“Do Not Be Concerned Only About Yourself…”

Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary book sets forth the goal of introducing and critically addressing a new paradigm of thought based on the concepts of transcending, transcendence, and overlap as well as defining these terms in reference to children, their personality, and socialization. For many readers the concept of transcendence is mainly identified with the fields of theology or philosophy. This book seeks to demonstrate that the concept of transcendence is intricately connected with psychology, the philosophy of education, and general pedagogy. It aims to discover unity in plurality and to define the term “transcendence” in relation to the educational process. The author raises the question whether transcendence (“not being con cerned o nly with one’s own self”) is a concept of cross-curricular education and whether every school subject is able to develop the transcendent dimension of children, an important dimension which the author calls the competence of higher-order thinking. Here a new pedagogical paradigm is defined with the support of some Czech authors (Helus, Spilková, Pato?ka, Pelcová, etc.) and several quotations from the Czech curriculum; thus, a careful reflection upon this significant work will allow the reader to recognize that this new paradigm is applicable in any country of the world where the state has a primary interest in promoting the flourishing of human values and pursuing that which is considered good by society. Religious pedagogy is embedded in the entire array of fields aimed at developing the transcendent dimension of children, and therefore it plays an equal role within the overall framework of the education of children.