Jackie David Johns

The Pedagogy of the Holy Spirit According to Early Christian Tradition Jackie David Johns

Early Christian literature reveals that the church perceived its teaching ministry, indeed its entire existence, as being under the close supervision of the Holy Spirit. However, little attention has been given in modern times to the role of the Holy Spirit in church pedagogy. This doctoral dissertation sets forth an inter-disciplinary descriptive analysis of pedagogical issues associated with the Holy Spirit in the literature of early Christianity and it offers a brief paradigm for Christian education based upon that analysis. The method of this study was to ask a series of questions from the perspectives of historical theology and pedagogy. Three theological questions concerning the Holy Spirit were linked to six questions from educational philosophy as a means of probing into the historical record. The core question being, in the eyes of the ante-Nicene church, who was the Spirit and how did the Spirit work in the church to form believers?