EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

The teacher of religion needs to be very sure of himself at one point.  He ought to be able to answer affirmatively the question, “Have I the prophetic impulse in my teaching?” Sooner or later, practical difficulties will “come not singly but by battalions,” and the spirit needs to be fortified against discouragement.  When driven back to the second or third line defense it is important that such a line really exists; the consciousness of being the spokesman for God makes the teacher invulnerable and unconquerable.

But in order that this divine impulse may attain its greatest strength and find the most direct, articulate, and effective expression, the teacher must know how as well as what to teach.  The most precious spiritual energy may be lost because improperly directed or controlled.  Unhesitating insight into the solution of practical problems helps to open up a channel through which the prophetic impulse can find fullest expression.

There is no substitute for mastery of the technique of the teaching process.  Prayerful consecration cannot take its place.  This ready command of the methods of teaching, on the other hand, is in no sense an equivalent of the consciousness of having been “called” or “chosen” to teach religion.  The two must go hand in hand.  No one who feels himself divinely appointed for this sacred task dares ignore the responsibility of becoming a “workman not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

This volume by Dr. Betts offers the earnest teacher of religion an exceptional opportunity to make more effective his ideal of instruction.  The treatment applies the best of modern educational science to the problems of the church school, without, however, for a moment, forgetting that a vital religious experience is the final goal of all our teaching.

Besides setting forth the underlying principles of religious teaching in a clear and definite way, the author has included in every chapter a rich fund of illustration and concrete application which cannot fail to prove immediately helpful in every church classroom.  It is also believed that students of religious education will find this treatment of method by Professor Betts the most fundamental and sane that has yet appeared in the field.

Norman E. Richardson.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Children can be brought to a religious character and experience through right nurture and training in religion. This is the fundamental assumption on which the present volume rests, and it makes the religious education of children the most strategic opportunity and greatest responsibility of the church, standing out above all other obligations whatever.

Further, the successful teaching of religion is based on the same laws that apply to other forms of teaching; hence teachers in church schools need and have a right to all the help that a scientific pedagogy permeated by an evangelistic spirit can give them.  They also have the obligation to avail themselves of this help for the meeting of their great task.