Christian Existentialism in the Pedagogy of Paulo Freire and Its Implications for Adult Education Practice
Abstract
Examining Christian existentialism within the educational theory of Paulo Freire presents adult education with both a caution and an opportunity. The caution is to step back from the technocratic and political concerns which dominate the discourse of adult education while at the same time focus on those aspects of adult education which permeate the metaphysical experiences in the lives adult learners and adult educators. Here is an opportunity to embrace the notion of adult education from the point of view of Christian anthropology; considering adult education in this way can ensure that adult education practice does not fall into a pedagogical malaise whereby it solely concerned with the vocational and economic benefits of adult education. In parallel with these concerns, the Christian perspective on adult education will promote the communicative, humanising, and transformative aspects within this area of education, particularly as they effect the personhood of the individual. In a society which experiences infinite material possibility and at the same time infinite spiritual impoverishment, research such as this can help to reawaken Christian ideas of the human person.
Christian Existentialism in the Pedagogy of Paulo Freire and Its Implications for Adult Education Practice
Examining Christian existentialism within the educational theory of Paulo Freire presents adult education with both a caution and an opportunity. The caution is to step back from the technocratic and political concerns which dominate the discourse of adult education while at the same time focus on those aspects of adult education which permeate the metaphysical experiences in the lives adult learners and adult educators. Here is an opportunity to embrace the notion of adult education from the point of view of Christian anthropology; considering adult education in this way can ensure that adult education practice does not fall into a pedagogical malaise whereby it solely concerned with the vocational and economic benefits of adult education. In parallel with these concerns, the Christian perspective on adult education will promote the communicative, humanising, and transformative aspects within this area of education, particularly as they effect the personhood of the individual. In a society which experiences infinite material possibility and at the same time infinite spiritual impoverishment, research such as this can help to reawaken Christian ideas of the human person.