Anderson University - Echoes Yearbook (Anderson, IN)

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Literary

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JULIA LINDELL Assistant Inst r-zimcxntal JU usi c HENRY C. CLAUSEN Vocal M usic BESSIE L. BYRUM Compam-tive Religions, Religious Eclucaltion PAGE SIXTEEN AMY K. LOPEZ, B. Th Assistant Sociology, Ethics, Physical Director IRVIN PARKER, B. A., B. D. Physical Director

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Jesus the Great T eacher Russell Olt A man may succeed in a pastor-ate if he is nine-tenths teacher and one-tenth preacher, but if he is nine-tenths preacher and one-tenth teacher, never! Jesus commanded the gospel to be preached, but the good news of salvation was merely introductory to the building of a church. This was to be accomplished by teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.'i YVe think of the Christian ministry too often today as being made up of men who are supposed to preach from the pulpit two or three times a Week. There is much to be done by way of teaching religion after men have obtained salvation in order that they may go on to perfection. This point of view is receiving much emphasis today. For instance, Rabbi Stephen S. VVise recently declared to a large audience that he wanted to be considered a teaclier -of righteousness. Only when this teaching phase of the minister's work is put on a par with the preaching aspect of it will churches be built up. Jesus himself was the prince of teachers, the master teacher. His regular students numbered but twelve, but his classroom frequently was made up of a mul- titude. The so called Sermon on the Mount was not really a sermon at all. Jesus did not mean it to be. For one reason he sat down when talking to them,-a Jewish position for teaching only. But what made Jesus a master teacher? Five principles, I answer, which today are considered both psychologically and pedagogically sound. In the first place, he used the apperceptive method. His teachings were always built on ex- periences drawn from the lives of his pupils. Abstract, abstruse statements he avoided. He has therefore been called the master picture teacher. In this pic- ture teaching three forms may be distinguished. ' First, there are the likenesscs he used. ln these the comparisons are sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit. Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world. No man putteth new wine into old wine-skins. Again in this type of teaching he employed examples. lnstanees of these are: The good Samaritang the Pharisee and the publicang the rich fool: and Dives and Lazarus. Finally, in this type of teaching there are the parablcs. A parable persuades and makes clear in a pointed and definite way principles which would never be abstractly grasped by many. His parable of the prodigal son accomplishes in a minute what might have taken hours or weeks of abstract repetition to make clear. A second principle of teaching employed by Jesus was that of taking account of the individual. Illustrative of this is thc time we are told, Jesus saw the man. So much so called instruction today is a machine-like sort of thing. hlaterial is thrown into the hopper with the anticipation that it will come out a finished prod- aa-2.s.i. , .wifi 1155, ..,., .. - -mf f ii fiifle PAGE EIGHTEEN