The Nature and Mission of Christian Character Education

Abstract

In 1947, the Constitution of Japan and the original Fundamental Law of Education (FLE) were enacted in the same year. Article 1 of the FLE specifies the aim of education as follows: “Education shall aim at the full development of personality, striving to nurture citizens to besound in mind and body, etc.” The school education system is based on the School Education Act, which was enacted in the same year. Article 1 of the revised FLE（2006）also keeps this same wording found in the original law. Seventy-five years after the enactment of the original FLE, the words character and human dignity have become familiar to people who received democratic education after World War II. But what is the content of character or character education that is variously discussed among people? What is the uniquely Christian understanding of character and what is its nature? What does it mean today? We would like to consider those questions from the view of theology and religious pedagogy. First, we focus on the relationship between personality and face (i.e., respect or honor). Then in chapter two, we deal with personality theory as understood by educational thinkers of modern Japan. In the last chapter, we discuss the mission of character education at Christian schools.