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12: Education Issue

Back to Storytelling: An Interview with Godly Play Trainer, Gertrud Nelson

By & &

October 6, 2008

(Introduction by Cindy Spencer, Children and Youth Ministries Coordinator at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, WA)

Developed by Jerome Berryman and rooted in the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori, Godly Play is a method of faith formation that is based on the work of Sofia Cavalletti, founder of the Maria Montessori Association for the Religious Formation of the Child. Berryman, an Episcopal priest and former headmaster of a Montessori school, first imagined the idea of Godly Play while working as a chaplain at Texas Children’s Hospital in the early mid-1970s and then formed a model Montessori classroom at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas. Godly Play is used in all parts of the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Spain, Australia, Tanzania and many other countries around the world.

About the Authors

Becky Crook
Becky Crook currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She occasionally teaches English as a second language, works as an independent editor, and continues to improve her German. She writes poetry and short stories (in English), and her essay, “Reading Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita while Dating an Atheist in Seattle” is featured in our new book, “God is Dead” and I Don't Feel So Good Myself: Theological Engagments with the New Atheism.

Cindy Spencer
Cindy Spencer works as the Children & Youth Ministries Coordinator at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle.

Gertrud Nelson
Gertrud Mueller Nelson was a Montessori teacher and a high school teacher before raising three children. As an artist she is known for her stained glass, clip art, and silver design. She studied at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. She has published nine books and innumerable articles, and has illustrated eleven books. She speaks and gives keynotes, retreats, and workshops internationally. Visit her website at www.gertrudnelson.com.