The Importance of New Church Content
This history course contributes to Bryn Athyn College’s
Human Society major, where one major theme is human
choice, rooted in the first law of Divine providence: to act
in freedom according to reason.
Human beings are free to make choices about
what to believe, how to act, and how to respond to their
circumstances.
Reacting games call attention to this point because
they highlight that history did not have to unfold as it
Dr. Wendy Closterman
did. The events of the past were not pre-determined, but
were shaped by the choices that people made within the circumstances and
conditions in which they lived. While the students need to play their roles in
historically appropriate ways, within these roles they w restle with decisions
and make choices about what to do. They can – and sometimes do – create
different outcomes than what happened historically because of how they
understand, present and weigh the multiple considerations at play.
For the course we have been conducting this term, two things have stood
out for us: the civil and moral levels of life.
Several places in the Writings suggest that our rational ability – the key
human capacity to distinguish between good and evil – begins to be opened by
means of civic truths, consideration of justice, governmental affairs, and what
is fair and equitable.
Our course on democracy obviously deals with these issues directly, but
every Reacting game is set in an historic moment of crisis in which a decision
must be made by a group, so no game can avoid having students wrestle with
issues of justice and equity.
Our rational ability is opened at the next level by moral truths – matters of
personal life in social contexts and issues of virtue, like honesty. It is interesting
that there is a whole chapter in Minds on Fire on “Inculcating Morality and
Empathy.” The author makes the point that taking on a role forces students
to consider the perspective of other human beings and encourages them to
reflect on moral matters.
Finally, our rational ability is not formed and opened simply by knowing
civic and moral truths, but by living them. We do not suggest that taking a
Reacting course is the same as living civic and moral truths, but it can draw us
a lot closer to living them than just reading about them.
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