John Baptist de la Salle and interior prayer: Humility as an antidote to curiositas in the hospitable classroom

Abstract

This article explores a relationship which is related to recognition, hospitality, and the classroom, but does not get a lot of attention: the relationship between the teacher and the subject of study. How does the teacher’s stance towards knowledge affect relationships between students, the relationship between the student and the teacher, and the relationship between the student and the content? In what ways can the recognition of ones’ own finitude invite students into a hospitable (i.e. humble) relationship with each other and with the subject of study? My argument is that through interior prayer, as a way to prepare for hospitality in the classroom, a pedagogical posture of humility may aid in resisting a tendency to seek dominance over the subject of study and control over the learning environment in order to begin to welcome the contributions of the stranger (ideas or students) into the classroom.

Keywords

curiosity hospitality humility John Baptist de la Salle prayer recognition

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agathon (1785) The Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher.

Augustine (2008) On Christian Teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bennett JB (2000) The academy and hospitality. Crosscurrents. Spring–Summer.

Bondi

(1987) To Love as God Loves: Conversations with the Early Church, Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.

DeYoung

(2009) Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies, Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

Freire

(2005) Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare to Teach, Cambridge, MA: Westview Press.

Griffiths

(2006) The Vice of Curiosity: An Essay on Intellectual Appetite, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: CMU Press.

Hutter

(2002) Hospitality and truth: The disclosure of practices in worship and doctrine. In: Volf

Bass

(eds) Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, pp. 206–227.

Jacobs

(2001) Bakhtin and the hermeneutics of love. In: Contino

Felch

(eds) Bakhtin and Religion: A Feeling for Faith, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, pp. 25–46.

10.

Koch C, Calligan J and Gross J (eds) (2004) John Baptist de la Salle: The Spirituality of Christian Education. New York: Paulist Press.

11.

Oden A (ed.) (2001) And You Welcomed Me: A Sourcebook on Hospitality in Early Christianity. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

12.

Palmer

(1983) To Know As We Are Known: A Spirituality of Education, San Francisco: Harper and Row.

13.

Pieper

(1954) The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, New York: Pantheon Books.

14.

Pohl

(1999) Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company.

15.

Shor

Freire

(1987) A Pedagogy for Liberation: Dialogues on Transforming Education, New York: Bergin and Garvey.

16.

Smith

JKA

(2009) Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

17.

Stratman

(2013) Toward a pedagogy of hospitality: Empathy, literature, and community engagement. Journal of Christian Education and Belief 17(1): 25–59.

18.

Stratman

(2015) What’s in a name: The place of recognition in a hospitable classroom. International Journal of Christianity and Education 19(1): 27–37.

19.

Torchia

(2013) Restless Mind: Curiositas and the Scope of Inquiry in St. Augustine’s Psychology, Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.

20.

Weil S (1951) Waiting For God. Craufurd E (trans.). New York: Harper Collins.

21.

Yonker JE (2015) Can instructional interventions be used to teach humility in young Christian school children? Faith and Teaching: Virtue, Practice, and Imagination. Conference, Calvin College, 1–3 October 2015.