Godly Play

by Jerome Berryman

Paperback, 1995

Status

Available

Call number

268.01

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Nonfiction

Collection

Mission

Publication

Augsburg Books (1995), 192 pages

Description

A practical yet innovative approach to religious education -- becoming childlike in order to teach children.Godly Play invites us to consider spiritual development as a process in which the creative spirit is alive in the education of both young and old. Berryman awakens us to new ways of seeing ourselves and helps us to discover "our deep identity as Godly creatures."

User reviews

LibraryThing member TedWitham

This excellent book does two things: It provides a new and powerful model for teaching children in the Sunday School setting, and it takes the reader on a fascinating voyage into the question, "What do we really want children to learn in Sunday School?"

Jerome Berryman is an Episcopal (Anglican)

priest at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas. He was previously a Presbyterian minister, and is also a trained Montessori teacher.

This Montessori background provides to the ethos of Berryman's Sunday School class at the Cathedral. I would love to see his room

He discerns four levels of language about God. "AH", (the deep sigh of recognition that God is with us), the insight "AHA!", and the awareness of paradox and fun in God's creativity - "HAHA!"

Berryman builds these four responses into a theology of ritual, sacred story, parable and silence and shows how these relate to developmental processes and how there is a need for balance between the four for healthy Christian living.

Back in his classroom, the Children's Center is the desert - a transparent plastic box containing sand (a piece of the desert) - where so many things happened.

I have a suspicion that many important things in our children's learning could happen if we took Fr Berryman's insights seriously - and playfully.

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LibraryThing member engpunk77

Berryman's Montessori style approach to religious education is amazing. Godly Play has been adapted by the Unitarian Universalists as "Spirit Play" and we love it. Recommended to educators, religious or non.

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