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2003-04 Workshop on Teaching and Learning for
Pre-Tenure Religion Faculty at
Colleges and Universities

Director:
Patricia O'Connell Killen, Pacific Lutheran University
Staff:
Richard Ascough, Queen's Theological College
Carolyn Jones Medine, University of Georgia
Glenn Yocum, Whittier College
Workshop Librarian/Resource Person:
S. Craig Churchill, Abilene Christian University

Wabash Center Facilitator:
Tom Pearson

Participants and Project Descriptions:

Loriliai Biernacki, University of Colorado Boulder
“The Connections between metaphor and Tolerance in the Religious Studies Classroom”
Gain a better understanding of how the use of metaphors structures our approach to unfamiliar traditions, in order to generate within the classroom a genuine appreciation and tolerance for foreign, unfamiliar religious traditions.

Chris Frilingos, Michigan State University
“The Bible as Scripture”
Develop a new course in which students will learn: how to read biblical materials from a critical perspective; how to identify their own assumptions about biblical texts (to examine the relationship between literature and cultural concerns such as community, authority, and self-definition); and how ancient religious communities labored to fashion “scripture” from the assortment of biblical texts.

Natalie D. Gummer, Beloit College
“Representations of Religions on the Internet: Combining a Pedagogy and Research”
Develop a course that examines the representation of religious traditions on the internet, through the ongoing production by students of a site that provides categorized and annotated links to a broad range of sites relevant to the study of religion (thereby making a significant contribution to internet resources on the study of religion, themselves).

Anita M. Houck, Saint Mary’s College
“You Are here: A Model for Reflection in Religious Studies”
Develop the model of “the circle of praxis” to help students integrate the personal search for meaning with the academic study of religion and the goals of liberal education, as well as to develop new means of assessment, encourage peer-centered learning, and connect the classroom to the wider society.

Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre, Luther College
“The Bible in the Public Square”
Develop a course that fosters student-centered rhetorical and ethical analysis of how the Bible is used in various contemporary American public discourses.

Shane Kirkpatrick, Anderson University
“Outcomes Assessment from the Bottom Up: Building Assessment into an Introductory Bible Course to Facilitate Assessment in Majors and Programs”
Revise a course by understanding the course’s role in the majors and minors program for which it is required, developing a set of learning activities that help the course fulfill this role, and writing a new syllabus for the course.

Matthew T. Mathews, Calvin College
“Reading the Christian Tradition Critically and Constructively: A Project in Feminist Theology”
Redesign a feminist theology course by incorporating teaching methods from the insights and commitments of feminist theory and pedagogy, and developing a reader of primary texts that invites the students to engage in the study of feminist theology in a way that engages both critically and appreciatively both the history of Christian theology and the contributions that feminit theology is making to it.

William C. McDonough, College of St. Catherine
“What it Means to be a Male Teacher of Virtue Ethics at a Catholic Women’s College”
To develop a new syllabus for a Christian ethics class in order to become a more credible male teacher of virtue ethics in a classroom of women.

James Miller, Queen’s University
“A Streaming Video Website for Teaching about Contemporary North American Daoist Cultivation”
Research the pedagogical issues involved in the development of interactive self-directed education al resources, produce a streaming video multimedia website of interviews with contemporary North American Daoist practitioners, and learn how to incorporate this web page as an effective pedagogical resource in courses on Chinese religions.

Laura Muench-Nasrallah, Occidental College
“Redesign and Course Development for ‘The Bible and Colonialism’”
Revise a course called “The Bible and Colonialism,” to make it more interdisciplinary and to introduce pedagogical innovations concerned with “the ethics of interpretation,” critical self-reflection in the classroom, assessment, development of a course website, use of the cultural resources of Los Angeles.

Nathan B. Rein, Ursinus College
“Active Learning and Classroom Research in ‘Introduction to world Religions’”
Revise a course by incorporating active-learning and collaborative-learning strategies, developing “low-stakes” writing exercises, and devising subject-appropriate assessment methods that can provide feedback throughout the semester on students’ comprehension and the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

Laura Amanda Stivers, Pfeiffer University
“Servant Leadership and the Christian Tradition”
Develop a new course that includes a service learning component in order to connect the university’s emphases on its Methodist roots to the Christian tradition of servant leadership.

Margarita M.W. Suárez, Meredith College
“Empowering Women as Critical Thinkers”
discover and experiment with new pedagogical methodologies in order to encourage students’ critical engagement with the course material, including discussion aides, active and collaborative learning activities, service learning models, and more extensive use of technology.

Sarah Taylor, Northwestern University
“'Making It Come Alive’: Integrative Mind-Body Approaches to Teaching Religion”
Edit and publish a special journal issue on mind-body connectivity as it related to developing more integrative pedagogical approaches to the study of religion.

Sufia M. Uddin, University of Vermont
“Writing to Learn in the Study of Islam”
Incorporate more effective writing assignments into courses, teaching students how to write in the study of religion, and using writing as a means of teaching understanding about Islam.

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