Truth as Aletheia in the Godly Play approach to religious education: a phenomenological reflection

ABSTRACT

This paper explores phenomenologically the way in which Godly Play, as an approach to religious education with young children devised by Jerome Berryman, provides an experience of truth as disclosure and openness – as a constant interplay between showing and hiding – though an exploration of Heidegger’s (and to a lesser extent, Gadamer’s) understanding of truth as aletheia. It applies this notion to one life expression in the Godly Play room in which a parable is presented to show how truth is revealed through the telling of the parable. Some implications for practice are posited as a result of this phenomenological reflection.

KEYWORDS:

• Truth
• veritas
• aletheia
• disclosure
• Heidegger
• Gadamer
• Godly Play
• open space

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Morrison (2009) argues that there is an emphasis on repetition and deep exploration through the structure of the Montessori environment, reaffirming the notion that although the classroom is not closed, it is neither entirely open.

2. See also Berryman and Hyde (2010) for an exploration of this idea.

3. Abt (1970) argues that undue concern about teaching the wrong thing ‘leads to a preference for the very least effective teaching methods, since these offer the least threat of corrupting the young’ (115). Therefore, and as Berryman and Hyde (2010) note, it is dangerous to dismiss the play of Godly Play for fear that it might ‘teach the wrong thing’, because this may result in teaching poorly or even destructively.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brendan Hyde

Brendan Hyde, PhD is a member of the School of Education at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. He has research interests in phenomenology, children’s spirituality, and in how the Godly Play approach to religious education nurtures children’s spirituality. He is the author of Children and Spirituality: Searching for meaning and connectedness (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers).