Conscientization And Christian Education: The Process Pedagogy Of Paulo Freire -- By: T. M. Moore

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 31:4 (Dec 1988)
Article: Conscientization And Christian Education: The Process Pedagogy Of Paulo Freire
Author: T. M. Moore


Conscientization And Christian Education:
The Process Pedagogy Of Paulo Freire

T. M. Moore*

There are a number of perspectives from which it would be possible to examine the educational work of Paulo Freire. As a practitioner he could be analyzed on the basis of his work as a university professor, a vocation he has discharged in Brazil, Chile and the United States. As a methodologist he could be examined from the point of view of one concerned to establish the efficacy of a particular approach to the training of illiterates. As a sociologist he could be considered from the perspective of the effectiveness of his work as a means of introducing political change in emerging nations.

As a matter of fact, Freire has been analyzed from each of these perspectives. In each case his work has been received with approval and with much expectation as holding promise for improving the lot of the masses in third-world nations.1

Yet there is one perspective on Paulo Freire that has yet to be considered from a genuinely critical approach, and that is from the point of view of his being a representative Christian educator, one who espouses a consistently Christian educational philosophy. Certainly Freire perceives himself to be functioning in this capacity.2 Moreover he has been generally well received by members of the modernist Christian camp as an educational philosopher of much hope for their endeavors in Christian education.3 Furthermore programs of literacy training based on Freire’s model—such as have been introduced in Cuba and Nicaragua—have received financial support from both the World and National Councils of Churches.

Yet to my knowledge there does not exist a thorough analysis of Freire’s educational philosophy and work that would enable us to determine to what

*T. M. Moore is president of Chesapeake Theological Seminary in Ellicott City, Maryland.

extent that work can be regarded as a reliable expression of a distinctively Christian educational philosophy. In this paper I hope to take some steps toward providing just such an analysis.

After an examination of the philosophy and methodology that lie at the heart of Freire’s work in the training of illiterates, the paper will present some conclusions with respect to points of convergence with and divergence from a Biblical approach to Christian educational philosophy in his work. My general conclusion, as will become apparent, is that the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire is more informed b...

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