Christian Language and Play in Education

Jerome Berryman’s Contributions

Jerome Berryman’s theory of Godly Play is a variation on the Maria Montessori method of education (Allen, n.d.). Berryman conceptualized Godly Play as “more like spiritual guidance than what is typically thought of in the church as children’s education. It involves children and adults, as guides, moving together toward fluency in the art of knowing how to use Christian language to nourish their moral and spiritual development” (Allen, n.d.). The foundation for this view on children’s education was, ultimately, in the Montessori tradition, for Berryman considered “himself to be a Montessorian” (Hyde, 2011a, p. 342). Central to Berryman’s conception of the education of children was Christian language: he believed children should be fluent in Christian language before they reach adolescence; this way their holy religion is in them, is like second nature to them, is what contextualizes and frames their thoughts, words, and actions (Berryman, 2019).

Berryman was born in 1937 in Ashland, Kansas, a ranch and wheat farming community. He has been a lifelong Christian who married his wife Thea in 1961 and with whom he had two daughters born five years apart. His youngest daughter was born with spina bifida, which likely contributed to Berryman’s sensitivity to the topic of children with special needs, which he frequently touched upon in his writings (Allen, n.d.). Berryman received a Bachelor of Arts in 1959, and went on to receive a master of divinity in 1962, a doctoral law degree in 1969, and a doctoral degree in ministry in 1996, just before his sixtieth birthday. Ordained an Episcopal priest in 1984, Berryman He had an accomplished career but is best known for his theory of Godly Play. He has held many workshops, conferences, and has consulted widely among various schools and hospitals.

His main interests were in associating the teaching methods of Maria Montessori with children’s play, learning, imagination, and the Christian religion. He wanted the education of the child to be something organic that develops naturally rather than something that is forced on the child that the child might resist and push away because not ready for it or not comfortable with it. A child is a developing human being with a free will, an imagination (often expressed through creative play), and a desire to learn (often expressed through the watching of others in their play and interaction). Berryman saw that the role of adults in the education of children was simply to serve as guides and supports so that children could be kept safe during this learning, searching, and playful development. Central to Berryman’s approach to what he called Godly Play was the idea of Christian language as the support for the development of the Christian spirit in children. No matter what game children played, it should be surrounded by and immersed in Christian language. As Hyde (2011b) points out, “in religious education, the Christian language system itself, along with the prepared environment of the religious education classroom, which itself ought to be infused with this language system, provide the rules and structures which guide the play” (p. 22). The context of play and creativity is thus one that immerses the child in the Christian religion, just like a seed is immersed in moist soil: both with grow and sprout and bring forth good fruit in each case. The surrounding of play in the Christian language is like the surrounding of a seed in good soil.

Berryman did not come to these ideas on his own but rather by way of the Montessori school of education and through the observation of his own young daughters at play. Over the course of latter half of the 20th century he refined his thinking on children’s education and discussed it in his Godly Play series of articles, which culminated in a volume of works published in the Godly Play series. Berryman did not strictly adhere to Montessori principles—but his theory of education did stem from the Montessori method of putting the child in the driver’s seat. Montessori philosophy holds that “the child’s preference for work rather than play and the proper use of the imagination” are the two main principles of religious education (Hyde, 2011a, p. 343). For Berryman, children prefer play—not work—and play became the central focus of his approach to children’s education. Essentially, Berryman’s view was not that great of a departure from Montessori’s view, for Montessori simply defined work for children as “any activity which involves the child’s whole personality and has as its unconscious aim the construction of personality” (Hyde, 2011a, p. 344). Montessori believed that work allowed the child to perfect his or her own development. Berryman believed that play was a better way to think of how children grow and develop because for them work is a type of play—that is, they do not view it as work; meaningful work to a child is rather like play for it is play that is most meaningful to them, when they are at their most creative, and when they are at their most developmental. Adults may view their play as “work” but when children are engrossed in it their “work” is not “work” to them but rather like serious play.

Thus, Berryman believed that “play is much more important to religious education than either science or theology have led us to believe” (Hyde, 2011a, p. 345). He argued that work for children is “really deep and personal play” (Hyde, 2011a, p. 345). He and Montessori may have characterized the terms of the educational process differently but essentially they were in agreement. Montessori sought to defend her approach to children’s education from critics who accused it of being play-centered; she stressed that it was really work-centered. Berryman did not try to argue against the critics but rather embraced them and argued, instead, that children’s education should be play-centered because play is what is most meaningful for children and is that time during which they are most vibrant. Berryman recognized the beauty in the play-centered educational process and promoted it whereas Montessori felt the need to get around that label. In this sense, Berryman believed he was developing and enriching the Montessori method.

Berryman also believed that play was ultimately the driving factor in all learning and that when people are at play they are full of life and are open to life and the mysteries that God teaches through life. He viewed fake play or pseudo-play as parasitic and as dangerous to education because it was closed to life and numbing to a child’s mind and creative spirit. For Berryman, the proper use of the imagination was the most important factor in the education of the child and so long as that imagination was guided by religious inputs and Christian language it would retain the Christian character that is most pleasing to God.