Читать книгу How to Teach Religion - George Herbert Betts - Страница 7

When we revert to our own pupil days we find that the impressions which cling to our memories are not chiefly impressions of facts taught and of lessons learned, but of the personality of the teacher. We may have forgotten many of the truths presented and most of the conclusions drawn, but the warmth and glow of the human touch still remains.

To be a teacher of religion requires a particularly exalted personality. The teacher and the truth taught should always leave the impression of being of the same pattern. "For their sakes I sanctify myself," said the Great Teacher; shall the teachers of his Word dare do less!

The teacher as an interpreter of truth.—This is not to say that the subject matter taught is unimportant, nor that the lessons presented are immaterial. It is only to say that life responds first of all to life. Truth never comes to the child disembodied and detached, but always with the slant and quality of the teacher's interpretation of it. It is as if the teacher's mind and spirit were the stained glass through which the sunlight must fall; all that passes through the medium of a living personality takes its tone and quality from this contact. The pupils may or may not grasp the lessons of their books, but their teachers are living epistles, known and read by them all.

For it is the concrete that grips and molds. Our greatest interest and best attention center in persons. The world is neither formed nor reformed by abstract truths nor by general theories. Whatever ideals we would impress upon others we must first have realized in ourselves. What we are often drowns out what we say. Words and maxims may be misunderstood; character seldom is. Precepts may fail to impress; personality never does. God tried through the ages to reveal his purposes to man by means of the law and the prophets, but man refused to heed or understand. It was only when God had made his thought and plan for man concrete in the person of Jesus of Nazareth that man began to understand.

The first and most difficult requirement of the teacher, therefore, is—himself, his personality. He must combine in himself the qualities of life and character he seeks to develop in his pupils. He must look to his personality as the source of his influence and the measure of his power. He must be the living embodiment of what he would lead his pupils to become. He must live the religion he would teach them. He must possess the vital religious experience he would have them attain.

The building of personality.—Personality is not born, it is made. A strong, inspiring personality is not a gift of the gods, nor is a weak and ineffective personality a visitation of Providence. Things do not happen in the realm of the spiritual any more than in the realm of nature. Everything is caused. Personality grows. It takes its form in the thick of the day's work and its play. It is shaped in the crush and stress of life's problems and its duties. It gains its quality from the character of the thoughts and acts that make up the common round of experience. It bears the marks of whatever spiritual fellowship and communion we keep with the Divine.

Professor Dewey tells us that character is largely dependent on the mode of assembling its parts. A teacher may have a splendid native inheritance, a fine education, and may move in the best social circles, and yet not come to his best in personality. It requires some high and exalted task in order to assemble the powers and organize them to their full efficiency. The urge of a great work is needed to make potential ability actual. Paul did not become the giant of his latter years until he took upon himself the great task of carrying the gospel to the Gentiles.

Our own responsibility.—It follows then that the building of our personalities is largely in our own hands. True, the influence of heredity is not to be overlooked. It is easier for some to develop attractive, compelling qualities than for others. The raw material of our nature comes with us; is what heredity decrees. But the finished product bears the stamp of our training and development. Fate or destiny never takes the reins from our hands. We are free to shape ourselves largely as we will.

Our inner life will daily grow by what it feeds upon. This is the great secret of personality-building. What to-day we build into thought and action to-morrow becomes character and personality. Let us cultivate our interests, think high thoughts, and give ourselves to worthy deeds, and these have soon become a life habit. Let our hearts go out in helpfulness to those about us, and sympathy for human kind becomes a compelling motive in our lives before we are aware. Let us consciously listen to the still small voice speaking to the soul, and we will find our souls expanding to meet the Infinite.

The secret.—He who would develop his personality into the full measure of its strength and power must, then, set his goal at living constantly in the presence of the BEST. This will include the best in thought and memory and anticipation. It will permit none but cheerful moods, nor allow us to dwell with bitterness upon petty wrongs and grievances. It will control the tongue, and check the unkind word or needless criticism. It will cause us to seek for the strong and beautiful qualities in our friends and associates, and not allow us to point out their faults nor magnify their failings. It will cure us of small jealousies and suppress all spirit of revenge. It will save us from idle worry and fruitless rebellion against such ills as cannot be cured. In short, it will free our lives from the crippling influence of negative moods and critical attitudes. It will teach us to be ruled by our admirations rather than by our aversions.

Above all, he who would build a personality fitted to serve as the teacher of the child in his religion must constantly live in the presence of the best he can attain in God. There is no substitute for this. No fullness of intellectual power and grasp, no richness of knowledge gleaned, and no degree of skill in instruction can take the place of a vibrant, immediate, Spirit-filled consciousness of God in the heart. For religion is life, and the best definition of religion we can present to the child is the example and warmth of a life inspired and vivified by contact with the Source of all spiritual being. The authority of the teacher should rest on his own religious experience, rather than on the spiritual experience of others.

A character chart.—There is no possibility, of course, of making a list of all the qualities that enter into our personalities. Nor would it be possible to trace all the multiform ways in which these qualities may combine in our characters. It is worth while, however, to consider a few of the outstanding traits which take first place in determining our strength or weakness, and especially such as will respond most readily to conscious training and cultivation. Such a list follows. Each quality may serve as a goal both for our own development and for the training of our pupils.

	Positive Qalities	Negative Qualities
1	Open-minded, inquiring, broad	Narrow, dogmatic, not hungry for truth
2	Accurate, thorough, discerning	Indefinite, superficial, lazy
3	Judicious, balanced, fair	Prejudiced, led by likes and dislikes
4	Original, independent, resourceful	Dependent, imitative, subservient
5	Decisive, possessing convictions	Uncertain, wavering, undecided
6	Cheerful, joyous, optimistic	Gloomy, morose, pessimistic, bitter
7	Amiable, friendly, agreeable	Repellent, unsociable, disagreeable
8	Democratic, broadly sympathetic	Snobbish, self-centered, exclusive
9	Tolerant, sense of humor, generous	Opinionated, dogmatic, intolerant
10	Kind, courteous, tactful	Cruel, rude, untactful
11	Tractable, cooperative, teachable	Stubborn, not able to work with others
12	Loyal, honorable, dependable	Disloyal, uncertain dependability
13	Executive, forceful, vigorous	Uncertain, weak, not capable
14	High ideals, worthy, exalted	Low standards, base, contemptible
15	Modest, self-effacing	Egotistical, vain, autocratic
16	Courageous, daring, firm	Overcautious, weak, vacillating
17	Honest, truthful, frank, sincere	Low standards of honor and truth
18	Patient, calm, equable	Irritable, excitable, moody
19	Generous, open-hearted, forgiving	Stingy, selfish, resentful
20	Responsive, congenial	Cold, repulsive, uninviting
21	Punctual, on schedule, capable	Tardy, usually behindhand, incapable
22	Methodical, consistent, logical	Haphazard, desultory, inconsistent
23	Altruistic, given to service	Indifferent, not socially-minded
24	Refined, alive to beauty, artistic	Coarse, lacking æsthetic quality
25	Self-controlled, decision, purpose	Suggestible, easily led, uncertain
26	Good physical carriage, dignity	Lack of poise, ill posture, no grace
27	Taste in attire, cleanliness, pride	Careless in dress, frumpy, no pride
28	Face smiling, voice pleasing	Somber expression, voice unpleasant
29	Physical endurance, vigor, strength	Quickly tired, weak, sluggish
30	Spiritual responsiveness strong	Spiritually weak, inconstant, uncertain
31	Prayer life warm, satisfying	Prayer cold, formal, little comfort
32	Religious certainty, peace, quiet	Conflict, strain, uncertainty
33	Religious experience expanding	Spiritual life static or losing force
34	God a near, inspiring reality	God distant, unreal, hard of approach
35	Power to win others to religion	Influence little or negative
36	Interest in Bible and religion	Little concern for religion and Bible
37	Religion makes life fuller and richer	Religion felt as a limitation
38	Deeply believe great fundamentals	Lacking in foundations for faith
39	Increasing triumph over sin	Too frequent falling before temptation
40	Religious future hopeful	Religious growth uncertain

It is highly instructive for one to grade himself on this list of qualities; or he may have his friends and associates grade him, thus getting an estimate of the impression he is making on others. Teachers will find it well worth while to attempt to grade each of their pupils; for this will give a clearer insight into their strengths and weaknesses, and so indicate where to direct our teaching. Mark each separate set of qualities on the scale of 10 for the highest possible attainment. If the strength of the positive qualities of a certain set (as in No. 10) can be marked but 6, then the negative qualities of this set must carry a mark of 4.