What role does worldview play in pedagogy? Pedagogy refers to the art, technique, and practice of teaching, and has become somewhat of a buzzword in my profession. I teach seventh-grade history in a Texas public school, and pedagogy in that context relates to how we deliver the content of the course to our students in a way that is meaningful and challenging. A teacher that is adorned with pedagogical skill will infuse their teaching with rigor and relevance. Worldview, then, is the fuel for that pedagogical craft.
My worldview dictates that every child in my classroom has been made in the image of God. My opinion on history tells me that these children are products of a generally sinful and fallen society. My thoughts on human nature guide me to believe that every human heart is “only evil continually,” and that “the heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick”. God–as Creator and Sovereign–can understand the essential needs of His creation. It is understood from a secular perspective that education can help mold a more compassionate and moral society, but the Bible would disagree. No amount of education can change the human heart. Whether that heart beats inside a pre-teen or a professional, the need is unchanged by the presence of education.
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The human heart is changed by the presence of Christ. A biblical worldview understands that human beings are naturally bent away from God and that our sinful nature will not tolerate any type of true morality apart from the law and intervention of God. A biblical worldview gives a spiritual framework for the educator that centers their mind on a paradox: every human being is bound by the manacles of sin, yet defined by the love of their Creator.
A Biblical worldview does not allow a weakening of the core message of Christian truth. In the American University, Biblical truth has been trivialized and theology has been relegated to an academic niche. D. G. Hart suggests that theology–as a disciplined study of truth–should not belong to academia at all. Hart believes that theology might “flourish where it thrives best, namely, in nonacademic settings such as churches, families, and private schools.” Hart previously detailed how distanced academic theology has become from the theological pursuits of churches or Christian homes, and he wonders if the discipline would fair better apart from the influence of a non-Biblical worldview.
The presence of Christianity in society–especially in academia–is spiritually beneficial and provides real answers for the sinful nature that creates conflict within humans. No amount of knowledge can solve the crises present in the soul, but when Christianity is present and represented through a biblical framework, answers are readily available and reasoned out by eager minds who view their learners as objects of God’s tremendous love. Teaching, at that moment, becomes an act of worship.
This may seem presumptuous–or even arrogant–to scholars who see the world in a different light, but this is a consistent Christian attitude that has its root in the Biblical narrative. The Christian worldview rests upon the narrative of a loving God who sacrificed Himself for the redemption of wayward man, and we teach because we believe that God has redeemed the Christian. We should not operate from a perspective of superiority, but of experience. Christians understand the powerful paradigm shift that comes about when God redeems a sin-sodden creature, and we know that for our pedagogical purposes, “the deceptiveness of the human heart” and our “perspective on the human condition” may provide “an excellent place to stand”.
As a middle-school teacher, I cannot promote my faith or worldview above others, and at times it has been personally difficult to refrain from sharing that part of my perspective with my students. My worldview, however, does not cease because I must practice restraint and discretion. My worldview encourages me to work hard in my classroom, to treat my coworkers with well-earned respect, and to recognize the inherent value of every child who sits under my instruction.
When the time comes for me to advance into higher education, I hope to serve a Christian community where I may be more open with my beliefs. However, I know that if the Lord sends me elsewhere, the basic human need for reconciliation with God does not change. My place as a Christian in higher (and lower) education is to work faithfully, research carefully, to write skillfully; all this is done so that I may more perfectly reflect the transformation that has been wrought by God in my own life.
Dockery, David S. "Toward a Theology of Higher Education." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 62, no. 1 (03, 2019): 5-23, https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/toward-theology-higher-education/docview/2214892726/se-2.
Hart, D.G. “Christianity and Higher Education: Why Exclusion is a Compliment”. Kemeny, P. C., ed. Faith, Freedom, and Higher Education: Historical Analysis and Contemporary Reflections. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013.
Marsden, George M. “What Difference Might Christian Perspectives Make”. Edited by Ronald A. Wells. History and the Christian Historian. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998.
