The Sunday School: a Theological Reflection

The Sunday School: A Theological Reflection GEORGE BROWN, JR. Anniversaries can be times for reflection as well as celebration. Thus, on the threshhold of 1980- the 200th anniversary of the Sunday school- it seemed appro priate to suggest that there be some theological reflection on the Sunday school, as well as reminiscing over its past glories and triumphs. Several questions immediately surfaced as this suggestion began to take shape: Is there a theology of the Sunday school? If so, what are its key elements or distinctive features? How is the theology of the Sunday school related to Reformed theology? The writing of a theological critique of the Sunday school was undertaken with acer tain naivete, soon corrected by the existential impact of a sentence fragment from Martin Marty: "Theological work is hard . I" Attempting to write about the theology of the Sunday school is a little like trying to get hold of an octopus! Consider the first question, for example. In answering the question, "Is there a theology of the Sunday school?", one can reach out in several directions- almost simultaneously. One might hold tenaciously to the kind of statement found in the By-Laws of the World Sunday School Association. According to the revised By-Laws, only those persons holding the "Evangelical Faith" were admitted to membership.2 It could be argued that the theology of the Sunday school is "evangelical." But two problems arise almost immediately. First, the definition of "evangelical faith": there is no further explanation or description in the By-Laws. A recent histor ian of the Sunday school movement believes this formula was "generally understood as meaning a Trinitarian confession.''3 However, even if this definition is accepted, there is still a further concern. Is the theology expressed in the official records, resolu tions and reports of the Sunday school movement the theology of the Sunday school? It can be argued that one must reach beyond the institutional theology of the Sunday school to get a grip on the operational theology of the Sunday school. Bill Roberts, who is conducting an extensive research project for Christian Education: Shared Approaches, has listened to endless hours of taped classroom interaction and offers the observation that in the classroom the theology of the Sunday school is often a theology of works. 4 At this level, the theology of the Sunday school often reflects more the personal piety of the teacher than the formally adopted and approved theol ogy behind the curriculum. Instead of listening to tapes of classroom interaction to discover the theology of the Sunday school, one might listen to the hymns and songs of the Sunday school movement. As Reverend C. W. Wendte pointed out early in this century, The historical and doctrinal lessons imparted to us in the Sunday school may be forgotten, the faces of the teachers themselves may fade out of 12 mind, but the hymns of our childhood abide with us through the years, an unfailing source of religious quickening and cheer, a well-spring of affec tionate and holy memories.s The staying power of hymns and songs, learned in the Sunday school in childhood, is significant, because hymns have a theological content. Albert H. van den Heuvel has written: It is the hymns, repeated over and over again, which form the container of much of our faith. They are probably, in our age, the only confessional documents which we learn by heart. 6 Robert Lynn and Elliott Wright give some insight into the theology of the hymns and songs of the movement, saying that the "go" songs, popular from about I 860 to I 914, reflected a "soft faith," which they describe as a more reassuring faith than the "hard faith" of the songs of an earlier period, which were more "stern and somber."7 The more one tries to take hold of an answer to the question the more it becomes apparent that one is also held. For a third problem now arises: viz., historical devel opment. Is the theology of the Sunday school "evangelical," as expressed by the World Sunday School Association in the conventions of 1924 and 1928? Or, is the theology of the Sunday school "neo-orthodox," as reflected in the dominant theological influ ence in the Christian Faith and Life Curriculum of the late l 940's? Or, is the theology of the Sunday school the "worldly theology" of the l 960's? In trying to get hold of the octopus, one is never sure who has who. Perhaps it is sufficient to recognize that the theology of the Sunday school is to be found in many different sources, from the institutional to the operational. But it should be evident by now that there is a theology- or theologies- of the Sunday school. At least one can discern some emerging contours here and there. It may be helpful to identify some of the leading characteristics of Sunday school theology. Evangelism is a prominent feature in the typography of Sunday school theology. It was articulated for the delegates to the Eleventh World's Sunday School Conven tion in this way: The need of our time is the need of all times- the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God unto salvation. The call to the churches is to a deeper, truer, wider evangelism- an evangelism that educates young and old, an evangelism that emphasizes not the differences of creed and polity that mark our divisions, but lays hold of the great central truths which undergird and sustain our common faith. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. The Living Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.a Already in 1910, the delegates to the Sixth World's Sunday School Convention had adopted a resolution recognizing the Sunday school's role in "winning the world for Christ."9 While evangelism has sometimes been set over against Christian action, this was not the case with the Sunday school. The International Sunday School Association, meeting in Buffalo in 1918, adopted a "Service-Creed" which declared their intention to work for an evangelism that is not only individual but also social, and that shall 13 "reach the reached and save the saved" by a life-investing program of service, world-wide and all inclusive. 10 One reads in virtually every report of the proceedings of the World Sunday School Conventions a deep concern for social issues ranging from drug abuse to war and peace. Gerald Knoff traces the first "strong emphasis" on social responsibility to the 1920 Tokyo convention, where a series of speakers addressed the "social implications of the gospel." 11 Luther Weigle, articulate spokesman for the Sunday school, in the closing address of the 1936 World's Convention in Oslo, said: Human welfare, education, evangelism- these three belong together. We must get rid of the old antitheses which set over against one another the social gospel and the gospel of individual redemption as though these were incompatible, or which assumed that education and evangelism are naturally rivals. 12 Robert Lynn and Elliott Wright see this feature of Sunday school theology as "the movement's mainspring of energy." They write: The Sunday school crusade really hit its stride in the I 820's and I 830's as it concentrated on preparing the way for conversion. That sense of pur pose carried the movement well into the twentieth century (and still dom inates vast numbers of Sunday schools.) The Sunday school has become so closely identified with conversion over the past 150 years that it is doubtful whether it could today be divorced from the evangelistic motivation. u Sunday school theology was not only evangelistic but also Christ-centered. These two emphases are reflected in the final resolution adopted by the delegates to the ninth World's Convention meeting in Glasgow: The Convention is convinced that the present world situation constitutes a rare opportunity and a startling challenge to Christian Churches and Sunday schools to improve and extend their work of Bible instruction, of educational evangelism, and to pursue with faith and courage the task to which the World's Sunday School Association is committed of bringing the children and young people of every land and in every language to the knowledge of God in Christ, through living teachers of revealed truth, and so, in time, to secure the world against the calamity of war ... 14 In words reminiscent of Our Song of Hope, William C. Poole told the delegates to the I Ith World Convention meeting in Rio de Janerio, " ... we affirm our faith that the living Christ is the hope of the world."15 "Christ the Hope of the World" became the theme of the next World's Con- vention: The theme chosen for the Oslo Convention is "Christ the Hope of the World." Surely no more appropriate theme could be found in these days of disruptive forces when the great need is for world unity- a unity which can be finally achieved only through Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.16 Bishop Lund, in the concluding words of his address at the Oslo Convention, said: "Christ is our only hope, Christ is the only hope of the world." 17 One does not find a great deal of christological controversy in these meetings. Perhaps that is because the discussions focused less on issues of Christ's nature than 14 on his significance for the world. Christological definition is touched on here and there, but mostly in the spirit of Luther Weigle's closing address at Oslo: J esus is to be seen not as an ethical teacher or model of humanity, but as one who gives mankind "a glimpse of ultimate Reality, because we see in Him the character and disposition of God dwelling among men, God entering history for man's redemption."18 What the Sunday school believes about Christ is what is broadly accepted by most Christians: We affirm our loyalty to Jesus Christ.

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