Item 1573 - To teach: reveal, affirm

1 p. of textual records

This item is a half-page article by Henri Nouwen entitled , ‘To Teach: Reveal, Affirm’, published in the National Catholic Reporter, c. October 18, 1974. In this article Nouwen looks at teaching as an activity of hospitality and outlines two important tasks: 1) Revealing and 2) Affirmation. The teacher’s task is to ‘reveal to students that they have something to offer…to help them see not that they still have a lot to learn, but that their own life experiences, their own insights and convictions, their own intuitions and formulations are worth serious attention’. Nouwen goes on to speak of affirmation, ‘what is revealed as good, worthwhile, as a new contribution, needs affirmation’. Nouwen states that it especially in religious education that revelation and affirmation are of great importance. He suggests that students find it difficult to care for religious instruction when their own experiences are not touched. ‘Why should we speak about the way to someone who does not realize there are many roads? How can people desire the truth when they don’t even know they have any questions?’

Preservation photocopy available in Articles by Nouwen Access Copy Box 1.

Published in National Catholic Reporter, [18 October 1974].
This article was published in a revised form in Chapter 5 in Nouwen, Henri, 'Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life', Image Books, Doubleday, N.Y., 1975

Reprinted from Monastic Studies, Mount Saviour Monastery, Pine City, NY.
There is a head shot photo of Nouwen, taken by Ron van den Bosch. See P6433 on Page 11 of Album 3 for a full-size version of the photo.

Added by L Joson, 7 November 2017
Revised by L Joson, 21 June 2018