God Play Research Articles

Does God play dice with star clusters?

Does God play dice with star clusters?

Parables, Pedagogies, and Purpose: A Comparison of the Use of Parables Within Godly Play and Examples of UK Evangelical Children’s Ministry

A comparison of the use of parables within children’s ministry practice reveals two very different approaches: Jerome Berryman’s Godly Play elevates the role of parables and is open-ended for the child to interpret. Examples of UK evangelical processes are then observed and are seen to make much less use of parables but mediate the intent of those parables through adult interpretation. Evangelical theologies of parables are consulted to determine the coherence of each approach before a comparison and analysis are made.

Action Possibilities Enhancing the Spiritual Wellbeing of Young Children: Applying Affordance Theory to the Godly Play Room

Godly Play is an approach to religious education for young children between the ages of three and eight. The Godly Play room, modelled on Montessori’s prepared environment, provides opportunities for young children to respond to Sacred stories, Parables and Liturgical actions presented by the Storyteller through art using any of the materials available to them. However, there is a paucity of research into how different spatial affordances may enhance opportunities for spiritual development in the Godly Play room. This article examines the Godly Play room through the lens of affordance theory. It applies elements of the notion of affordances to three documented anecdotes of Godly Play storytellers to show how particular action possibilities enhance opportunities for spiritual development and wellbeing. The analysis highlights the importance of the Storyteller’s guidance, the readily accessible materials, and the dedicated space in which Godly Play is undertaken.

Truth as Aletheia in the Godly Play approach to religious education: a phenomenological reflection

ABSTRACT This paper explores phenomenologically the way in which Godly Play, as an approach to religious education with young children devised by Jerome Berryman, provides an experience of truth as disclosure and openness – as a constant interplay between showing and hiding – though an exploration of Heidegger’s (and to a lesser extent, Gadamer’s) understanding of truth as aletheia. It applies this notion to one life expression in the Godly Play room in which a parable is presented to show how truth is revealed through the telling of the parable. Some implications for practice are posited as a result of this phenomenological reflection.

Godly Play Went Home: An Exploratory Study of the Experience of Godly Play in Homes during the Covid-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Caregivers

This study explored caregivers’ experiences of virtual Godly Play in the United States, South Korea, and the UK during COVID-19 lockdowns. Thematic analysis of thirty-three caregiver surveys and six semi-structured interviews revealed four themes: support/community, intergenerational Godly Play, spiritual maintenance and growth for the family, and the gift of wonder. This study shows that the experience of Godly Play at home during the pandemic benefited caregivers. As the pandemic subsides and we return to child-centered programming in churches, this study highlights the importance of including and equipping caregivers in nurturing their children’s spirituality.

The Basic Knowledge of the Noh Play

The Noh play is a Japanese dance-drama performed at theatres. Its practice tradition has a glorious history of six hundred years and is still considered one of the most distinguished achievements of Japanese art and culture. In the thirteenth century, a traditional performance called Dengaku took shape and developed into a kind of Japanese opera. In the fourteenth century, another drama performance called Sarugaku flourished and the two famous actors, Kanami and Zeami, integrated the two performances into the Noh play. In the sixteenth century, a fixed set of rules about the drama performance started to come into fashion, which was accepted by all performers gradually and still prevails today. The whole set of rules include the follows: 1. A God play or a play of prayer; 2. A battle play, in which the spirit of a warrior appears; 3. A wig play, in which the actor wears a wig because the main character is a female; 4. A demon play; 5. A play which inculcates the values of benevolence, justice, politeness, and wisdom. The main actor is called Shite, and the subordinate character is called Waki. The others include Tsure, Tomo, Kokata, and Ai. On the Noh stage, there are eight persons named Jiudai, who sing the songs like a chorus, and there are four persons named Hayashikata, who play some musical instruments like an orchestra. The Noh play contains the performance of the actors, the stage setting (background), the tools and the objects named Tsukurimono, the masks named Nohmen, and the costumes named Shozoku. In this paper, the author o ff ers a detailed explanation and description about these elements.

Ars Ludendi: Urban Liturgies as Public Service in a Secular World

Liturgy as art is one of the various particular relationships between liturgy and the arts. This article engages with “liturgy as public art” and addresses the question “how can urban liturgies be understood as public art in secularizing societies?” It presents three examples of contemporary “urban liturgies,” against the backdrop of the transfer and transformation of Christian liturgical forms and repertories from the church to the wider culture in post-Christian, post-secular Western societies. It then offers an anthropological interpretation of such liturgies, using the notion of play, but highlighting an aspect of play that has, so far, remained underexposed in liturgical studies. Afterwards, it unpacks how this anthropological interpretation is anchored in a Lutheran theological view of God as a playful God ( deus ludens), which also gives theology a critical position vis-à-vis liturgical practices. The last section answers the central question by concluding that urban liturgies are alternative occasions that offer a playfield emphatically addressing and challenging people’s hermeneutic capacity to meaningfully deal with the sacred, thus inviting them into God's play. Offering playfields is how these urban liturgies serve the common good: they open up the possibility for people to be drawn into God's play. These liturgies are not just rituals—they are a public art: the art of playing.

Using the Evocative Phenomenological Method in the Godly Play Room to Discover Insights into How Children Are a Means of Grace

As an effective tool used within the evocative method of phenomenological inquiry, this article details the use of the written anecdotes of Godly Play storytellers in Australia to understand children as a means of grace. The phenomenological framework out of which the evocative method emanates is described, and four examples from the author’s recent research with Godly Play storytellers using written anecdotes to describe occasions on which children may have been communicating grace, as well as a short analysis of what was revealed through a reflection on these anecdotes, is presented.

Kairos moments and serendipitous insights: lived experiences of children as a means of grace in the Godly Play room

ABSTRACT This article reports on a small-scale research project conducted in Australia investigating the perceptions of some Godly Play storytellers in relation to children as a means of grace. Seven Godly Play storytellers were chosen indiscriminately to participate by writing a short anecdote about a time during one of their Godly Play classes in which a child acted as a means of grace. A phenomenological framework drawing on the evocative method was used to present and analyse the written anecdotes. Two of the findings of this research are presented through phenomenological writing – (1) grace is communicated during moments of serendipitous insight, and (2) grace is communicated in the Kairos moment which demands an ability to know how to act – to seize the moment. While these findings are valuable, further research is needed to examine and verify ways in which children can act as a means of grace.

Book review: Stories of God at Home: A Godly Play Approach, by Jerome W. Berryman

Book review: <i>Stories of God at Home: A Godly Play Approach</i>, by Jerome W. Berryman

Luther on God's Play with His Saints

Luther on God's Play with His Saints

Application of Montessori Educational Approach to Religious Education: The case of Godly Play

Maria Montessori çocuk eğitimi konusunda hem teorik hem de uygulamalı birçok çalışma gerçekleştirmiştir. Montessori’nin çalışmaları incelendiğinde hem çocuk eğitiminde hem de -çok bilinmemekle birlikte- din eğitiminde özgün girişimlerde bulunduğu görülür. Çalışmamız; Montessori’nin din eğitimi konusundaki uygulamalarını farklı yönleri ile ele almayı, Jerome W. Berryman’ın geliştirdiği Godly Play yaklaşımını teorik temeller ve uygulama süreçleri açısından incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Veriler doküman inceleme yolu ile toplanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, Montessori’nin yaklaşık 20 yıl kaldığı Barselona’da kurduğu okulda uygulamalı din eğitimine ayrı bir önem verdiği görülmüştür. Sistematik ve teorik bir din eğitiminin değil, çocukların gelişim düzeylerine göre düzenlenmiş uygun bir çevrede ve okul ortamında, tecrübeye ve çalışmaya dayalı bir din ve maneviyat eğitiminin mümkün olduğunu uygulamalı olarak göstermiştir. Onun eğitim anlayışını daha sistematik bir hale getiren Berryman, bazı yönleriyle Montessori geleneğinden ayrılmakla birlikte, temelde Montessori’ye dayanan erken çocukluk dönemi din eğitiminin Protestan yorumunu geliştirmiştir. Bu yaklaşımda; İncil kıssalarının sınıf ortamında uygun materyaller ile sergilenebileceği ve bunların çocukların dünyasına dâhil edilebileceği iddia edilir. Bunu sağlamak için ayinlerden ziyade çocukların Tanrı’nın kelamı ile baş başa kalacakları ve ilgili materyalden kendi anlamlarını çıkaracakları Montessori sınıfları düzenlenmiştir. Çalışma sonucunda söz konusu yaklaşımın uygun yöntem ve içerik düzenlemeleri ile diğer dinler için de kullanılabileceği görülmüştür.

Erken Çocukluk Dönemi Din Eğitimi Yaklaşımları Üzerine Karşılaştırmalı Bir Analiz

Erken çocukluk döneminde din ve ahlak eğitimi ile ilgili uygulamalar ülkemizde ve dünyada çeşitli açılardan tartışılmaktadır. Söz konusu tartışmaların odağında hem bu tür bir eğitimin imkânı hem de içeriği yer almaktadır. Farklı ülkelerde uzun yıllardır uygulanmakta olan erken çocukluk dönemi din eğitimi yaklaşımlarının etki alanlarını ve uygulama sonuçlarını ortaya koymanın bu tartışmalara farklı bir bakış açısı kazandırması kaçınılmazdır. Bu bağlamda makalenin amacı dünyada uygulanmakta olan The Good Shepherd, The Godly Play, The Gift to the Child ve Waldorf yaklaşımının ahlak eğitimi ile ilgili boyutunu, gelişim özellikleri, din eğitimi yaklaşımları, öğrenme ortamları, yöntem, materyal, yaş, içerik ve değerlendirme açılarından karşılaştırmaktır. Erken çocuklukta din eğitimi teorilerini kıyaslamayı amaçlayan bu makale doküman incelemesi yöntemiyle hazırlanmıştır. Yaklaşımlar incelendiğinde; tamamının oyun ve eğitsel oyuncakları öğretimin merkezine alarak kişilerarası iletişim, doğa ve toplum bilinci gibi konulara odaklandıkları görülmektedir. Godly Play ve The Good Shepherd yöntemleri belli bir dine ait temel hikaye ve özellikleri aktarmaları bakımından dini öğrenme yaklaşımına uygunken; The Gift to the Child ve Waldorf yaklaşımları ise herhangi bir dini öğretiyi benimsememeleri yönüyle dinden öğrenme yaklaşımına uygun gibi görünmektedir. Godly Play ve The Good Shepherd yöntemlerinde materyal ve yöntemlerin Montessori yaklaşımına uygun olarak belirlendiği görülürken, The Gift to the Child ve Waldorf herhangi bir yaklaşıma bağlılık göstermez.

Connecting to life: a new, emerging learning disposition within a Godly Play educational framework

Through further consideration of data emanating from the author’s original research into ways in which children are predisposed to learn in approaches to religious education influenced by Jerome Berryman’s Godly Play method, a new disposition has been identified, connecting to life. It comprises three elements—(1) making connections between stories and lived experiences, (2) placing one’s self in the shoes of the Other, and (3) considering one’s own story within a Universal Story. This paper presents excerpts from the original interviews of the research participants that indicate the presence of this disposition among their students. Each of the three elements of connecting to life is also reflected upon through reference to Berryman’s writing, as well as to some pertinent phenomenological literature.

The holistic and spiritual relevance of Bible stories among Finnish 10-year-old pupils: a classroom case study

In this article, we explore what kind of relevance Bible stories have on 10-year-old pupils in religious education lessons. The data was gathered in Lutheran RE lessons in Finland. The Bible stories were told by using special storytelling methods, Godly Play and Religious Pedagogic Practice. The study used stimulated recall method interviews to study the reflections the students (N = 9) had during lessons. Analysis was done via deductive content analysis. The study showed that different forms of holistic relevance could be identified in the recollections of the students. The most common forms of relevance were emotional, moral and religious relevance. The study indicates that different kinds of stories emphasise different kinds of relevance and while there were some similar features in the relevance of the stories among the students, there were also differences. In the end, the implications of this study to teacher education and classroom learning are discussed.

Learning From Pseudo-Randomness With an Artificial Neural Network–Does God Play Pseudo-Dice?

Inspired by the fact that the neural network, as the mainstream method for machine learning, has brought successes in many application areas, here we propose to use this approach for decoding hidden correlation among pseudo-random data and predicting events accordingly. With a simple neural network structure and a typical training procedure, we demonstrate the learning and prediction power of the neural network in pseudo-random environments. Finally, we postulate that the high sensitivity and efficiency of the neural network may allow learning on a low-dimensional manifold in a high-dimensional space of pseudorandom events and critically test, if there could be any fundamental difference between quantum randomness and pseudo randomness, which is equivalent to the classic question: Does God play dice? (Note that this analogy was first made by Einstein in his famous quotation “God does not play dice with the universe”. He believed in laws of nature, and hence, the meaning of God in this context was some mechanism responsible for the ways by which the universe evolves.)

The Transformation and Application of ‘Godly Play’ as ‘the Play with the Holy Spirit’ in the Full Gospel Church School

The Transformation and Application of ‘Godly Play’ as ‘the Play with the Holy Spirit’ in the Full Gospel Church School

A comparison of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Godly Play

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Godly Play are the two best known variants of Montessori style Religious Education programmes. While they have much in common, there are also obvious differences. This article offers a brief outline of the distinctive features of each programme, including some analysis of their effectiveness in terms of contemporary educational research. The article identifies four areas of significant difference, namely, the understanding of the Imago Dei, the stance taken towards sacraments and sacramentality, pedagogy and the conduct of the sessions themselves. The author argues that these differences create a natural constituency for each programme. Godly Play with its heavy emphasis on the Scriptures as ‘story’ and the interpretation of the Imago Dei in terms of a ‘symbolic/language’ mediation of divine reality fits in well with the insights of mainline Protestant and Evangelical Churches. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd interprets the Imago Dei in terms of sacramentality and ontological similarity – grace building on nature through the use of the material/spiritual composition of the human person. This is better suited for use in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglo-Catholic contexts.

Storytelling and Spiritual Care

This article reports on the use of Berryman’s Godly Play (2002, 2006) with adult patients in a mental health inpatient hospital and also staff groups. Godly Play is being used as a tool in spiritual care, to enable adults to freely express their spirituality. The emphasis is about encouraging individuals to engage with a story by the use of imagination and freedom of thought. The report includes reflection, not only on using stories from the biblical narratives on which Godly Play is based but also on those from unknown sources. These stories are selected to address themes of personal concern raised by patients. The report indicates where the interest for this tool first began and how it relates to the daily work and “being” of a chaplain. It refers to the relatively small amount of evaluation or research conducted with adults so far and where the work may be developed in the future.

Shame in Pastoral Practice: Reflections in the Light of Field Research, Bonhoeffer and Godly Play

Shame can be an immensely debilitating experience for some and the church as an institution does, at times, exacerbate this shame. This article draws on a qualitative research project exploring shame in the church in the light of ministerial praxis completed as part of ordination and post-ordination training. Two conversation partners illuminate a discussion of pastoral practice in relation to shame. Firstly Bonhoeffer's incomplete essay written in prison on what it means to tell the truth and secondly Godly Play's open, non-directive wondering questions. Truth telling is seen by Bonhoeffer as contextual and living rather than absolute and static in nature. It is also limited by constraints of time, place, mission and office or role. Wondering questions contribute to a pastoral approach which can help to mitigate against shaming and which resonate with Bonhoeffer's understanding of telling the truth. The intention of the article is to encourage a more mindful approach to pastoral practice in the light of an understanding of shame and how to work with those who have experienced it.