A LUTHERAN APPRAISAL OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF WILLIAM CLAYTON BOWER FOR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

277 Pages·013.044 MB·English

by  OLSEN, STANLEY L

Sponsoring Committee; Professor Samuel L. Hamilton, Chairman
and A ssociate Professor Louise Ants
Professor Charles A. Siepman
A LUTHERAN APPRAISAL OP THE PHILOSOPHY OP WILLIAM CLAYTON BOWER
POR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Stanley L. Olsen
Submitted in p a rtia l fulfillm ent of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School
of Education of New York University
0 D
1950 ..Thesis aoceptec
The student hereby guarantees that no part of the dissertation or
document which he has submitted for publication has been heretofore pub
lished and (or) copyrighted in the United States of America, except in
the case of passages quoted from other published sources; that he is the
sole author and proprietor of said dissertation or document; that the disser­
tation or document contains no m atter which, if published, will be libelous
or otherwise injurio u s, or infringe in any way the copyright of any other
party; and th at he w ill defend, indemnify and hold harmless New Aork Univer­
sity against a ll su its and proceedings which may be brought and against all
claims which may be made against New Aork university by reason of the publi­
cation of said d issertatio n or document.
TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1
The Problem 1
Prelim inary survey of Bower's philosophy 2
The Lutheran fa ith as a basis for evaluation 3
The present situ atio n in religious education 4
Method of procedure 7
CHAPTER II THE NATURE OP RELIGION AND OP RELIGIOUS
EXPERIENCE IN BOWER'S PHILOSOPHT 9
The functional approach to religion 9
Religious functioning as integration 13
The functioning of religion in its cultural setting 17
The role of relig io n in contemporary culture 20
The functioning of ty p ical religious experiences 23
CHAPTER III THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AS VIEWED PROM THE
FUNCTIONAL STANDPOINT 36
C hristianity as rooted in Hebrew culture 38
The origin and early development of Christianity 44
T raditional and lib e ra l Protestantism 52
The functional approach to the work of the modern
church 56
Ceremonials In the modern church 6l
Religious counseling in the modern church 66
M issions in the modern church 71
CHAPTER IV THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OP RELIGIOUS
KNOWLEDGE IN BOWER'S PHILOSOPHT 80
The relatio n of knowledge to experience 8l
The significance of the present 85
The genetic approach to the Bible 88
The B ible as resource for Christian living 102
The functional approach to theology 106
The functional concept of revelation 111
CHAPTER V BASIC RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN BOWER'S PHILOSOPHY 114
The need fo r new patterns of thought 115
R eality as process 117
God as "behavior of the universe" 121
T raditional conceptions of God 125
Jesus as "sp iritu al leader" 127
P ersonality as process 128
Page
CHAPTER VI THE NATURE AND JUNCTION OP RELIGIOUS
EDUCATION IN BOWER'S PHILOSOPHY 132
The functional concept of religious education 133
Education as enriched and controlled experience 136
The curriculum as experience 142
H isto rical subject matter 147
The functional use of the Bible 150
T raditional C hristian education 166
CHAPTER VII THE LUTHERAN APPROACH TO RELIGION AND TO
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 169
The Lutheran approach to "natural" religion 170
Lutheran thought on "natural" theology 180
R eligious experience as response to God's revelation
in C hrist 187
The nature and function of the C hristian church 190
The Lutheran approach to religious knowledge 194
R eligious b eliefs in the Lutheran fa ith 198
A Lutheran approach to religious education 202
CHAPTER V III COMPARISON OE THE TWO VIEWS AND AN
EVALUATION OP BOWER'S PHILOSOPHY 211
The two views on the nature of religion and of
relig io u s experience 214
The two views on the origin and early development
of the C hristian religion 217
The two views on the work of the modern church 224
The approach to the Bible in the two views 229
The approach to theology in the two views 234
The two views on religious education 244
CHAPTER IX GENERAL EVALUATION OF BOWER'S PHILOSOPHT 248
Bower's views on revelation 249
Bower's views on theology 251
Bower's views on the educative process 256
Is Bower's philosophy Christian? 260
BIBLIOGRAPHY 264
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Problem
Religious education does not function in a vacuum. I t has always
been one of the major concerns of actual, existing churches that have
sought to make available for their constituencies, through educational
means, whatever resources they have to enable growing persons to come
to a liv in g and mature Christian faith. It is only n atu ral, therefore,
that the educational programs of the churches should re fle c t the dis­
tin ctiv e a ttitu d es, patterns of thought and programs of action that
are peculiar to th eir respective heritages. It would seem that any
overall philosophy of religious education that would commend its e lf
to actual, existing churches must incorporate, or at least take into
account, those distinctive features that they regard as being essential
to th e ir life and work. To do otherwise would, at the outset, tend to
make a ll attem pts a t formulating such a philosophy irrelevant and per­
haps, in the end, fu tile.
I t is not the purpose of the present investigation to form ulate
such an overall philosophy, but to appraise one that has already been
form ulated, and to appraise it In terms of the attitu d es, patterns of
thought and programs of action of one such actual, existing church.
Our problem w ill be to appraise William Clayton Bower's philosophy of
religious education, using the faith of the Lutheran church as a basis
for the appraisal.
2
Dr. Bower has long "been recognized as a leading figure in the
relig io u s education movement, being for twenty years the chairman of
the Committee on the International Curriculum of Religious Education in
the In tern ation al Council of Religious Education. It was this Committee
th at launched the now-famous International Curriculum Guide which served
as the guide fo r the basic philosophy of the International Council of
R eligious Education for many years. U ntil his retirement in 19*K3» Dr.
Bower held the -chair of Professor of Religious Education at the University
of Chicago. He has w ritten or edited fourteen books, numerous monographs
and a great number of artic le s—a ll of them dealing with various phases
of the work of the church and centering largely in the work of religious
education. In h is many w ritings he has developed his approach into a
somewhat complete philosophy of religious education, which includes a
general philosophy of religion as well as its educational implications.
Prelim inary survey of Bower’s -philosophy
This study was prompted by the fact that Dr. Bower's views rest
on a philosophy of religious naturalism , sometimes referred to as
th e istic naturalism . As such, they have strong affinities with the
naturalism th at underlies the progressive education movement in general
education, of which the leading exponent is John Dewey. Though Bower
nowhere in his w ritings labels his philosophy "naturalistic,N there are
many statem ents in them that commit him to a position that can be so
described. Also, his many references to the views of confessed natural­
is ts as being sim ilar to his own predispose his readers to presume that
h is philosophy moves on a n atu ralistic base. This will become evident
as we analyse h is views in the succeeding chapters.
3
I t may be well at the outset to indicate more clearly, if only
in a summary fashion, the general nature of the naturalism to which
Dr, Bower subscribes. It is a theistic naturalism in the sense th at
it holds to a belief in God who is personal and active in the
natural order. It is opposed to supernatural ism in the sense th at
it conceives God to he wholly immanent in the natural order. I t
does not identify God with all of nature, as in pantheism, but w ith
a certain aspect of nature—more particularly w ith that aspect of
the natural order which is believed to create, sustain and preserve
human values. There is no disjunction between God and nature, and
God's existence is held to be inseparable from the world. Dr. Bower's
views on the nature and function of religious knowledge likew ise
show marked affinities with the naturalistic approach. Dr, Bower
in sists that God can be known in the same way that nature is known,
which is by way of the sciences. Man's religious experience, lik e
experience generally, is amenable to scientific analysis and control.
Dr. Bower draws heavily from the sciences, especially from anthro­
pology, psychology of religion, comparative religion, history of
relig io n and sociology of religion. His philosophy is strongly
oriented towards the sciences and towards a world-view that re sts
on a n atu ralistic base. It is evident that this naturalism must be
carefully distinguished from other types of naturalism that go by
such names as non-theistic humanism, mechanism or m aterialism .
The Lutheran faith as a basis for evaluation
The position taken as a basis for evaluating Dr. Bower's
philosophy is that of the Lutheran faith. It might have seemed
desirable to take a more general Protestant position for such an evalua­
tio n , but the wide-spread confusion in present-day Protestantism on the
issues involved does not make this feasible. The term "Christian1' has
come to designate so many different branches of the Protestant tradi­
tio n , and sometimes to refer to such quite different interpretations
even w ithin the same branch of that tradition, that it cannot be de­
fined w ith su fficient precision for the present investigation unless
one sp ecifies quite d efin itely the context in which the term is used.
The Lutheran fa ith can be fa irly well defined, though in some areas
relevant to the discussion there are contrasting points of view even
among Lutherans.^ Lim iting the basis of evaluation in this way has
the fu rth er advantage of making our appraisal of Dr. Bower's philosophy
more concretely relevant to the faith that we find actually functioning
in ex istin g churches. Hovrever, churches other than those of the
Lutheran tra d itio n w ill find that there are many points in the dis­
cussion where th eir traditions run parallel to that of the Lutheran
church, and where the comparison and evaluation might appear equally
relevant to th e ir situ atio n s.
The present situation in religious education
I t should be evident to anyone who is acquainted with the trend
of thought in contemporary Protestantism that there is a renewed and
1. It w ill be noted that the views of the Missouri Synod Lutherans are
not included in the sources used. These Lutherans were not officially
represented in the Lutheran World Federation meeting held in Lund,
19*1-7, a t which time the Summary Report, the principal source for our
understanding of the Lutheran fa ith , was drawn up and adopted.
5
growing interest in the supernatural. The whole trend of the ecumeni­
cal movement in recent years hears eloquent w itness to that in terest*
Prominent theologians as well as religious educators in America are
reflecting that interest.1 The writings of contemporary Lutheran
theologians, as the present investigation w ill show, re fle c t th a t
in terest also. This trend of thought is now mating its impact on the
religious education movement and is challenging the n a tu ra listic pre-
2
suppositions of its leading exponents. Dr. Bower, as we shall see,
has consistently held that there can he no real merging of relig io u s
education with the new supernaturalist emphasis. Others, lik e George
A lbert Coe and Harrison S. E lliott, in the main, have come to the
same conclusion. H. Shelton Smith, w riting from a supernaturalist
point of view, thinks that religious education can a lly its e lf w ith
th is new emphasis only by a radical reconstruction, which would
involve cutting loose from the assumptions of nineteenth century
religious liberalism and from the im plicit naturalism of progressive
3
education.
The controversy now taking place in religious education is s ti l l
in its early stages. It is marked by sharp accusations, dogmatisms
h-
and overstatements~even to the point of caricature. In a large
1. See the discussions and findings of twenty-five leading theologians
and religious educators of the "Theological D iscussion Group" in
The Christian Answer. H.P.Van Dusen, editor.
2. Harrison S. E lliott's book Can Religious Education Be C hristian?
points up sharply the educational issues involved in the super-
naturalist approach.
3* See his article "Theological He con struct ion in R eligious Education"
in Christendom. Autumn, 1939.
4. See the article entitled "Issues Emerging in Religious Education
and General Education" by E. Ernest Johnson in Religious Education.
November 19^2, pp.256 ff.
6
measure th is Is due to a failu re to give a sufficiently precise formu­
la tio n to the terms "supernaturalIsm" and "naturalism." Consequently,
there Is a lack of a common universe of discourse, naturalists tend to
group a ll supernaturaliste together and label them "Barthian" or "Neo-
O rthodox."^ The supernaturalists, on the other hand, tend to group
lib e ra ls of quite different shades of belief together and treat them
a ll a lik e .2
The present investigation, delimited as it is, will provide a more
p recise delineation of these opposing positions and thus make possible
a more exact and fru itfu l comparison of the two approaches. It w ill
undertake to show to what extent Dr. Bower's overall philosophy can be
considered a C hristian philosophy, and to what extent his philosophy
may commend its e lf to Lutherans as an expression of the Christian faith.
Special atten tio n w ill be given to the question as to whether the edu­
catio n al aspects of Dr. Bower* s philosophy are necessarily tied in with
the philosophy of religious naturalism to which he subscribes. The
present w riter w ill show that this need not be so and that many of the
p o sitiv e educational insights of Dr. Bower may well be utilized in
churches th at do not subscribe to his philosophy of religion. The
example th at Dr. Bower him self sets is a case in point. As noted
1. Bower's w ritings on th is controversy reflect this practice. See his
a rtic le s in Religious Education. April-June 1937; April-June 1939;
and July-Septem ber 1939*
2. H. Shelton Smith fa ils to distinguish clearly between naturalistic
and super n atu ralistic lib erals in his book Faith and Nurture. He
also confuses the positions of the theistic and non-theistic
hum anists.