Friedrich Schweitzer

Godly Play and the Idea of Religious Education - the Idea of Religious Education and Godly Play.
Considerations and Impulses from the Perspective of Education and Children’s Theology
This contribution discusses the Godly Play approach from two perspectives.
First it makes the theory of education in the sense of Bildung its starting point. On the one hand, the author shows in which ways this approach contributes to religious education and, on the other hand, he asks what questions must be posed when Godly Play is discussed from an educational point of view.
Second, the contemporary discussion on children’s theology becomes the starting point for additional and innovative interpretations of Godly Play. In the author’s understanding children’s theology entails three dimensions. It must include a theology for children, a theology of or by children, and a theology with children. All three dimensions can be fruitfully applied to Godly Play, critically as well as constructively.
In a final step the author takes up the comprehensive perspective of a theology of childhood, thus linking Godly Play to questions of a theological anthropology.