SW Collinson, Making Disciples, Paternoster,
This is a definition in search of a book! For some years, the world of Christian education has circled around the notion of ‘discipleship’ but without clear definition and systematic focus. Collinson’s book provides such a definition and could signal a paradigm shift in thinking and practice as it advocates a turn away from schooling models of church-based education and a re(turn) towards discipling models.
After an introductory look at educational models prevailing in the world prior to and concurrent with New Testament times (Part 1), Collinson makes a long study of Jesus’ educational methods as recounted in the Gospels (Part 2). This is followed by an important transitional study of the fate of these methods in the generation after Jesus (Part 3). This Biblical study is structured around the search for an adequate definition of ‘discipling’, whose preliminary definition (p4) is used to guide a study of the Gospels, is refined in its light (p103) and then subjected to further revision after consideration of Apostolic developments (p164).
This New Testament study makes the book valuable in itself. However, in Part 4 the book moves beyond an important Biblical study to interact with present concerns in theology, general education and religious education. The purpose of this section is to locate discipling models of education within a wider context and to test their congruence with them. There is particular strength in the educational discussion, which reflects good knowledge of current wider scholarship.
The book arises from a concern that schooling models have dominated much church-based education at all levels but are subject to criticism from theological, educational and practical perspectives. Academically, the book seeks to investigate and assess discipling as a teaching model (p5). Practically, it seeks to: ‘to reinstate discipling as a valuable agenda item for the attention of the Christian faith community in the 21st century’ (p8).
Collinson writes with the thoroughness and care appropriate to the PhD project from which the book comes, but with a heart-felt passion that discipling is not only an alternative educational modeling to schooling, but that it is the Biblical model, and is theologically and educationally sound, as well as practical. While Australian in authorship and origin (and explicit in drawing on Australian material in Ch 12) the book interacts with international literature and practice and has a degree of universality because of its solid base in a Biblical study. The book is academically thorough, but is written in user-friendly language and should be readable and useful to church-related educators ranging from local church leaders to scholars.
Several ‘bouquets’ spring to mind in considering the book as a whole. It is orderly, detailed, clear, comprehensive, practical and Biblical. It draws together threads in recent discussion regarding the God-directed and life-transformative intent of Biblical thinking about education and integrates them into a consistent theory. In providing a consistent, comprehensive and congruent discussion about discipling it may well herald the paradigm shift that was mentioned above.
Collinson notes the need for further work to develop the practical applications of the discipling model she outlines (p8). I suggest a few other areas needing further attention:
(a) More attention to non-synoptic material in order to round out the comprehensiveness of the Biblical study. Collinson is intentional and explicit about focussing on Jesus’ educational methods, but the separate treatment of each synoptic Gospel consumes much space and crowds out other Biblical material, especially that from the Old Testament.
(b) More discussion of some Biblical evidence. For example, Collinson reveals surprise at discovering how Jesus tended to teach in small groups within the 12 disciples rather than one-on-one and cites the linguistic form of Matthew’s list of the disciples (Mt 10) as part of the evidence (p49&102). Yet she also notes that ‘evidence for this in the Gospel is scanty’ (p49). Matthew 10 seems to be scant evidence indeed, especially given her assumption of Markan priority and comparison with the linguistic form of the lists of the 12 appearing in Mark, Luke and Acts.
(c) The chapter on theological congruence (Ch 11) leaves much unsaid. The Apostles and Nicene Creeds are cited as benchmarks, but little further reference is made to them (p168ff). The list of core Christian beliefs by which discipling is evaluated omits much. One particular weakness is the briefest of attention to the impacts of the noetic fall on Biblical thinking about education (pp169&172).
(d) Citation indices of Scripture texts and authors would help.
These comments do not detract from the value and importance of this study, but rather suggest areas for further attention by Collinson and others. Collinson has achieved a huge task in seeking to integrate Biblical, theological, educational and practical thinking about discipling. Congratulations also to Paternoster for the vision of a ‘Theological Monographs’ series and for including this work in it.
This is an adapted version of a review first published in Journal of Christian Education.
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