Prayerful Act, Curriculum Theory as a

Curriculum theory as a prayerful act is a postmodern approach to curriculum studies as theology where spirit is the life force within us. Prayerful in this sense is evoking the spirit to contribute to our empowerment, to our going beyond the strictly scientific process searching for evidence in the normal sensual domain. Curriculum theory in postmodern times gives a proper recognition of the spirit in curriculum studies.

In 1956, Sputnik brought caustic criticism of schools, prompting scholars to study and to develop appropriate practices and concepts to answer the critics. This led to a 50-year journey of teaching, researching, reflecting, serving, theorizing, and even praying/hoping for firm answers. At first, scholars found only glimpses and tentative ways to conceptualize curriculum theory as a prayerful act. Now in postmodern times, curriculum as a prayerful act is an appropriate conceptualization for a complex process.

In retrospect, scholars were looking for a curriculum theory appropriate for the postmodern age, an inclusive theory, one based on “both/and” rather than “either/or” orientations and where curriculum is theology, not where curriculum is technology. The need to be inclusive, to consider spirit and aesthetics as well as intellect and emotions, and to include science, literature, folklore, and religions in the curriculum led to the concept of “curriculum as theology.” Mythology and archetypal psychology contributed to understandings and needed to be part of curriculum studies and theories. Educational myths that are considered the truth, but are not, are dysfunctional myths and call for study and replacement. Mythopoets' research goal or approach is known as demy-thologizing. Including the search for “spirit” and “spiritual” in curriculum studies has led to the concept of “curriculum as a prayerful act.”

Curriculum researchers/mythopoets are guided by, at least, the following principles. Getting into and out of the spirit; this process is often called transcendence. An example is “losing” oneself when experiencing an inspiring piece of art or literature, or the “aha” of making a scientific discovery. The myth of spirit as ineffable yet representable is replacing the “scientific” notion that because the spirit cannot be measured, it is not appropriate for the curriculum. Spirit, albeit not measurable, is represented and experienced in good literature, art, theology, and scientific studies. Mythopoets most often study and represent the spirit/spiritual in presentations and publications, poems, stories about transcending, nurturing, practicing, criticizing, self-studies, therapy, and experiencing awe-inspiring works of art, sermons, music, and letter writing. An all-inclusive term for their work is narrative. In qualitative research, narrative means telling or writing stories and analyzing them for meaning.

Although the goal of the mythopoets' research is known as demythologizing, the methods, ways of doing their research, are hermeneutics, heuristic inquiry, autoethnography, and autobiography. Using a number of research methods in a study is called bricolage, and the researcher, besides being a mythopoet, is a bricoleur. (A bricolage is a name and metaphor for a patchwork quilt; the bricoleur is the quilter. The patchwork quilt where the patches are held together in meaningful ways is the metaphor for demythologizing using a patchwork of appropriate research methods for the tasks at hand.)

...