the field of religious education. But for the same reason all has most emphatic application to those who would be leaders in this field. The training of such leaders is the most distinctive feature in what the Hartford School is doing for the training of Sunday school teachers. The rank and file of the army of Sunday school workers will receive their training and their inspiration largely from the various leaders with whom they come in contact. The churches are calling more and more loudly for young men and women of high ability and thorough professional training, who shall enter this field of the Sunday school as a life-work. The demand is far greater than the supply. There is also a growing feeling on the part of churches that ministers themselves should be thoroughly equipped along these lines of religious education. To meet both these needs the Hartford School offers an advanced course which is open only to college graduates, which gives three years of professional training, and which leads to the degree of Bachelor of Religious Pedagogy. By its own courses of study and by its affiliation with the Hartford Theological Seminary it covers all branches of the preparation necessary for successful professional leadership in this field. A training like this must be had by many if the church is to make even a beginning in meeting the opportunities open to it in religious education.

There are other fields which require leaders, but where so extended a course of educational preparation is not necessary. This school therefore, offers also a three years' course, which is open to graduates of high schools and normal schools, and which aims to prepare both young men and women for the many salaried positions in the lay work of the church, where teaching is a distinctive but not the sole feature. Such are to be leaders in their respective positions, though not in so large fields as the preceding.

In order also to meet directly something of its obligation toward the great body of Sunday school workers, this institution offers a one year's course for volunteer church workers to which any one may be admitted who is recommended by pastor or superintendent.

These various courses constitute a fully graded system, which has in view both the average Sunday school teacher, who wishes light and guidance, but who has little opportunity for special study, and also the young man or young woman, with an extended general educational preparation already, who wishes to obtain the highest and best special equipment possible. To meet the needs of both these classes, and of all between,-nothing less than this is what the Hartford School of Religious Pedagogy is striving to accomplish in the training of Sunday school teachers.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER-TRAINING ACCOMPLISHED BY THE INSTITUTE AND TRAINING SCHOOL OF YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS

JOHN W. HANSEL

PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE AND TRAINING SCHOOL OF YOUNG MEN'S

CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

It is the purpose of this paper to report on some of the ways in which the Young Men's Christian Associations and the Association Training Schools through the Associations, are contributing toward the training of lay Bible teachers.

The Institute and Training School is not a school for the training of Sunday school teachers. Its contribution to teacher-training is, therefore, an indirect one-a sort of by-product, as it were.

The purpose of the Association Training School is the enlistment and training of men for the general secretaryship and the physical and other directorships of the Young Men's Christian Associations.

The general secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association is not primarily a teacher, but an organizer and director of forces in a world-wide Christian movement. The aim of the movement is the salvation and fourfold development of young men. The training of the secretary proceeds upon the principle that physical, intellectual, social, and moral instruction must be co-ordinated with spiritual development in the building of the symmetrical man.

One of the most important and effective of the association activities to-day is its Bible-study department. There has been a phenomenal growth in this department of association effort during the past decade. One hundred and thirty-two associations report an increase over last year of 448 classes, enrolling 6,312 students; an increase per association of more than three classes and nearly 50 students. More than 60 associations have organized teacher-training classes. One association conducts a class for teacher-training, with an enrollment of 40. men from as many churches. Each member of the class conducts a class for teacher-training in his respective church. Another association has two similar classes and is furnishing quite a number of teachers for the churches. Yet another, with an enrollment of more than 1,300 men in Bible classes, states that 25 to 30 per cent of the students are teaching in the Sunday schools, shops, and homes of the city.

The training school and the associations, through their summer schools for college students and for volunteer workers in city, town, and railroad associations, have done valuable work in the promotion of Bible-study and in training Bible teachers. The association has been

one of the leading factors in the promotion of Bible-study among the students in our institutions of higher learning during the past twenty years. The association Bible classes in the universities and colleges are taught by students, who are in this way receiving valuable training as teachers. Many of these young men continue to teach the Bible in the home and in the Sunday school after they have entered professional or business life.

One of the primary aims of the Institute and Training School is to fit its students for the organization and conduct of Bible-study derartments in the associations. In planning the courses of study in the Bible-study department, while the subject of teacher-training has been given an important place in the thought of the faculty, the controlling consideration has been how to make the largest possible contribution toward the development of the character and faith of the secretary.

In its Bible-study the school deals entirely with the English Bible, It seeks to give the student, first of all, a mastery of the facts of the text; to make him acquainted with the history of God's dealings with men through the generations, and especially his revelation to man through Jesus Christ. The curricula, as at present planned, offer to men looking forward to managerial positions in the association the following Bible-work. (Al' of this work is inductive, using as largely as possible the Bible itself as a text.) First, a course of 20 hours in Biblical introduction; second, a course of 60 hours in the Gospels-the life and teachings of Jesus; third, a course of 30 hours in history and literature of the early church, with an additional 10 hours in the teachings of the apostles; fourth, a course of 60 hours in Old Testament history and literature; fifth, a course of 20 hours in personal religious work. It is the aim of this course to give the student a clear knowledge of the essentials of the Christian faith, and to inspire and direct him in religious work for individuals; sixth, a course of 30 hours in inductive book studies. In addition to these courses in Bible-study, there is a course of 20 hours in Biblical pedagogy; a course of 60 hours in church history; a course of psychology and a course in sociology, each of which makes valuable contributions toward the fitting of the teacher. The training school course, as a whole, equips the student for efficient service as a normal teacher and coach to lay Bible teachers and leaders in Christian work.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER-TRAINING ACCOMPLISHED BY THE ALBERTA SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

CHARLES HERBERT HUESTIS, M.A..

PASTOR MC DOUGALL METHODIST CHURCH; EDMONTON, PRESIDENT ALBERTA SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

The problem of religious education and its relation to education in general, the problem of the child and his nature, the problem of the subject-matter of teaching and its application to the needs of the child, and the problem of the teacher's own personality, seem to be the main things to be taken into consideration in the training of teachers. When, however, we looked abroad for something that might serve us as a model, we were able to find no course of study that seemed to be sufficiently broad and pedagogical to meet our needs. The following scheme was therefore formulated:

IV. Old Testament Literature. (Half course.)

V. The Prophets of Israel.

VI. The Life of Christ.

VII. The Founding of the Christian Church. (Half course.)
VIII. Modern Missions. (Half course.)

IX. Paul's Life and Letters.

X. Educational Method.

XI. Primary and Junior Course.

XII. Sunday School Methods.- Superintendent's Course.

Students who desire to proceed to a diploma must take three of the above courses of study. Courses I and II are required, and form the major of every graduate course. Courses III to XII are elective, any one of which may be selected. The selected course shall be known as the student's minor. There are four books in each course, and as the study is supposed to extend over the space of two years, this means that six books are to be read each year. Of course the student may finish the reading as rapidly as he please, but it is advised that at least two years be spent in the reading. There are no regular examinations; that is to say, no papers are set. But the student is required to give two proofs of his knowledge of the nature of the subjects, and his ability to teach:

1. A review of from one to three thousand words, according to the nature of the subject, upon each book read.

2. On completing the full course of reading, a trial at teaching before a committee.

The educational department of Alberta Sunday School Association, in adopting this plan of teacher-training, believes that it marks a distinct advance upon Sunday school normal courses. It is, we believe, the first serious attempt on the part of an association to provide Sunday school workers with a curriculum of study upon truly modern lines, that they can take up at their own homes, and which will make them, in so far as reading can do so, competent teachers of the Bible to children. The following items of excellence may be noted:

It is comprehensive. The required courses cover the whole ground, while the electives enable the student to specialize on some subject of particular interest and importance.

It is thorough and scholarly. Nothing short of mastery of the books so that the student can express their content in his own words will be accepted. It does not even remotely suggest that any kind of outline course of child study and the Bible will do for teachers in the Sunday school, when the most vigorous application is necessary to qualify teachers in the public school.

It is stimulating. While none of the books are destructive in their nature, all are in sympathy with the historical study of the Bible and the genetic study of the child. The text-books are the best that can be obtained at a price not too great for the average teacher, and have been selected after consultation with leading Bible teachers and educationalists in the country.

It is fair. No course is too hard for the average person of, say, eighteen years, while every course is strong enough to make desultory study unsatisfactory. On the completion of his graduate course, the student will have a knowledge of the Bible and the principles of education superior to most of his fellows, and a sense of fitness that will be an inspiration.