Educate for life: 18 professors from Chile publish Religion Book

Ronald Bown Sepúlveda is a Chilean civil engineer and a religion professor for 20 years. In 2024, as a way to share experiences in common with his colleagues and “renew the teaching vocation,” he became the main driver of the book Educate for life. Experiences in the teaching of religion.

It is a collaboration between 18 religion professors – 17 Chileans and 1 Spanish – that has among its objectives to strengthen the positive impact that the teaching of faith in the life of students can have and address key issues throughout twelve chapters.

Some of these issues are the authority in the classroom, the planning of the classes, the use of pedagogical resources and the challenges in religious teaching at different levels: pre -basic, basic, medium and students with special educational needs.

“Many people made sense very quickly. They were interested in the idea, which is very powerful, that it is something collaborative. Sharing experience. That is why the doors opened very quickly from many sectors to recommend to the teachers,” Bown said in an interview with ACI Press, about the challenge of gathering the 18 professors from 15 schools who contributed in the project.

The book differs from other materials, explains the teacher, because it collects the personal experiences of religion teachers in the classroom, allowing any other teacher or catechist to obtain practical ideas to improve their classes.

The text addresses indispensable aspects of religious education, such as the figure of the teacher in the classroom, the correct and effective use of the Holy Scripture, of pedagogical resources and the participation of the students, emphasizing the centrality of the mystery of Christ in each lesson.

Bown, based on his experience, advised teachers, catechists and parents to convince themselves of the importance of religion classes and prepare them with enthusiasm:

“You can do a tremendous good to our students. If I am convinced that this is the most important class that a student can have, well, I will go with with all that force, with all that illusion, knowing that God is behind everything and that I go with all the strength of God,” he said.

In addition, it considers that parents must get much more involved in the transmission of faith through school activities, especially in a context as secularized as the one presented today.

“All the important things in life are based on that, of course faith too. Parents are the first educators, the main transmitters of faith,” he said.

“We are going to prepare the class well, we are going to give life in each class, but then as each student lives the faith has much more to do with the house,” said Bown, who is also deputy director of the Tabancura College in Santiago de Chile.

The book was edited by Eunsa and can be achieved through its web page y Amazon. For institutions interested in several copies, Professor Bown made his email available: rbown@tabancura.cl