Background: Formalistic Faith and Social Gaps
Christian Religious Education today faces challenges such as faith formalism, group exclusivism, and social inequality within both churches and Christian schools. Many learners understand doctrines and rituals but fail to embody values such as love, justice, and equality in everyday relationships. This condition is linked to a dominant educational approach that focuses on memorization and doctrinal transmission. Theology is often taught separately from social realities, disconnecting faith from students’ lived experiences. As a result, teachings about compassion and justice do not always translate into inclusive community practices. These issues point to the need for a more holistic and contextual paradigm of faith education. Simamora therefore proposes integrating theology, sociology, and pedagogy within a multidisciplinary framework for Christian education.
Method: Integrating Theology,
Sociology, and Pedagogy
The study uses a qualitative
conceptual approach based on literature analysis. Simamora synthesizes three
major theoretical traditions:
- Christian educational theology of Thomas Groome.
- Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory of habitus.
- John Dewey’s experiential pedagogy.
The analysis proceeds in three stages:
mapping contemporary Christian education problems, conducting
cross-disciplinary dialogue between theology and social theory, and formulating
the concept of faith habitus as a transformative educational framework. The research develops a coherent conceptual model explaining how faith, education, and social reality interact.
Key Findings: Understanding Faith as
Habitus
The study concludes that faith should
be understood not merely as personal belief but as a spiritual social
disposition formed through repeated educational practices within communities.
The concept of faith habitus includes
several core characteristics:
- Faith as patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.
- Shaped through social experience and education.
- Internalized through church and school practices.
- Expressed in inclusive and just relationships.
This perspective explains why purely
doctrinal education often produces formalism and exclusivism, while
habitus-oriented education can foster social transformation. Simamora
emphasizes that faith becomes transformative when it is cultivated through reflective
education and communal praxis.
Impact in Christian Schools: From
Hierarchy to Inclusion
The study notes evidence of inequality
within Christian schools. Surveys among Christian education teachers in the
Jakarta metropolitan area revealed discriminatory behaviors among students
related to economic status, academic performance, and social background.
These findings indicate that
faith-learning environments can reproduce social injustice if not critically
addressed. Simamora therefore proposes several shifts in Christian schooling:
- Curricula linking faith with social awareness.
- Experiential and service-learning models.
- Egalitarian and inclusive classroom culture.
- Teachers as facilitators of empathy and care.
In this framework, schools function as
arenas where faith habitus is formed, not merely places of doctrinal transfer.
Author Profile
Rocky Agustry Vernando Simamora, M.Pd. Lecturer and researcher in Christian Religious Education at Indonesian Christian University.
His research focuses: theology of education,
faith pedagogy, and integration of faith with social realities in Christian
learning contexts.
Sources
Simamora, Rocky Agustry Vernando. 2026. Faith Habitus as a Multidisciplinary Approach in the Critical Analysis of Christian Religious Education. Indonesian Journal of Christian Education and Theology (IJCET), Vol. 5 No. 1 2026 hlm. 11-20.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/ijcet.v5i1.2
URL: https://journalijcet.my.id/index.php/ijcet
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