Mumford, The Dawn of Character.
Richardson, The Religious Education of Adolescents.
Alexander, Boy Training.
CHAPTER VII
THE SUBJECT MATTER OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
We have seen in an earlier chapter how the subject matter of religious education must be selected in accordance with the aims we would have it accomplish in the lives of our pupils. We have also considered in separate chapters the religious knowledge required, the religious attitudes demanded and the practical applications of religious instruction to be made or the expression to be sought in the everyday life. Let us now examine somewhat more completely the particular phases of subject matter which should be used to attain these ends—To what sources shall we go for the material for the religious instruction of our children? What subject matter shall we put into the curriculum of religious education? This is a question of supreme importance to the individual, to the church, and to civilization.
SOURCES OF MATERIAL
First of all we must realize that the sources of religious material are almost infinitely broad and rich. They are much broader than the Bible. I would not be misunderstood on this point. I conceive the Bible as the matchless textbook of religion, the great repository of spiritual wisdom through the ages. It is the primary source to which we must go for material for religious instruction, not just because it is the Bible, but because its truths are the surest guide ever formulated for spiritual development.
Yet human experience and human problems are broader than the Bible. New ages bring new conditions and new needs. Eternal truths may take on new forms to meet new problems. God inspired the writers of his Word, but he also inspires other writers, whose works are not included in the canon. He echoed in the voice of Isaiah and Jeremiah, but he also touches with the flame of eloquence other lips than those of the prophets. He spoke to the child Samuel, but he also speaks to-day to every heart that will hear his voice. He flamed from the burning bush for Moses, but in like manner he shines from every glowing sunset for those whose eyes can there behold his glory.