149 Christian Anthropology and the (W)Holistic Approach 3 with the centrality of the human heart—holistic Christian education values and seeks all of the dimensions of human development from early childhood onwards, including physical, social, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and valuesbased learning, aiming at the person’s heart as the undivided principle of its existence, preceding the head and hands, relying on it with pedagogical optimism based on Christian hope before God to seek its restoration and the longing and ability to serve in all the organic relationships God placed him into: with the self, the neighbour and nature as a whole. Christian anthropology values this transcendental, theological perspective as fundamental for education in general and citizenship formation in particular, especially when approached from the challenges of fragmentation. The direction or teleology that citizenship formation should take to not become reductionistic or dualistic, is therefore best described as shalom-seeking citizenship. It is based on Wolterstorff’s (2004) shalom idea, which perceives shalom as flourishing based on justice and restored relationships. It has a moral focus and aims to help students practice justice in the world—as agents of shalom. It accords with Biesta’s (2013, 2022) plea for subjectifying education, although it finds its deep motivation for theological citizenship in Biblical subjectness to God and the neighbour. It aims at the heart as the root entity where the human being is still undivided, but it affects from there both thinking and acting, head and hands, with an approach characterised by social justice.
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