Reconstructing Christian Education Through Narrative Epistemology: Integrating Biblical Narrative and Hebrew Thought
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53547/9txbsf30Keywords:
biblical narrative, christian education, Hebrew thought, narrative epistemology, storytelling, spiritual transformationAbstract
The dominance of the rationalist paradigm in modern education has fostered learning practices that prioritize cognitive achievement while overlooking learners' relational, spiritual, and transformative dimensions. This tendency has also influenced Christian education, where doctrinal mastery often receives greater emphasis than faith identity and lived religious experience. Although storytelling has been widely recognized as an effective pedagogical strategy, it is rarely understood as an epistemological foundation for Christian education. This study reconstructs the paradigm of Christian education by integrating narrative epistemology, biblical narrative, and Hebrew thought using qualitative library research and conceptual analysis. The findings indicate that narrative epistemology understands knowledge as a process of meaning-making through stories, lived experience, and community, enabling faith learning to foster spiritual transformation, character formation, and faith identity. The study develops the Narrative Christian Education Framework (NCEF), which integrates narrative epistemology, biblical narrative, and Hebrew thought into a relational, participatory, dialogical, reflective, and transformative model of faith formation. The NCEF constitutes the study's principal theoretical contribution by repositioning narrative as the epistemological foundation of Christian education rather than merely a pedagogical strategy.
Abstrak
Dominasi paradigma rasionalistik dalam pendidikan modern telah membentuk praktik pembelajaran yang lebih mengutamakan pencapaian kognitif, sementara kurang memberikan perhatian pada dimensi relasional, spiritual, dan transformatif peserta didik. Kecenderungan ini juga memengaruhi Pendidikan Agama Kristen, di mana penguasaan doktrin sering kali lebih ditekankan daripada pembentukan identitas iman dan pengalaman iman yang dihidupi. Meskipun storytelling telah diakui secara luas sebagai strategi pedagogis yang efektif, pendekatan ini masih jarang dipahami sebagai landasan epistemologis bagi Pendidikan Agama Kristen. Penelitian ini merekonstruksi paradigma Pendidikan Agama Kristen melalui integrasi epistemologi naratif, narasi biblika, dan pemikiran Ibrani dengan menggunakan pendekatan penelitian kepustakaan kualitatif dan analisis konseptual. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa epistemologi naratif memandang pengetahuan sebagai proses pembentukan makna melalui cerita, pengalaman hidup, dan komunitas, sehingga pembelajaran iman tidak hanya menghasilkan pemahaman kognitif, tetapi juga mendorong transformasi spiritual, pembentukan karakter, dan identitas iman. Penelitian ini mengembangkan Narrative Christian Education Framework (NCEF), yaitu suatu model konseptual yang mengintegrasikan epistemologi naratif, narasi biblika, dan pemikiran Ibrani ke dalam model pembentukan iman yang bersifat relasional, partisipatif, dialogis, reflektif, dan transformatif. NCEF merupakan kontribusi teoretis utama penelitian ini dengan memosisikan narasi bukan sekadar sebagai strategi pedagogis, melainkan sebagai landasan epistemologis bagi Pendidikan Agama Kristen.
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