Many facilitators/leaders are often exasperated by the common assumption among their students or small group participants that discussion of ethics or religion is no more than a sharing of opinion or personal taste. Or in other words, that the attempt to establish truth criteria is an affront to their private sensibilities. Shared Christian Praxis provides a practical method that will enable students or groups members to share their opinions and ideas in a manner that not only exposes them to truth criteria, but also challenges their opinions, ideas and presuppositions.
Two key questions are: Why do we do what we do? What are our hopes in doing it? In trying to address these, critical reflection aims to achieve three things: (1) Evaluate the present, noticing the obvious, and develop a critique of it; (2) Uncover the past in the present, and discover how the past influences the present (i.e., discover the personal and social genesis of our present action); and (3) Creatively imagine and envision the future.
Shared Christian praxis is action determined after reflecting on one’s understanding of what scripture and Catholic social teaching have to say about an issue or concern. “Praxis” means to take action and influence a specific issue. This reflection/action process is most beneficial when carried out in a small group.
Click here to read the Shared Christian Praxis and Appendix.
