Imagination and Religious-Moral Education: Janusz Korczak's Parable "How God Took to His Feet and Fled the Temple"Marc Silverman (Hebrew University, School of Education)Colloquium. [
Notes] There is widespread consensus among all those familiar with Janusz Korczak's educational work and writings that he is among the world-class humanists and moral educators of the twentieth century. His humanism, educational theory and practices are clearly grounded in profound religious sensibilities. In this paper I lend a close reading to the parable he wrote entitled, "How God Took to His Feet and Fled the Temple," and propose that this text demonstrates how imagination can expose persons to religious insights, and inspire them to reflect upon and possibly adopt them.
The Blank Page: Students as Readers and Leaders of Biblical InterpretationAmy Lindeman Allen (Vanderbilt University)Colloquium. [
Notes] In contrast to Lockean epistemology that suggests humans are born as a blank page on which the task of the educator is to write, this paper follows Christian educator Sofia Cavalletti in arguing that the blank page is in our future and not in our past. All students begin with their unique experience, enthusiasm, and imagination. The task of the Christian Educator is not to replace this with predetermined content, but to harness these qualities through open and genuine engagement with the biblical text. Such engagement takes seriously the personhood and context of each student and frees them to become both readers of the Bible and leaders of their own interpretation, filling the blank page(s) of their future.
