SEEING WHAT IS NOT THERE YET: SOPHIA LYON FAHS, ENTELECHY, AND THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Abstract

This article offers a brief theological biography of Sophia Lyon Fahs, a religious educator whose life and work unfolded during the first seven decades of the Religious Education Association and reflected many of the identity-bearing modalities that continue to give shape and continuity to the organization. In 1972, Boardman Kathan, the General Secretary of the Religious Education Association, described Fahs as “one of the truly great pioneers of religious education in the 20th century, in the company of Harrison Elliott, Frank McMurry and George Albert Coe.” ² Fahs anticipated many theological challenges to religious education that were ahead of her time. ³

² Boardman Kathan, “A Pioneer Religious Educator: Sophia Lyon Fahs at 95, an interview,” UU World (February 1, 1972).

³ Within the text of this article all quotes appear as they were originally written. No attempt has been made by the author to alter the quotes for the purpose of rendering them gender inclusive. Radically inclusive in all aspects of her theology and philosophy, it is evident that Sophia Lyon Fahs was following the literary style of her time and in no way intended gender exclusivity.

Notes

² Boardman Kathan, “A Pioneer Religious Educator: Sophia Lyon Fahs at 95, an interview,” UU World (February 1, 1972).

³ Within the text of this article all quotes appear as they were originally written. No attempt has been made by the author to alter the quotes for the purpose of rendering them gender inclusive. Radically inclusive in all aspects of her theology and philosophy, it is evident that Sophia Lyon Fahs was following the literary style of her time and in no way intended gender exclusivity.

⁴ From Sophia Lyon Fahs, Today's Children and Yesterday's Heritage (Boston: Beacon Press, 1952), vii.

⁵ The phrase, “It takes more than angels,” is taken from a poem by Sophia Lyon Fahs, “Our Wondering Questions” in Beginnings of Earth and Sky (Boston: Beacon Press, 1937), 153.

⁶ The full quote from which this phrase is drawn is taken from a chapter entitled “The Inception of the Movement.” The earliest Declaration of Principles read: “The Council [of Seventy] does not stand for any theory of interpretation or school of criticism, or denomination, but for a definite endeavor to promote the knowledge of the Word of God as interpreted in the best light of today. From this point of view also the contributions of other religious literatures are sought by the Council, that through the study of these literatures the teachings of Scriptures may be more clearly understood.” See Proceedings of the First Annual Convention (Chicago: The Religious Education Association, 1903), 297.

⁷ Though she was a strong advocate of social transformation as the goal of religious education, the reformulation of traditional theologies was Fahs's main agenda. See her The Old Story of Salvation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955), 180 ff. for more on her views of the Social Gospel movement.

⁸ Fahs used this expression to refer to neo-orthodox theology in a response to Angus MacLean's “The Theological Dilemma in Religious Education,” Religious Education 55 (January–December 1960):173.

⁹ See Hunter's Sophia Lyon Fahs: A Biography, 179–181. Niebuhr referred to Fahs in his Leaves From the Notebook of a Tame Cynic (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1929), 127, as a “delightful little expert” who advocated that “we ought not really teach our children about God lest we rob them of the opportunity of making their own discovery of God, and lest we corrupt their young minds by our own superstitions.” Apparently, Niebuhr heard Fahs speak at a conference of the Religious Education Association which he considered “the last word in absurdity.” Hunter felt he had overstated Fahs's position and posited that Niebuhr knew little about children. Had he taken the time to understand Fahs's position, Hunter felt Niebuhr would have found that they were not so far apart in values after all.

¹⁰ This phrase was used by Fahs in a letter to Herman Wornom written in 1957 about her concern for the increasing feeling of alienation among progressive and free-thinking liberals in the REA. (Unpublished letters, Wornom Years Files (Feb. 1, 1957), The Archives of the Religious Education Association, Yale Divinity Library Special Collections, New Haven, CT.) On the same subject, Stephen A. Schmidt quoted Ernest Chave as saying in 1950, “It is a lonely and discouraging experience to be a liberal without friends,” and Harrison Elliott in the same year, “For many, because of certain theological developments in recent years and because of attacks upon religious education, there is a feeling of isolation. For them the association furnishes a rare fellowship.” See Schmidt, A History of the Religious Education Association (Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press, 1983), 107.

¹¹ Edward Farley used this term as a metaphor for a multidimensional historical survey that includes not only the study of origins, but transitions, crises, responses, and interpretation as well. See Farley's Ecclesial Reflection (1982, 298).

¹ The phrase “seeing what is not there yet” and the notion of entelechy in historical method are taken from Marianne Sawicki, “Historical Methods and Religious Education,” Religious Education 82(3) (Summer 1987):375–389. Meaning and identity gradually accrue (Fiorenza) or are disclosed (Farley) in history, “pulling the entity on toward its own self-fulfillment. This amounts to a seeing of what is not there, yet, through what is already given in the past and in the present” (388–389).