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1. Socioeconomic Development Descriptively, the term “development” denotes historical changes made to produce the form of society desired by its members; normatively, it denotes the structural changes made toward this goal. Whether the development or its basic mechanisms represent progress in some absolute sense is immaterial. In the normative sense, socioeconomic developments are the processes that can bring a poor society closer to its desired form. Politically, various indicators stand in the fo…

[German Version] I. History – II. Practical Theology – III. Latin America, Asia, Africa I. History 1. Early Church. The verb κατήχειν/ katḗchein originally denoted the oral transmission of a message in the sense of “tell, inform.” In Paul and early Christian literature it usually means “teach, instruct” (Gal 6:6; Lat. catechizare); in contrast to glossolalia, it refers to intelligible speech (1 Cor 14:19; Luke 1:4) such as instruction in the law (Rom 2:18) or in the teaching (“the way”) of the Lord (Acts 18:25). In t…

[German Version] I. The Term The psychology of learning is a subdiscipline of psychology that also developed as a science during the 20th century. It is guided by the definition of learning as an object of study that deliberately casts a wide net; from the start, it has not been limited to education, schools, or other forms of teaching and instruction. Learning refers to all changes in behavior that can be traced to experience (in contrast to maturation or growth, as well as the effects of drugs) and prove relatively long-lasting. The psychology of learn…

[German Version] (Feb 27, 1863, South Hadley, MA – Apr 26, 1931, Chicago), son of pastor and homiletics professor Hiram Mead, studied at Oberlin College (until 1883) and Harvard (1887/1888), where he had contacts with J. Royce and W. James. Subsequently, he studied in Leipzig (with W. Wundt and others) and in Berlin (with, among others, W. Dilthey). In 1891, he became a lecturer in psychology at the University of Michigan (from that time, contact with J. Dewey); in 1894, he moved to the University…

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Philosophy – III. Greco-Roman Antiquity – IV. Bible – V. Church History – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology and Pedagogy – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Concept Traditionally, “education” has denoted the intentional interaction of adults with the younger generation in order-usually-to influence them positively; whether it makes sense to speak of education when negative goals are deliberately pursued is …

[German Version] (Mar 14, 1903, Stettin – Feb 7, 1991, Tübingen) studied in Berlin, received his doctorate in physics in 1925 from Göttingen, with further studies of philosophy with Georg Misch and H. Nohl; he taught in the Odenwald School, habilitated in philosophy in 1931, became professor of pedagogy in Gießen in 1939, in Mainz in 1946, and held a chair in …

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Ethics – III. Education I. Dogmatics “Example” is not a term commonly used in dogmatics. It is probably most often used negatively in the context of Christology in order to preclude a merely ethical interpretation of the work of Christ (exemplary Christology): the “ salvific work” of Jesus Christ is at variance with every attempt to see him as a mere “ethical example” (Härle, 315). This remains true even though we find that…

[German Version] I. What Is Psychology? The psyche (Soul: IV) as the object of psychology is accessible only through a theory that attempts to obtain a cognitive grasp of the inner life and experience of human beings (thinking, imagining, wishing, feeling). As “citizens of two worlds” (I. Kant), human beings confront the psychophysical problem existentially and cognitively: how can they conceive of themselves – being both rational animals and cognitive subjects – as unitary persons? To be considered …

[German Version] I. Social Sciences – II. Social Ethics – III. Practical Theology I. Social Sciences Organization in the broadest sense refers to the activity of ordering, arranging, administering, etc., and in the sense of self-organization, autopoiesis, etc. the process by which systemic structures develop, including in nature or in the field of natural science. As a sociological and economic concept, organization denotes an insti-¶ tution that is characterized by specific features or elements. Mention is frequently made of defined membership, predetermined…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies The term socialization is used in various academic fields, especially sociology, (social) psychology, and the educational disciplines (Education, Theory of ). Already used by É. Durkheim in 1907, it experienced a wave of popularity in the 1960s and again in the 1980s. Initially it emphasized the formation of individuals by society; recently it has focused more on the interaction between individuals’ own activity and outside influences and between individuation and …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Pluralism arises from the ineradicable diversity (Unity and diversity) of the world, whereas monism presupposes the unity of the world and views this diversity as nothing more than an illusion or an antecedent stage on the road to “ultimate” unity. Classical phenomenology of religion, following R. Otto, considered religious pluralism to reflect diverse manifestations of the singular Holy in various religions (Otto; Gantke, Begriff). This form of religious pluralism presupposes a common basis of all religions. Today’s plural…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. General. The words for time denote in different languages, according to their etymological derivation and symbolic semantic field, different ways of dividing natural and cultural forms of progression and sequences of events into parts separated and distinguished from one another. The German word for time, Zeit, comes from Old High German zīt; “divide (up)”, from the root *dāi, “divide,” and implies the general dividing function of ideas of time, as factors in ordering experience of the world. Different ideas of time …

[German Version] The term school reform, or more broadly educational reform, is often limited to particular epochs, like the ambitious reforms of the 1960s. In fact the history of school reform goes back as far as the history of schools and the critique of schools: schools can and should get constantly better and are therefore permanently subject to reform. In school reform, currently age’s dominant notions of culture and education (Education/Formation) and of the life of individuals and society come to t…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. History – III. Philosophy – IV. Philosophy of Religion, Dogmatics, Ethics – V. Practical Theology and Education – VI. Social History I. Terminology This article deals with formative education, corresponding to the German term Bildung (cf. Fr. formation). (The related article education deals with the subject area of Erziehung, covering education and training. Bildung or formation may be considered more general, with cultural overtones, while Erziehung places more emphasis on schooling.) ¶ Even in its earliest form, OHG bildunga (“creat…

[German Version] I.  History of Religion – II.  Biography and Religion – III.  Autobiography and Religion – IV.  Practical Theology and Education I. History of Religion The term biography denotes the life history of an individual, both in regard to its external course and in regard ¶ to spiritual and mental development. In a narrower sense biography is the narrative, whether oral or written, of curricula vitae. It is not always possible to separate it from the genre of legend of more episodic structure. I…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Dogmatics – IV. Education and Ethics – V. Law I. Religious Studies Emphasis on the phenomenon known as obedience varies among religions, but wherever human beings are understood as hearers of a divine or sacred word obedience plays an important role as the claim of a higher, transhuman power on human beings. The religious will to obey presupposes prevailing over one’s own self-will for the sake of God or what is holy. The Enlighten-¶ ment, which calls human beings to autonomy, led to a crisis of the religious concept of o…

[German Version] I. Concept and History – II. The Present – III. Religious Education and Theology I. Concept and History It has often been observed that the term learning is highly ambiguous, in large part because until recently it has only been used colloquially. Since ancient times, the shifting concepts of learning have derived from the concepts of teaching and instruction, as well as the concepts of education, formation (Education/Formation), ¶ and school. The concepts of knowledge and understanding (Epistemology) debated in Greek philosophy (Sophistic schoo…

[German Version] I. General It is generally recognized today that not just our everyday talk of “adolescence” and “youth” but also our concept of adolescent psychology involves a “social construct.” Psychology no longer views its specialized knowledge as a direct, veridical representation of the world. Psychologists are increasingly taking into account the fact that the “latest scientific conclusions” reflect a variety of assumptions in the particular underlying social and cultural circumstances an…

[German Version] The theory of vocational or business education is a subdiscipline of educational theory (Education, Theory of). While its historical roots, for example in the various trades, can be traced to antiquity and above all the Middle Ages, it established itself as a scientific discipline only with the development of the vocational education system in the 20th century. Initially it focused on (trade) schools, but today it is being extended to social and operational settings. Friedrich Schweitzer Bibliography A. Schelten, Einführung in die Berufspädagogik, 1991.

[German Version] I. The Term – II. History – III. Present-Day Emphases – IV. Significance for Theology I. The Term The expression “theory of education” (or: “education theory and methodology” – Ger. Pädagogik) serves as a “collective term for all theoretical and practical endeavors in respect of education. As a theory, it refers to the essence of the teaching(s) or science(s) ‘about’ and ‘for’ education, and also to educationally significan…

[German Version] (Aug 9, 1896, Neuchâtel – Sep 16, 1980, Geneva). After studying largely as an autodidact, he received a doctorate in natural science in 1918 at Neuchâtel, after which he worked in various psychological laboratories in Zürich and Paris (beginning work with Alfred Binet in 1919). From 1921 he held various teaching positions and professorships (sometimes concurrent) in Geneva, Neuchâtel, and Paris in the natural sciences, psychology and sociology; he also taught within the context of…

[German Version] I. Concept, History of Doctrine – II. Science – III. Behavioral Research and Ethics, Practical Theology and Pedagogy I. Concept, History of Doctrine Today, behavioral research or ethology, which also includes behaviorism, represents an increasingly ramified field of research that is particularly determined by biology and evolutionary concepts (Evolution). Sub-disciplines include: behavioral physiology (neurological and endocrinological), behavioral…