Pré-adolescência contemporânea: novos desafios e perspectivas para a educação cristã contínua

Abstract

The thesis aims to investigate and propose alternatives to the pedagogical and didactic action of the communitarian Christian education with pre-adolescents living in a contemporary urban context and attending a congregation of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil - IECLB. The investigation makes use of theoretical literature in dialogue with the field research through a single case study; and its tool of elaboration and application consisted of a questionnaire applied to a group of pre-adolescents who attended confirmation classes at a congregation of the IECLB in Novo Hamburgo-RS. The research begins with a bibliographical study on the historical and ecclesiastic development about the comprehension and expectations concerning confirmation classes. In the first part it also presents a survey about the historical and social development of the concept pre-adolescence and its influences on the person in relation to the historical and ecclesiastical expectations. In the second part, a theoretical research is carried out based on three philosophers who discuss the characteristics of contemporary Western society, seeking to define the most appropriate term to describe it: Jean François Lyotard (postmodernism), and Gilles Lipovtsky, Sabastién Charles (hyper modernism). In the third part the research aims to analyze the concept anthropological faith, based on the theologians Paul Tillich, Juan Luis Segundo and James Fowler, emphasizing the dynamics of faith in the pre-adolescence. In the fourth and last part of the study we present Fernando Hernández and Montserrat Ventura proposal about the projects for education in dialogue with the Continuous Christian Education Plan of the IECLB, taking into account the analysis and the pedagogical and didactic alternatives which arose from the three previous parts of the research. The study concludes that a communitarian Christian education which is methodologically oriented by projects can provide the pre-adolescents - through religious and personal narratives, research and dialogue with participative experience and leadership, providing support and encouragement to build identity in the religious and communitarian environment, despite the increasing uncertainty of contemporary Western society.