Thomas Henry Groom’s Vision of Christian Religious Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore Thomas Henry Groome's vision of Christian religious education, which leads to ‘inform, form, and transform' Christians and Christian community in the direction of the Kingdom of God. Most scholars usually examine their discipline and reflect upon Christian education to ask and answer critical questions for the past, present, and the future. In this sense, we can call the Christian religious education (hereafter, CRE) of Thomas H. Groome (1945-present), a leading Roman Catholic educator, a good example of such a study. Groome's work, an accomplished formative and informative model of CRE, tries to show that we Christian educators need to recognize and attend to six foundational questions consciously and critically ㅡ what, why, where, how, when, and who ㅡ to shape and transform our practices. Groome's intention is not that all of us as Christian religious educators need to use his shared praxis approach to CRE; rather, he stresses that we should be aware of and consciously attend to the six great questions in CRE. These questions should be answered by each generation. Groome proposes a CRE toward education for the Kingdom of God by wresting with viewpoints of a wide variety of theologians and religious educators ㅡ from those of ancient Greek thinkers to the more recent Jean Piaget. In what follows, I will first attempt to explain the main features of Groome's CRE with reference to the six major questions, which represent the nature of, the purpose of, the context of, an approach to, the readiness for, and the copartners in CRE. Second, I will explore his approach to CRE and/or to educating for Christians and Christian community from a practical theological perspective. Third, I will offer the contributions of his model of CRE, which challenges us to rethink and strengthen Christian education or the educational ministry, along with critical review. Finally, I will conclude by stating what Groome's CRE means to us in our time.