Abstract

This chapter introduces the reader to the notion of learning and loves in relation to Christian education. In particular, it draws from Smith’s keynote address at the 2016 research symposium ‘Learning and Loves: Reimagining Christian Education’ and sketches a range of contemporary perspectives on the nature and purpose of Christian education today. Critical to this discussion is the educator’s understanding of what it means to be human and Smith’s presupposition that ‘every pedagogy implicitly assumes an anthropology’. Given that Christian education has been shown to be concerned with the making of ‘whole’ persons, holistic approaches that are both theoretically grounded and practically beneficial are critical to and for such a transformative endeavour. This discourse also introduces the content and organisation of the book Reimagining Christian Education: Cultivating Transformative Approaches, which focuses on some of the manifold facets, expressions and experiences of Christian education encountered in innovative contemporary research and practice today. The book is organised into five thematic sections and includes the introduction of both theoretical perspectives and pedagogical methods and tools, which are field-tested and practice-approved: Conceptual Perspectives; Pedagogical Implications; Inclusive Education and Hospitality; Trends in Learning, Business and Technology; Promoting Reconciliation and Social Justice. By looking at Christian education through the lens of James K. A. Smith, this chapter offers fresh perspectives on imagining education as the passionate pursuit of learning and teaching by lovers of God.