Wide-awakeness in the World

Maxine Greene’s aesthetic pedagogy speaks to the sense of purposelessness felt by many young people today. Greene’s pedagogy cultivates the moral life defined as a sense of ‘wide-awakeness in the world’ through promoting the work of the imagination through engagement with the creative arts. Imagination creates community by being a precondition of empathy. Greene’s philosophy calls religious educators to create dialogic spaces of mutual concern. Theological engagement with Greene asks how the quest for meaning making is not simply a pedagogical version of sin. Charles Taylor’s analysis of authenticity identifies the ethical core in the pursuit of meaning-making. Greene’s challenge to Christian theology to give young people freedom in their spiritual choices is answered with David Bentley Hart’s notion of Christian persuasion as ‘the martyr’s gift’. Youth ministries pursue the kingdom vision of shalom in hope grounded in the resurrection of Christ.