https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3153 Resources included here are part of the Association of Theological Education in Southeast Asia (ATESEA) Collection, which is now part of CPU's Theology Library Collection. 2026-04-06T12:19:22Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3785 Teacher and teaching in catechesis: A study on the role and effectivity of teacher in catechesis Hutajulu, Luhut This thesis is written with its core problem focusing on the importance of equipping teachers and educators of catechesis. The discussion begins by researching into the theological background of the function and role as well as vocation of teacher according to the biblical testimony. The Bible testifies that the initiators of and the Main Teacher in education is God himself. But in practice God entrusts the educational process to "parents" and the four group leaders in the society, namely the "priest", the "prophet", the "wise" and the “poet”. The education takes place in all aspects and activities of daily life first of all by means of the children's informal participation in the day to day family activities and secondly by the parents' control over the children's behavior, particularly in order to train the child to become a moral-being. Thirdly, the education takes place in the form of expressing the oral tradition which relates to the faithfulness of the Lord to his people. Therefore, equipping teacher is seen in connection with the Lord's calling and the manifestation of God's Word in one's daily life. In other words, all Israelites including parents and Israel leaders are learners throughout their lives and they do so anywhere. The role of professional teacher emerged and developed after the Israelites had been in exile. At that time the Israel community became aware of the fact that their exile was the Lord's just punishment for their in obedience of the Law. Consequently, they learned the Tora with great intensity by building synagogues not only as worshiping places but also as places of learning the Law. As this learning activity needed teachers, the Israel community put a great deal of work to prepare and equip those who would become teachers by selective recruitment. Furthermore, the formal school was built and the rabbi were badly needed. The thesis shows that the rabbi is a formal address of teacher, that is to say teacher who had passed the preparation through formal and informal schools. The same was the case at the time of Jesus when the role of Jesus as teacher was seen in two aspects namely in Jesus' personality as the product of education in his time, and in Jesus as a teacher. Jesus' parents were his first nurturers who at the same time functioned as his teachers (Luke 2:51). From Jesus' activity it was clear that he also went through the process of formal education. This is true from the fact that he could read and write, and moreover that he was called as Rabbi shows that Jesus went through formal education. In Jesus' time, the title of "Rabbi" was normally addressed to a law expert who had completed his education. As a teacher preparing his disciples to accept his salvation Jesus taught his audience with various means and methods. The success of Jesus as a teacher could be seen in his attitude as a teacher who accepted everybody that came to him and in his restless efforts to encourage and make his audience to be involved in the process of learning. In the primitive church the role of teacher was very important. It was so in the light of the church's confession that the Prime Teacher was God himself. He entrusts the human teacher to proclaim the Good News to all mankind. In this light the presbyter must have the teaching capability. Moreover, the office of teacher was believed to be the fruit of the Holy Spirit. For this important task a teacher was expected to have certain criteria as shown in 1 Tim 3:1ff. As a community the congregation functioned in itself as a teaching community which was entrusted to serve through teaching. The church of all ages - which struggles in his witnessing task to proclaim the gospel to the whole world - has seen the importance of the teacher s role. Throughout the church's history and development some educational thinkers- such as Clementus, Erasmus, Martin Luther and Comenius - have appeared and put a great deal of effort to develop the role of teacher. They expressed their thought on the importance of the teacher's role and the need for equipping those who would become teachers. The thought they proposed was based on their individual understanding of the purpose of education, but it was also their response to the situation in their society at their time. Their response to the situation of their time would determine the kind of attitude and understanding they held over the teacher's role. Facing the pressure of philosophy, Clement attempted to bridge the philosophy and the Bible. As a result, he argued that the teacher is the Word which "urges” the people to leave behind heathenism, "leads" them to believe in Christ, "teaches" them a new-behavior and "frees" them from their old-life. Erasmus thinks that man is not born but fashioned. Accordingly, the task of teacher is very important. It must be seen from three elements namely "nature", "training" and "practice". Erasmus proceeds to say that for this a teacher must be equipped systematically. Luther suggests that everybody must be educated. He bases his suggestion on his theological understanding of all believers as the royal priesthood. The main task of the priest is to teach God's Word. The ministry of teaching has the same value as preaching. Therefore, equipping teacher is greatly needed because the teacher has to try to incite the attention of his pupils and to instruct discipline kindled with love. Also, the teacher has to pay attention to his or her pupils according to their individual character. Comenius - who is known as the prophet of modern education- is the first to propose the idea of building special school for equipping teacher (known in Indonesia as Institute of Teaching and Education Science = IKIP). Comenius argues that humankind is born not in God's image, but in the condition which makes him possible to become God's image. Human being has already got the basic element which has to be nursed to achieve his purpose. It is in this connection that human being must be helped through education so that he or she can achieve goodness, knowledge and piety. Having investigated in chapters I-III the importance of equipping teacher in the biblical times and from the view point of educational thinkers throughout the church’s history, this thesis proceeds to investigate into the concept of teacher in the Christian Batak Protestant Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestant abbreviated from now on as HKBP). The HKBP is a church which has the Batak society as its background. The Batak society cannot be separated from its basic philosophy of life namely its people’s “totality” (totalitas) and “rights” (jambar) and aspiration of “good-offspring), “richness” and “honor” which urged the Batak people to see the importance of education long before they accepted Christianity. For the Bataks the community itself was the teacher in it – with the process of socialization- the education was carried out. Apart from that, the Batak society knew some people who could be regarded as teachers. They were Raja Patik and “Datu” (shaman) who were seen as having more “sahala” (authority). The arrival of Christianity has opened and widened the worldview of the Batak society about the importance of modern education. In the development of mission in the Batak land there has been seen the development of the Batak people’s view of the importance of the teacher’s role so much so that the success of mission in the Batak land has something to do with the role of teacher in carrying out the catechesis. After the Christianity began to grow the role of education has been put at the top priority. This was due to the fact that people baptized with the “netting method” in turn needed the deepening of the understanding about Christian faith. It was done through the Catechesis for those who had already been Christianized and those who had not. From this time on the HKBP has made the form of Katekese ministry as one of its forms of formal structured ministry in the HKBP functioning as the continuation of the Child Baptism ministry. It must be said therefore that from the beginning the HKBP has stressed the need to equip the prospective teacher by building schools which aim at preparing the teacher well. But as time goes by it has been seen that the role of teacher has been neglected by the HKBP mainly because the HKBP has shifted its ministry to organizational and to the ritual matters. It is this condition that constitutes the reason of this thesis to investigate the understanding of importance of equipping teachers in particular the teacher of catechesis is in the HKBP. Chapter V re-investigates the meaning and history of catechesis in its relation to the task of the church. It aims at seeing clearly the role of the teacher in the ministry of church education particularly in the catechesis. A catechesis teacher is called catechesis when he or she sees his or her task as being entrusted by the Lord through the vocation of the Holy Spirit. Therefore catechesis are the actors of the church's mission task with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As catechesis is the church's very important ministry, so the equipping of catechesis is very important. For only with equipping of serious and well-prepared catechesist does the Holy Spirit work in the catechesis. It is this God-called catechesis who will grow and develop in his or her faith with his or her pupil. As the catechesis is an activity whereby the faith of the teacher and the pupil is made to grow, so a catechist cannot be other than someone who is willing to learn from his or her pupil by knowing accepting, loving the pupil and encouraging them to learn from the Lord through his Word. Consequently, every catechist is someone who is diligent to learn by constant prayer, reading the bible, getting to know his or her pupil and seeking to find methods which are relevant to the needs of the pupil. Lastly, the writer seeks to see the interact ion method in group as one of the suitable methods according to the development and need of the pupil who is adolescence teenager, seeking to find his or her identity and beginning to enter the phase of critical thinking. Abstract only 1994-04-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3784 Christology of struggle: Understanding the Christ in the context of struggle Dingayan, Luna L. This study is an attempt to respond to the question of Jesus to his disciples at the beginning of his ministry, "Who do you say I am?" (cf. Mk.8:29; Mt.l6:15; Lk. 9:20). Like Peter and the other disciples, the writer affirms the faith that Jesus, indeed, is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But who is Christ today? And where is the Christ be found? This study tries to show that the Christ is the Christ of struggle. And that Christ is found where people are struggling to be truly free and have fullness of life. God in Christ identifies with the struggles of people. With this as a perspective and guiding principle, the writer tries to re-read the Christologies of the Church Fathers, the Sixteenth Century Reformers, of Feminist Theology in contemporary times as well as the Asian and Philippine contribution to Christological thinking. By locating these Christologies in their own respective historical contexts, this study discovers that people's understanding of the Christ is shaped by their own life experiences as they struggle with the issues, problems and difficulties they encounter in life. Life is a struggle. And it gives a great amount of hope for people to realize that Christ is right there at the very center of struggle, at the very center of life itself. Abstract only 2001-05-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3782 The relationship between church and state: A historical and theological study of Romans 13:1-7 and Revelation 13, and its relevance in Indonesia Sinaga, Dewi Sri This thesis focuses on the proper relationship between Church and State considered within the historical context of Romans and Revelation and its relevance to the situation in Indonesia. The relationship between the church and government in Indonesia has got worse recently (particularly in relation to the problems of the HKBP). This was the motivation of the author to analyze the historical context of Romans 13:1-7 and Revelation 13, and consider its relevance to the life of the churches in Indonesia, especially the HKBP. The introduction to the thesis describes the background, objectives, and methodology. The next chapter discusses Romans 13:1-7 in its historical context. The general background of Romans is presented, and in particular the background of Paul's life as a Jew and fanatical Pharisee, a Roman citizen, and his vocation as an apostle to the Gentiles. The economic and social situation in the Roman Empire influenced Paul in Romans 13; 1-7, also the social background of the Roman Church and the place and occasion of writing. Paul's teaching on the Christians' attitude to government will be clarified by means of exegesis of the text. Paul demanded loyalty based upon συνείδησις (conscience). The Christians have responsibility to the state should be heart felt, because it is based upon their loyalty to God. This is possible if the churches and the government admit that the government's authority comes from God, therefore they are ministers of God to serve people. The loyalty demanded by Paul in Romans 13:1-7 is balanced by John's view of loyalty to the government in Revelation 13. Therefore the background of Revelation 13 will be dealt with, concerning the social life of the church in Asia at that time. By means of exegesis of John's symbols, the churches' struggle at that time can be identified and understood. At that time there were problems arising from within the church itself (Christians who denied their faith and turned against the church) and also from outside the church (civilian power from the government which opposed, tortured, and killed Christians who refused to worship the emperor). In the face of such opposition, Christians in Asia were challenged to prove their dedication and loyalty to Jesus Christ. The exegetical section notes how the Christians' attitude should be, to a government that had forced its own will on the people and ignored human rights. John reminded Christians of the possibility that the state would turn against God and become an instrument of evil, so that it no longer acted as the minister of God, governing dictatorially and with ruthless cruelty, encroaching on God's authority. In this situation Christians should have the courage to resist orders to worship the emperor and should stay loyal to Christ whatever the cost. It is clear that there are two different points of view concerning the Christians' attitude to government in the New Testament, due to different historical contexts, but one is not against the other. The loyalty taught by Paul in Romans 13:1-7 shows a positive theological attitude to the Roman government at that time. Whereas, John has a negative attitude to the Romans government in Revelation 13, because the government has turned against God and posed a threat to the life of the church. His remarks are not intended to contradict Romans 13:1-7, but to balance Paul's teaching in a different context. Paul and John had different opinions but not were against each other. Loyalty to state or government must be based upon (juveiSrcng (conscience), common sense, ingenuity, and critical analysis. It should not be because of fear of government threats but because of dedication and loyalty to God. Christians should not oppose a government which is loyal to God, only one which is in opposition to Him. To understand the relevance to Indonesia, the tense relationship between church and state at present (particularly concerning the problems of the HKBP) is presented. It seems the churches are unable to show their loyalty in facing the problems arising from the social, government and state. Hence, it is necessary to ask why they are not able to show their faith clearly and firmly in the present situation. May be the church's understanding of loyalty in Romans 13:1-7 and Revelation 13 is inadequate. Perhaps also the state does not realize their position as the minister of God and recognize appropriate limits to the involvement in church life. It is concluded that the government's good intentions in trying to solve the problems of HKBP did not accomplish a great deal, because of their being unable to understand the rules of the church and the use of inappropriate methods. It would be much better if both church and state recognize each other's existence and respect each other's rights in accordance with their respective rules, laws, and ideology. If this happens there could be a harmonious relationship between church and state in this complex nation. Moreover, the objectives of government policy and the orientation of churches in Indonesia would be attained in accordance with the will of God. Abstract only 1994-08-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3778 The experiences of the poor farmers in Bais and Guihulngan: An analysis utilizing the pastoral care perspective Mutia, Lucio B. This study investigates and analyzes the experiences of the poor farmers in Bais and Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, utilizing an analysis from the pastoral care perspective with emphasis on the following points: 1. The specific experiences of the poor farmers in church pastoral ministry and how these experiences impel them to initiate changes in their poverty stricken life. Specifically, the study focused on the precipitative factors and forces which were responsible for aggressively pushing farmers to opt for a better life. 2. The degree to which the experiences of helplessness and empowerment influence the poor farmers to adopt alternative solutions to their problems. 3. The concerns of the church ministry of the poor that best assists them to have a better life. The research utilized the descriptive/evaluative method using pastoral and structural analysis approach. The subjects were farmers coming both from Bais and Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. To facilitate the data for the study, personal interviews, questionnaires were administered. The analysis and evaluation of the data made use of the average mean and percentage distribution. The investigation revealed that the experiences of the poor farmers with regards to the church pastoral ministry fall within the activities of Basic Christian Communities which includes health missions, organizing, food production and distribution of medicines. The respondents are most familiar with the Community-Based Health Programs (CBHP) of the church followed by the Basic Christian Communities (BCC), of which the primary activities are sharing of faith, sharing of witness, and sharing of service. It is significant that 61 percent of the respondents registered all these experiences within the ambit of the Church activities. Yet, these experiences were not decisive factors towards pushing for an aggressive option for a better life. The significant factors that served as the precipitators of radical change for better life were the experiences of hardships, pain and suffering. The investigation revealed that the church is not one of the leading institutions that work for the welfare of the poor farmers. She did not have a forceful nor tenacious influence to journey with the anawim of the Lord. Instead, the clinical experiences of a crisis-laden daily life serve as the hard "living human documents” from which farmers learned. These experienced realities propelled farmers to resolutely validate their humanness. They exposed the basic causes of their suffering and proclaimed them to the world of the unpoor through marches and rallies. With regards to the second point, the sense of defenselessness and helplessness was virtually evident among the poor farmers. Even when the poor farmers were harassed by the military and suspected as subversives, even when their houses were burnt down, their villages hamletted, even when some of them were tortured, the farmers of Bais and Guihulngan still hoped for a brighter future. Their sense of helplessness motivated them to unite and form a farmers’ organization--the very instrument that could empower and give them hope as they walked “through the valley of the shadow of death." They are opting for a change from within the root of the system - a radical transfiguration through the peaceful means, in the parliament of the streets. With regards to the last point of the investigation, it was found out that the Church was not the primary initiator in pushing for a radical change in the farmers’ lives. Although through praxis, the farmers' movement for radical change was guided by the ethics of love and peace based on justice. This was seen in their militant yet peaceful campaigns. In oder to serve as a formidable force for change the Church should have an alternative model of pastoral care. Fundamentally, it must reckon with the historical and biblical model of pastoral care-giving which is both individual and structural; in other words, wholistic. A model which is concretely responsive to and can fulfill the humanization needs of the poor farmers from pain and suffering. It must be a liberating pastoral care that promotes consciousness of the human person as the image of God. It has to have a commitment of educating people to metamorphose, claim and affirm the poor farmers’ rightful place in this world created by a just and living God. The following basic criteria are important to have a progressive pastoral care in Church, as well in Church-related institutions: a) Development of the personal, pastoral and professional competence of ministers in order that they maybe more aware of exactly how social conditions and structures affect the lives of others and of oneself. b) Prepare Church people to participate in proclaiming the reality of divine liberation by understanding and “reading the Bible with Third World Eyes”. This requires a new understanding of Sunday school, auxiliaries, and all areas of the teaching ministry of the church. c) Christian education that focuses on understanding God through Jesus Christ who is the liberator, redeemer, or savior. This means that the theme of liberation/salvation must permeate the entire church curriculum. Apart from liberation, there is no gospel. d) Forcefully re-directing, claiming and affirming (keeping the poor farmers in mind) that the origin of pastoral care exists in theophany rather than in technology. Its conception exists in theology rather than in behavioral sciences. e) Emphasize the utmost respect for the "wholeness" and “holiness” of human persons, including the integrity of creation, that humankind was created “in wholeness with the creation of God." f) Underscore the individuals' eminence over all things, and not material things over the individual. A sense of importance is a powerful force that an individual may use to confront today’s realities as well as that of the future. g) Balance the concern for individuals and structures (spiritual, economic, and political). This can serve as a good check against going to the extremes. This means an education that can analyze the present struggle of living in the light of what people envision the future to be. Finally, the Church is challenged to be faithful to the living God who decisively sided with the deprived, the poor and the oppressed, the God who cared for individuals as well as societies. Abstract only 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z