Religion and Education Religious Development in Children

Religion and Education

Religious development in children and adults alike have been research areas that have historically been of interest to those involved in the developmental psychology arenas such as theorists of religious development, religious educators, and designers of religious education curricula in various settings. However, religious development did not receive a great deal of consideration during the early phases of growth in the psychology or the schools of human behavior and development. Even though the work of Sigmund Freud has been extremely influential in education and psychoanalysis, there are many other eminent psychologists who have made greater strides for humankind by trying to understand the planning and teaching aspects of religious education. This paper, therefore, aims to discuss three such prominent individuals: Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson and Jerome Bruner.

Ironically, behaviorism and psychoanalysis entail some aspects of atheistic presuppositions and therefore create many psychologists who are leaning more towards the agnostic side of God, religion and the supernatural. Religious thinking and associated behaviors were not always as accepted as some other psychological considerations such as hypnosis or psychoanalysis. Historically, psychoanalytical theory only studied religious experience in the sense of religiously motivated pathological scenarios that may seem more abundant in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson and Jerome Bruner were pioneers in the sense that they attempted to explain religious phenomena from more of a psychoanalytical perspective. Each in their own right have contributed, created or subscribed to developmental theories that changed the preparation or philosophic principles regarding the religious educational process.

Erik Erikson was a German born educator, author and American psychoanalyst. His overall importance to the psychology can be assessed by the fact that a branch of the Harvard Department of Psychiatry was named after him. Much of Erikson's work is still considered extremely confidential in nature and many of his clinical letters and compositions are governmentally restricted and therefore require written permission from the Yale University Psychology administration simply for review. Born Erik Homburger, Erikson was well-known for his work which dealt with child development and studies on the span of life. One famous saying that came out of his work was the "identity crisis." His works was instrumental in the creation of the field of psychohistory.

Psychohistory is the science of historical motivation and coupled with the insights of psychotherapy helps one understand the origin of the religious, social and political behaviors of all of mankind. There is nothing more basic than the idea of self and the history of motivation. The current religious educational process revolves around the understanding of the historical values and motivation of its predecessors. Erickson's teaching therefore is a sound foundation for modern religious education to understand why scripture was written in the first place. Therefore, the concepts psychohistory presented a way to understand the entire process of religious education.

Jerome Bruner is best known for his work in the cognitive learning theory which was formed by his works on logical categorization. "Bruner's theory states - To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize." (Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century, 2004) In the study of religion, scholars and educators must understand that people deduce their surroundings based on comparison to what is known. People subconsciously have a coding system that helps them arrange the world around them in a hierarchical manner. "Bruner maintained that people interpret the world in terms of similarities and differences, which are detected among objects and events. Objects that are viewed as similar are placed in the same category." (Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century, 2004) These theories have helped religious entities create better educational systems where students are given an opportunity to discover relationships in the categories of study.

Bruner's logical approach for categorization can be seen in the modern church's understanding of its role in the world. For example, there was a dilemma when trying to engage in educational functions that contributed to the development of 'one' person while at the same time promoting the 'betterment of humanity.' People must arrange these ideals in a hierarchical manner that permits them to accept this type of teaching. Without an individual's ability to categorize, the theological and educational needs of that individual would not be able to personalize the different needs of the spiritual and moral codes taught.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist also well renowned for his pioneering work in child development and also the process of intelligence building. Piaget helped influence the religious educational process but more importantly his work effected education and psychology as a whole. Born in 1896, in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Piaget was already a published scientific writer at the astonishing age of ten and received a doctorate in biology by the age of twenty two. Piaget's interest in psychology pushed him into the field of developmental cognitive abilities. Piaget has been credited with identifying the currently accepted theory of the four stages of mental growth. "In the sensorimotor stage, occurring from birth to age 2, the child is concerned with gaining motor control and learning about physical objects. In the preoperational stage, from ages 2 to 7, the child is preoccupied with verbal skills. At this point the child can name objects and reason intuitively. In the concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 12, the child begins to deal with abstract concepts such as numbers and relationships. Finally, in the formal operational stage, ages 12 to 15, the child begins to reason logically and systematically." (Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century, 2004)