La praxis educativa de la Iglesia Luterana de Colombia en el testimonio de un educador cristiano

Abstract

The following thesis presents the results achieved by the Colombian Lutheran schools educational system based on religious and Christian values by showing how these values benefit the performance and development of its students in their personal and community life. The basis for this study is the life story of Educational Director and Theologian, JOSÉ BENJAMÍN OJEDA GUAJE, a former student of one of the first schools (CELCO), who later became a teacher, then pastor and finally IELCO president. IELCO is the parent church in charge of this school system. The first chapter explains why JOSÉ BENJAMÍN OJEDA GUAJE´S life story was chosen, followed by his autobiography, exclusively written by the author for this research project. It describes how the education received was essential to his becoming a fundamental pillar of the creation of new Lutheran schools in Colombia as well as their institutional projects based on the Lutheran Church s mission in the education field. This dissertation is a theological pedagogical analysis of the Christians faith dimensions and a general study of the reformation s influence on protestant education. It begins with Luther s immediate context, followed by its widespread transcendence in North and Latin America. This momentous spreading was based on Luther s pedagogical writings and his theological discoveries that helped him to form his new concept on education. A last chapter describes the reformation s influence on Latin America s education system and especially of Colombia. It starts with a panorama of the beginning of the protestant movement beginnings in Colombia, followed by the development of the Lutheran Church in Colombia and its education ministry during IELCO s 70 years of existence and ends with its present institutional horizon.