Return to search

Curriculum and Compassion: An Inquiry into the Relevance of the Charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in a Post-Modern World

The purpose of this study is to examine the relevance of a curriculum that embodies the charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in a post-modern world. The project will investigate the understanding of the charism both by the researcher and by selected brothers who are in unique positions to articulate and explicate just what the charism entails. A variety of formational and foundational documents will also be subjected to philosophical analysis so a deep picture of the charism is available to the reader. Literature surrounding post-modernist curriculum theory serves as the theoretical framework for this investigation of the charism of the brothers. Insights from a variety of post-modern educational researchers will be placed in dialogue with the charism in order to consider the driving research question: "What relevance does the educational Charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart have in a post-modern society?$quot
The study uses methods consistent with the post-modern framework: philosophical analysis; interviews, primarily oral histories, with selected Brothers of the Sacred Heart whose experience puts them in a position to offer insights into the charism; and narrative inquiry on those interviews collected from selected brothers.
Students graduating from a Brothers of the Sacred Heart school like that in which this researcher works enter a world whose driving paradigm is a post-modern one. The curriculum which they have experienced is, however, in many ways, modern, and even pre-modern. Nevertheless, this study concludes that the written and oral descriptions of the charism of the brothers, as well as the ways that it is in fact found to be practiced in their schools, is consistent with broad characteristics of the post-modern perspective. Especially as the brothers emphasize an openness to student growth, and as they seek to embody a curriculum based on hope, trust, compassion and love, they represent an approach to education that is implicitly post-modern. If education in the charism is to remain relevant, a curriculum must be envisioned that nurtures and ever more deeply embodies those post-modern characteristics.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-03242016-081146
Date12 April 2016
CreatorsEldringhoff, Thomas Walter
ContributorsHendry, Petra, Egea, Denise, Pasquier, Michael, Mitchell, Roland
PublisherLSU
Source SetsLouisiana State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03242016-081146/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

Page generated in 0.0019 seconds