236 Chapter 7 concerning the formation of Christian teachers for a fragmented society, and asked itself: ‘Which idea of knowing truth should broadly, (w)holistically formed students learn to sustainably connect critical openness and critical faithfulness in super-diverse classrooms?’ It really was a topic that emerged from within the conversational community: ‘We have gradually noticed that tension can then arise between one’s own understanding of truth and the views that others, for example, students and their parents, hold about truth’ (from the minutes of the 13th meeting). From the 11th to the 14th meeting, all four theological voices were heard; however, the order in which the voices came up was not steered by formal theology. Regarding the topic of epistemology, the movement in the research was one from practice to theory. Notwithstanding, this practice, in this case, also fully included the voice of normative theology. The participants in both the insider group and the outsider group all shared a strong belief in the Bible’s truth claims, which was not only proven by their responses to the affirmations presented above (7.1.3) but also by the way they handled the Bible in their meetings. Therefore, to do justice to these dynamics, it seems appropriate to begin this analysis with the voice of normative theology (7.2.1), to then move on to the voices of operant (7.2.2) and espoused (7.2.3) theology, and to end with the voice of formal theology (7.2.4), in which Beech’s (2021) relational epistemology indicated the way the conversational community wanted to go with regard to the citizenship formation of trainee teachers. 7.2.1 The voice of normative theology The most central meeting concerning the deliberations on epistemology, the 13th, was opened by a devotion by one member of the outsider group. As the minutes reveal, he started off by referring to the meeting’s central topic, stating that ‘all members of the conversational community have to deal with diversity’. He went on: ‘In such a context, the truth question can lead to a struggle: Are my beliefs correct? Can I impose them on others?’ From this perspective, he then led the community in a lecture on 1 John 5: 1–13, afterwards explaining this choice as follows: This part of Scripture pertains to faith and its fruits. This faith overcomes the world, as verse 4 says. However, in this context, it is really about the core of this faith. Amidst a multitude of views, much appears to be abandonable. What is unnegotiable is the Son of God as the means of salvation. The unchanging goal of Christian education is faith in the Name of the Son of God.
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