Teaching as healing
Sacred Teaching is Healing Teaching
Theology for centuries in the Middle Ages was called sacra doctrina, sacred doctrine or holy teaching.
But when speaking of the very best teachers and theologians—such as St. Thomas Aquinas, our Dominican brother—it was not enough to say they were teachers of sacra doctrina but they were also teachers of sana doctrina, healthy doctrine.
I find the apparent similarity between sacra and sana to be quite Providential.
That which is holy and good is also that which is healthy and which prompts healing. This healing and health refers both to the content taught and to the manner or method in which it was taught.
Both content and method are vital to the healthy education and healing of all, but especially youth.
Recently I was speaking to two mothers of our parish school children. And they were remarking about the difficulty of determining when their children might or should be exposed to certain music or certain ideas. Indeed, one of the mothers said her child has specifically asked “Mom should I listen to or watch X? I don’t know if it is appropriate given my age.”
As a brief aside, what a marvelous question! Parents, excellent work in instilling such a sensitivity and reflective attitude in your children. And to this child I say bravo!
At the risk of over-simplifying we might label 3 particular types of ideas or teachings. There are ideas and teachings which are
Altogether bad or which serve little edifying purpose. These likely should only be shown to a child or someone after they have integrated and are firmly established with a foundation of good moral principles and virtue and can clearly determine why an idea is wrong. I think it largely appropriate to not have children of certain ages watch violent shows or movies, for example. No child needs to watch any of the Saw movies or a movie like Insidious. They present little that is good and much that is bad. Arguably I would prefer some of these forms of media not be made at all, but at the very least parents should be cautious.
Not necessarily age appropriate for a child in a particular developmental stage, likely because of complexity or nuance, and these should be broached to children at an appropriate time. I think here of the complexity in new Disney movies. Villains are never just villains any more. They are people who are often broken or who have been wounded, and who need their own type of healing. This is a fundamental truth but one that can—if presented too early—lead to a flattening of moral values or a relativism about moral questions. First we present clear fairy tales, tales of kindness rewarded, of justice enacted, of mercy granted, and only then do we show how villains became villains, how wounds beget wounds, etc. Complexity is something we develop a capacity for, not something we become pre-equipped for.
Those ideas or principles which are good, true, edifying, and beautiful and can and should be presented to children frequently and often. Beautiful, diverse, and varied works of art, music new and old which is intricate and creative. There are some interesting studies that show that pregnant mothers who play classical music at a sufficient volume for the child in the womb to hear, help their child get a running start in terms of language acquisition and brain development. Even before birth, there are certain forms of “teaching” which are healthy and holy.
While I have spoken largely of what parents can do, the work of educators, ministers, teachers and coaches is of obvious import.
Outside of parents, it is the teachers and the coaches of our children who have the greatest impact. Thus even in course design, we should consider some of the criteria above in terms of the content and manner in which we teach.
How are we introducing children to the great ideas, to the beautiful things of art and nature in the world? How are we enculturating within them a sense of wonder and a of beauty at Creation or through history and science and faith?
The best way, is to show them beautiful things, to have them listen to beautiful and intricate music and to challenge them in the midst of this busy world, to slow down long enough so that they can really chew on what we are offering.
Don’t take me to mean that we should censor our content or hide difficult questions—as my previous post made clear, I am FOR difficult questions. I want children and young people who are able and willing to debate and argue and to present arguments for and against. But that cannot be where we start. We do not come pre-equipped with the capacity for such discussions, it must be developed. We must start by helping them to see what is truly good, what is truly holy, what is truly healing.
We must continue to be intentional about forming children—and ourselves—in virtue and in goodness. This is one of the major benefits of Catholic education and various forms of classical education: we are unafraid to say that some things, some ideas, are quite simply bad. And these ideas are bad on both natural and supernatural grounds!
Pornography is bad not merely because of the detrimental effects it has on the brain, especially the brains of young people, but precisely because it devalues the human person who is made in the image of God and makes he or she an object of mere pleasure of momentary satisfaction, not a subject with their own rights, freedom, and will.
Not all knowledge, not all things that we encounter and experience, are good and they are certainly not healing.
So consider this—both personally and as a nation and world—what do we need healing from? What sins, what habitual dispositions do we and our children face and struggle with? And then consider what are the beautiful, good, and healing counterpoints to these wounds?
Do I as a minister or an educator, live out and teach sana doctrina?
For example, consider the problem of loneliness. So many of our children and young adults in university are facing loneliness in an extreme way. We are so connected and yet also so alone, so unknown, so unloved. What is the possible answer, what is the possible sana doctrina for this pain?
Why it is of course the Gospel, the ultimate example of sana doctrina in both content and method!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". John 3:16
And not only this verse but many like it, and stories and parables too.
A personal favorite of mine is that of the story of the Prodigal Son a key and healing doctrine about the Father’s love, which rushes out to meet us.
The Gospel cries out in a voice, beautiful and terrible, that “You are loved by the Father of Heaven, believe it, know it, experience it!” Preaching and proclaiming that story well is absolutely healing to so many who are isolated or lonely.
The Lord is the Divine Physicians as well as the teacher par excellence. How fitting it is that his Gospel is at once our best instruction and our most healing of remedies.
How fitting it is that he models for us how are to teach and to heal and that indeed these two ideas are intertwined and inseparable.
May we all teach sana doctrina both in word and deed.