institutions, insofar, at least, as they are explicitly Christian.

Fall, 1992-93

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