How to Teach Religion

How to Teach Religion

The Project Gutenberg eBook, How to Teach Religion, by George
Herbert Betts
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: How to Teach Religion Principles and Methods
Author: George Herbert Betts
Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #15800]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO
TEACH RELIGION***
E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Karina Aleksandrova, and the
Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The Abingdon Religious Education Texts David B. Downey, General
Editor Community Training School Series Norman E. Richardson,
Editor

HOW TO TEACH RELIGION
Principles and Methods
by
GEORGE HERBERT BETTS
THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI
1926

DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO HAVE IN THEIR KEEPING THE
RELIGIOUS DESTINY OF AMERICA--THE TWO MILLION
TEACHERS IN OUR CHURCH SCHOOLS.

CONTENTS


CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE TEACHER HIMSELF 13
Importance of the teacher--Three types of teachers--The personal factor
in teaching religion--Developing the power of personality--The
cultivatable factors in personality--A scale for determining
personality--The teacher's mastery of subject-matter--Methods of
growth--Fields of mastery demanded--Service and rewards--Problems
and questions.
II. THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 30
Two great objectives in teaching--Making sure of the greater
objective--Teaching children versus teaching
subject-matter--Subject-matter as a means instead of an end--Success in
instruction to be measured in terms of modified life, not of material
covered--The goal of a constantly developing Christian character and
experience--Problems for discussion.
III. THE FOURFOLD FOUNDATION 42
What the fourfold foundation consists of: (1) right aims, (2) right
materials to reach these aims, (3) right organization of this material for
instruction, (4) right presentation in instruction--The aim of teaching
religion is (1) fruitful knowledge, (2) right religious attitudes and
growing consciousness of God, (3) power and will to live
righteously--Selecting subject-matter to meet these ends--Principles of
organization of material--The problem of effective
presentation--Questions for discussion.

IV. RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF MOST WORTH 58
Not all religious knowledge of equal value--What determines value of
knowledge--Kind of knowledge needed by child--Developing the
child's idea of God--Harm from wrong concepts of God--Giving the
child the right concept of religion--The qualities by which religion
should be defined to the child--The child's knowledge of the Bible; of
the church; of religious forms of expression--Problems and questions.
V. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES TO BE CULTIVATED 76
The meaning of religious attitudes--These attitudes lie at the basis of
both motives and character--Importance of the pupil's attitudes toward
the church school and class--Enjoyment of the lesson hour and the
growth of loyalty--The sense of mastery necessary to mental and
spiritual growth--The grounding of a continuous interest in the Bible
and religion--Growth in spiritual warmth and responsiveness--The
cultivation of ideals--The training of fine appreciations--Worthy
loyalties and devotions--Clearness of God-consciousness--Questions
and problems.
VI. CONNECTING RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION WITH LIFE AND
CONDUCT 91
Religious instruction must carry across to life and conduct--Hence
necessity of finding practical outlet in expression for feelings, ideals,
emotions and attitudes resulting from instruction--The setting up of
certain religious habits--Expression in connection with the life of the
church--Expression in the home life--Expression in the community and
public school life--Expression in worship and the devotional
life--Problems for discussion.
VII. THE SUBJECT MATTER OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 109
The Bible the great source-book of religious material--Yet much
material other than biblical required--Principles for the selection of
material from the Bible--Biblical material for early childhood; for later
childhood; for adolescence--Story material and its sources--Materials

from nature--Materials from history and biography--Picture material for
religious teaching--Religious music for children--Questions and
problems.
VIII. THE ORGANIZATION OF MATERIAL 129
Four different types of organization--Organization applied (1) to the
curriculum as a whole, (2) to individual lessons--Haphazard
organization--Logical organization--Chronological
organization--Psychological organization--Three types of curriculum
organization: (1) Uniform lessons, (2) Graded lessons, (3) text books of
religion--Organizing daily lesson material--Typical lesson
plans--Problems for discussion.
IX. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 148
Teaching that sticks--Attention the key--Types of appeal to
attention--The control of interest--Interest and action--Variety and
change as related to interest--Social contagion of interest--The
prevention of distractions--The control of conduct--Danger points in
instruction--Establishing and maintaining standards--Questions and
problems.
X. MAKING TRUTH VIVID 165
Vividness of impression necessary to lasting value--The whole mind
involved in religion--Learning to think in religion--Protecting children
against intellectual difficulties--The appeal of religion to the
imagination--Guiding principles for the religious imagination--The use
of the memory in religion--Laws of memory--How to
memorize--Problems for discussion.
XI. TYPES OF TEACHING 183
The several types of lessons for religious instruction--The
informational lesson--The use of the inductive lesson--The deductive
lesson in religion--The application of drill to religious teaching--The
lesson in appreciation--Conducting the review lesson--How to make the

lesson assignment--Questions and problems.
XII. METHODS USED IN THE RECITATION 201
Methods of procedure