Facs
Transcript
people 20,000 years ago, and then from there this, I think 10-year-old, girl was supposed to learn the historical development of religion through the centuries. Now this is something against which I have nothing to say if it is done to people who are not interested in the history of religion, as every student of theology should, and some students of culture generally, also should be. But this is just the opposite of what I called introduction into the reality, in-serting, so to speak, in the community in which this reality is alive.
Where is this reality alive? It is alive in family, in the social surroundings, and in the church. Religious education means introducing the child into all three of these realities. And if I say “the child,” I only speak a fortiori, i.e., from that which is the most important problems, but of course there are many adults, and in the early church there were only adults, who had to be introduced in the same way. This introduction is introduction into the reality of the life of the religious group and into its symbols which are expressed in the ritual forms. Rite and ritual are always interdependent; there is no religion which does not have cultic elements. And no religion which does not have mythic elements. The myth interprets the cult; the cult actualizes the myth.
Now you introduce the children into these realities. How can you do this? It is usually done by introduction into the biblical material, especially the stories in which the mythological element is present, and the mixture of historical and legendary elements give these stories a religious power and meaning.
This is the first step. But if you do this, then it is quite possible that, in the moment