Roots and branches: the origins and potential of mystagogy in religious education today

Abstract

Mystagogy has long been known as a catechesis to help the newly initiated deepen their understanding of sacramental experiences. In the ancient world, mystagogy was the way in which elders, that is mystagogues, helped candidates to identify and reflect on the hidden mysteries within their experience and the practices of their community. Mystagogical praxis was an essential interpretive frame of reference for discerning Christian mystery. I suggest that mystagogy is an ideal contribution from the pedagogy of the early church for our time, enabling religious educators to navigate the challenges of the postmodern context—one that is becoming increasingly secular, abstract, rational, and flat. This paper argues that mystagogy is a life-long process that enables Christians to “sniff out grace” and be all the more likely to discern the sacred and sacramental that inheres to daily life. Moreover, mystagogy allows for both a deeper engagement with the Christian tradition, and an invitation to those of other faiths (or none at all) to discern the Transcendent Horizon of our existence. This study will explore the roots of mystagogy within our tradition—where does it come from and how has it developed? That exploration of origins will consider the model of recollect, recognize, and relate that emerges as a constitutive pattern of mystagogy and practical application of this pattern in contemporary educating for faith.