Relevant and Accessible Christian Formation

Today the Church commemorates Adelaide Teague Case whose life is marked primarily her love of learning, teaching, and Jesus Christ. She was one of those people who cannot stay away from education. Adelaide spent most of her life as either a teacher or student, pausing both only when her chronic poor health required it.

After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1908, she immediately began teaching at an Episcopal girl’s boarding school in Poughkeepsie, New York. Two years later, she began graduate school at Columbia, but unfortunately, the following year a recurrence of her childhood tuberculosis forced her to withdraw.

Once she regained her strength, Adelaide worked as a librarian in the national headquarters of the Episcopal Church and taught at the New York Training School for Deaconesses. While teaching she returned to Columbia, finished her M.A., then pursued a Ph.D. focusing on the recently developed ‘progressive’ education movement.

For the next twenty years, Adelaide taught in the religious education department of Columbia University’s Teachers College. She created curricula around the principles of religious education, the use of the Bible in religious education, professional problems in religious education, as well as a course designed especially for directors of religious education. On September 22, 1941, she became the first woman elected to full professorial rank at an Episcopal or Anglican seminary when she was appointed Professor of Christian Education at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She served ETS for seven years, until tuberculosis finally claimed her life at the age of 61.

“Among intelligent groups in America, religion has been one of the most neglected of all the possible subjects for adult education.”
—Adelaide Teague Case

Adelaide Teague Case was especially gifted at sensing student’s needs and creating productive learning environments that were mindful of the student’s social context. I believe one of the reasons her classes were so popular and considered ‘productive’ is due to her personal commitment to pacifism. She intentionally worked for peace in her personal relationships and in her classroom. While teaching, she also served on the executive board of Fellowship of Reconciliation as well as vice-president of Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship (now Episcopal Peace Fellowship).

Adelaide understood that a child’s religious education could not be limited to a one hour weekly Sunday school class. Formation was ongoing, happening primarily at home. So, she created a resource that would make it as easy as possible for parents, librarians, teachers, and clergy to educate children of all ages about Jesus Christ. In 1927 she published a book that I would definitely had reviewed and endorsed on Grow Christians. As Modern Writers See Jesus is an extended and annotated bibliography on major works focusing on Jesus for readers to sift through a variety of material for all ages of children’s development.

“(The) task of religious education is to make Jesus of Nazareth available for the students of our generation; to make it possible for children and young people in the modern world to share, as moderns, in the experience of Jesus, and to relate that shared experience to the problems of modern life.” 
—As Modern Writers See Jesus

Adelaide is remembered for her deep sense of humanity and boundless compassion for other people. Using these gifts along with her progressive, student-centered teaching methods, she taught thousands of people about the Gospel. She skillfully adapted scripture and her teaching method depending on the student.

The same must be true for us as caregivers of children. The way we teach our children about Jesus when they are three-years-old is not how we will do it when they are thirteen. It’s an ongoing conversation that evolves and adapts, and is never too late to begin.