Christian Character Education and the Personality Competence of Christian Religious Education Teachers: A Philippians 4:8 Perspective at SDN 138429 Tanjungbalai
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study explores the relationship between Christian character education and the personality competence of Christian Religious Education (PAK) teachers, framed through the ethical vision of Philippians 4:8 and examined within the context of SDN 138429 Tanjungbalai, where one PAK teacher serves 19 Christian students. The study aims to understand how the teacher’s personality, shaped by spiritual maturity, moral integrity, and daily embodiment of biblical virtues, contributes to the formation of students’ Christian character in a public-school environment. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) served as the dominant methodological approach, supported by complementary semi-structured interviews with the PAK teacher and a selection of students. The SLR synthesized theoretical and empirical studies on teacher personality, virtue ethics, and Christian moral formation, while interview data provided contextual nuances regarding daily interactions, students’ moral perceptions, and the teacher’s pedagogical strategies. The findings reveal that the eight virtue qualities in Philippians 4:8, truth, honor, justice, purity, loveliness, commendability, excellence, and praiseworthiness, function as a comprehensive moral compass for Christian educators. The integration of biblical virtues enables the teacher to create a nurturing, ethical, and spiritually meaningful learning environment. The study concludes that Christian character development in school settings relies significantly on teachers who consistently embody scriptural virtues, highlighting the need for Christian educators to cultivate personal spirituality, emotional maturity, and moral integrity as foundational components of pedagogical practice.
Downloads
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Afdal, A., Suya, M., & Nurihsan, J. (2020). Teacher personality competence and its impact on students’ moral behavior in school settings. Journal of Educational Development 8(3), 112-123.
Banks, R. A., & Ledbetter, B. M. (2018). Teaching for spiritual formation: Integrating faith and character in the classroom. Baker Academic.
Bao, D., & Lam, S. (2018). Teacher–student relationships and character growth in primary schools. Educational Psychology Review 30(4), 1273-1292.
Barclay, J. M. G. (2017). Paul and the gift. Eerdmans.
Bass, D. B. (2016). Christian formation in teaching: Practices, virtues, and curricular life. InterVarsity Press.
Carr, D. (2018). Virtue ethics and the professional role of teachers. Journal of Character Education 14(1), 29-42.
Dye, L. (2021). The role of spirituality in shaping teacher identity and practice. Journal of Religion & Education, 48(2), 264–282.
Elliott, M. (2019). Faithful living: Biblical ethics for Christian education. Zondervan Academic.
Groome, T. (2019). Christian religious education: Foundations and practices (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Harrison, J., & Liddell, M. (2022). Spiritual competence in faith-based education: A framework for teacher development. International Journal of Christianity & Education 26(1), 45-62.
Hodge, D. R., & Strickland, J. (2016). Spiritual virtues and moral character in Christian pedagogy. Journal of Moral Education 45(3), 271-285.
Kärtner, J. (2015). The role of moral exemplars in children’s character development. Child Development Perspectives 9(1), 51-55.
Lumpkin, A. (2016). Teacher character: The cornerstone of moral education. The Clearing House 89(5), 197-202.
Miller, J. P. (2020). The holistic curriculum: Integrating heart, mind, and spirit in education (3rd ed.). University of Toronto Press.
O’Connell, D. (2018). Biblically grounded character education: A Pauline perspective. Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies 3(2), 147-163.
Park, M., & Kim, E. (2019). Understanding teacher personality as a predictor of student growth. Teaching and Teacher Education 78, 240-252.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2014). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook of moral psychology. Oxford University Press.
Roth, A., & Brooks, L. (2020). Modeling virtues in the classroom: How teacher behavior shapes moral learning. Educational Theory 70(4), 499-517.
Stott, J. R. W. (2017). The message of Philippians. InterVarsity Press.
Tigchelaar, H., & le Cornu, R. (2023). Teacher identity, moral integrity, and the transformation of classroom culture. Journal of Education and Human Development 12(1), 34-52.
Wright, N. T. (2016). Paul and his moral vision. SPCK Publishing.