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A Narrative Pedagogy for Transformative Christian Faith

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A Narrative Pedagogy for Transformative Christian Faith Story-Making: A Narrative Pedagogy For Transformative Christian Faith Author: Nathaniel Girard Samuel Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3403 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2013 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry STORY-MAKING: A NARRATIVE PEDAGOGY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CHRISTIAN FAITH a dissertation by NATHANIEL GIRARD SAMUEL submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2013 © copyright by NATHANIEL GIRARD SAMUEL 2013 ABSTRACT STORY-MAKING: A NARRATIVE PEDAGOGY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CHRISTIAN FAITH NATHANIEL GIRARD SAMUEL ADVISOR: THOMAS H. GROOME The mid-twentieth century upsurge in scholarship on the methodological and conceptual importance of narrative for theology - established in the work of H.R. Niebuhr, Hans Frei and Stephen Crites inter alia – was a watershed moment for narrative pedagogy in Christian religious education. By and large, narrative approaches have however tended to privilege one form of narrative embodiment - literary (or discursive narratives) - over action (or non-discursive narratives). This dissertation points to the equivocal and pluriform nature of narrativity, and its codification in much more than oral and written textuality. I extend it to refer to a distinct competency for establishing a meaningful world (or ethos) to inhabit, which congeals in varied forms of human expression including our lived narratives. Narrative competency allows us to understand ourselves as persons and communities in (synchronic) relationship with the rest of creation, as well as in (diachronic) relation with persons and communities from the past and in the anticipated future. I propose a narrative pedagogy for transformative faith based on the concept of story-making, which draws on this expanded understanding of narrativity. My story- making approach is grounded in Christian praxis that aims to establish the experiential matrix that, through the working of God’s grace, invites and aids the re-storying of the learner’s life. Story-making also has as its vision narrative historic praxis that incarnates in social action the understanding that human subjectivity is lived in responsible agency in the present, retrieving the memory of suffering and possibility from the past, in the hope of a more just future. This dissertation is inspired by the Caribbean heritage of survival and grace-filled possibility, but ultimately extrapolates for universal wisdom. It is sustained by a belief that Christian religious education is about forming disciples with agency for furthering the Great story of the reign of God in history and society. The creative, even poetic, enterprise of Caribbean existence is iconic of this existential challenge that remains ubiquitous for life in the modern globalized economy. i TABLE OF CONTENTS REVISITING NARRATIVE IN CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES OF CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES .................................................................. 1 The Storied World in WhiCh We Live .......................................................................................................... 1 Christian ReliGious EduCation for AGenCy and Responsibility in God’s ReiGn ........................... 5 Caribbean Inspirations: Narratives of Survival, ResistanCe and Possibility ............................ 12 Contemporary Narrative ApproaChes to ReliGious EduCation ...................................................... 20 Core Themes of a Transformative ApproaCh to Narrative EduCation ........................................ 32 THE TEXTURE OF NARRATIVITY ..................................................................................................... 36 IntroduCtion ......................................................................................................................................................... 36 A Model of Narrative Ethos ........................................................................................................................... 40 JudGinG the EfficaCy of the Model of Narrative Ethos ........................................................................ 48 Paul RiCoeur and the HermeneutiCs of Narrativity ............................................................................. 60 RevisitinG RiCoeur’s Framework from the PerspeCtive of CurriCulum PlanninG ................... 72 Summary: Religious EduCation and the Texture of Narrativity .................................................... 81 ENCOUNTERING THE RISEN JESUS ON THE ROAD: A PEDAGOGICAL HERMENEUTIC AROUND NARRATIVITY ....................................................................................................................... 86 IntroduCtion ......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Some Comments about Jesus’ Narrative Pedagogy ............................................................................ 91 The Lukan Jesus as EmpowerinG Story-Maker ..................................................................................... 97 PedaGoGy on the Road to Emmaus ........................................................................................................... 103 ImpliCations for EmployinG Narrativity within ReliGious EduCation Today ......................... 114 FOUNDATIONS OF A NARRATIVE PEDAGOGY IN A CARIBBEAN NARRATIVE- PRACTICAL THEOLOGY ...................................................................................................................... 119 IntroduCtion ....................................................................................................................................................... 119 A Narrative TheoloGy of BeinG ................................................................................................................... 124 A Narrative TheoloGy of Praxis .................................................................................................................. 131 The Texture of the Caribbean Yes: TheoloGiCal Debates ................................................................ 137 The Yes of Faith as Shaped by a Narrative HistoriCism .................................................................. 145 Yes as the ReCoGnition of BeinG through Narrative Hospitality .................................................. 152 Yes as a Celebration of BeinG through Festivity ................................................................................. 164 ConClusion: The SiGnifiCanCe of Story-makinG .................................................................................... 169 STORY MAKING: TOWARDS A NARRATIVE PEDAGOGY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE FAITH ......................................................................................................................................................... 171 IntroduCtion ....................................................................................................................................................... 171 On the Perennial Need for CritiCally RefleCtinG on our Stories ................................................... 175 ApproaChinG Adult Faith Formation throuGh Story-MakinG ........................................................ 183 The Movements of Story-MakinG .............................................................................................................. 204 ConClusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 229 CONCLUSION: STORY-MAKING AND BECOMING HUMAN BEFORE GOD .................... 230 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation delineates a narrative pedagogy for religious education that is intent on transformative faith. A significant question for consideration is how does Christian religious education invite learners to a re-storying of their lives, by imagining and embracing life-giving and freeing narratives, while also abandoning destructive and oppressive ones? My focus here is on Christian religious education (or educating for Christian discipleship), delimiting this work within the universe of religious education models. It is hoped, however, that much written here on the role of narrativity in religious education may be of use in broader educative circles. I contextualize my reflections by drawing on the Caribbean faith witness, in the belief that its unique particularity can ultimately provide lessons of universal import. The Caribbean has forged stories of resistance, survival and creativity amidst the immense challenges of a colonial past. Its people – my people – have been a primary inspiration for my scholarship – to them I offer the first fruits of thanksgiving. Many others have provided accompaniment, prayer and mentorship in my academic journey. Regretfully, I can only mention a few here. I am deeply grateful to Profs. Tom Groome, M. Shawn Copeland and M. Brinton Lykes for their scholarly mentoring, but also for their invaluable life witness. To my colleagues in the doctoral program in the Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry, and to the numerous faculty, staff and students throughout Boston College who nurtured, supported and challenged me over the
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