Teaching about Augustine: Providing a Scaffolding for Learning

Abstract This paper acknowledges that many young adults today have poor content knowledge in theology and related fields. It argues that one way of addressing this is to teach more explicitly about seminal thinkers and their ideas as part of an integrated approach to religious education. One such figure is Augustine, a thinker of immense significance in the Christian tradition. By being familiar with the ideas of Augustine, students are more able to understand religious claims and to facilitate higher learning. Using a Vygotskian paradigm a number of suggestions are made on how best to teach Augustinian themes. These ideas rest on the concept of scaffolding of learning.