What mission calls us to teach? How do societal issues-social oppression, poverty, politics-affect what we teach, how we teach it, and how people learn? Who are our students? What and when are they ready to learn? Once we understand these foundations, how can we facilitate an educational experience that has the power to shape and transform people and communities in life-giving ways of faith?
In this classic text, Thomas Groome asks and answers these central questions, providing a comprehensive integration of the history, theory, and practice of modern religious education for a new generation of educators. His self-reflective approach-shared praxis-will inspire school teachers, students of religious education, pastors, parents, and religious educators in local churches who want to understand themselves, their mission, and their surroundings-to inform, form, and transform their students' lives.

"Anyone tugged by the calling at the heart of education or religious life can only cheer for the republication of this classic book."—Robert Kegan, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"Christian Religious Education is one of the most important books -if not the most important-on Christian education published during the last fifty years."—Don Browning, University of Chicago, coauthor, From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate

"Whether returning Christian Religious Education or reading it for the first time, readers will discover freshness leaping from the page; you will soon know why this formative book of the past is a beacon for the future-informative, inspiring, and wise!"—Mary Elizabeth Moore, professor of theology and Christian education, Claremont School of Theology

"Tom Groome combines the great masters of the past with the most creative innovators of the present to provide us with a modern day classic."—Virgilio P. Elizondo, founder, Mexican American Cultural Center