An Evaluation of Spiritual Anatomy: The Heart in Light of Heft’s Passing on the Faith

The activity reviewed in this entry is entitled, Spiritual Anatomy: The Heart from Doug Fields’ Simply Youth Ministry. This activity can be found here. High school students are the intended audience for this activity. This lesson can be used with either large or small groups. The objective of this lesson is to help students see the importance of keeping their hearts open, or soft, to God.

The lesson begins by dividing the students into pairs or small groups. Each group is then given half of a can of Play-Doh®. Half of the groups will have fresh Play-Doh®, and the other half will have Play-Doh® that has sat out overnight so that it has dried out somewhat. The students are then instructed to make a decorative heart out of their Play-Doh®. After completing their hearts, the students are invited to discuss the task with each other noting the ease or difficulty of the activity, the process of molding and shaping with both sets of Play-Doh®, and how they felt during the activity. Following this discussion, Mark 3:1-6 is read and discussed. The questions should deal with relating the scripture to the students’ lives. Providing that the discussion is appropriate for the audience, this lesson has the potential to be very effective and meaningful, as well as to address the problem raised by James L. Heft and the contributing authors in Passing on the Faith: Transforming Traditions for the Next Generation of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

In his article, “Looking for God: Religious Indifference in Perspective,” Melchor Sanchez de Toca states that there is a trend today for teenagers to have a “new religiosity,” which through the “absence of a personal God” becomes a “religion of the self.” (Heft, 32). While acknowledging that this new religiosity can be problematic for those entrusted with passing on the faith to the next generation, the author maintains a sense of hope that by developing a new language and approach religious traditions can be successfully passed on to today’s youth (Heft, 34).

At first glance, it may seem that the Fields activity would perpetuate the narcissistic understanding of a religion of the self found in the new religiosity because its main focus is on the students themselves. It is indeed possible that this might occur, especially if the discussion is not facilitated properly. However, with carefully thought-out discussion questions, the facilitator can lead the participants away from a self-centered understanding of religion and towards a more personal relationship with God. The activity focuses on the importance of keeping one’s heart open to God. Thus, this activity is encouraging each student to form a personal relationship with God. A true relationship is marked by mutuality and communion which do not allow room for narcissism. While there are potential pitfalls, with appropriate facilitation this activity has great potential to encourage students to develop a personal relationship with God.