Hermeneutical Issues
From Teach the Text: The Problem, by John Walton
Frequently the objectives of the biblical author are neglected in the pursuit of the curriculum’s own educational objectives. There is no commitment to teach always and only what the Bible is teaching in any given section. As a matter of fact, the relationship between the Bible’s teaching in a particular passage and the educational objectives of the lesson or unit is often quite oblique and at times totally obscure.
I concur. Lifeway’s preschool theme for the month of January is “What We Do at Church.” One story was the widow giving two copper coins, from Mark 12:41-44.
Actual Bible Teaching: The amount given is irrelevant; God cares about the totality of the commitment.
Educational Objective: I will discover that people give money at church, and I can too.
See the difference? It gets worse. The life application from the lesson is as follows:
Encourage preschoolers to think about why we give money at church. Place a variety of items such as a Bible, hymnal, can of food, wooden block, and rhythm instrument in a pillowcase. Preschoolers can take turns touching and trying to guess items. Comment that the church uses money that people bring to buy items like these.
Technically accurate, but wrong attitude. We give money at church because it is an act of worship, not to buy more toys for me to play with. By the logic of this activity, the person who gives more money and therefore buys more puzzles must be better.
Developmental Issues
The obvious solution when a lesson is not hermeneutically accurate is to simply modify the lesson’s educational objective to match that of the Bible. But preschoolers are in a pre-operational stage of cognitive development, and are sometimes incapable of comprehending the actual Bible teaching. Consider:
- Four year olds don’t earn money.
- If she puts all the money she has into the offering, Daddy will give her more.
- Even if all her money is gone, she still gets to eat delicious macaroni and cheese for lunch.
- You try convincing a five year old that 2 copper coins was “more” than the 50 the Pharisee gave.
Actual Sunday School Session
For our activity, our class acted out the story. I lined the kids up against the wall, gave each one a plastic cup, and distributed different amounts of pennies. Each kid then had to put 2 coins in the offering bowl. When Corin put his only 2 coins in, I ecstatically praised him for putting in “all he had.” Being a quick-witted young lady, Tabitha at the front of the line promptly dumped the rest of her coins in, and was similarly praised.
We played the game three times, always with the kids getting different amounts of pennies. After the first round, each child put in “all he had.” They also argued about who would get to give the most pennies this time, complained “I don’t want to be the poor widow again,” and one kid tossed aside her cup in favor of a gigantic bowl from the kitchenette.
So, yeah.
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