Ensino religioso com adolescentes: em escolas confessionais luteranas da IECLB

Abstract

This dissertation analyses the discipline of Religious Education for adolescents in Lutheran schools. The first part describes the emergence of confessional schools, particularly of those related to the Riograndense Synod, which later on, along with other synods, formed the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB). The emergence of Lutheran schools is seen against the background o f the Brazilian educational system and its development in various historical stages. This first part is concluded with considerations on the reality of Religious Education in Lutheran schools and on the decisions and arrangements made by the IECLB in relation to that discipline. The second part analyses the Lutheran concept of pedagogy on the basis of Martin Luther’s theological and pedagogical thinking. The pedagogical rationale for Christian Education, as an element of its identity based on the foundation of the gospel, determines the school’s daily life and establishes a differentiating factor of Lutheran schools in the context of education in Brazil. The third part describes the stage of adolescence in its biological, psychosocial and cognitive aspects on the basis of the theories of development. One important element in this context is the issue of the religiosity of adolescents. In order do address this issue a social research was conducted, including questions about God and faith. The fourth and last part raises the question about the nature of Religious Education as a discipline in a Lutheran confessional school. The answer to this question takes into account the pedagogical rationale for Christian education and the adolescents’ needs as shown by the social research carried out among students who attend the course on Christian Education. The last part is concluded with the description of a plan of work with adolescents in Lutheran schools on the basis of the characteristics of adolescence and the needs that this life stage brings with it. Religious education for adolescents in a confessional school should be a safe and protected ecumenical space where adolescents can express their doubts and questions about the meaning of life and the future, where they can get answers that are grounded in God’s action and get orientation to make decisions and choices in order to be gradually integrated into adult society as autonomous and responsible persons.