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Abstract

This article explores a relationship which is related to recognition, hospitality, and the classroom, but does not get a lot of attention: the relationship between the teacher and the subject of study. How does the teacher’s stance towards knowledge affect relationships between students, the relationship between the student and the teacher, and the relationship between the student and the content? In what ways can the recognition of ones’ own finitude invite students into a hospitable (i.e. humble) relationship with each other and with the subject of study? My argument is that through interior prayer, as a way to prepare for hospitality in the classroom, a pedagogical posture of humility may aid in resisting a tendency to seek dominance over the subject of study and control over the learning environment in order to begin to welcome the contributions of the stranger (ideas or students) into the classroom.

Keywords

curiosity hospitality humility John Baptist de la Salle prayer recognition

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John Baptist de la Salle and interior prayer: Humility as an antidote to curiositas in the hospitable classroom

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