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    The Dramatization of Bible Stories An experiment in the religious education of children
    The Dramatization of Bible Stories An experiment in the religious education of children
    The Dramatization of Bible Stories An experiment in the religious education of children
    Ebook250 pages2 hours

    The Dramatization of Bible Stories An experiment in the religious education of children

    By Elizabeth Erwin Miller Lobingier

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    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 25, 2013
    The Dramatization of Bible Stories An experiment in the religious education of children

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      Book preview

      The Dramatization of Bible Stories An experiment in the religious education of children - Elizabeth Erwin Miller Lobingier

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dramatization of Bible Stories, by

      Elizabeth Erwin Miller Lobingier

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: The Dramatization of Bible Stories

      An experiment in the religious education of children

      Author: Elizabeth Erwin Miller Lobingier

      Release Date: March 1, 2012 [EBook #39022]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRAMATIZATION OF BIBLE STORIES ***

      Produced by Curtis Weyant, Diane Monico, and the Online

      Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

      THE DRAMATIZATION OF

      BIBLE STORIES

      THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

      CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

      THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY

      NEW YORK

      THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

      LONDON

      THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

      TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI

      A SHEPHERD

      THE DRAMATIZATION

      OF BIBLE STORIES

      AN EXPERIMENT IN THE RELIGIOUS

      EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

      By

      Elizabeth Erwin Miller

      (Elizabeth Miller Lobingier)

      THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

      CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

      COPYRIGHT 1918 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED APRIL 1918

      SIXTEENTH IMPRESSION OCTOBER 1934

      COMPOSED AND PRINTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

      CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.

      TO MY LITTLE FRIENDS, THE CHILDREN IN THE

      DRAMATIC CLUB OF THE HYDE PARK CHURCH OF DISCIPLES,

      THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED

      GENERAL PREFACE

      The progress in religious education in the last few years has been highly encouraging. The subject has attained something of a status as a scientific study, and significant investigative and experimental work has been done. More than that, trained men and women in increasing numbers have been devoting themselves to the endeavor to work out in churches and Sunday schools the practical problems of organization and method.

      It would seem that the time has come to present to the large body of workers in the field of religious education some of the results of the studies and practice of those who have attained a measure of educational success. With this end in view the present series of books on Principles and Methods of Religious Education has been undertaken.

      It is intended that these books, while thoroughly scientific in character, shall be at the same time popular in presentation, so that they may be available to Sunday-school and church workers everywhere. The endeavor is definitely made to take into account the small school with meager equipment, as well as to hold before the larger schools the ideals of equipment and training.

      The series is planned to meet as far as possible all the problems that arise in the conduct of the educational work of the church. While the Sunday school, therefore, is considered as the basal organization for this purpose, the wider educational work of the pastor himself and that of the various other church organizations receive due consideration as parts of a unified system of education in morals and religion.

      The Editors

      CONTENTS

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

      INTRODUCTION

      By Edward Scribner Ames

      This book is its own best commendation, for it is a most convincing record of an important experiment in education. It is the more interesting because it is a real contribution to educational method from the field of religious education, which too often only appropriates and imitates what has been achieved elsewhere.

      This experiment is founded upon the powerful dramatic impulse of children and upon the educative value of the natural expression of that impulse under the mutual self-criticism of the participating group. The function of the leader has been that of an unobtrusive member of the group contributing such suggestions from a wider experience and deeper insight as would naturally elicit and guide that criticism. That this fine art of teaching has been realized with unusual skill in this experiment will be apparent to the discerning readers of this record, as it has been by those who have watched the progress of the work itself.

      Too much emphasis cannot be given to the fact that the primary aim of this use of dramatization is the education of the children and not the entertainment of spectators, although, when such dramatization is rightly estimated, nothing could be more genuinely entertaining. Those who are expecting to find here ready-made plays for children, with directions for staging them, will be properly disappointed, while those who are seeking illustrations of vital methods of education through the cultivation and use of the dramatic impulse will be amply rewarded.

      The latter will appreciate the frank portrayal of the early and cruder efforts of the children and their own critical reactions due to further reflection and experimentation. These will understand something of the ability and patience that Miss Miller has employed in allowing the native impulse to develop naturally and to mature through the reactions of the children themselves. They will realize that the little people actually formulated the scenes and the lines of the dramas even if it required many weeks in some cases to do so; that it is better for the actors to make their own costumes and stage properties, however simple they may be; that it is more educative for each child to be familiar with all of the parts, and thus with the drama as a whole, than to be coached ever so cleverly to impersonate a single character; and that facility and power in dramatization are thus attained which are permanent sources of pleasure and understanding.

      It need scarcely be added that the biblical stories are exceptionally well suited to such use and that when so employed they yield their profound religious quality directly in deep and lasting impressions. The children who have been so fortunate as to belong to this dramatic club not only know these stories, but they have lived them in an intimate and durable experience.

      CHAPTER I

      EDUCATIONAL AIMS IN DRAMATIZATION

      Dramatization is not commonly recognized as a means of vitalizing the religious education of children. The public school has found it to be one of the most effective methods for enriching the pupil's ideas of given units of subject-matter and for leading to the establishment of permanent interests and of habitual modes of action.

      The use of dramatization in the school in order to accomplish these ends finds its justification in certain fundamental principles of teaching. Subject-matter is so presented that the important ideas stand out clearly. These ideas are mastered by utilizing them in some form of activity which leads to self-expression on the part of the children. Judgments are formed and conclusions are reached when children enter actively into a situation which presents a problem; ideas become their own through experience. Through dramatization children give expression to these ideas in the light of their own interpretation. The formulation of standards, the placing of values, and the realization of truths and ideals follow as direct results of actively entering into the life-experience of others.

      From a psychological point of view ideas and ideals, whether religious or secular, are developed according to the same general laws. Furthermore, the principles of teaching which are effective in the daily classroom must be equally significant in religious training. It follows, therefore, that dramatization and other forms of self-expression are as valuable in attaining the aims of the Sunday school as they are in teaching the curriculum of the day school. Through dramatizing a Bible story children come into a comprehension of the life-experiences of a highly religious people; they are forming their own standards and ideals through meeting and solving the simple life-problems of the Hebrews. Each child has as great an opportunity for self-expression through dramatizing a Bible story as that afforded through dramatizing any other story. He not only develops his individuality, but through this kind of work he must necessarily come into the realization of his place within the group, as is the case in all well-directed dramatization.

      The period is rapidly passing in which dramatics is looked upon by church members as being sinful and not in any way to be connected with the church. This view is a relic of a conception of religion in which all forms of freedom and pleasure were considered evil. People interested in religious education are now realizing that dramatization is not an activity foreign to children, but that it is an outgrowth of the play interest which is natural to all children. They are aware of the fact that dramatization becomes evident in the earliest stages of childhood through the desire of children to imitate in play the surrounding social activities. Many churches have already made use of these natural tendencies by incorporating organized play as one of their activities. Since dramatization is but a specialized form of organized play, and inasmuch as it can be used very effectively in vitalizing the religious training which all children should receive, it deserves a wider recognition and adoption.

      This book contains a description of a children's dramatic club which has been conducted as a part of the work of the Sunday school of the Hyde Park Church of Disciples, Chicago, Illinois, for the purpose of accomplishing the ends stated above. Before this dramatic club was organized a small amount of dramatization was attempted in certain of the classes during the Sunday-school period. The enthusiastic response from the children to this new phase of the work revealed the need for more of this kind of activity, and as a consequence it was decided to devote one hour each Sunday afternoon to the dramatization of

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