Montessori and Jerome W. Berryman: work, play, religious education and the art of using the Christian language system

For more than 30 years, the thinking and writing of Jerome W. Berryman has made a significant and unique contribution to the religious education of children and adults in faith-based contexts. Claiming to be influenced primarily by the work of Maria Montessori, his writings reveal the purpose of religious education to be teaching children the art of using the Christian language system to play at the edges of knowing and being so as to creatively discern meaning and purpose in life. However, a close examination of his many journal articles and books reveal some anomalies in his approach to religious education when compared with the Montessori Method, in particular his focus on play as opposed to work, as well as creativity and the creative process, as opposed to Montessori's grounding of the imagination in reality. These anomalies, explored in this paper, raise questions about the extent to which Berryman is, in fact, a true Montessorian.