Waterink’s theme is the religious nature of each human. He emphasizes
that man is created to be a person who is aware that he serves ‘someone’.
Even after the Fall of Adam humanity is characterized by its orientation
to service of God. Man’s struggle is to either accept this created purpose
for his life or to deny it and turn away from it. For Waterink religious
training is largely a matter of instruction in Bible knowledge and exposure
to the examples of godly adults. This has to create an awareness that throughout
their lives the threat of alienation from their Maker is present and that
only fellowship with the cross of Christ can set them free from it. The
real purpose of religious training is a life of service in every relationship.
Consequently, religious training is not a separate section in the whole
effort of education, but it is an integral part of the training in all
educational subjects. Man has to be a ‘tool for service’ in every aspect
of life. Waterink highlights a few matters of importance in the process
of religious training: conversation is more important than rote learning;
knowledge of Biblical history is an indispensable foundation; no great
understanding of all Scriptural significances need to be expected from
6 - 8 year old children, yet a comprehensive insight in the revelation
of God has to be developed by age 15; close adherence to the original text
has to go hand in hand with understanding the child’s limited framework
of experiences; it is important to relate secular history to biblical history;
religious training involves knowledge as well as a witness to that which
the educator believes as well as a personal acceptance of the truth; religious
training is oriented to the experience of joy in the service of God; the
educator must not only believe in the truth but he must also be seen to
stand behind the truth, he must combine soundness of doctrine with purity
of heart; Christian education has to be supported by prayer.
Waterink’s main emphases on the wholeness of the human person is great,
yet, he provides no direction as to how that can be worked out in the methodology
of classroom teaching. He does seem to value doctrine must higher than
heart commitment, he hardly seems to recognize the role of man’s will.
While this book provides a valuable theological background to Christian
pedagogy it does not offer any insights in the process of faith development
and spiritual growth.