Freire and Christianity
Running head: FREIRE AND CHRISTIANITY: CONTRASTING WORLDVIEWS Freire and Pedagogy of the Oppressed: A Challenge to the Christian Worldview Everyone has a worldview, whether they acknowledge it or not. ... At first reading, it appeared to me that Freire’s worldview was the antithesis of the Christian worldview that I cherish. ... Freire holds to the belief that mankind is basically good, and that through struggle and dialogue, he can emerge with right thinking. ... Freire (1970) This statement is central to his belief system, that knowledge arises from dialectical dialogue. ... This instruction would be of the banking variety that Freire loathes. Freire would say that God’s mandate to meditate day and night on His word is the antitheses of learning, and it is opposed to the process of transformation. ... Freire would say, “learn from one another through dialogue and be transformed” and through self-discovery, be “humanized”. ... Christianity assumes the existence of absolute truth authored by a Creator, yet it is not sufficient to simply acknowledge this truth. ... Freire’s methodology might be considered as similar, in that the realization of truth alone is not sufficient. ... Freire wrote, “But the word is more than just an instrument which makes dialogue possible…Within the word we find two dimensions, reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed---even in part---the other immediately suffers.