231 Relational Epistemology and the Art of Living Together 7 The code ‘mission’ covers quotations such as ‘a sort of drive’, ‘to let children hear the gospel’, ‘the chance to reach children with the Bible’ (meeting 2) and ‘a special gift for children’ (meeting 3). However, starting from meeting 6, this connotation seemed to gradually broaden itself, also covering ‘a calling to get children to their level’, ‘to really see children and intend for their happiness’ (meeting 6), ‘an inner drive to show to people the goodness of God’ (meeting 7),’the deepest question as to what attitude to adopt towards truth and the neighbour’ (meeting 12) and ‘the sincere interest in other people that belongs to a missionary attitude’ (meeting 16). The code ‘mission’ co-appeared a total of eight times with the code ‘openness’, covering all of the places that referred to discussions on the importance of critical openness. Especially interesting in this regard is a layered quotation from one member of the outsider group, who described ‘my personal mission’ to ‘teach students in the whole of their formation to choose their battles’. This participant meant to express how students need to learn the ability to distinguish between what is core to the Christian faith and, therefore, must always stand firm, and other aspects that may be important but are less crucial for faith and more for analysis from a multitude of perspectives. Thus, the conclusion of this sub-section can be that DCU students are convinced of the relevance of critical faithfulness but also of the relevance of critical openness, although the latter conviction seems to exist on a more subconscious level. Students tie critical faithfulness more obviously to the Bible and Christian faith, although for that conviction they rely heavily on their own socialisation processes. They need to learn, through good expression, how critical openness is, just like critical faithfulness, tied to the Bible and Christian faith. In such a manner, they can also come to understand and practice how to combine the two in a relational epistemology that surpasses the socialisation of the Reformed Christian social pillar and accords with what was said in Chapter 6 regarding subjectifying education. 7.1.3 Starting points on absolute truth At the start of the 13th meeting, all of the (invited) participants were asked to respond on paper to six affirmations pertaining to absolute truth. These affirmations were based on input from the regular participants in the conversational community, which was provided at the end of the 12th meeting and, subsequently, reported in its minutes. In this first brain-storming session about absolute truth, Christian epistemology and the desire for openness, the conversational community formulated the statement that ‘deep down the question is what attitude we, as Christians, should adopt towards truth and towards our fellow man’. The statement continued, ‘exuding that we, as
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