Teaching Religion
Scholarship On Teaching - Topic: Teaching Religion - 537 results
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This paper addresses a perennial question of the religious studies and, indeed, of most liberal arts classrooms: How do I get my students to read texts thoroughly and with understanding? After briefly reviewing the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data, I argue that what teachers desire is not just basic literacy, but fluency, which is the capacity to read analytically (and, for me, appreciatively), deploying the strategies of reading ...
This paper addresses a perennial question of the religious studies and, indeed, of most liberal arts classrooms: How do I get my students to read texts thoroughly and with understanding? After briefly reviewing the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data, I argue that what teachers desire is not just basic literacy, but fluency, which is the capacity to read analytically (and, for me, appreciatively), deploying the strategies of reading ...
Additional Info:
This paper addresses a perennial question of the religious studies and, indeed, of most liberal arts classrooms: How do I get my students to read texts thoroughly and with understanding? After briefly reviewing the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data, I argue that what teachers desire is not just basic literacy, but fluency, which is the capacity to read analytically (and, for me, appreciatively), deploying the strategies of reading in a high process, improvisational mode. I unpack the elements and efficacy of one close reading classroom teaching practice I use, guided annotation, as a strategy for developing fluency. I argue that close analysis of a short, intentionally chosen passage with a guiding question builds towards reading fluency. Annotating short passages, singly and then in relation to other passages, with the author's and disciplinary concerns as the foci, practices the skills that build fluency. Annotation is akin to playing scales in music, repeating a baseline task of reading; working slowly and simply at first, but then with increasing speed and complexity, moving the student towards reading whole texts well.
This paper addresses a perennial question of the religious studies and, indeed, of most liberal arts classrooms: How do I get my students to read texts thoroughly and with understanding? After briefly reviewing the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data, I argue that what teachers desire is not just basic literacy, but fluency, which is the capacity to read analytically (and, for me, appreciatively), deploying the strategies of reading in a high process, improvisational mode. I unpack the elements and efficacy of one close reading classroom teaching practice I use, guided annotation, as a strategy for developing fluency. I argue that close analysis of a short, intentionally chosen passage with a guiding question builds towards reading fluency. Annotating short passages, singly and then in relation to other passages, with the author's and disciplinary concerns as the foci, practices the skills that build fluency. Annotation is akin to playing scales in music, repeating a baseline task of reading; working slowly and simply at first, but then with increasing speed and complexity, moving the student towards reading whole texts well.


Qualitative Research in Theological Education: Pedagogy in Practice
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Note
Foreword
Articles
Ch. 1 Identification Questions
Ch. 2 Critical Representations
Ch. 3 On Teaching Religion: A Symposium
Ch. 4 The Voice of Theology: Rethinking the Personal and the Objective in Christian Pedagogy
Ch. 5 Three-Ring Circus at a Combustible Crossroads: Teaching Religion as Core Curriculum
Ch. 6 Moments of Transformation: The Process of Teaching and Learning
Ch. 7 "Stumbling Along between the Immensities": Reflections on Teaching in the Study of Religion
Ch. 8 Postscript
Responses and Rejoinders
Ch. 9 Ethics, Biblical and Denominational: A Response to Mark Smith
Ch. 10 Pederasty and Romans 1:27: A Response to Mark Smith
Ch. 11 Paul and Ancient Bisexuality: A Rejoinder
Book Reviews
Abe, Masao, Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue
Boccaccini, Gabriele, Middle Judaism: Jewish Thought, 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
Bounds, Elizabeth M., Coming Together, Coming Apart: Religion, Community and Modernity
Bynum, Caroline Walker, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336
Campbell, June, Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism
Dawson, Lorne L. ed. Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements
Deutsch, Nathaniel, The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism, and Merkabah Mysticism
Gardell, Mattias, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam
Goodblatt, David, The Monarchic Principle: Studies in Jewish Self-Government in Antiquity
Ingraffia, Brian, Postmodern Theory and Biblical Theology: Vanquishing God's Shadow
Katz, Jonathan G., Dreams, Sufism and Sainthood: The Visionary Career of Muhammad al-Zawawi
Keenan, John P., The Gospel of Mark: A Mahayana Reading
Kuschel, Karl-Josef, Abraham: A Sign of Hope for Jews, Christians and Muslims
Lindley, Susan Hill, You Have Stept Out of Your Place: A History of Women and Religion in America
Lucas, Phillip Charles, The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy of MANS from New Age to Orthodoxy
Mugambi, J.N.K., From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War
Parkhill, Thomas, The Forrest Setting in Hindu Epics: Princes, Sages, Demons
Peterson, Richard T., Democratic Philosophy and the Politics of Knowledge
Russell, L. M., and J. S Clarkson, eds., Dictionary of Feminist Theologies
Schuon, Frithijof, The Transfiguration of Man
Villa-Vicencio, Charles, The Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics
Books Received
Index To Volume
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Note
Foreword
Articles
Ch. 1 Identification Questions
Ch. 2 Critical Representations
Ch. 3 On Teaching Religion: A Symposium
Ch. 4 The Voice of Theology: Rethinking the Personal and the Objective in Christian Pedagogy
Ch. 5 Three-Ring Circus at a Combustible Crossroads: Teaching Religion as Core Curriculum
Ch. 6 Moments of Transformation: The Process of Teaching and Learning
Ch. 7 "Stumbling Along between the Immensities": Reflections on Teaching in the Study of Religion
Ch. 8 Postscript
Responses and Rejoinders
Ch. 9 Ethics, Biblical and Denominational: A Response to Mark Smith
Ch. 10 Pederasty and Romans 1:27: A Response to Mark Smith
Ch. 11 Paul and Ancient Bisexuality: A Rejoinder
Book Reviews
Abe, Masao, Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue
Boccaccini, Gabriele, Middle Judaism: Jewish Thought, 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
Bounds, Elizabeth M., Coming Together, Coming Apart: Religion, Community and Modernity
Bynum, Caroline Walker, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336
Campbell, June, Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism
Dawson, Lorne L. ed. Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements
Deutsch, Nathaniel, The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism, and Merkabah Mysticism
Gardell, Mattias, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam
Goodblatt, David, The Monarchic Principle: Studies in Jewish Self-Government in Antiquity
Ingraffia, Brian, Postmodern Theory and Biblical Theology: Vanquishing God's Shadow
Katz, Jonathan G., Dreams, Sufism and Sainthood: The Visionary Career of Muhammad al-Zawawi
Keenan, John P., The Gospel of Mark: A Mahayana Reading
Kuschel, Karl-Josef, Abraham: A Sign of Hope for Jews, Christians and Muslims
Lindley, Susan Hill, You Have Stept Out of Your Place: A History of Women and Religion in America
Lucas, Phillip Charles, The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy of MANS from New Age to Orthodoxy
Mugambi, J.N.K., From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War
Parkhill, Thomas, The Forrest Setting in Hindu Epics: Princes, Sages, Demons
Peterson, Richard T., Democratic Philosophy and the Politics of Knowledge
Russell, L. M., and J. S Clarkson, eds., Dictionary of Feminist Theologies
Schuon, Frithijof, The Transfiguration of Man
Villa-Vicencio, Charles, The Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics
Books Received
Index To Volume
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: a worksheet to help students place each new theological text into its broader conversation partners.
One page Teaching Tactic: a worksheet to help students place each new theological text into its broader conversation partners.
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One page Teaching Tactic: a worksheet to help students place each new theological text into its broader conversation partners.
One page Teaching Tactic: a worksheet to help students place each new theological text into its broader conversation partners.
Additional Info:
This essay analyzes a critical incident that took place in a hybrid distance-learning Hebrew language class that was adapting interactive, immersion-style, kinesthetic pedagogy during the week-long face-to-face intensive portion of the class – including Total Physical Response techniques in which students respond to the language with whole-body actions, entering into the world created by the language and the particular biblical text. Memorization, performance, interactive games, songs, and skits also contribute to ...
This essay analyzes a critical incident that took place in a hybrid distance-learning Hebrew language class that was adapting interactive, immersion-style, kinesthetic pedagogy during the week-long face-to-face intensive portion of the class – including Total Physical Response techniques in which students respond to the language with whole-body actions, entering into the world created by the language and the particular biblical text. Memorization, performance, interactive games, songs, and skits also contribute to ...
Additional Info:
This essay analyzes a critical incident that took place in a hybrid distance-learning Hebrew language class that was adapting interactive, immersion-style, kinesthetic pedagogy during the week-long face-to-face intensive portion of the class – including Total Physical Response techniques in which students respond to the language with whole-body actions, entering into the world created by the language and the particular biblical text. Memorization, performance, interactive games, songs, and skits also contribute to the immersion-style learning environment. A snafu on the final day of the week led to a serendipitous solution that demonstrated Parker Palmer's idea of subject centered pedagogy. A brief description and analysis of the critical incident is followed by two short responses.
This essay analyzes a critical incident that took place in a hybrid distance-learning Hebrew language class that was adapting interactive, immersion-style, kinesthetic pedagogy during the week-long face-to-face intensive portion of the class – including Total Physical Response techniques in which students respond to the language with whole-body actions, entering into the world created by the language and the particular biblical text. Memorization, performance, interactive games, songs, and skits also contribute to the immersion-style learning environment. A snafu on the final day of the week led to a serendipitous solution that demonstrated Parker Palmer's idea of subject centered pedagogy. A brief description and analysis of the critical incident is followed by two short responses.
Additional Info:
This essay provides a brief overview of an educational board game developed by the author for use in upper division Old Testament classes. The game, extending in stages across the semester, heightens student learning by requiring strategic thinking about various historical, political, and geographical relationships. Appendices and links to online material provide full details necessary to adapt the game in local classrooms.
This essay provides a brief overview of an educational board game developed by the author for use in upper division Old Testament classes. The game, extending in stages across the semester, heightens student learning by requiring strategic thinking about various historical, political, and geographical relationships. Appendices and links to online material provide full details necessary to adapt the game in local classrooms.
Additional Info:
This essay provides a brief overview of an educational board game developed by the author for use in upper division Old Testament classes. The game, extending in stages across the semester, heightens student learning by requiring strategic thinking about various historical, political, and geographical relationships. Appendices and links to online material provide full details necessary to adapt the game in local classrooms.
This essay provides a brief overview of an educational board game developed by the author for use in upper division Old Testament classes. The game, extending in stages across the semester, heightens student learning by requiring strategic thinking about various historical, political, and geographical relationships. Appendices and links to online material provide full details necessary to adapt the game in local classrooms.
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One page Teaching Tactic: students write tweet 140 character summaries of the week’s reading.
One page Teaching Tactic: students write tweet 140 character summaries of the week’s reading.
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One page Teaching Tactic: students write tweet 140 character summaries of the week’s reading.
One page Teaching Tactic: students write tweet 140 character summaries of the week’s reading.
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This article considers the “create your own religion” or “fictive religion” assignment as a pedagogical tool, contextualizing it within the scholarship of teaching and learning, and positioning it as a tool for broad adoption in a variety of courses. I argue that we ought to conceptualize the fictive religion assignment as an instructional game, and make use of scholarship on teaching through games as a foundation for my analysis. While ...
This article considers the “create your own religion” or “fictive religion” assignment as a pedagogical tool, contextualizing it within the scholarship of teaching and learning, and positioning it as a tool for broad adoption in a variety of courses. I argue that we ought to conceptualize the fictive religion assignment as an instructional game, and make use of scholarship on teaching through games as a foundation for my analysis. While ...
Additional Info:
This article considers the “create your own religion” or “fictive religion” assignment as a pedagogical tool, contextualizing it within the scholarship of teaching and learning, and positioning it as a tool for broad adoption in a variety of courses. I argue that we ought to conceptualize the fictive religion assignment as an instructional game, and make use of scholarship on teaching through games as a foundation for my analysis. While I offer the example of my own fictive religion assignment as a case study, the overall argument is a theoretical one, namely that the assignment works because of the nature of games.
This article considers the “create your own religion” or “fictive religion” assignment as a pedagogical tool, contextualizing it within the scholarship of teaching and learning, and positioning it as a tool for broad adoption in a variety of courses. I argue that we ought to conceptualize the fictive religion assignment as an instructional game, and make use of scholarship on teaching through games as a foundation for my analysis. While I offer the example of my own fictive religion assignment as a case study, the overall argument is a theoretical one, namely that the assignment works because of the nature of games.
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One-page Teaching Tactic that sends students walking around campus to take photos that fit prompts sent by the professor using What'sApp.
One-page Teaching Tactic that sends students walking around campus to take photos that fit prompts sent by the professor using What'sApp.
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One-page Teaching Tactic that sends students walking around campus to take photos that fit prompts sent by the professor using What'sApp.
One-page Teaching Tactic that sends students walking around campus to take photos that fit prompts sent by the professor using What'sApp.
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One page Teaching Tactic: an in class exercise in which students to apply course material to a local issue on the college campus.
One page Teaching Tactic: an in class exercise in which students to apply course material to a local issue on the college campus.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: an in class exercise in which students to apply course material to a local issue on the college campus.
One page Teaching Tactic: an in class exercise in which students to apply course material to a local issue on the college campus.
Additional Info:
The article discusses two versions of a complex role‐playing exercise in undergraduate courses on Buddhism. The pedagogical exercise demonstrated how imagination cultivated through creative writing could be used to enhance learning about history, culture, and religion. Students were also challenged to generate an understanding of religious practice that arose from both cognitive and sensory learning. The project showed that by interacting with a form of engaged pedagogy that worked ...
The article discusses two versions of a complex role‐playing exercise in undergraduate courses on Buddhism. The pedagogical exercise demonstrated how imagination cultivated through creative writing could be used to enhance learning about history, culture, and religion. Students were also challenged to generate an understanding of religious practice that arose from both cognitive and sensory learning. The project showed that by interacting with a form of engaged pedagogy that worked ...
Additional Info:
The article discusses two versions of a complex role‐playing exercise in undergraduate courses on Buddhism. The pedagogical exercise demonstrated how imagination cultivated through creative writing could be used to enhance learning about history, culture, and religion. Students were also challenged to generate an understanding of religious practice that arose from both cognitive and sensory learning. The project showed that by interacting with a form of engaged pedagogy that worked with the imagination, without leaving the classroom students developed a deep care for and active engagement with communities located spatially and temporally far from home. With empathy and critical reflection, they came to see how religious meaning is constructed at a communal level through embodied action and emotional sensibility.
The article discusses two versions of a complex role‐playing exercise in undergraduate courses on Buddhism. The pedagogical exercise demonstrated how imagination cultivated through creative writing could be used to enhance learning about history, culture, and religion. Students were also challenged to generate an understanding of religious practice that arose from both cognitive and sensory learning. The project showed that by interacting with a form of engaged pedagogy that worked with the imagination, without leaving the classroom students developed a deep care for and active engagement with communities located spatially and temporally far from home. With empathy and critical reflection, they came to see how religious meaning is constructed at a communal level through embodied action and emotional sensibility.
Additional Info:
This volume, like its series companions, goes beyond simple "how-to" to discuss the implementation of service-learning within religious studies and what that discipline contributes to the pedagogy of service learning. The volume contains both theoretical and pedagogical essays by scholar-teachers in religious studies education, plus a resource guide. (From the Publisher)
This volume, like its series companions, goes beyond simple "how-to" to discuss the implementation of service-learning within religious studies and what that discipline contributes to the pedagogy of service learning. The volume contains both theoretical and pedagogical essays by scholar-teachers in religious studies education, plus a resource guide. (From the Publisher)
Additional Info:
This volume, like its series companions, goes beyond simple "how-to" to discuss the implementation of service-learning within religious studies and what that discipline contributes to the pedagogy of service learning. The volume contains both theoretical and pedagogical essays by scholar-teachers in religious studies education, plus a resource guide. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Foreward (Raymond Brady Williams)
About This Series (Edward Zlotkowski)
Introduction (Richard Devine, Joseph A. Favazza, and F. Michael McLain)
Part I: Service-Learning and the Discipline of Religious Studies
ch. 1 Service-Learning and the Dilemma of Religious Studies: Descriptive or Normative? (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 Creating the Engaged University: Service-Learning, Religious Studies, and Institutional Mission (Charles R. Strain)
Part II:Service-Learning and Its Communities
ch. 3 Making Meaning: Reflection on Community, Service, and Learning (Keith Morton)
ch. 4 On En/Countering the Other (Elizabeth M. Bounds, Barbara A.B. Patterson, and Tinna Pippin)
ch. 5 Service-Learning and Community Partnerships: Curricula of Mutuality (Peter M. Antoci and Sandra K. Smith Speck)
ch. 6 Expanding the Horizon of Engagement: Pioneering Work at the University of Denver (M. Elizabeth Blissman)
Part III Course Chapters
ch. 7 Toward an Assessment-Based Approach to Service-Learning Course Design (Thomas G. McGowan)
ch. 8 Service-Learning in an Introduction to Theology Course (Robert Masson)
ch. 9 "God and Human Suffering" as a Service -Learning Course (Chris Johnson)
ch. 10 "Religion and Social Engagement: Labor and Business Ethics" (John Leahy and Kim Bobo)
ch. 11 Making a Difference with Service-Learning: "Christian Ethis and Modern Problems" (Walter H. Schuman)
ch. 12 The Interweaving of "World Religions" and Service-Learning in a Community College Setting (Raj Ayyar)
ch. 13 The Role of Service-Learning in the Transformation of "Islam: Faith and Practice" (Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus)
ch. 14 "The History and Religion of Ancient Israel": An Introductory Course to the Hebrew Bible (Bradley D. Dudley)
ch. 15 "Fieldwork in the Jewish Community" (Terry Smith Hatkoff)
Print and Electronic Resource Guide
Contributors to this Volume
This volume, like its series companions, goes beyond simple "how-to" to discuss the implementation of service-learning within religious studies and what that discipline contributes to the pedagogy of service learning. The volume contains both theoretical and pedagogical essays by scholar-teachers in religious studies education, plus a resource guide. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Foreward (Raymond Brady Williams)
About This Series (Edward Zlotkowski)
Introduction (Richard Devine, Joseph A. Favazza, and F. Michael McLain)
Part I: Service-Learning and the Discipline of Religious Studies
ch. 1 Service-Learning and the Dilemma of Religious Studies: Descriptive or Normative? (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 Creating the Engaged University: Service-Learning, Religious Studies, and Institutional Mission (Charles R. Strain)
Part II:Service-Learning and Its Communities
ch. 3 Making Meaning: Reflection on Community, Service, and Learning (Keith Morton)
ch. 4 On En/Countering the Other (Elizabeth M. Bounds, Barbara A.B. Patterson, and Tinna Pippin)
ch. 5 Service-Learning and Community Partnerships: Curricula of Mutuality (Peter M. Antoci and Sandra K. Smith Speck)
ch. 6 Expanding the Horizon of Engagement: Pioneering Work at the University of Denver (M. Elizabeth Blissman)
Part III Course Chapters
ch. 7 Toward an Assessment-Based Approach to Service-Learning Course Design (Thomas G. McGowan)
ch. 8 Service-Learning in an Introduction to Theology Course (Robert Masson)
ch. 9 "God and Human Suffering" as a Service -Learning Course (Chris Johnson)
ch. 10 "Religion and Social Engagement: Labor and Business Ethics" (John Leahy and Kim Bobo)
ch. 11 Making a Difference with Service-Learning: "Christian Ethis and Modern Problems" (Walter H. Schuman)
ch. 12 The Interweaving of "World Religions" and Service-Learning in a Community College Setting (Raj Ayyar)
ch. 13 The Role of Service-Learning in the Transformation of "Islam: Faith and Practice" (Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus)
ch. 14 "The History and Religion of Ancient Israel": An Introductory Course to the Hebrew Bible (Bradley D. Dudley)
ch. 15 "Fieldwork in the Jewish Community" (Terry Smith Hatkoff)
Print and Electronic Resource Guide
Contributors to this Volume

Religion & Education Volume 40, no.3
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Fifty Years Since
ch. 1 Public School Bible Courses in Historical Perspective: North Carolina as a Case Study (Mark A. Chancey)
ch. 2 James Vincent Panoch: An Unheralded Pioneer of Public School Religion Studies (Nicholas Piediscalzi)
ch. 3 An "Unfortunate Metaphor": The Establishment Clause Jurisprudence of the Vinson Court (Chris Hickman)
ch. 4 Testing the Limits of Free Exercise and Establishment: Collective Religious Identity in South Carolina (Benjamin Bindewald, Suzanne Rosenblith, Robert P. Green)
ch. 5 Navigating Religious Expression in Public School: A Case Study (Cynthia X. Beekley)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Fifty Years Since
ch. 1 Public School Bible Courses in Historical Perspective: North Carolina as a Case Study (Mark A. Chancey)
ch. 2 James Vincent Panoch: An Unheralded Pioneer of Public School Religion Studies (Nicholas Piediscalzi)
ch. 3 An "Unfortunate Metaphor": The Establishment Clause Jurisprudence of the Vinson Court (Chris Hickman)
ch. 4 Testing the Limits of Free Exercise and Establishment: Collective Religious Identity in South Carolina (Benjamin Bindewald, Suzanne Rosenblith, Robert P. Green)
ch. 5 Navigating Religious Expression in Public School: A Case Study (Cynthia X. Beekley)
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: student writing assignments in which they are forbidden to use direct quotations but required to provide a citation for every sentence that uses information from one of their sources.
One page Teaching Tactic: student writing assignments in which they are forbidden to use direct quotations but required to provide a citation for every sentence that uses information from one of their sources.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: student writing assignments in which they are forbidden to use direct quotations but required to provide a citation for every sentence that uses information from one of their sources.
One page Teaching Tactic: student writing assignments in which they are forbidden to use direct quotations but required to provide a citation for every sentence that uses information from one of their sources.
Additional Info:
Comprehensive annotated guide to internet resources on religion and theology; helpful for research, class-use, student research, and e-texts.
Comprehensive annotated guide to internet resources on religion and theology; helpful for research, class-use, student research, and e-texts.
Additional Info:
Comprehensive annotated guide to internet resources on religion and theology; helpful for research, class-use, student research, and e-texts.
Comprehensive annotated guide to internet resources on religion and theology; helpful for research, class-use, student research, and e-texts.


The Religious Studies Skills Book: Close Reading, Critical Thinking, and Comparison
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Click Here for Book Review
This book supports students engaged in the study of religions by helping them understand key processes particular to the field, including bracketing and comparison, and general humanities skills, like critical thinking and close reading. The authors offer useful examples throughout the book and augment those with further exercises available online. - Molly H. ...
Click Here for Book Review
This book supports students engaged in the study of religions by helping them understand key processes particular to the field, including bracketing and comparison, and general humanities skills, like critical thinking and close reading. The authors offer useful examples throughout the book and augment those with further exercises available online. - Molly H. ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
This book supports students engaged in the study of religions by helping them understand key processes particular to the field, including bracketing and comparison, and general humanities skills, like critical thinking and close reading. The authors offer useful examples throughout the book and augment those with further exercises available online. - Molly H. Bassett, Georgia State University
Studying religion in college or university? This book shows you how to perform well on your course tests and examinations, write successful papers, and participate meaningfully in class discussions. You'll learn new skills and also enhance existing ones, which you can put into practice with in-text exercises and assignments.
Written by two award-winning instructors, this book identifies the close reading of texts, material culture, and religious actions as the fundamental skill for the study of religion at undergraduate level. It shows how critical analytical thinking about religious actions and ideas is founded on careful, patient, yet creative “reading” of religious stories, rituals, objects, and spaces.
The book leads you through the description, analysis, and interpretation of examples from multiple historical periods, cultures, and religious traditions, including primary source material such as Matthew 6:9-13 (the Lord's Prayer), the gohonzon scroll of the Japanese new religion Soka Gakkai, and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). It provides you with typical assignments you will encounter in your studies, showing you how you might approach tasks such as reflective, interpretive or summary essays. Further resources, found on the book's website, include bibliographies, and links to useful podcasts. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Introduction: How to Use This Book
Ch 1. Religion in Higher Education
Ch 2. The Syllabus and Course Expectations
Ch 3. Learning Through Bracketing
Ch 4. Close Reading
Ch 5. Critical Thinking
Ch 6. Comparison
Ch 7. Writing About Religion
Ch 8. Beyond the Classroom
Index
Click Here for Book Review
This book supports students engaged in the study of religions by helping them understand key processes particular to the field, including bracketing and comparison, and general humanities skills, like critical thinking and close reading. The authors offer useful examples throughout the book and augment those with further exercises available online. - Molly H. Bassett, Georgia State University
Studying religion in college or university? This book shows you how to perform well on your course tests and examinations, write successful papers, and participate meaningfully in class discussions. You'll learn new skills and also enhance existing ones, which you can put into practice with in-text exercises and assignments.
Written by two award-winning instructors, this book identifies the close reading of texts, material culture, and religious actions as the fundamental skill for the study of religion at undergraduate level. It shows how critical analytical thinking about religious actions and ideas is founded on careful, patient, yet creative “reading” of religious stories, rituals, objects, and spaces.
The book leads you through the description, analysis, and interpretation of examples from multiple historical periods, cultures, and religious traditions, including primary source material such as Matthew 6:9-13 (the Lord's Prayer), the gohonzon scroll of the Japanese new religion Soka Gakkai, and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). It provides you with typical assignments you will encounter in your studies, showing you how you might approach tasks such as reflective, interpretive or summary essays. Further resources, found on the book's website, include bibliographies, and links to useful podcasts. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Introduction: How to Use This Book
Ch 1. Religion in Higher Education
Ch 2. The Syllabus and Course Expectations
Ch 3. Learning Through Bracketing
Ch 4. Close Reading
Ch 5. Critical Thinking
Ch 6. Comparison
Ch 7. Writing About Religion
Ch 8. Beyond the Classroom
Index
Additional Info:
This interview was recorded and transcribed in November 2015. Stephen Prothero is a professor of religious studies at Boston University, where he has taught since 1996. His publications include several that directly address teaching about religion, most notably Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn't, which made an argument regarding K-12 education. In this manuscript he pulls the conversation into his own undergraduate classrooms – providing a vivid glimpse of ...
This interview was recorded and transcribed in November 2015. Stephen Prothero is a professor of religious studies at Boston University, where he has taught since 1996. His publications include several that directly address teaching about religion, most notably Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn't, which made an argument regarding K-12 education. In this manuscript he pulls the conversation into his own undergraduate classrooms – providing a vivid glimpse of ...
Additional Info:
This interview was recorded and transcribed in November 2015. Stephen Prothero is a professor of religious studies at Boston University, where he has taught since 1996. His publications include several that directly address teaching about religion, most notably Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn't, which made an argument regarding K-12 education. In this manuscript he pulls the conversation into his own undergraduate classrooms – providing a vivid glimpse of his teaching practices, including how he conducts large lecture classes and seminars, how he works with teaching assistants, and how he conducts discussions even in very large courses. He also shares his broader reflections on the nature and importance of religious literacy and its place in American education.
This interview was recorded and transcribed in November 2015. Stephen Prothero is a professor of religious studies at Boston University, where he has taught since 1996. His publications include several that directly address teaching about religion, most notably Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn't, which made an argument regarding K-12 education. In this manuscript he pulls the conversation into his own undergraduate classrooms – providing a vivid glimpse of his teaching practices, including how he conducts large lecture classes and seminars, how he works with teaching assistants, and how he conducts discussions even in very large courses. He also shares his broader reflections on the nature and importance of religious literacy and its place in American education.
Additional Info:
While teaching a course on religion and consumer culture in the United States, the author was intensely preoccupied with holding the interest of her undergraduate students during class sessions. Inspired in part by the subject matter of the course, she reflects here upon the extent that her courses on American religion drew upon the semiotics of commercial entertainment. While acknowledging the limitations and distortions possible in thinking of the teacher ...
While teaching a course on religion and consumer culture in the United States, the author was intensely preoccupied with holding the interest of her undergraduate students during class sessions. Inspired in part by the subject matter of the course, she reflects here upon the extent that her courses on American religion drew upon the semiotics of commercial entertainment. While acknowledging the limitations and distortions possible in thinking of the teacher ...
Additional Info:
While teaching a course on religion and consumer culture in the United States, the author was intensely preoccupied with holding the interest of her undergraduate students during class sessions. Inspired in part by the subject matter of the course, she reflects here upon the extent that her courses on American religion drew upon the semiotics of commercial entertainment. While acknowledging the limitations and distortions possible in thinking of the teacher as an entertainer, this paper explores the teaching metaphor of the Vaudevillian Performer, arguing that if put in context with the work on reception in cultural studies, it can be a helpful model in the classroom.
While teaching a course on religion and consumer culture in the United States, the author was intensely preoccupied with holding the interest of her undergraduate students during class sessions. Inspired in part by the subject matter of the course, she reflects here upon the extent that her courses on American religion drew upon the semiotics of commercial entertainment. While acknowledging the limitations and distortions possible in thinking of the teacher as an entertainer, this paper explores the teaching metaphor of the Vaudevillian Performer, arguing that if put in context with the work on reception in cultural studies, it can be a helpful model in the classroom.
Additional Info:
This essay explores a midrange teaching and learning issue regarding the teaching of biblical languages and one strategy for addressing the issue. Seminary students do not yield a great enough return in exchange for the investment they are required to make in learning biblical languages. Students invest great time and money, but they do not learn to use the biblical languages to think critically about the Bible. This essay argues ...
This essay explores a midrange teaching and learning issue regarding the teaching of biblical languages and one strategy for addressing the issue. Seminary students do not yield a great enough return in exchange for the investment they are required to make in learning biblical languages. Students invest great time and money, but they do not learn to use the biblical languages to think critically about the Bible. This essay argues ...
Additional Info:
This essay explores a midrange teaching and learning issue regarding the teaching of biblical languages and one strategy for addressing the issue. Seminary students do not yield a great enough return in exchange for the investment they are required to make in learning biblical languages. Students invest great time and money, but they do not learn to use the biblical languages to think critically about the Bible. This essay argues that a fruitful strategy for addressing this midrange issue is to require students to write in English about the Hebrew language. This strategy fosters students' ability to think critically about the biblical text. It also fosters their ability to use their budding knowledge of a biblical language to engage questions of meaning and issues of interpretation.
This essay explores a midrange teaching and learning issue regarding the teaching of biblical languages and one strategy for addressing the issue. Seminary students do not yield a great enough return in exchange for the investment they are required to make in learning biblical languages. Students invest great time and money, but they do not learn to use the biblical languages to think critically about the Bible. This essay argues that a fruitful strategy for addressing this midrange issue is to require students to write in English about the Hebrew language. This strategy fosters students' ability to think critically about the biblical text. It also fosters their ability to use their budding knowledge of a biblical language to engage questions of meaning and issues of interpretation.
Additional Info:
This book presents novel and interesting ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes to college and university students. Seeking alternatives to the formal lecture format, the various contributions seek better ways of communicating the complexities of human behavior and of engaging students in active learning about the past. This collection of imaginative exercises designed by 20 master instructors on three continents includes role-playing, games, simulations, activities, and performance, all designed to ...
This book presents novel and interesting ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes to college and university students. Seeking alternatives to the formal lecture format, the various contributions seek better ways of communicating the complexities of human behavior and of engaging students in active learning about the past. This collection of imaginative exercises designed by 20 master instructors on three continents includes role-playing, games, simulations, activities, and performance, all designed to ...
Additional Info:
This book presents novel and interesting ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes to college and university students. Seeking alternatives to the formal lecture format, the various contributions seek better ways of communicating the complexities of human behavior and of engaging students in active learning about the past. This collection of imaginative exercises designed by 20 master instructors on three continents includes role-playing, games, simulations, activities, and performance, all designed to teach archaeological ideas in interesting and engaging ways. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Lectures as Usual? Teaching Archaeology for Fun (Claire Smith and Heather Burke)
Part 1 - Role Play
ch. 2 Seven Degrees of Archaeology, or Diverse Ways of Interpreting the Past (Heather Burke and Claire Smith)
ch. 3 The Great Debate: Archaeology, Repatriation, and Nationalism (Morag Kersel)
Part 2 - Games
ch. 4 Grasp, or Happy Families, the Archaeological Way (Gail Higginbottom)
ch. 5 The Skin Game: Teaching to Redress Stereotypes of Indigenous People (Claire Smith and Heather Burke)
ch. 6 The Big Dig: Theoretically Speaking (Gail Higginbottom)
Part 3 - Simulations
ch. 7 The Game of Context: Teaching the History of Archaeology Without Foregone Conclusions (John Carman)
ch. 8 The Simulated Excavation: An Alternative to Archaeological Site Destruction (Bradley F. Bowman and Glenna Dean)
ch. 9 Digging Your Own Grave: Generic Skills from an Archaeological Simulation (Clive Orton)
Part 4 - Hands-on Activities
ch. 10 Playing with Ochre: Some Problems Associated with the Analysis of Indigenous Rock Markings (Michael Diplock and Abigail Stein)
ch. 11 Perspectives from a Pot: IntroducingArchaeological Theory Through Visual Interpretation (Melinda Leach)
ch. 12 Culture of Litterbugs (M. Jay Stottman, Sarah E. Miller and A. Gwynn Henderson)
ch. 13 Toilets as Tools of Teaching (H. Martin Wobst)
ch. 14 Simple Ideas to Teach Big Concepts: 'Excavating' and Analyzing the Professor's Desk Drawer and Wastebasket (Larry J. Zimmerman)
Part 5 - Creative Construction and Performance
ch. 15 The Draw-an-Archaeologist Test: Eliciting Student's Ideas About Archaeology (Susan D. Renoe)
ch. 16 Using the Fictional Tale as a Learning Tool (Caryn M. Berg)
ch. 17 Telling Stories About the Past: Archaeology and Museum Interpretation (Jane Lydon)
ch. 18 Scenarios for Archaeologists: A Teaching Tool (Mitch Allen)
Part 6 - Critical Reflection
ch. 19 The Scrapbook Exercise: Teaching Archaeology of Death as Critical Thinking (Patricia Rubertone)
ch. 20 Brain Candy (K. Anne Pyburn)
Index
About the Contributors
This book presents novel and interesting ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes to college and university students. Seeking alternatives to the formal lecture format, the various contributions seek better ways of communicating the complexities of human behavior and of engaging students in active learning about the past. This collection of imaginative exercises designed by 20 master instructors on three continents includes role-playing, games, simulations, activities, and performance, all designed to teach archaeological ideas in interesting and engaging ways. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Lectures as Usual? Teaching Archaeology for Fun (Claire Smith and Heather Burke)
Part 1 - Role Play
ch. 2 Seven Degrees of Archaeology, or Diverse Ways of Interpreting the Past (Heather Burke and Claire Smith)
ch. 3 The Great Debate: Archaeology, Repatriation, and Nationalism (Morag Kersel)
Part 2 - Games
ch. 4 Grasp, or Happy Families, the Archaeological Way (Gail Higginbottom)
ch. 5 The Skin Game: Teaching to Redress Stereotypes of Indigenous People (Claire Smith and Heather Burke)
ch. 6 The Big Dig: Theoretically Speaking (Gail Higginbottom)
Part 3 - Simulations
ch. 7 The Game of Context: Teaching the History of Archaeology Without Foregone Conclusions (John Carman)
ch. 8 The Simulated Excavation: An Alternative to Archaeological Site Destruction (Bradley F. Bowman and Glenna Dean)
ch. 9 Digging Your Own Grave: Generic Skills from an Archaeological Simulation (Clive Orton)
Part 4 - Hands-on Activities
ch. 10 Playing with Ochre: Some Problems Associated with the Analysis of Indigenous Rock Markings (Michael Diplock and Abigail Stein)
ch. 11 Perspectives from a Pot: IntroducingArchaeological Theory Through Visual Interpretation (Melinda Leach)
ch. 12 Culture of Litterbugs (M. Jay Stottman, Sarah E. Miller and A. Gwynn Henderson)
ch. 13 Toilets as Tools of Teaching (H. Martin Wobst)
ch. 14 Simple Ideas to Teach Big Concepts: 'Excavating' and Analyzing the Professor's Desk Drawer and Wastebasket (Larry J. Zimmerman)
Part 5 - Creative Construction and Performance
ch. 15 The Draw-an-Archaeologist Test: Eliciting Student's Ideas About Archaeology (Susan D. Renoe)
ch. 16 Using the Fictional Tale as a Learning Tool (Caryn M. Berg)
ch. 17 Telling Stories About the Past: Archaeology and Museum Interpretation (Jane Lydon)
ch. 18 Scenarios for Archaeologists: A Teaching Tool (Mitch Allen)
Part 6 - Critical Reflection
ch. 19 The Scrapbook Exercise: Teaching Archaeology of Death as Critical Thinking (Patricia Rubertone)
ch. 20 Brain Candy (K. Anne Pyburn)
Index
About the Contributors
Additional Info:
This article explores a set of practices in the teaching of Talmud called “the pedagogy of slowing down.” Through the author’s analysis of her own teaching in an intensive Talmud class, “the pedagogy of slowing down” emerges as a pedagogical and cultural model in which the students learn to read more closely and to investigate the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the Talmudic text, thus bridging the gap between ...
This article explores a set of practices in the teaching of Talmud called “the pedagogy of slowing down.” Through the author’s analysis of her own teaching in an intensive Talmud class, “the pedagogy of slowing down” emerges as a pedagogical and cultural model in which the students learn to read more closely and to investigate the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the Talmudic text, thus bridging the gap between ...
Additional Info:
This article explores a set of practices in the teaching of Talmud called “the pedagogy of slowing down.” Through the author’s analysis of her own teaching in an intensive Talmud class, “the pedagogy of slowing down” emerges as a pedagogical and cultural model in which the students learn to read more closely and to investigate the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the Talmudic text, thus bridging the gap between an ancient text and its contemporary students. This article describes the specific techniques in the pedagogy of slowing down, and the ways in which this teaching practice contributes both to students’ becoming more attentive readers and to the ongoing development of their religious voices.
This article explores a set of practices in the teaching of Talmud called “the pedagogy of slowing down.” Through the author’s analysis of her own teaching in an intensive Talmud class, “the pedagogy of slowing down” emerges as a pedagogical and cultural model in which the students learn to read more closely and to investigate the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the Talmudic text, thus bridging the gap between an ancient text and its contemporary students. This article describes the specific techniques in the pedagogy of slowing down, and the ways in which this teaching practice contributes both to students’ becoming more attentive readers and to the ongoing development of their religious voices.
Additional Info:
This interview was recorded in November 2012 in Jonathan Z. Smith's Hyde Park graystone. Professor Smith offers insights into how he thinks about his classroom teaching and his students' learning through descriptions of various assignments and classroom activities he has developed over more than forty years of teaching. The discussion ranges broadly over such topics as: how students read, the failure to adequately prepare graduate students as teachers, students' faith commitments, ...
This interview was recorded in November 2012 in Jonathan Z. Smith's Hyde Park graystone. Professor Smith offers insights into how he thinks about his classroom teaching and his students' learning through descriptions of various assignments and classroom activities he has developed over more than forty years of teaching. The discussion ranges broadly over such topics as: how students read, the failure to adequately prepare graduate students as teachers, students' faith commitments, ...
Additional Info:
This interview was recorded in November 2012 in Jonathan Z. Smith's Hyde Park graystone. Professor Smith offers insights into how he thinks about his classroom teaching and his students' learning through descriptions of various assignments and classroom activities he has developed over more than forty years of teaching. The discussion ranges broadly over such topics as: how students read, the failure to adequately prepare graduate students as teachers, students' faith commitments, the use of newspapers (and humor) in the classroom, and the role of definition, de-familiarization, and critique of the study of religion in introductory classes. The discussion presents vivid glimpses into Jonathan Smith's teaching practice and his teaching persona, including the time a student brought a minister to class to do an exorcism because she thought he was the Devil.
This interview was recorded in November 2012 in Jonathan Z. Smith's Hyde Park graystone. Professor Smith offers insights into how he thinks about his classroom teaching and his students' learning through descriptions of various assignments and classroom activities he has developed over more than forty years of teaching. The discussion ranges broadly over such topics as: how students read, the failure to adequately prepare graduate students as teachers, students' faith commitments, the use of newspapers (and humor) in the classroom, and the role of definition, de-familiarization, and critique of the study of religion in introductory classes. The discussion presents vivid glimpses into Jonathan Smith's teaching practice and his teaching persona, including the time a student brought a minister to class to do an exorcism because she thought he was the Devil.
Additional Info:
The article is a response to this journal's call for papers on metaphors for teaching, and also draws from a previous publication in which Kent Eilers developed a methodology for teaching global theologies. In this methodology, the ultimate goal was the development of “hermeneutical dispositions of empathy, hospitality, and receptivity toward culturally diverse voices” (2014, 165). This article considers the goals of Eilers' methodology, and others like his, and how it is ...
The article is a response to this journal's call for papers on metaphors for teaching, and also draws from a previous publication in which Kent Eilers developed a methodology for teaching global theologies. In this methodology, the ultimate goal was the development of “hermeneutical dispositions of empathy, hospitality, and receptivity toward culturally diverse voices” (2014, 165). This article considers the goals of Eilers' methodology, and others like his, and how it is ...
Additional Info:
The article is a response to this journal's call for papers on metaphors for teaching, and also draws from a previous publication in which Kent Eilers developed a methodology for teaching global theologies. In this methodology, the ultimate goal was the development of “hermeneutical dispositions of empathy, hospitality, and receptivity toward culturally diverse voices” (2014, 165). This article considers the goals of Eilers' methodology, and others like his, and how it is that the metaphors of “leaving home” and “communal imagination” highlight the importance of the ambient and interpersonal features of a classroom and their effect on the attainment of the above goals. In so doing, it extends the conversation beyond content and methodology in teaching theology and religion into the realms of philosophy of education, as well as the fields of moral and values education. It is contended that the metaphors informed by these areas of study facilitate the attainment of such goals, and similar ones, by demonstrating that the cultivation of an ambience of care, trust, and compassion within the classroom constitutes an essential foundation for learning in which students “leave home” and cultivate “communal imagination.” The article finishes with practical suggestions for educators in theology and religion.
The article is a response to this journal's call for papers on metaphors for teaching, and also draws from a previous publication in which Kent Eilers developed a methodology for teaching global theologies. In this methodology, the ultimate goal was the development of “hermeneutical dispositions of empathy, hospitality, and receptivity toward culturally diverse voices” (2014, 165). This article considers the goals of Eilers' methodology, and others like his, and how it is that the metaphors of “leaving home” and “communal imagination” highlight the importance of the ambient and interpersonal features of a classroom and their effect on the attainment of the above goals. In so doing, it extends the conversation beyond content and methodology in teaching theology and religion into the realms of philosophy of education, as well as the fields of moral and values education. It is contended that the metaphors informed by these areas of study facilitate the attainment of such goals, and similar ones, by demonstrating that the cultivation of an ambience of care, trust, and compassion within the classroom constitutes an essential foundation for learning in which students “leave home” and cultivate “communal imagination.” The article finishes with practical suggestions for educators in theology and religion.
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One page Teaching Tactic: students learn some of the difficulties of translation when interpreting the bible.
One page Teaching Tactic: students learn some of the difficulties of translation when interpreting the bible.
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One page Teaching Tactic: students learn some of the difficulties of translation when interpreting the bible.
One page Teaching Tactic: students learn some of the difficulties of translation when interpreting the bible.
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This essay describes a transformation in my experience as an adjunct teaching underprepared students from one of shame toward a desire to assert the value of this work. Insights from my feminist theological training helped me to affirm the importance of encouraging transformative learning in teaching the academically marginalized and prompted my analysis of student writing in an introductory World Religions course, in order to determine whether or not the ...
This essay describes a transformation in my experience as an adjunct teaching underprepared students from one of shame toward a desire to assert the value of this work. Insights from my feminist theological training helped me to affirm the importance of encouraging transformative learning in teaching the academically marginalized and prompted my analysis of student writing in an introductory World Religions course, in order to determine whether or not the ...
Additional Info:
This essay describes a transformation in my experience as an adjunct teaching underprepared students from one of shame toward a desire to assert the value of this work. Insights from my feminist theological training helped me to affirm the importance of encouraging transformative learning in teaching the academically marginalized and prompted my analysis of student writing in an introductory World Religions course, in order to determine whether or not the course was a site of transformative learning. I argue that despite many contextual limitations, the movement toward deepening self-awareness and increasing openness to religious diversity seen in student writing demonstrates that transformative learning began in this course, and that is valuable for students' lives whether or not they are academically successful.
This essay describes a transformation in my experience as an adjunct teaching underprepared students from one of shame toward a desire to assert the value of this work. Insights from my feminist theological training helped me to affirm the importance of encouraging transformative learning in teaching the academically marginalized and prompted my analysis of student writing in an introductory World Religions course, in order to determine whether or not the course was a site of transformative learning. I argue that despite many contextual limitations, the movement toward deepening self-awareness and increasing openness to religious diversity seen in student writing demonstrates that transformative learning began in this course, and that is valuable for students' lives whether or not they are academically successful.
Additional Info:
How to Talk About Hot topics on Campus fills a gap in the literature by providing a resource that shows how to construct and carry out difficult conversations from various vantage points in the academy. It offers a theory-to practice model of conversation for the entire college campus that will enable all constituencies to engage in productive and civil dialogue on the most difficult and controversial social, religious political and ...
How to Talk About Hot topics on Campus fills a gap in the literature by providing a resource that shows how to construct and carry out difficult conversations from various vantage points in the academy. It offers a theory-to practice model of conversation for the entire college campus that will enable all constituencies to engage in productive and civil dialogue on the most difficult and controversial social, religious political and ...
Additional Info:
How to Talk About Hot topics on Campus fills a gap in the literature by providing a resource that shows how to construct and carry out difficult conversations from various vantage points in the academy. It offers a theory-to practice model of conversation for the entire college campus that will enable all constituencies to engage in productive and civil dialogue on the most difficult and controversial social, religious political and cultural topics.
How to Talk About Hot Topic on Campus covers teaching highly controversial, potentially, provocative, subject matter as well as creating an institutional culture that welcomes and nourishes difficult conversations throughout campus life. The book speaks to faculty student affairs staff, administrators and students in all campus venues. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part I Laying the Theoretical Groundwork for Moral Conversation
ch. 1 Igniting the Fire of Moral Conversation
ch. 2 Promoting a Spirit of Pluralism on College Campuses
Part II Practicing the Moral Conversation
ch. 3 A Faculty Member's View on Moral Conversation from the Classroom
ch. 4 An Administrator's View on Moral Conversation from the Division of Student Affairs
ch. 5 A Senior Administrator's Systemic View on Facilitating Moral Conversations Across Campus
Part III Final Words on Moral Conversation
ch. 6 Opportunities, Risks, and Caveats for Moral Conversation
App. A A Step-by-Step How-To Guide for Facilitators and Participants When Doing Moral Conversation
App. B Additional Text References and Internet Resources
App. C Western Stereotypes About Islam from Both the Left and the Right
App. D A Whole-Campus Teaching and Learning Rationale for Moral Conversation: Inspired by the 2004 NASPA Report Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience
App. E Naturalistic and Narrativistic Paradigms in Academia: Implications for Moral Conversation
References
Index
How to Talk About Hot topics on Campus fills a gap in the literature by providing a resource that shows how to construct and carry out difficult conversations from various vantage points in the academy. It offers a theory-to practice model of conversation for the entire college campus that will enable all constituencies to engage in productive and civil dialogue on the most difficult and controversial social, religious political and cultural topics.
How to Talk About Hot Topic on Campus covers teaching highly controversial, potentially, provocative, subject matter as well as creating an institutional culture that welcomes and nourishes difficult conversations throughout campus life. The book speaks to faculty student affairs staff, administrators and students in all campus venues. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part I Laying the Theoretical Groundwork for Moral Conversation
ch. 1 Igniting the Fire of Moral Conversation
ch. 2 Promoting a Spirit of Pluralism on College Campuses
Part II Practicing the Moral Conversation
ch. 3 A Faculty Member's View on Moral Conversation from the Classroom
ch. 4 An Administrator's View on Moral Conversation from the Division of Student Affairs
ch. 5 A Senior Administrator's Systemic View on Facilitating Moral Conversations Across Campus
Part III Final Words on Moral Conversation
ch. 6 Opportunities, Risks, and Caveats for Moral Conversation
App. A A Step-by-Step How-To Guide for Facilitators and Participants When Doing Moral Conversation
App. B Additional Text References and Internet Resources
App. C Western Stereotypes About Islam from Both the Left and the Right
App. D A Whole-Campus Teaching and Learning Rationale for Moral Conversation: Inspired by the 2004 NASPA Report Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience
App. E Naturalistic and Narrativistic Paradigms in Academia: Implications for Moral Conversation
References
Index
Additional Info:
This article explores congregational studies as a valuable teaching tool for contextualizing theological education across disciplines. As a form of pedagogy, congregational studies situates learning in a particular local ministry context. In addition, such a pedagogy apprentices learners within a particular "community of practice" – namely, that of professional church leaders of various types (lay, clergy, professional educators, etc.) having the knowledge and skills that allow them to read diverse contexts ...
This article explores congregational studies as a valuable teaching tool for contextualizing theological education across disciplines. As a form of pedagogy, congregational studies situates learning in a particular local ministry context. In addition, such a pedagogy apprentices learners within a particular "community of practice" – namely, that of professional church leaders of various types (lay, clergy, professional educators, etc.) having the knowledge and skills that allow them to read diverse contexts ...
Additional Info:
This article explores congregational studies as a valuable teaching tool for contextualizing theological education across disciplines. As a form of pedagogy, congregational studies situates learning in a particular local ministry context. In addition, such a pedagogy apprentices learners within a particular "community of practice" – namely, that of professional church leaders of various types (lay, clergy, professional educators, etc.) having the knowledge and skills that allow them to read diverse contexts of ministry and improvise appropriate and faithful strategies of action within those contexts. After describing one seminary teaching experience in which congregational studies methods formed the pedagogical framework for an interdisciplinary course on the Bible and religious education, the article puts forward a practice-based theory of adult learning to explain why congregational studies methods are particularly helpful to adult learners engaged in theological education. The article concludes by briefly addressing some problems and limitations to pedagogical processes based upon congregational studies. (The research for this article and its writing were supported by a grant from the Wabash Center for which I am deeply appreciative. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion's Academic Teaching and the Study of Religion Section.)
This article explores congregational studies as a valuable teaching tool for contextualizing theological education across disciplines. As a form of pedagogy, congregational studies situates learning in a particular local ministry context. In addition, such a pedagogy apprentices learners within a particular "community of practice" – namely, that of professional church leaders of various types (lay, clergy, professional educators, etc.) having the knowledge and skills that allow them to read diverse contexts of ministry and improvise appropriate and faithful strategies of action within those contexts. After describing one seminary teaching experience in which congregational studies methods formed the pedagogical framework for an interdisciplinary course on the Bible and religious education, the article puts forward a practice-based theory of adult learning to explain why congregational studies methods are particularly helpful to adult learners engaged in theological education. The article concludes by briefly addressing some problems and limitations to pedagogical processes based upon congregational studies. (The research for this article and its writing were supported by a grant from the Wabash Center for which I am deeply appreciative. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion's Academic Teaching and the Study of Religion Section.)
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic to determine the level of knowledge and understanding students have of a particular subject (in this case, in a Hebrew Bible course).
One page Teaching Tactic to determine the level of knowledge and understanding students have of a particular subject (in this case, in a Hebrew Bible course).
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic to determine the level of knowledge and understanding students have of a particular subject (in this case, in a Hebrew Bible course).
One page Teaching Tactic to determine the level of knowledge and understanding students have of a particular subject (in this case, in a Hebrew Bible course).

Those Who Can, Teach: Teaching as a Christian Vocation
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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: For many aspiring academics, the transition from doctoral student to classroom teacher is a challenging one. The classroom culture, the needed pedagogical skills, and the expected level and type of work are significantly different in the two environments. Nevertheless, most doctoral students go on to teach in undergraduate or seminary classrooms. ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: For many aspiring academics, the transition from doctoral student to classroom teacher is a challenging one. The classroom culture, the needed pedagogical skills, and the expected level and type of work are significantly different in the two environments. Nevertheless, most doctoral students go on to teach in undergraduate or seminary classrooms. ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: For many aspiring academics, the transition from doctoral student to classroom teacher is a challenging one. The classroom culture, the needed pedagogical skills, and the expected level and type of work are significantly different in the two environments. Nevertheless, most doctoral students go on to teach in undergraduate or seminary classrooms. To prepare the PhD students at McMaster Divinity College to negotiate this transition successfully, the faculty holds a biennial colloquium covering the major dimensions, both theoretical and practical, of a Christian teaching vocation. On the basis of the presentations of the colloquium, the essential topics have been addressed in essays prepared for this volume for the benefit of all who aspire to excellence in their teaching, especially those in Christian higher education. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
List of Contributors
Introduction: Teaching as Theological Vocation (Stanley E. Porter)
ch. 1 Developing a Philosophy of Education (Stanley E. Porter)
ch. 2 Pedagogy and Course Objectives (Michael P. Knowles)
ch. 3 Designing and Evaluating Learning Experiences for Courses (Mark J. Boda)
ch. 4 Developing a Syllabus (Cynthia Long Westfall)
ch. 5 Sculpting a Lesson: The Art of Preparing a Classroom Learning Experience (Lee Beach)
ch. 6 Teaching Introductory New Testament Greek (Lois K. Fuller Dow)
ch. 7 Teaching Biblical Hebrew: Practical Strategies for Introductory Courses (Paul Evans)
ch. 8 Leading Intentional Theological Reflection in the Classroom: The Merging of Mind and Heart (Wendy J. Porter)
ch. 9 From Doctoral Program to Classroom (Steven M. Studebaker)
ch. 10 The Upside-Down Professor: The Professor in a Christian Institution (Gordon L. Heath)
ch. 11 Spirituality of Teaching and Theological Integration (Phil C. Zylla)
Modern Authors Index
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: For many aspiring academics, the transition from doctoral student to classroom teacher is a challenging one. The classroom culture, the needed pedagogical skills, and the expected level and type of work are significantly different in the two environments. Nevertheless, most doctoral students go on to teach in undergraduate or seminary classrooms. To prepare the PhD students at McMaster Divinity College to negotiate this transition successfully, the faculty holds a biennial colloquium covering the major dimensions, both theoretical and practical, of a Christian teaching vocation. On the basis of the presentations of the colloquium, the essential topics have been addressed in essays prepared for this volume for the benefit of all who aspire to excellence in their teaching, especially those in Christian higher education. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
List of Contributors
Introduction: Teaching as Theological Vocation (Stanley E. Porter)
ch. 1 Developing a Philosophy of Education (Stanley E. Porter)
ch. 2 Pedagogy and Course Objectives (Michael P. Knowles)
ch. 3 Designing and Evaluating Learning Experiences for Courses (Mark J. Boda)
ch. 4 Developing a Syllabus (Cynthia Long Westfall)
ch. 5 Sculpting a Lesson: The Art of Preparing a Classroom Learning Experience (Lee Beach)
ch. 6 Teaching Introductory New Testament Greek (Lois K. Fuller Dow)
ch. 7 Teaching Biblical Hebrew: Practical Strategies for Introductory Courses (Paul Evans)
ch. 8 Leading Intentional Theological Reflection in the Classroom: The Merging of Mind and Heart (Wendy J. Porter)
ch. 9 From Doctoral Program to Classroom (Steven M. Studebaker)
ch. 10 The Upside-Down Professor: The Professor in a Christian Institution (Gordon L. Heath)
ch. 11 Spirituality of Teaching and Theological Integration (Phil C. Zylla)
Modern Authors Index
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: active learning strategy in which students use e-tools to research and represent how historic religious events have been portrayed.
One page Teaching Tactic: active learning strategy in which students use e-tools to research and represent how historic religious events have been portrayed.
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One page Teaching Tactic: active learning strategy in which students use e-tools to research and represent how historic religious events have been portrayed.
One page Teaching Tactic: active learning strategy in which students use e-tools to research and represent how historic religious events have been portrayed.

Vision and Discernment: An Orientation in Theological Study
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This book offers an orientation in Christian theology, broadly conceived. Its subject is not that single discipline in the theological curriculum to which the title of 'theology' is nowadays often reserved, but rather the whole curriculum, or the whole range of disciplines which together constitute the enterprise of Christian theology, and whose study constitutes theological education. (From the Publisher)
This book offers an orientation in Christian theology, broadly conceived. Its subject is not that single discipline in the theological curriculum to which the title of 'theology' is nowadays often reserved, but rather the whole curriculum, or the whole range of disciplines which together constitute the enterprise of Christian theology, and whose study constitutes theological education. (From the Publisher)
Additional Info:
This book offers an orientation in Christian theology, broadly conceived. Its subject is not that single discipline in the theological curriculum to which the title of 'theology' is nowadays often reserved, but rather the whole curriculum, or the whole range of disciplines which together constitute the enterprise of Christian theology, and whose study constitutes theological education. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
ch. 1 Toward understanding our context
ch. 2 Theology as critical inquiry
ch. 3 Three dimensions of theology
ch. 4 Vision and discernment
ch. 5 Theological inquiry and theological education
Index
This book offers an orientation in Christian theology, broadly conceived. Its subject is not that single discipline in the theological curriculum to which the title of 'theology' is nowadays often reserved, but rather the whole curriculum, or the whole range of disciplines which together constitute the enterprise of Christian theology, and whose study constitutes theological education. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
ch. 1 Toward understanding our context
ch. 2 Theology as critical inquiry
ch. 3 Three dimensions of theology
ch. 4 Vision and discernment
ch. 5 Theological inquiry and theological education
Index

Religion & Education Volume 39, no.2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Focus Section: Religion, Law and Higher Education
Special Section Guest Editor
Guest Edito's Preface
ch. 1 Religious Freedom in America Catholic Higher Education (Charles J. Russo, Paul E. McGreal)
ch. 2 Faculty Religious Speech in Class (Suzanne Eckes)
ch. 3 The Rights of Student Religious Organizations after Christian Legal Society v. Martenz (William E. Thro)
ch. 4 Transformational Multicultural Spiritual Framework for Educating Youth: Spiritual Development for Children and Adolescents (Alex S. Hall)
ch. 5 Theology, Law and the Australian Legal Academy (Paul Babie)
ch. 6 Freedom of Religion and Postsecondary Education in Canada: Resolving Competing Claims (Paul Clarke)
Article
Women Faculty at an Evangelical University: The Paradox of Religiously Driven Gender Inequalities and High Job Satisfaction (Brad Christerson, M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Shelly Cunningham)
Resource Review
Catholic Higher Schools: Facing the New Realities
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Focus Section: Religion, Law and Higher Education
Special Section Guest Editor
Guest Edito's Preface
ch. 1 Religious Freedom in America Catholic Higher Education (Charles J. Russo, Paul E. McGreal)
ch. 2 Faculty Religious Speech in Class (Suzanne Eckes)
ch. 3 The Rights of Student Religious Organizations after Christian Legal Society v. Martenz (William E. Thro)
ch. 4 Transformational Multicultural Spiritual Framework for Educating Youth: Spiritual Development for Children and Adolescents (Alex S. Hall)
ch. 5 Theology, Law and the Australian Legal Academy (Paul Babie)
ch. 6 Freedom of Religion and Postsecondary Education in Canada: Resolving Competing Claims (Paul Clarke)
Article
Women Faculty at an Evangelical University: The Paradox of Religiously Driven Gender Inequalities and High Job Satisfaction (Brad Christerson, M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Shelly Cunningham)
Resource Review
Catholic Higher Schools: Facing the New Realities

Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict: Perspectives on Religious Education Research
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Abstract: Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict analyses the European Commission-funded REDCo project, which addressed the question of how religions might contribute to dialogue or conflict in Europe. Researchers in education from eight countries – the UK, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Norway and Spain – studied how young Europeans of different ...
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Abstract: Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict analyses the European Commission-funded REDCo project, which addressed the question of how religions might contribute to dialogue or conflict in Europe. Researchers in education from eight countries – the UK, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Norway and Spain – studied how young Europeans of different ...
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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict analyses the European Commission-funded REDCo project, which addressed the question of how religions might contribute to dialogue or conflict in Europe. Researchers in education from eight countries – the UK, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Norway and Spain – studied how young Europeans of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds could engage in dialogue in the context of the school.
Empirical studies conducted with 14-16 year old students included them offering their own perspectives and analyses of teaching and learning in both dialogue and conflict situations. Although there were some different national patterns and trends, most students wished for peaceful coexistence across differences, andbelieved this to be possible. The majority agreed that peaceful coexistence depended on knowledge about each other’s religions and worldviews, sharing common interests and doing things together. The project found that students who learn about religious diversity in school are more willing to discuss religions and beliefs with students of other backgrounds than those who do not.
The international range of expert contributors to this book evaluate the results of the REDCo project, providing examples of its qualitative and quantitative studies and reflecting on the methods and theory used in the project as a whole.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Religious Education. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Notes on contributors
ch. 1 Preface (Bruce Grelle)
ch. 2 Religion, education, dialogue and conflict: an introduction (Robert Jackson)
ch. 3 Reflections on the Redco project (Wolfram Weisse)
ch. 4 Young people’s talk about religion and diversity: a qualitative study of Norwegian students aged 13-15 (Marie von der Lippe)
ch. 5 Under the shadow of Al-Andalus? Spanish teenagers’ attitudes and experiences with religious diversity at school (Aurora Alvarez Veinguer, F. Javier Rosón Lorente, and Gunther Dietz)
ch. 6 Laïcité in practice: the representations of French teenagers (Bérengére Massignon)
ch. 7 Religion and religious education: comparing and contrasting pupils’ and teachers’ views in an English school (Joyce Miller, and Ursula McKenna)
ch. 8 The interpretive approach as a research tool: inside the Redco project (Robert Jackson)
ch. 9 The ‘contextual setting approach’: a contribution to understanding how young people view and experience religion and education in Europe (Thorsten Knauth, and Anna Körs)
ch. 10 Influences on students’ views on religions and education in England and Estonia (Sean Neill, and Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 11 European religious education teachers’ perceptions of and responses to classroom diversity and their relationship to personal and professional biographies (Judith Everington, Ina ter Avest, Cok Bakker, and Anna van der Want)
ch. 12 Russian Redco findings in support of dialogue and hermeneutics (Fedor Kozyrev)
ch. 13 Investigating the impact of religious diversity in schools for secondary education: a challenging but necessary exercise (Gerdien D. Bertram-Troost)
Index
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict analyses the European Commission-funded REDCo project, which addressed the question of how religions might contribute to dialogue or conflict in Europe. Researchers in education from eight countries – the UK, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Norway and Spain – studied how young Europeans of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds could engage in dialogue in the context of the school.
Empirical studies conducted with 14-16 year old students included them offering their own perspectives and analyses of teaching and learning in both dialogue and conflict situations. Although there were some different national patterns and trends, most students wished for peaceful coexistence across differences, andbelieved this to be possible. The majority agreed that peaceful coexistence depended on knowledge about each other’s religions and worldviews, sharing common interests and doing things together. The project found that students who learn about religious diversity in school are more willing to discuss religions and beliefs with students of other backgrounds than those who do not.
The international range of expert contributors to this book evaluate the results of the REDCo project, providing examples of its qualitative and quantitative studies and reflecting on the methods and theory used in the project as a whole.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Religious Education. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Notes on contributors
ch. 1 Preface (Bruce Grelle)
ch. 2 Religion, education, dialogue and conflict: an introduction (Robert Jackson)
ch. 3 Reflections on the Redco project (Wolfram Weisse)
ch. 4 Young people’s talk about religion and diversity: a qualitative study of Norwegian students aged 13-15 (Marie von der Lippe)
ch. 5 Under the shadow of Al-Andalus? Spanish teenagers’ attitudes and experiences with religious diversity at school (Aurora Alvarez Veinguer, F. Javier Rosón Lorente, and Gunther Dietz)
ch. 6 Laïcité in practice: the representations of French teenagers (Bérengére Massignon)
ch. 7 Religion and religious education: comparing and contrasting pupils’ and teachers’ views in an English school (Joyce Miller, and Ursula McKenna)
ch. 8 The interpretive approach as a research tool: inside the Redco project (Robert Jackson)
ch. 9 The ‘contextual setting approach’: a contribution to understanding how young people view and experience religion and education in Europe (Thorsten Knauth, and Anna Körs)
ch. 10 Influences on students’ views on religions and education in England and Estonia (Sean Neill, and Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 11 European religious education teachers’ perceptions of and responses to classroom diversity and their relationship to personal and professional biographies (Judith Everington, Ina ter Avest, Cok Bakker, and Anna van der Want)
ch. 12 Russian Redco findings in support of dialogue and hermeneutics (Fedor Kozyrev)
ch. 13 Investigating the impact of religious diversity in schools for secondary education: a challenging but necessary exercise (Gerdien D. Bertram-Troost)
Index
Additional Info:
Much debate exists regarding the purpose of education. This article explores the idea that religious education can be used to inspire change and action in the lives of students beyond the classroom. We describe a study of students who took a required religion class at a private religious university. The intended outcomes of the class centered on encouraging students to make the following changes in their lives: to develop a ...
Much debate exists regarding the purpose of education. This article explores the idea that religious education can be used to inspire change and action in the lives of students beyond the classroom. We describe a study of students who took a required religion class at a private religious university. The intended outcomes of the class centered on encouraging students to make the following changes in their lives: to develop a ...
Additional Info:
Much debate exists regarding the purpose of education. This article explores the idea that religious education can be used to inspire change and action in the lives of students beyond the classroom. We describe a study of students who took a required religion class at a private religious university. The intended outcomes of the class centered on encouraging students to make the following changes in their lives: to develop a habit of regular scripture study, to use new methods to study the scriptures, and to make positive choices in their lives. Specific assignments were designed to encourage these outcomes. At the end of the semester, students were surveyed as to whether they had made changes in their lives in these three areas. The vast majority of students reported that they had made changes in their lives because of assignments given in the class. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Much debate exists regarding the purpose of education. This article explores the idea that religious education can be used to inspire change and action in the lives of students beyond the classroom. We describe a study of students who took a required religion class at a private religious university. The intended outcomes of the class centered on encouraging students to make the following changes in their lives: to develop a habit of regular scripture study, to use new methods to study the scriptures, and to make positive choices in their lives. Specific assignments were designed to encourage these outcomes. At the end of the semester, students were surveyed as to whether they had made changes in their lives in these three areas. The vast majority of students reported that they had made changes in their lives because of assignments given in the class. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Religion, Education and Society
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Abstract: This volume presents findings from recent research focusing on young people and the way they relate to religion in their education and upbringing. The essays are diverse and multidisciplinary - in terms of the religions they discuss (including Christianity, Islam and Sikhism); the settings where young people reflect on religion (the ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume presents findings from recent research focusing on young people and the way they relate to religion in their education and upbringing. The essays are diverse and multidisciplinary - in terms of the religions they discuss (including Christianity, Islam and Sikhism); the settings where young people reflect on religion (the ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume presents findings from recent research focusing on young people and the way they relate to religion in their education and upbringing. The essays are diverse and multidisciplinary - in terms of the religions they discuss (including Christianity, Islam and Sikhism); the settings where young people reflect on religion (the classroom, youth club, peer group, families, respective religious communities and wider society); the different perspectives which relate to religious education and socialisation (the teaching of RE, the role of teachers in pupils’ lives, the way teachers’ personal lives shape their approach to teaching, school ethos and social context, and the place and rationale of RE); the contexts within which the authors work (different national settings and various academic disciplines); and the methodology used (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method approaches).
The authors make important contributions to the debate about the role of religious education in the curriculum. They demonstrate the crucially important formative influence of religious education in young people’s lives which reaches well into their adulthood, shaping religious and other identities, and attitudes towards the ‘other’ - whatever that ‘other’ may be.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Beliefs & Values. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Citation Information
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Introduction: Religion in education: findings from the Religion and Society Programme
ch. 1 Relationships between local patterns of religious practice and young people’s attitudes to the religiosity of their peers (Julia Ipgrave)
ch. 2 Contextuality of young people’s attitudes and its implications for research on religion: A response to Julia Ipgrave (Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 3 Young people’s attitudes to religious diversity: quantitative approaches from social and empirical theology (Leslie J. Francis, S. Croft, Alice Pyke, Mandy Robbins)
ch. 4 Religious diversity, empathy, and God images: perspectives from the psychology of religion shaping a study among adolescents in the UK (Leslie J. Francis, Jennifer S. Croft and Alice Pyke)
ch. 5 Failures of meaning in religious education (James C. Conroy, David Lundie and Vivienne Baumfield)
ch. 6 More purpose than meaning in RE: a response to James Conroy, David Lundie, and Vivienne Baumfield (Christina Osbeck)
ch. 7 Seeing and seeing through: Forum theatre approaches to ethnographic evidence (David Lundie and James C. Conroy)
ch. 8 ‘We’re all in this together, the kids and me’: beginning teachers’ use of their personal life knowledge in the Religious Education classroom (Judith Everington)
ch. 9 Teachers only stand behind parents and God in the eyes of Muslim pupils (Jenny Berglund)
ch. 10 Keeping the faith: reflections on religious nurture among young British Sikhs (Jasjit Singh)
ch. 11 Christian youth work: teaching faith, filling churches or response to social need? (Naomi Stanton)
ch. 12 Religious young adults recounting the past: narrating sexual and religious cultures in school (Sarah-Jane Page and Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip)
Index
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume presents findings from recent research focusing on young people and the way they relate to religion in their education and upbringing. The essays are diverse and multidisciplinary - in terms of the religions they discuss (including Christianity, Islam and Sikhism); the settings where young people reflect on religion (the classroom, youth club, peer group, families, respective religious communities and wider society); the different perspectives which relate to religious education and socialisation (the teaching of RE, the role of teachers in pupils’ lives, the way teachers’ personal lives shape their approach to teaching, school ethos and social context, and the place and rationale of RE); the contexts within which the authors work (different national settings and various academic disciplines); and the methodology used (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method approaches).
The authors make important contributions to the debate about the role of religious education in the curriculum. They demonstrate the crucially important formative influence of religious education in young people’s lives which reaches well into their adulthood, shaping religious and other identities, and attitudes towards the ‘other’ - whatever that ‘other’ may be.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Beliefs & Values. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Citation Information
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Introduction: Religion in education: findings from the Religion and Society Programme
ch. 1 Relationships between local patterns of religious practice and young people’s attitudes to the religiosity of their peers (Julia Ipgrave)
ch. 2 Contextuality of young people’s attitudes and its implications for research on religion: A response to Julia Ipgrave (Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 3 Young people’s attitudes to religious diversity: quantitative approaches from social and empirical theology (Leslie J. Francis, S. Croft, Alice Pyke, Mandy Robbins)
ch. 4 Religious diversity, empathy, and God images: perspectives from the psychology of religion shaping a study among adolescents in the UK (Leslie J. Francis, Jennifer S. Croft and Alice Pyke)
ch. 5 Failures of meaning in religious education (James C. Conroy, David Lundie and Vivienne Baumfield)
ch. 6 More purpose than meaning in RE: a response to James Conroy, David Lundie, and Vivienne Baumfield (Christina Osbeck)
ch. 7 Seeing and seeing through: Forum theatre approaches to ethnographic evidence (David Lundie and James C. Conroy)
ch. 8 ‘We’re all in this together, the kids and me’: beginning teachers’ use of their personal life knowledge in the Religious Education classroom (Judith Everington)
ch. 9 Teachers only stand behind parents and God in the eyes of Muslim pupils (Jenny Berglund)
ch. 10 Keeping the faith: reflections on religious nurture among young British Sikhs (Jasjit Singh)
ch. 11 Christian youth work: teaching faith, filling churches or response to social need? (Naomi Stanton)
ch. 12 Religious young adults recounting the past: narrating sexual and religious cultures in school (Sarah-Jane Page and Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip)
Index
Additional Info:
Currently, the recent history of the field shapes the content of introductions to the philosophy of religion. In order to substantively engage students, whose experiences and destinies are already shaped by global realities, such teaching must undergo revision. A shift from introducing philosophical theology towards active learning analyses of ostensibly religious phenomena is the means by which the field can regain its relevance for students. This article first explores the ...
Currently, the recent history of the field shapes the content of introductions to the philosophy of religion. In order to substantively engage students, whose experiences and destinies are already shaped by global realities, such teaching must undergo revision. A shift from introducing philosophical theology towards active learning analyses of ostensibly religious phenomena is the means by which the field can regain its relevance for students. This article first explores the ...
Additional Info:
Currently, the recent history of the field shapes the content of introductions to the philosophy of religion. In order to substantively engage students, whose experiences and destinies are already shaped by global realities, such teaching must undergo revision. A shift from introducing philosophical theology towards active learning analyses of ostensibly religious phenomena is the means by which the field can regain its relevance for students. This article first explores the rationale for teaching differently, and then works out a pedagogy that has students themselves practicing a global philosophy of religion.
Currently, the recent history of the field shapes the content of introductions to the philosophy of religion. In order to substantively engage students, whose experiences and destinies are already shaped by global realities, such teaching must undergo revision. A shift from introducing philosophical theology towards active learning analyses of ostensibly religious phenomena is the means by which the field can regain its relevance for students. This article first explores the rationale for teaching differently, and then works out a pedagogy that has students themselves practicing a global philosophy of religion.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
The capstone course is supposed to serve as the final building block of our students’ education. Faculty in the religious studies department at Hendrix College felt the need to supplement the capstone metaphor with an additional one: “springboard.” We wanted to connect with recent trends in higher education that help students understand the ways in which they are prepared for employment and for life. To this end, we developed a ...
The capstone course is supposed to serve as the final building block of our students’ education. Faculty in the religious studies department at Hendrix College felt the need to supplement the capstone metaphor with an additional one: “springboard.” We wanted to connect with recent trends in higher education that help students understand the ways in which they are prepared for employment and for life. To this end, we developed a ...
Additional Info:
The capstone course is supposed to serve as the final building block of our students’ education. Faculty in the religious studies department at Hendrix College felt the need to supplement the capstone metaphor with an additional one: “springboard.” We wanted to connect with recent trends in higher education that help students understand the ways in which they are prepared for employment and for life. To this end, we developed a senior colloquium course that integrates the various educational experiences of the students and, in partnership with our career services department, springboards them into their future lives. This article explains the process we went through and the three content areas covered in the course: intellectual autobiography, career preparation, and the research project.
The capstone course is supposed to serve as the final building block of our students’ education. Faculty in the religious studies department at Hendrix College felt the need to supplement the capstone metaphor with an additional one: “springboard.” We wanted to connect with recent trends in higher education that help students understand the ways in which they are prepared for employment and for life. To this end, we developed a senior colloquium course that integrates the various educational experiences of the students and, in partnership with our career services department, springboards them into their future lives. This article explains the process we went through and the three content areas covered in the course: intellectual autobiography, career preparation, and the research project.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses. Wendy Wiseman taught Humanities courses at ...
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses. Wendy Wiseman taught Humanities courses at ...
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses. Wendy Wiseman taught Humanities courses at Ozyegin University in Istanbul from 2008-2013, taught Religious Studies at Indiana University the following year, and returned to Istanbul to teach at Beykent University. Burak Kesgin is Chair of Sociology at Beykent University, with a focus on political economy and sociology of religion.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses. Wendy Wiseman taught Humanities courses at Ozyegin University in Istanbul from 2008-2013, taught Religious Studies at Indiana University the following year, and returned to Istanbul to teach at Beykent University. Burak Kesgin is Chair of Sociology at Beykent University, with a focus on political economy and sociology of religion.
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One page Teaching Tactic to help students understand the contingencies of historical documents.
One page Teaching Tactic to help students understand the contingencies of historical documents.
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One page Teaching Tactic to help students understand the contingencies of historical documents.
One page Teaching Tactic to help students understand the contingencies of historical documents.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.

Teaching The Biblical Languages
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
I. Introduction (Walter Harrelson)
A. Origin of Study
B. Procedures
C. Purpose of Study
D. The Basic Problem
II. Biblical Languages in the Theological Curriculum (Walter Harrelson)
A. The Authority of the Bible and Biblical Languages
B. Languages and Exegesis
C. Openness to the “World”
D. Language, Word of God, and Theology—the “New Hermeneutic”
III. What is Happening
A. In the Seminary Curricula (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
B. In the Classroom (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
C. In the Colleges (George M. Landes)
D. In the Work of Seminary Graduates (George M. Landes)
E. In Continuing Education (George M. Landes)
IV. New Developments in Language Teaching (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
A. The Objectives of Biblical Language Teaching
B. Modern Linguistics
C. Teaching Aids
V. An Assessment of the Situation
A. What Can and Cannot Be Done in the Regular Academic Curriculum (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
B. What Can and Cannot Be Expected From College Language Work (George M. Landes)
C. How Alumni Assess the Importance of Language Study (George M. Landes)
D. What Colleagues Outside the Biblical Field Expect From Languages Study (George M. Landes)
E. Prospects for Required Language Study (George M. Landis)
F. The Need For Specialists (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
G. Proposed Summer Programs (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
VI. Recommendations (Walter Harrelson)
A. State Purposed and Objectives Clearly
B. Provide Flexibility in Curriculum to Enable Students to learn one or more biblical languages well to use the language(s) in exegetical work
C. Cooperate with College and University Teachers of Religion in the Development of Undergraduate Courses in the Biblical Language
D. Cooperate in Summer Programs
E. Continue and Accelerate Experimentation
1. in teaching method
2. in the use of modern linguistics
3. in philosophical and theological analyses of language
Notes to:
Administrators (Paul M. Robinson)
Trustees (Harry M. Moffett)
Seminary Staff Officers (Roland C. Matthies)
Librarians (Calvin H. Schmitt)
Professors (David S. Schuller)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
I. Introduction (Walter Harrelson)
A. Origin of Study
B. Procedures
C. Purpose of Study
D. The Basic Problem
II. Biblical Languages in the Theological Curriculum (Walter Harrelson)
A. The Authority of the Bible and Biblical Languages
B. Languages and Exegesis
C. Openness to the “World”
D. Language, Word of God, and Theology—the “New Hermeneutic”
III. What is Happening
A. In the Seminary Curricula (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
B. In the Classroom (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
C. In the Colleges (George M. Landes)
D. In the Work of Seminary Graduates (George M. Landes)
E. In Continuing Education (George M. Landes)
IV. New Developments in Language Teaching (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
A. The Objectives of Biblical Language Teaching
B. Modern Linguistics
C. Teaching Aids
V. An Assessment of the Situation
A. What Can and Cannot Be Done in the Regular Academic Curriculum (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
B. What Can and Cannot Be Expected From College Language Work (George M. Landes)
C. How Alumni Assess the Importance of Language Study (George M. Landes)
D. What Colleagues Outside the Biblical Field Expect From Languages Study (George M. Landes)
E. Prospects for Required Language Study (George M. Landis)
F. The Need For Specialists (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
G. Proposed Summer Programs (Eugene V. N. Goetchius)
VI. Recommendations (Walter Harrelson)
A. State Purposed and Objectives Clearly
B. Provide Flexibility in Curriculum to Enable Students to learn one or more biblical languages well to use the language(s) in exegetical work
C. Cooperate with College and University Teachers of Religion in the Development of Undergraduate Courses in the Biblical Language
D. Cooperate in Summer Programs
E. Continue and Accelerate Experimentation
1. in teaching method
2. in the use of modern linguistics
3. in philosophical and theological analyses of language
Notes to:
Administrators (Paul M. Robinson)
Trustees (Harry M. Moffett)
Seminary Staff Officers (Roland C. Matthies)
Librarians (Calvin H. Schmitt)
Professors (David S. Schuller)
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.

Religion & Education Volume 36, no. 2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Guest Editor's Introduction
ch. 1 Where Religion Faculty Meet Students' Worlds: Lessons from the GTU Preparing Future Faculty Project
ch. 2 Engaging the Institution: Mentoring Future Faculty, Big Questions of Vocation, and the Reality of Assessment
ch. 3 Reengineering the Teaching Machine: Big Questions from the Inside Out and the Outside In
ch. 4 The Stakes Involved in 'Going Spiritual': Mentoring Future Faculty toward Meaning and Value
ch. 5 Big Questions of Vocation, Professional Identity, and Classroom Practice: A Conversation Between Colleagues
ch. 6 Conflations and Confrontations: Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Liberal Arts Classroom
ch. 7 The Spectre of Spirituality: On the (In) Utility of 'Spirituality' as an Analytical Category
ch. 8 Spirituality in Higher Education?
ch. 9 The Question is the Answer
ch. 10 Pedagogy of Reverence: A Narrative Account
ch. 11 Does Spirituality Have a Place in Higher Education?: A Response
ch. 12 Spirituality in Higher Education: Problem, Practices, and Programs: A Response
ch. 13 Spirituality in Higher Education: Toward a Holistic Approach to the Development of Future Faculty in Theology and Religion
ch. 14 Fuzzy But Not Warm: On the (Continuing) Descriptive and Analytical Inutility of 'Spirituality'
ch. 15 A Contemplative Response: The Part Is the Whole
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Guest Editor's Introduction
ch. 1 Where Religion Faculty Meet Students' Worlds: Lessons from the GTU Preparing Future Faculty Project
ch. 2 Engaging the Institution: Mentoring Future Faculty, Big Questions of Vocation, and the Reality of Assessment
ch. 3 Reengineering the Teaching Machine: Big Questions from the Inside Out and the Outside In
ch. 4 The Stakes Involved in 'Going Spiritual': Mentoring Future Faculty toward Meaning and Value
ch. 5 Big Questions of Vocation, Professional Identity, and Classroom Practice: A Conversation Between Colleagues
ch. 6 Conflations and Confrontations: Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Liberal Arts Classroom
ch. 7 The Spectre of Spirituality: On the (In) Utility of 'Spirituality' as an Analytical Category
ch. 8 Spirituality in Higher Education?
ch. 9 The Question is the Answer
ch. 10 Pedagogy of Reverence: A Narrative Account
ch. 11 Does Spirituality Have a Place in Higher Education?: A Response
ch. 12 Spirituality in Higher Education: Problem, Practices, and Programs: A Response
ch. 13 Spirituality in Higher Education: Toward a Holistic Approach to the Development of Future Faculty in Theology and Religion
ch. 14 Fuzzy But Not Warm: On the (Continuing) Descriptive and Analytical Inutility of 'Spirituality'
ch. 15 A Contemplative Response: The Part Is the Whole
Contributors

Religion & Education Volume 38, no.1
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Issue on Warren A. Nord's
Does God Make a Difference? Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities
Editor's Preface
Essays
ch. 1 Does God Make a Difference? Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities: An Excerpt (Warren A. Nord)
ch. 2 Taking Warren Nord Seriously (Charles C. Haynes)
ch. 3 Even So, Keep Looking at That (MArtin E. Marty)
ch. 4 Teaching About Religion in Public Schools: Where Do We Go From Here? (Melissa Rogers)
ch. 5 Educational and Legal Perspectives: How Do They Differ? (Kent Greenawalt)
ch. 6 The Place of Religious Studies in Warren Nord's Does God Make a Difference (Bruce Grelle)
ch. 7 The Examined Life (Emile Lester)
ch. 8 Does Warren A. Nord Make a Difference? (Robert J. Nash)
ch. 9 Taking Religion Seriously: Another Approach (James C. Carper, Thomas C. Hunt)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Issue on Warren A. Nord's
Does God Make a Difference? Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities
Editor's Preface
Essays
ch. 1 Does God Make a Difference? Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities: An Excerpt (Warren A. Nord)
ch. 2 Taking Warren Nord Seriously (Charles C. Haynes)
ch. 3 Even So, Keep Looking at That (MArtin E. Marty)
ch. 4 Teaching About Religion in Public Schools: Where Do We Go From Here? (Melissa Rogers)
ch. 5 Educational and Legal Perspectives: How Do They Differ? (Kent Greenawalt)
ch. 6 The Place of Religious Studies in Warren Nord's Does God Make a Difference (Bruce Grelle)
ch. 7 The Examined Life (Emile Lester)
ch. 8 Does Warren A. Nord Make a Difference? (Robert J. Nash)
ch. 9 Taking Religion Seriously: Another Approach (James C. Carper, Thomas C. Hunt)
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This Forum collects the papers presented at a 2010 panel at the Society of Biblical Literature, an outcome of a Wabash Center funded grant project. The project examined the unique dimensions and experiences of teaching Biblical exegesis at the six historically black theological schools (HBTSs), including discussion of the unique needs of HBTS students and their communities, and appropriate learning goals and effective teaching practices for this context. None of the ...
This Forum collects the papers presented at a 2010 panel at the Society of Biblical Literature, an outcome of a Wabash Center funded grant project. The project examined the unique dimensions and experiences of teaching Biblical exegesis at the six historically black theological schools (HBTSs), including discussion of the unique needs of HBTS students and their communities, and appropriate learning goals and effective teaching practices for this context. None of the ...
Additional Info:
This Forum collects the papers presented at a 2010 panel at the Society of Biblical Literature, an outcome of a Wabash Center funded grant project. The project examined the unique dimensions and experiences of teaching Biblical exegesis at the six historically black theological schools (HBTSs), including discussion of the unique needs of HBTS students and their communities, and appropriate learning goals and effective teaching practices for this context. None of the biblical studies faculty were prepared as graduate students for the unique challenges that they have encountered teaching at a HBTS, so they have all had to “learn on the job” how best to approach the unique needs of the student body. The brief statements collected here summarize the findings from the project, describe and analyze some effective teaching strategies, and offer suggestions for continuing the conversation.
This Forum collects the papers presented at a 2010 panel at the Society of Biblical Literature, an outcome of a Wabash Center funded grant project. The project examined the unique dimensions and experiences of teaching Biblical exegesis at the six historically black theological schools (HBTSs), including discussion of the unique needs of HBTS students and their communities, and appropriate learning goals and effective teaching practices for this context. None of the biblical studies faculty were prepared as graduate students for the unique challenges that they have encountered teaching at a HBTS, so they have all had to “learn on the job” how best to approach the unique needs of the student body. The brief statements collected here summarize the findings from the project, describe and analyze some effective teaching strategies, and offer suggestions for continuing the conversation.
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This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay scaffolding student engagement with difficult texts from non-Western Christian contexts.
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay scaffolding student engagement with difficult texts from non-Western Christian contexts.
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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay scaffolding student engagement with difficult texts from non-Western Christian contexts.
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay scaffolding student engagement with difficult texts from non-Western Christian contexts.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing role playing exercise to help students engage a challenging text.
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing role playing exercise to help students engage a challenging text.
Additional Info:
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing role playing exercise to help students engage a challenging text.
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing role playing exercise to help students engage a challenging text.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.
Additional Info:
For generations, most seminary teaching of the Bible has focused on the historical-critical method. While this method has been the assumption in almost every seminary curriculum, the actual effects of this approach to Scripture have hardly been examined. From studying the biblical studies courses at ten different seminaries and divinity schools, Dale Martin learned what faculties were doing and what students were hearing. This book presents his discoveries, offering the ...
For generations, most seminary teaching of the Bible has focused on the historical-critical method. While this method has been the assumption in almost every seminary curriculum, the actual effects of this approach to Scripture have hardly been examined. From studying the biblical studies courses at ten different seminaries and divinity schools, Dale Martin learned what faculties were doing and what students were hearing. This book presents his discoveries, offering the ...
Additional Info:
For generations, most seminary teaching of the Bible has focused on the historical-critical method. While this method has been the assumption in almost every seminary curriculum, the actual effects of this approach to Scripture have hardly been examined. From studying the biblical studies courses at ten different seminaries and divinity schools, Dale Martin learned what faculties were doing and what students were hearing. This book presents his discoveries, offering the best-ever inside look into the teaching of the Bible for ministry. Going beyond mere description, Martin argues for a new emphasis on interpreting Scripture within the context of church history and theology. Such a reading would be more theological, more integrated into the whole theological curriculum, and more theoretical (as it would focus on whats at stake in interpretation); however, Martin surprisingly argues, it would be more practical at the same time. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface and Acknowledgments
The Bible in Theological Education
Readers and Texts
Premodern Biblical Interpretation
Theological Interpretation of Scripture
Curricular Dreams
Notes
Bibliography
Scripture Index
Author and Subject Index
For generations, most seminary teaching of the Bible has focused on the historical-critical method. While this method has been the assumption in almost every seminary curriculum, the actual effects of this approach to Scripture have hardly been examined. From studying the biblical studies courses at ten different seminaries and divinity schools, Dale Martin learned what faculties were doing and what students were hearing. This book presents his discoveries, offering the best-ever inside look into the teaching of the Bible for ministry. Going beyond mere description, Martin argues for a new emphasis on interpreting Scripture within the context of church history and theology. Such a reading would be more theological, more integrated into the whole theological curriculum, and more theoretical (as it would focus on whats at stake in interpretation); however, Martin surprisingly argues, it would be more practical at the same time. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface and Acknowledgments
The Bible in Theological Education
Readers and Texts
Premodern Biblical Interpretation
Theological Interpretation of Scripture
Curricular Dreams
Notes
Bibliography
Scripture Index
Author and Subject Index
Additional Info:
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing scaffolding to help students engage a challenging text.
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing scaffolding to help students engage a challenging text.
Additional Info:
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing scaffolding to help students engage a challenging text.
"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing scaffolding to help students engage a challenging text.

"The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Religious Studies"
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In 2014, a roundtable on pedagogy appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion with an initial piece by Vanessa Sasson. Although neither Sasson nor the respondents explicitly situated her article as a part of the broader body of work known as the “ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (SoTL), readers would reap benefit from such a contextualization. In this article, after first exploring what SoTL is and how it ...
In 2014, a roundtable on pedagogy appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion with an initial piece by Vanessa Sasson. Although neither Sasson nor the respondents explicitly situated her article as a part of the broader body of work known as the “ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (SoTL), readers would reap benefit from such a contextualization. In this article, after first exploring what SoTL is and how it ...
Additional Info:
In 2014, a roundtable on pedagogy appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion with an initial piece by Vanessa Sasson. Although neither Sasson nor the respondents explicitly situated her article as a part of the broader body of work known as the “ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (SoTL), readers would reap benefit from such a contextualization. In this article, after first exploring what SoTL is and how it has interacted with the field of religious studies, I explore three main elements of this particular kind of scholarship: research with human subjects and the Institutional Review Board, a foundation in other scholarship, and assessment. In these three areas, I uncover special questions, considerations, and resources for all religious studies instructors interested in embarking upon a SoTL project with the aim of contributing to the ongoing conversation about pedagogy.
In 2014, a roundtable on pedagogy appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion with an initial piece by Vanessa Sasson. Although neither Sasson nor the respondents explicitly situated her article as a part of the broader body of work known as the “ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (SoTL), readers would reap benefit from such a contextualization. In this article, after first exploring what SoTL is and how it has interacted with the field of religious studies, I explore three main elements of this particular kind of scholarship: research with human subjects and the Institutional Review Board, a foundation in other scholarship, and assessment. In these three areas, I uncover special questions, considerations, and resources for all religious studies instructors interested in embarking upon a SoTL project with the aim of contributing to the ongoing conversation about pedagogy.
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Good outline of what to expect when dealing with an emotionally intense issue, and how to structure and lead class so as to increase learning. Applicable beyond the specifics of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Good outline of what to expect when dealing with an emotionally intense issue, and how to structure and lead class so as to increase learning. Applicable beyond the specifics of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
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Good outline of what to expect when dealing with an emotionally intense issue, and how to structure and lead class so as to increase learning. Applicable beyond the specifics of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Good outline of what to expect when dealing with an emotionally intense issue, and how to structure and lead class so as to increase learning. Applicable beyond the specifics of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Teaching the Bible in the Church
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John Bracke and Karen Tye, a biblical scholar and a religious educator, have come together to offer a vital new work of practical insight into the task of teaching the Bible in the church. Intended for pastors, church educators, lay teachers, and those in seminary, this book provides a blueprint for effective teaching that lead beyond just conveying information to opening oneself and the learner to transformation through the text. ...
John Bracke and Karen Tye, a biblical scholar and a religious educator, have come together to offer a vital new work of practical insight into the task of teaching the Bible in the church. Intended for pastors, church educators, lay teachers, and those in seminary, this book provides a blueprint for effective teaching that lead beyond just conveying information to opening oneself and the learner to transformation through the text. ...
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John Bracke and Karen Tye, a biblical scholar and a religious educator, have come together to offer a vital new work of practical insight into the task of teaching the Bible in the church. Intended for pastors, church educators, lay teachers, and those in seminary, this book provides a blueprint for effective teaching that lead beyond just conveying information to opening oneself and the learner to transformation through the text. It is teaching the Bible in its most faithful form, as an invitation to fully encounter the scriptures and the God who empowers transformation. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
ch. 1 Teaching the Bible: How We Learn
ch. 2 Teaching the Bible: How We Teach
ch. 3 Teaching the Bible: An Intercultural Education Experience
ch. 4 Teaching the Bible: Issues of Interpretation
ch. 5 Teaching the Bible: Putting It All Together
Notes
John Bracke and Karen Tye, a biblical scholar and a religious educator, have come together to offer a vital new work of practical insight into the task of teaching the Bible in the church. Intended for pastors, church educators, lay teachers, and those in seminary, this book provides a blueprint for effective teaching that lead beyond just conveying information to opening oneself and the learner to transformation through the text. It is teaching the Bible in its most faithful form, as an invitation to fully encounter the scriptures and the God who empowers transformation. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
ch. 1 Teaching the Bible: How We Learn
ch. 2 Teaching the Bible: How We Teach
ch. 3 Teaching the Bible: An Intercultural Education Experience
ch. 4 Teaching the Bible: Issues of Interpretation
ch. 5 Teaching the Bible: Putting It All Together
Notes
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Contributors
ch. 1 Let’s Get Physical: Using Sports, Yoga, and Dance to Teach about Religion (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 From Durkheim to Game Day: Sports as a Bridge for Introducing Religious Studies (Arthur Remillard)
ch. 3 Religion and Sports (Philip P. Arnold)
ch. 4 Using Sport to Teaching American Religious History (Annie Blazer)
ch. 5 Using Case Studies to Teach Religion and Sports (Rebecca T. Alpert)
ch. 6 Yoga in Theory and Practice: Pedagogical Strategies (Patton Burchett)
ch. 7 Sensing the Gods: Utilizing Embodied Pedagogy to Understand Hindu Devotion (Katherine C. Zubko)
Resources
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Contributors
ch. 1 Let’s Get Physical: Using Sports, Yoga, and Dance to Teach about Religion (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 From Durkheim to Game Day: Sports as a Bridge for Introducing Religious Studies (Arthur Remillard)
ch. 3 Religion and Sports (Philip P. Arnold)
ch. 4 Using Sport to Teaching American Religious History (Annie Blazer)
ch. 5 Using Case Studies to Teach Religion and Sports (Rebecca T. Alpert)
ch. 6 Yoga in Theory and Practice: Pedagogical Strategies (Patton Burchett)
ch. 7 Sensing the Gods: Utilizing Embodied Pedagogy to Understand Hindu Devotion (Katherine C. Zubko)
Resources

Attuned Learning: Rabbinic Texts on Habits of the Heart in Learning Interactions
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Click Here for Book Review
Practice-oriented educational philosopher Elie Holzer invites readers to grow as teachers, students, or co-learners through “attuned learning,” a new paradigm of mindfulness. Groundbreaking interpretations of classical rabbinic texts sharpen attention to our own mental, emotional, and physical workings as well as awareness of others within the complexities of learning interactions. Holzer integrates ...
Click Here for Book Review
Practice-oriented educational philosopher Elie Holzer invites readers to grow as teachers, students, or co-learners through “attuned learning,” a new paradigm of mindfulness. Groundbreaking interpretations of classical rabbinic texts sharpen attention to our own mental, emotional, and physical workings as well as awareness of others within the complexities of learning interactions. Holzer integrates ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Practice-oriented educational philosopher Elie Holzer invites readers to grow as teachers, students, or co-learners through “attuned learning,” a new paradigm of mindfulness. Groundbreaking interpretations of classical rabbinic texts sharpen attention to our own mental, emotional, and physical workings as well as awareness of others within the complexities of learning interactions. Holzer integrates pedagogical pathways with ethical elements of transformative teaching and learning, the repair of educational disruptions, the role of the human visage, and the dynamics of argumentative and collaborative learning. Literary analyses reveal that deliberate self-cultivation not only leads to ethical and spiritual growth, but also offers a corrective for the pitfalls of the contemporary calculative modalities in educational thinking. The author speaks to the existential, humanizing art of learning and of teaching. This book can serve as a companion volume for A Philosophy of Havruta: Understanding and Teaching the Art of Text Study in Pairs, adding a new dimension of its model of joint learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Attuned Acknowledgments
Part One: Conceptual Frameworks
ch. 1 The Concept of Attuned Learning
ch. 2 Reading Rabbinic Texts for Education
Part Two: Co-Learners’ Attuned Learning
Introduction: Collaborative Learning in Rabbinic Literature
ch. 3 Self-Refinement in Argumentative Learning
ch. 4 Study Partners’ Learning
Part Three: Teachers and Students’ Attuned Learning
Introduction: Teaching in Rabbinic Literature
ch. 5 Learning Transformations
ch. 6 Disruptions and Repairs
ch. 7 The Visages of Learning Interactions
Part Four: Attuned Learning and Educational Thought
ch. 8 Attuned Learning in Contemporary Contexts
Glossary of Technical and Foreign Terms and Language Usage
Bibliography
Index
Click Here for Book Review
Practice-oriented educational philosopher Elie Holzer invites readers to grow as teachers, students, or co-learners through “attuned learning,” a new paradigm of mindfulness. Groundbreaking interpretations of classical rabbinic texts sharpen attention to our own mental, emotional, and physical workings as well as awareness of others within the complexities of learning interactions. Holzer integrates pedagogical pathways with ethical elements of transformative teaching and learning, the repair of educational disruptions, the role of the human visage, and the dynamics of argumentative and collaborative learning. Literary analyses reveal that deliberate self-cultivation not only leads to ethical and spiritual growth, but also offers a corrective for the pitfalls of the contemporary calculative modalities in educational thinking. The author speaks to the existential, humanizing art of learning and of teaching. This book can serve as a companion volume for A Philosophy of Havruta: Understanding and Teaching the Art of Text Study in Pairs, adding a new dimension of its model of joint learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Attuned Acknowledgments
Part One: Conceptual Frameworks
ch. 1 The Concept of Attuned Learning
ch. 2 Reading Rabbinic Texts for Education
Part Two: Co-Learners’ Attuned Learning
Introduction: Collaborative Learning in Rabbinic Literature
ch. 3 Self-Refinement in Argumentative Learning
ch. 4 Study Partners’ Learning
Part Three: Teachers and Students’ Attuned Learning
Introduction: Teaching in Rabbinic Literature
ch. 5 Learning Transformations
ch. 6 Disruptions and Repairs
ch. 7 The Visages of Learning Interactions
Part Four: Attuned Learning and Educational Thought
ch. 8 Attuned Learning in Contemporary Contexts
Glossary of Technical and Foreign Terms and Language Usage
Bibliography
Index
Additional Info:
As the number of people of South Asian heritage in America has greatly increased over recent decades, the study and teaching of Hinduism has come under ever greater scrutiny. During this time, the number of students of Indian background has vastly increased in some schools in some parts of the United States. This increased presence and scrutiny has had some salutary effects, including greater attention to and accountability in our ...
As the number of people of South Asian heritage in America has greatly increased over recent decades, the study and teaching of Hinduism has come under ever greater scrutiny. During this time, the number of students of Indian background has vastly increased in some schools in some parts of the United States. This increased presence and scrutiny has had some salutary effects, including greater attention to and accountability in our ...
Additional Info:
As the number of people of South Asian heritage in America has greatly increased over recent decades, the study and teaching of Hinduism has come under ever greater scrutiny. During this time, the number of students of Indian background has vastly increased in some schools in some parts of the United States. This increased presence and scrutiny has had some salutary effects, including greater attention to and accountability in our field, but has also led to some unwelcome conflict and feelings of misrepresentation by both academics and adherents. Some of us are in the perplexing position of being keenly aware of and in conversation about tensions elsewhere, yet still having few (or no) Hindu students in our own classrooms. This essay will discuss two matters given this background: first, I will describe how I present Hindu religious traditions in my local context, and then I will offer some more general reflections on teaching and researching Hinduism in the United States today.
As the number of people of South Asian heritage in America has greatly increased over recent decades, the study and teaching of Hinduism has come under ever greater scrutiny. During this time, the number of students of Indian background has vastly increased in some schools in some parts of the United States. This increased presence and scrutiny has had some salutary effects, including greater attention to and accountability in our field, but has also led to some unwelcome conflict and feelings of misrepresentation by both academics and adherents. Some of us are in the perplexing position of being keenly aware of and in conversation about tensions elsewhere, yet still having few (or no) Hindu students in our own classrooms. This essay will discuss two matters given this background: first, I will describe how I present Hindu religious traditions in my local context, and then I will offer some more general reflections on teaching and researching Hinduism in the United States today.
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This essay seeks to illumine the teaching and learning of the practice of forgiveness by relating a range of theoretical perspectives (theological, psychological, and socio-cultural) to the process of cultivating the practical wisdom needed for forgiveness. We discuss how a Trinitarian "epistemology of the cross" might lead one to a new way of perceiving life's constraints and possibilities and relate this theological epistemology to three psychological approaches for understanding forgiveness – ...
This essay seeks to illumine the teaching and learning of the practice of forgiveness by relating a range of theoretical perspectives (theological, psychological, and socio-cultural) to the process of cultivating the practical wisdom needed for forgiveness. We discuss how a Trinitarian "epistemology of the cross" might lead one to a new way of perceiving life's constraints and possibilities and relate this theological epistemology to three psychological approaches for understanding forgiveness – ...
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This essay seeks to illumine the teaching and learning of the practice of forgiveness by relating a range of theoretical perspectives (theological, psychological, and socio-cultural) to the process of cultivating the practical wisdom needed for forgiveness. We discuss how a Trinitarian "epistemology of the cross" might lead one to a new way of perceiving life's constraints and possibilities and relate this theological epistemology to three psychological approaches for understanding forgiveness – a narrative approach, object-relations theory, and consciousness development theory. Our discussion of these theoretical perspectives is explicitly related to the practice of teaching and learning forgiveness, outlining learning activities we have used in a course we taught (which ranged from case studies and film to lectures and discussions based on close readings of biblical and theological texts) and reporting highlights in our students' work.
This essay seeks to illumine the teaching and learning of the practice of forgiveness by relating a range of theoretical perspectives (theological, psychological, and socio-cultural) to the process of cultivating the practical wisdom needed for forgiveness. We discuss how a Trinitarian "epistemology of the cross" might lead one to a new way of perceiving life's constraints and possibilities and relate this theological epistemology to three psychological approaches for understanding forgiveness – a narrative approach, object-relations theory, and consciousness development theory. Our discussion of these theoretical perspectives is explicitly related to the practice of teaching and learning forgiveness, outlining learning activities we have used in a course we taught (which ranged from case studies and film to lectures and discussions based on close readings of biblical and theological texts) and reporting highlights in our students' work.
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Most courses in colleges and universities are taught by only one instructor. This is often necessitated by the financial exigencies of educational institutions, but is also due to an academic tradition in which the ideal is a single expert teaching in a single discipline. The rapidly changing realities of both the higher education and job markets, however, have called the traditional ideal into question. Interdisciplinary collaborative teaching is one way ...
Most courses in colleges and universities are taught by only one instructor. This is often necessitated by the financial exigencies of educational institutions, but is also due to an academic tradition in which the ideal is a single expert teaching in a single discipline. The rapidly changing realities of both the higher education and job markets, however, have called the traditional ideal into question. Interdisciplinary collaborative teaching is one way ...
Additional Info:
Most courses in colleges and universities are taught by only one instructor. This is often necessitated by the financial exigencies of educational institutions, but is also due to an academic tradition in which the ideal is a single expert teaching in a single discipline. The rapidly changing realities of both the higher education and job markets, however, have called the traditional ideal into question. Interdisciplinary collaborative teaching is one way to adapt to the needs of twenty-first-century students, by modeling lifelong learning for students and inviting instructors to be more deliberately reflective about disciplinary assumptions, learning styles, and pedagogies.
Most courses in colleges and universities are taught by only one instructor. This is often necessitated by the financial exigencies of educational institutions, but is also due to an academic tradition in which the ideal is a single expert teaching in a single discipline. The rapidly changing realities of both the higher education and job markets, however, have called the traditional ideal into question. Interdisciplinary collaborative teaching is one way to adapt to the needs of twenty-first-century students, by modeling lifelong learning for students and inviting instructors to be more deliberately reflective about disciplinary assumptions, learning styles, and pedagogies.
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One page Teaching Tactic: low-stakes writing assignments to improve students engagement with texts.
One page Teaching Tactic: low-stakes writing assignments to improve students engagement with texts.
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One page Teaching Tactic: low-stakes writing assignments to improve students engagement with texts.
One page Teaching Tactic: low-stakes writing assignments to improve students engagement with texts.

"Putting Religious Studies on the Map at a Community College"
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One page Teaching Tactic: on the first day of class, students discuss course content by discussing classification strategies
One page Teaching Tactic: on the first day of class, students discuss course content by discussing classification strategies
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One page Teaching Tactic: on the first day of class, students discuss course content by discussing classification strategies
One page Teaching Tactic: on the first day of class, students discuss course content by discussing classification strategies
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Preaching's most able practitioners gather in this book to call for a radical change in how Christian preaching is taught. Arguing that preaching is a living practice with a long tradition, an identifiable shape, and a broad set of norms and desired outcomes, these scholars propose that teachers initiate their students into the larger practice of preaching-the habits of mind, patterns of action, and ways of being that are integral ...
Preaching's most able practitioners gather in this book to call for a radical change in how Christian preaching is taught. Arguing that preaching is a living practice with a long tradition, an identifiable shape, and a broad set of norms and desired outcomes, these scholars propose that teachers initiate their students into the larger practice of preaching-the habits of mind, patterns of action, and ways of being that are integral ...
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Preaching's most able practitioners gather in this book to call for a radical change in how Christian preaching is taught. Arguing that preaching is a living practice with a long tradition, an identifiable shape, and a broad set of norms and desired outcomes, these scholars propose that teachers initiate their students into the larger practice of preaching-the habits of mind, patterns of action, and ways of being that are integral to the ministry of preaching. The book concludes with designs for a basic preaching course and addresses the question of how preaching courses fit into the larger patterns of seminary curricula. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Sect. I Preaching as a Christian practice
ch. 1 A new focus for teaching preaching (Thomas G. Long)
ch. 2 Why the idea of practice matters (James Nieman)
ch. 3 Teaching preaching as a Christian practice (David J. Lose)
Sect. II The components of the practice of preaching
ch. 4 Interpreting texts for preaching (James W. Thompson)
ch. 5 Exegeting the congregation (Leonora Tubbs Tisdale)
ch. 6 Interpreting the larger social context (James Henry Harris)
ch. 7 The use of language (Teresa Fry Brown)
ch. 8 The preaching imagination (Anna Carter Florence)
ch. 9 Creation of form (Lucy Hogan)
ch. 10 Cultivating historical vision( Joseph R. Jeter, Jr.)
ch. 11 Voice and diction (Teresa Fry Brown)
Sect. III Assessment and formation
ch. 12 Marks of faithful preaching practice (Paul Scott Wilson)
ch. 13 Methods of assessment (Daniel E. Harris)
Sect. IV Preaching in the curriculum
ch. 14 Designing the introductory course in preaching (Barbara K. Lundblad)
ch. 15 Finding support from school, denomination, and academy (Gregory Heille)
Preaching's most able practitioners gather in this book to call for a radical change in how Christian preaching is taught. Arguing that preaching is a living practice with a long tradition, an identifiable shape, and a broad set of norms and desired outcomes, these scholars propose that teachers initiate their students into the larger practice of preaching-the habits of mind, patterns of action, and ways of being that are integral to the ministry of preaching. The book concludes with designs for a basic preaching course and addresses the question of how preaching courses fit into the larger patterns of seminary curricula. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Sect. I Preaching as a Christian practice
ch. 1 A new focus for teaching preaching (Thomas G. Long)
ch. 2 Why the idea of practice matters (James Nieman)
ch. 3 Teaching preaching as a Christian practice (David J. Lose)
Sect. II The components of the practice of preaching
ch. 4 Interpreting texts for preaching (James W. Thompson)
ch. 5 Exegeting the congregation (Leonora Tubbs Tisdale)
ch. 6 Interpreting the larger social context (James Henry Harris)
ch. 7 The use of language (Teresa Fry Brown)
ch. 8 The preaching imagination (Anna Carter Florence)
ch. 9 Creation of form (Lucy Hogan)
ch. 10 Cultivating historical vision( Joseph R. Jeter, Jr.)
ch. 11 Voice and diction (Teresa Fry Brown)
Sect. III Assessment and formation
ch. 12 Marks of faithful preaching practice (Paul Scott Wilson)
ch. 13 Methods of assessment (Daniel E. Harris)
Sect. IV Preaching in the curriculum
ch. 14 Designing the introductory course in preaching (Barbara K. Lundblad)
ch. 15 Finding support from school, denomination, and academy (Gregory Heille)

"Acting Religious: Theatre as Pedagogy in Teaching Religious Studies"
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She Can Read: Feminist Reading Strategies for Biblical Narrative
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Using the research of feminist literary critics and building upon the work of feminist biblical scholars, Emily Cheney offers three strategies for women whose ecclesiastical traditions expect them to base their sermons on biblical texts, and for women who want their sermons to reflect a feminist consciousness and compassion. The strategies focus on gender reversal, analogy, and women as exchange objects, all tested on several texts without female characters from ...
Using the research of feminist literary critics and building upon the work of feminist biblical scholars, Emily Cheney offers three strategies for women whose ecclesiastical traditions expect them to base their sermons on biblical texts, and for women who want their sermons to reflect a feminist consciousness and compassion. The strategies focus on gender reversal, analogy, and women as exchange objects, all tested on several texts without female characters from ...
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Using the research of feminist literary critics and building upon the work of feminist biblical scholars, Emily Cheney offers three strategies for women whose ecclesiastical traditions expect them to base their sermons on biblical texts, and for women who want their sermons to reflect a feminist consciousness and compassion. The strategies focus on gender reversal, analogy, and women as exchange objects, all tested on several texts without female characters from the Gospel of Matthew. A concluding section reflects upon what role the authority of the text plays when readers use these strategies. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
ch. 1 The Need for Reading Strategies
ch. 2 Scholarship of Feminist Literary Critics
ch. 3 Gender Reversal
ch. 4 Analogy
ch. 5 Women as Exchange Objects
ch. 6 Application of the Strategies to Mt. 1:18-25
Conclusion
Appendix: Sample Sermon
Notes
Bibliography of Works Cited
Scripture Index
General Index
Using the research of feminist literary critics and building upon the work of feminist biblical scholars, Emily Cheney offers three strategies for women whose ecclesiastical traditions expect them to base their sermons on biblical texts, and for women who want their sermons to reflect a feminist consciousness and compassion. The strategies focus on gender reversal, analogy, and women as exchange objects, all tested on several texts without female characters from the Gospel of Matthew. A concluding section reflects upon what role the authority of the text plays when readers use these strategies. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
ch. 1 The Need for Reading Strategies
ch. 2 Scholarship of Feminist Literary Critics
ch. 3 Gender Reversal
ch. 4 Analogy
ch. 5 Women as Exchange Objects
ch. 6 Application of the Strategies to Mt. 1:18-25
Conclusion
Appendix: Sample Sermon
Notes
Bibliography of Works Cited
Scripture Index
General Index
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This paper presents a critique of a set of teaching strategies known as “contemplative pedagogy.” Using practices such as meditation, attentive listening, and reflective reading, contemplative inquiry focuses on direct first-person experience as an essential means of knowing that has historically been overshadowed and dismissed by an emphasis on analytical reasoning. In this essay, I examine four problematic claims that appear frequently in descriptions of contemplative pedagogy: (1) undergraduate students have ...
This paper presents a critique of a set of teaching strategies known as “contemplative pedagogy.” Using practices such as meditation, attentive listening, and reflective reading, contemplative inquiry focuses on direct first-person experience as an essential means of knowing that has historically been overshadowed and dismissed by an emphasis on analytical reasoning. In this essay, I examine four problematic claims that appear frequently in descriptions of contemplative pedagogy: (1) undergraduate students have ...
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This paper presents a critique of a set of teaching strategies known as “contemplative pedagogy.” Using practices such as meditation, attentive listening, and reflective reading, contemplative inquiry focuses on direct first-person experience as an essential means of knowing that has historically been overshadowed and dismissed by an emphasis on analytical reasoning. In this essay, I examine four problematic claims that appear frequently in descriptions of contemplative pedagogy: (1) undergraduate students have a kind of spiritual hunger; (2) pedagogies focused on cognitive skills teach students only what, not how, to think; (3) self-knowledge fosters empathy; and (4) education needs a new epistemology centered on spiritual and emotional, rather than intellectual, experience. I argue that these claims underestimate the diversity of undergraduate students, the complexity of what it means to think and know, the capacity for self-knowledge to become self-absorption, and the dangers of transgressing the boundaries between intellectual, psychological, and religious experiences. [See as well “Response to Kathleen Fisher's ‘Look Before You Leap,’” by Andrew O. Fort and Louis Komjathy, published in this issue of the journal.]
This paper presents a critique of a set of teaching strategies known as “contemplative pedagogy.” Using practices such as meditation, attentive listening, and reflective reading, contemplative inquiry focuses on direct first-person experience as an essential means of knowing that has historically been overshadowed and dismissed by an emphasis on analytical reasoning. In this essay, I examine four problematic claims that appear frequently in descriptions of contemplative pedagogy: (1) undergraduate students have a kind of spiritual hunger; (2) pedagogies focused on cognitive skills teach students only what, not how, to think; (3) self-knowledge fosters empathy; and (4) education needs a new epistemology centered on spiritual and emotional, rather than intellectual, experience. I argue that these claims underestimate the diversity of undergraduate students, the complexity of what it means to think and know, the capacity for self-knowledge to become self-absorption, and the dangers of transgressing the boundaries between intellectual, psychological, and religious experiences. [See as well “Response to Kathleen Fisher's ‘Look Before You Leap,’” by Andrew O. Fort and Louis Komjathy, published in this issue of the journal.]
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Theology as Critical Inquiry (Paul E. Capetz)
ch. 2 Reenacting Ancient Pedagogy in the Classroom (Marjorie Lehman)
ch. 3 Forming a Critical Imagination (Karen-Marie Yust)
ch. 4 Critical Thinking and Prophetic Witness, Historically-Theologically Based (Glen H. Stassen)
ch. 5 Social Theory as a Critical Resource (Paul Lakeland)
ch. 6 Ethnography as Critical Theological Resource (Mary McClintock Fulkerson)
ch. 7 Contextualizing Womanist/Feminist Critical Thought and Praxis (Rosetta E. Ross)
ch. 8 Critical Perspective in Biblical Studies (Robert Coote)
ch. 9 Liturgical Theology as Critical Practice (Bruce T. Morrill)
ch. 10 The Parish Context: A Critical Horizon for Teaching and Learning Ethics (Cheryl J. Sanders)
ch. 11 Critical Reflection and Praxis in Developing Ministerial Leaders (Emily Click)
ch. 12 New Wine in Old Vessels: Enabling Students to Enter an Age-old Conversation (Norman J. Cohen)
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Theology as Critical Inquiry (Paul E. Capetz)
ch. 2 Reenacting Ancient Pedagogy in the Classroom (Marjorie Lehman)
ch. 3 Forming a Critical Imagination (Karen-Marie Yust)
ch. 4 Critical Thinking and Prophetic Witness, Historically-Theologically Based (Glen H. Stassen)
ch. 5 Social Theory as a Critical Resource (Paul Lakeland)
ch. 6 Ethnography as Critical Theological Resource (Mary McClintock Fulkerson)
ch. 7 Contextualizing Womanist/Feminist Critical Thought and Praxis (Rosetta E. Ross)
ch. 8 Critical Perspective in Biblical Studies (Robert Coote)
ch. 9 Liturgical Theology as Critical Practice (Bruce T. Morrill)
ch. 10 The Parish Context: A Critical Horizon for Teaching and Learning Ethics (Cheryl J. Sanders)
ch. 11 Critical Reflection and Praxis in Developing Ministerial Leaders (Emily Click)
ch. 12 New Wine in Old Vessels: Enabling Students to Enter an Age-old Conversation (Norman J. Cohen)
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This article provides two short responses to Kathleen M. Fisher's essay “Look Before You Leap: Reconsidering Contemplative Pedagogy,” published in this issue of the journal.
This article provides two short responses to Kathleen M. Fisher's essay “Look Before You Leap: Reconsidering Contemplative Pedagogy,” published in this issue of the journal.
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This article provides two short responses to Kathleen M. Fisher's essay “Look Before You Leap: Reconsidering Contemplative Pedagogy,” published in this issue of the journal.
This article provides two short responses to Kathleen M. Fisher's essay “Look Before You Leap: Reconsidering Contemplative Pedagogy,” published in this issue of the journal.
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Called to Educate (Lee H. Butler)
ch. 2 Daring to Engage the World (Daisy L. Machado)
ch. 3 The Cultivation of Imagination as Literacy for Theological Education (Emily Click)
ch. 4 Theological Literacy through World Religions (Elizabeth Conde-Frazier)
ch. 5 The Challenge of Theological Illiteracy for Teaching Comparative Theology (John J. Thatamanil)
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Called to Educate (Lee H. Butler)
ch. 2 Daring to Engage the World (Daisy L. Machado)
ch. 3 The Cultivation of Imagination as Literacy for Theological Education (Emily Click)
ch. 4 Theological Literacy through World Religions (Elizabeth Conde-Frazier)
ch. 5 The Challenge of Theological Illiteracy for Teaching Comparative Theology (John J. Thatamanil)
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A group of eminent African American scholars of religoius and theological studies examines the problems and prospects of Black scholarhip in the theological academy. They assess the role that prominent African American scholars have played in transforming the study and teaching of religion and theology, the need for a more thorough-going incorporation of the fruits of black scholarship into the mainstream of the academic study of religion, and the challenges ...
A group of eminent African American scholars of religoius and theological studies examines the problems and prospects of Black scholarhip in the theological academy. They assess the role that prominent African American scholars have played in transforming the study and teaching of religion and theology, the need for a more thorough-going incorporation of the fruits of black scholarship into the mainstream of the academic study of religion, and the challenges ...
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A group of eminent African American scholars of religoius and theological studies examines the problems and prospects of Black scholarhip in the theological academy. They assess the role that prominent African American scholars have played in transforming the study and teaching of religion and theology, the need for a more thorough-going incorporation of the fruits of black scholarship into the mainstream of the academic study of religion, and the challenges and opportunities of bringing black art, black intellectual thought, and black culture into predominantly white classrooms and institutions. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction (Nancy Lynne Westfield)
Views
ch. 1 Visible/Invisible: Teaching Popular Culture and the Vulgar Body in Black Religious Studies (Carol B. Duncan)
ch. 2 Using Novels of Resistance to Teach Intercultural Empathy and Cultural Analysis (Arthur L. Pressley)
ch. 3 E-Racing While Black (Stephen G. Ray, Jr.)
ch. 4 Called Out My Name, or Had I Known You Were Somebody: The Pain of Fending Off Stereotypes (Nancy Lynne Westfield)
ch. 5 Reading the Signs: The Body as Non-Written Text (Anthony B. Pinn)
ch. 6 Emancipatory Historiography as Pedagogical Praxis: The Blessing and the Curse of Theological Education for the Black Self and Subject (Juan M. Floyd-Thomas and Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas)
ch. 7 Black Rhythms and Consciousness: Authentic Being and Pedagogy (Lincoln E. Galloway)
ch. 8 From Embodied Theodicy to Embodied Theos (Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas)
ch. 9 Teaching Black: God-Talk with Black Thinkers (Arthur L. Pressley and Nancy Lynne Westfield)
Responses
ch. 10 Teaching Black, Talking Back (Carolyn M. Jones)
ch. 11 Together in Solidarity: An Asian American Feminist's Response (Boyung Lee)
ch. 12 Influences of "Being Black, Teaching Black" On Theological Education (Charles R. Foster)
Notes
Select Bibliography
A group of eminent African American scholars of religoius and theological studies examines the problems and prospects of Black scholarhip in the theological academy. They assess the role that prominent African American scholars have played in transforming the study and teaching of religion and theology, the need for a more thorough-going incorporation of the fruits of black scholarship into the mainstream of the academic study of religion, and the challenges and opportunities of bringing black art, black intellectual thought, and black culture into predominantly white classrooms and institutions. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction (Nancy Lynne Westfield)
Views
ch. 1 Visible/Invisible: Teaching Popular Culture and the Vulgar Body in Black Religious Studies (Carol B. Duncan)
ch. 2 Using Novels of Resistance to Teach Intercultural Empathy and Cultural Analysis (Arthur L. Pressley)
ch. 3 E-Racing While Black (Stephen G. Ray, Jr.)
ch. 4 Called Out My Name, or Had I Known You Were Somebody: The Pain of Fending Off Stereotypes (Nancy Lynne Westfield)
ch. 5 Reading the Signs: The Body as Non-Written Text (Anthony B. Pinn)
ch. 6 Emancipatory Historiography as Pedagogical Praxis: The Blessing and the Curse of Theological Education for the Black Self and Subject (Juan M. Floyd-Thomas and Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas)
ch. 7 Black Rhythms and Consciousness: Authentic Being and Pedagogy (Lincoln E. Galloway)
ch. 8 From Embodied Theodicy to Embodied Theos (Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas)
ch. 9 Teaching Black: God-Talk with Black Thinkers (Arthur L. Pressley and Nancy Lynne Westfield)
Responses
ch. 10 Teaching Black, Talking Back (Carolyn M. Jones)
ch. 11 Together in Solidarity: An Asian American Feminist's Response (Boyung Lee)
ch. 12 Influences of "Being Black, Teaching Black" On Theological Education (Charles R. Foster)
Notes
Select Bibliography
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In this article, I explore an ethical and pedagogical dilemma that I encounter each semester in my world religions courses: namely, that a great number of students enroll in the courses as part of their missionary training programs, and come to class understanding successful learning to mean gathering enough information about the world's religious “traditions” so as to effectively seduce people out of them. How should we teach world religions – ...
In this article, I explore an ethical and pedagogical dilemma that I encounter each semester in my world religions courses: namely, that a great number of students enroll in the courses as part of their missionary training programs, and come to class understanding successful learning to mean gathering enough information about the world's religious “traditions” so as to effectively seduce people out of them. How should we teach world religions – ...
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In this article, I explore an ethical and pedagogical dilemma that I encounter each semester in my world religions courses: namely, that a great number of students enroll in the courses as part of their missionary training programs, and come to class understanding successful learning to mean gathering enough information about the world's religious “traditions” so as to effectively seduce people out of them. How should we teach world religions – in public university religious studies courses – with this student constituency? What are/ought to be our student learning goals? What can and should we expect to accomplish? How can we maximize student learning, while also maintaining our disciplinary integrity? In response to these questions, I propose a world religions course module, the goal of which is for students to examine – as objects of inquiry – the lenses through which they understand religion(s). With a recognition of their own lenses, I argue, missionary students become more aware of the biases and presumptions about others that they bring to the table, and they learn to see the ways in which these presumptions inform what they see and know about others, and also what they do not so easily see.
In this article, I explore an ethical and pedagogical dilemma that I encounter each semester in my world religions courses: namely, that a great number of students enroll in the courses as part of their missionary training programs, and come to class understanding successful learning to mean gathering enough information about the world's religious “traditions” so as to effectively seduce people out of them. How should we teach world religions – in public university religious studies courses – with this student constituency? What are/ought to be our student learning goals? What can and should we expect to accomplish? How can we maximize student learning, while also maintaining our disciplinary integrity? In response to these questions, I propose a world religions course module, the goal of which is for students to examine – as objects of inquiry – the lenses through which they understand religion(s). With a recognition of their own lenses, I argue, missionary students become more aware of the biases and presumptions about others that they bring to the table, and they learn to see the ways in which these presumptions inform what they see and know about others, and also what they do not so easily see.

"So, What Are We Professing Here? Religion, the Liberal Arts, and Civic Life"
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This note from the classroom explores teaching new or alternative religions within the context of a Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College. The essay will specifically focus on a section of a course entitled "Modern Religious Movements" in which students were asked to consider different methodological approaches to the teaching and study of Scientology and the Catholic cult of the Virgin Mary. This note from the classroom details how this rather ...
This note from the classroom explores teaching new or alternative religions within the context of a Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College. The essay will specifically focus on a section of a course entitled "Modern Religious Movements" in which students were asked to consider different methodological approaches to the teaching and study of Scientology and the Catholic cult of the Virgin Mary. This note from the classroom details how this rather ...
Additional Info:
This note from the classroom explores teaching new or alternative religions within the context of a Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College. The essay will specifically focus on a section of a course entitled "Modern Religious Movements" in which students were asked to consider different methodological approaches to the teaching and study of Scientology and the Catholic cult of the Virgin Mary. This note from the classroom details how this rather unexpected comparison prompted students to reconsider the category cult and argues that encouraging self-reflexivity in a largely Catholic classroom can become a crucial means for engaging a broader discussion of new religions, cult discourse, and the academic study of religion itself.
This note from the classroom explores teaching new or alternative religions within the context of a Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College. The essay will specifically focus on a section of a course entitled "Modern Religious Movements" in which students were asked to consider different methodological approaches to the teaching and study of Scientology and the Catholic cult of the Virgin Mary. This note from the classroom details how this rather unexpected comparison prompted students to reconsider the category cult and argues that encouraging self-reflexivity in a largely Catholic classroom can become a crucial means for engaging a broader discussion of new religions, cult discourse, and the academic study of religion itself.

Religion & Education Volume 28, no. 2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Letters from the Council on Islamic Education
ch. 2 In Search of an Establishment Principle: The Original Understanding, Pre-Game Prayers, and Aid to Religious Schools
ch. 3 A "Perfect Standard?" Exploring Perceptions of Student Life and Culture at Wheaton College
ch. 4 Hecate Does Harvard: Notes on Academic Criticism of Wiccan Practice
ch. 5 An End to the Heckler's Veto: Good News Club v. Milford Central School
ch. 6 Thayer S. Warshaw - A Tribute
ch. 7 Does Why Religion Matters Really Matter?
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Letters from the Council on Islamic Education
ch. 2 In Search of an Establishment Principle: The Original Understanding, Pre-Game Prayers, and Aid to Religious Schools
ch. 3 A "Perfect Standard?" Exploring Perceptions of Student Life and Culture at Wheaton College
ch. 4 Hecate Does Harvard: Notes on Academic Criticism of Wiccan Practice
ch. 5 An End to the Heckler's Veto: Good News Club v. Milford Central School
ch. 6 Thayer S. Warshaw - A Tribute
ch. 7 Does Why Religion Matters Really Matter?
Contributors
Additional Info:
This article revisits the pedagogical dilemma of maintaining neutrality in the religious studies/theology classroom. I argue that if the boundary between teaching about religion and actually teaching spirituality seems to be vanishing, it is because the boundary was inappropriately constructed in the first place. To the extent that the religious concepts, even when compressed into religious studies categories, inherently inspire personal transformation, how can a boundary exist between the ...
This article revisits the pedagogical dilemma of maintaining neutrality in the religious studies/theology classroom. I argue that if the boundary between teaching about religion and actually teaching spirituality seems to be vanishing, it is because the boundary was inappropriately constructed in the first place. To the extent that the religious concepts, even when compressed into religious studies categories, inherently inspire personal transformation, how can a boundary exist between the ...
Additional Info:
This article revisits the pedagogical dilemma of maintaining neutrality in the religious studies/theology classroom. I argue that if the boundary between teaching about religion and actually teaching spirituality seems to be vanishing, it is because the boundary was inappropriately constructed in the first place. To the extent that the religious concepts, even when compressed into religious studies categories, inherently inspire personal transformation, how can a boundary exist between the ideas students encounter and the power of those ideas to transform? Spiritual guidance emerges naturally in the academic study of religion, and those of us who teach in the field might as well get used to it. In explaining my position, I draw on my experience as a teaching assistant in Professor Walter Capps's course, "Religion and the Impact of the Vietnam War." I, then, develop a pragmatic teaching strategy, neutral enthusiasm, which preserves the important neutrality of classroom presentation in religious studies courses, yet recognizes the unavoidable evocative power present in the intellectual territory that is religion. Neutral enthusiasm allows the content to do the work.
This article revisits the pedagogical dilemma of maintaining neutrality in the religious studies/theology classroom. I argue that if the boundary between teaching about religion and actually teaching spirituality seems to be vanishing, it is because the boundary was inappropriately constructed in the first place. To the extent that the religious concepts, even when compressed into religious studies categories, inherently inspire personal transformation, how can a boundary exist between the ideas students encounter and the power of those ideas to transform? Spiritual guidance emerges naturally in the academic study of religion, and those of us who teach in the field might as well get used to it. In explaining my position, I draw on my experience as a teaching assistant in Professor Walter Capps's course, "Religion and the Impact of the Vietnam War." I, then, develop a pragmatic teaching strategy, neutral enthusiasm, which preserves the important neutrality of classroom presentation in religious studies courses, yet recognizes the unavoidable evocative power present in the intellectual territory that is religion. Neutral enthusiasm allows the content to do the work.

Religion & Education Volume 28, no. 1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Preface
ch. 1 Constructing a Spirituality of Teaching: A Personal Perspective
ch. 2 A Vision of Schools with Spirit
ch. 3 Building a Comfort Zone: Teacher Training and Standards-Based Education about Religion
ch. 4 Ex Corde Ecclesiae and American Catholic Higher Education: Dead on Arrival?
ch. 5 Spiritually Committed Public School Teachers: Their Beliefs and Practices Concerning Religious Expression in the Classroom
ch. 6 Cognitive Emotions and Emotional Cognitions
Field Notes
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Preface
ch. 1 Constructing a Spirituality of Teaching: A Personal Perspective
ch. 2 A Vision of Schools with Spirit
ch. 3 Building a Comfort Zone: Teacher Training and Standards-Based Education about Religion
ch. 4 Ex Corde Ecclesiae and American Catholic Higher Education: Dead on Arrival?
ch. 5 Spiritually Committed Public School Teachers: Their Beliefs and Practices Concerning Religious Expression in the Classroom
ch. 6 Cognitive Emotions and Emotional Cognitions
Field Notes
Contributors

Religion & Education Volume 29, no. 1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 How September 11, 2001 Transformed My Course on Religious Pluralism, Spirituality, and Education
ch. 2 The Peripatetic Class: Buddhist Traditions and Myths of Pedagogy
ch. 3 John Dewey and His Religious Critics
ch. 4 The Role of Religion in Korean Higher Education
ch. 5 How Do We Respond When All Our Ways of Knowing Converge on Subversive Truths?
ch. 6 Nord's Net: "Ways of Knowing" for the Science Classroom
ch. 7 Response to: A 'Perfect Standard'
ch. 8 Review of Whose Kids Are They Anyway?" Religion and Morality in America's Public Schools
Books Received
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 How September 11, 2001 Transformed My Course on Religious Pluralism, Spirituality, and Education
ch. 2 The Peripatetic Class: Buddhist Traditions and Myths of Pedagogy
ch. 3 John Dewey and His Religious Critics
ch. 4 The Role of Religion in Korean Higher Education
ch. 5 How Do We Respond When All Our Ways of Knowing Converge on Subversive Truths?
ch. 6 Nord's Net: "Ways of Knowing" for the Science Classroom
ch. 7 Response to: A 'Perfect Standard'
ch. 8 Review of Whose Kids Are They Anyway?" Religion and Morality in America's Public Schools
Books Received
Contributors

Religion & Education Volume 29, no. 2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 The School Voucher Decision
ch. 2 School Vouchers and the Original Understanding of the Establishment Clause
ch. 3 Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris: Remarks from a National Press Club Panel
ch. 4 Our Public Schools: Inclusive Mission Brings Us All Together
ch. 5 Chuang Tzu as Teacher: Pedagogical Insights from the Chuang Tzu
ch. 6 Openly Addressing the Reality: Homosexuality and Catholic Seminary Policies
ch. 7 The Living Color of Student's Lives: Bringing Cajitas into the Classroom
ch. 8 Two Preachers, a Trial Lawyer, ad Aristotle
ch. 9 Maintaining a Christian Institutional Identity while Embracing Religious Diversity
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 The School Voucher Decision
ch. 2 School Vouchers and the Original Understanding of the Establishment Clause
ch. 3 Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris: Remarks from a National Press Club Panel
ch. 4 Our Public Schools: Inclusive Mission Brings Us All Together
ch. 5 Chuang Tzu as Teacher: Pedagogical Insights from the Chuang Tzu
ch. 6 Openly Addressing the Reality: Homosexuality and Catholic Seminary Policies
ch. 7 The Living Color of Student's Lives: Bringing Cajitas into the Classroom
ch. 8 Two Preachers, a Trial Lawyer, ad Aristotle
ch. 9 Maintaining a Christian Institutional Identity while Embracing Religious Diversity
Contributors
Additional Info:
Sensitive issues, rife in religious studies and in theology, present a pedagogical challenge when teaching students to nuance their thinking around positions that are often sharply defined and elicit strong feelings. I developed a learning tool that I call the “Agency Paradigm.” The purpose of this tool is to help students comprehend diversity within religious traditions, particularly regarding the agencies of women who are committed to them. Drawing on the ...
Sensitive issues, rife in religious studies and in theology, present a pedagogical challenge when teaching students to nuance their thinking around positions that are often sharply defined and elicit strong feelings. I developed a learning tool that I call the “Agency Paradigm.” The purpose of this tool is to help students comprehend diversity within religious traditions, particularly regarding the agencies of women who are committed to them. Drawing on the ...
Additional Info:
Sensitive issues, rife in religious studies and in theology, present a pedagogical challenge when teaching students to nuance their thinking around positions that are often sharply defined and elicit strong feelings. I developed a learning tool that I call the “Agency Paradigm.” The purpose of this tool is to help students comprehend diversity within religious traditions, particularly regarding the agencies of women who are committed to them. Drawing on the open and critical dialogue of emancipatory pedagogy, the Agency Paradigm encourages students to explore a range of ways women in world religions choose to act in varying contexts. This approach to teaching world religions increases students’ cognitive knowledge base and expands their understanding of each of the religions studied in the course, as examined through the perspective of differing women; it also assists them in developing their own agency through thoughtful reflection.
Sensitive issues, rife in religious studies and in theology, present a pedagogical challenge when teaching students to nuance their thinking around positions that are often sharply defined and elicit strong feelings. I developed a learning tool that I call the “Agency Paradigm.” The purpose of this tool is to help students comprehend diversity within religious traditions, particularly regarding the agencies of women who are committed to them. Drawing on the open and critical dialogue of emancipatory pedagogy, the Agency Paradigm encourages students to explore a range of ways women in world religions choose to act in varying contexts. This approach to teaching world religions increases students’ cognitive knowledge base and expands their understanding of each of the religions studied in the course, as examined through the perspective of differing women; it also assists them in developing their own agency through thoughtful reflection.

Religion & Education Volume 30, no.1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Inviting Atheists to the Table: A Modest Proposal for Higher Education
ch. 2 Teaching Spirituality in Public Higher Education
ch. 3 Spirituality and Religion: Through the Eyes of the "Hidden Educators"
ch. 4 Understanding Women's Spirituality in the Context of a Progressive Campus-Based Catholic Community
ch. 5 Faith and Public Education: Immigrants, Iowa, and the Biblical Mandate to Welcome the Stranger
ch. 6 'Moral Victories': Ronald Reagan and the Debate over School Prayer
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Inviting Atheists to the Table: A Modest Proposal for Higher Education
ch. 2 Teaching Spirituality in Public Higher Education
ch. 3 Spirituality and Religion: Through the Eyes of the "Hidden Educators"
ch. 4 Understanding Women's Spirituality in the Context of a Progressive Campus-Based Catholic Community
ch. 5 Faith and Public Education: Immigrants, Iowa, and the Biblical Mandate to Welcome the Stranger
ch. 6 'Moral Victories': Ronald Reagan and the Debate over School Prayer
Contributors
Additional Info:
The Serve Program at Ignatius University combines academic study of theology with a year-long community service project focused on combating poverty. An analysis of the Serve Program during the 2008-09 academic year revealed that participating students demonstrated a significant increase in their interest in theology; a greater desire to enroll in theology coursework; and a deeper interest in theology than classmates not participating in the service-learning program. Interviews with Serve ...
The Serve Program at Ignatius University combines academic study of theology with a year-long community service project focused on combating poverty. An analysis of the Serve Program during the 2008-09 academic year revealed that participating students demonstrated a significant increase in their interest in theology; a greater desire to enroll in theology coursework; and a deeper interest in theology than classmates not participating in the service-learning program. Interviews with Serve ...
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The Serve Program at Ignatius University combines academic study of theology with a year-long community service project focused on combating poverty. An analysis of the Serve Program during the 2008-09 academic year revealed that participating students demonstrated a significant increase in their interest in theology; a greater desire to enroll in theology coursework; and a deeper interest in theology than classmates not participating in the service-learning program. Interviews with Serve participants revealed that their exposure to poverty and inequality through their service placements led them to read the program’s assigned theological texts with a particular focus on the authors’ messages about individual and social responsibility for struggling fellow citizens.
The Serve Program at Ignatius University combines academic study of theology with a year-long community service project focused on combating poverty. An analysis of the Serve Program during the 2008-09 academic year revealed that participating students demonstrated a significant increase in their interest in theology; a greater desire to enroll in theology coursework; and a deeper interest in theology than classmates not participating in the service-learning program. Interviews with Serve participants revealed that their exposure to poverty and inequality through their service placements led them to read the program’s assigned theological texts with a particular focus on the authors’ messages about individual and social responsibility for struggling fellow citizens.

Religion & Education Volume 30, no.2
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Religion and Public Schools: A Forty Year Retrospective
ch. 2 Defining Spirituality in Public Education: A Response to R. J. Nash from a Spirituality Engaged Atheist
ch. 3 Challenges To Discernment in Religious Education
ch. 4 The Austin TEA Party: Homeschooling Controversy in Texas, 1986-1994
ch. 5 The Sense of Spiritual Calling Among Teacher Education Program Students
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Religion and Public Schools: A Forty Year Retrospective
ch. 2 Defining Spirituality in Public Education: A Response to R. J. Nash from a Spirituality Engaged Atheist
ch. 3 Challenges To Discernment in Religious Education
ch. 4 The Austin TEA Party: Homeschooling Controversy in Texas, 1986-1994
ch. 5 The Sense of Spiritual Calling Among Teacher Education Program Students
Contributors
Additional Info:
This article emphasizes the need for religious educators to address the issue of divine violence in Scripture with students, and it offers various pedagogical strategies for doing so. The focus is on violent Old Testament texts, with special attention given to the issue of Canaanite genocide. A general framework for structuring class time around divine violence in Scripture is proposed which includes (1) encouraging students to encounter violent biblical texts firsthand, (2) ...
This article emphasizes the need for religious educators to address the issue of divine violence in Scripture with students, and it offers various pedagogical strategies for doing so. The focus is on violent Old Testament texts, with special attention given to the issue of Canaanite genocide. A general framework for structuring class time around divine violence in Scripture is proposed which includes (1) encouraging students to encounter violent biblical texts firsthand, (2) ...
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This article emphasizes the need for religious educators to address the issue of divine violence in Scripture with students, and it offers various pedagogical strategies for doing so. The focus is on violent Old Testament texts, with special attention given to the issue of Canaanite genocide. A general framework for structuring class time around divine violence in Scripture is proposed which includes (1) encouraging students to encounter violent biblical texts firsthand, (2) helping them understand why people find these passages problematic, and (3) offering various options for dealing with the potential problems these passages raise. In the second half of the article, significant attention is devoted to a number of practical considerations that should be taken into account when talking about this sensitive issue in class. A brief word about assessment is offered at the end.
This article emphasizes the need for religious educators to address the issue of divine violence in Scripture with students, and it offers various pedagogical strategies for doing so. The focus is on violent Old Testament texts, with special attention given to the issue of Canaanite genocide. A general framework for structuring class time around divine violence in Scripture is proposed which includes (1) encouraging students to encounter violent biblical texts firsthand, (2) helping them understand why people find these passages problematic, and (3) offering various options for dealing with the potential problems these passages raise. In the second half of the article, significant attention is devoted to a number of practical considerations that should be taken into account when talking about this sensitive issue in class. A brief word about assessment is offered at the end.

Religion & Education Volume 31, no.1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Taking the Tournament of Worldviews Seriously in Education: Why Teaching about Religion Is Not Enough
ch. 2 Fostering Spiritual Depth in a Trans-traditional Context: Communicating Across Differences
ch. 3 God's People and Fundamentalist Ideology in the Classroom: an Examination of Free Presbyterian Schooling in Northern Ireland
ch. 4 In the Matter of Race, Memory and Transformation: The Use of Sacred Sites to Teach Social Justice
ch. 5 Spirituality and School Leaders: The Value of Spirituality in the Lives of Aspiring School Leaders
ch. 6 Evangelical Students in Public Schools: They Don't Stand Out, But Don't Fit In
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Taking the Tournament of Worldviews Seriously in Education: Why Teaching about Religion Is Not Enough
ch. 2 Fostering Spiritual Depth in a Trans-traditional Context: Communicating Across Differences
ch. 3 God's People and Fundamentalist Ideology in the Classroom: an Examination of Free Presbyterian Schooling in Northern Ireland
ch. 4 In the Matter of Race, Memory and Transformation: The Use of Sacred Sites to Teach Social Justice
ch. 5 Spirituality and School Leaders: The Value of Spirituality in the Lives of Aspiring School Leaders
ch. 6 Evangelical Students in Public Schools: They Don't Stand Out, But Don't Fit In
Contributors
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One page Teaching Tactic: students work in groups to study on line presence of African-American religious groups.
One page Teaching Tactic: students work in groups to study on line presence of African-American religious groups.
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One page Teaching Tactic: students work in groups to study on line presence of African-American religious groups.
One page Teaching Tactic: students work in groups to study on line presence of African-American religious groups.
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This essay provides an overview of the distinctive challenges presented to teaching and learning in religious and theological studies by the conditions and characteristics of “millennial” students. While the emerging literature on this generation is far from consistent, it is still instructive and important to engage, as students that are immersed in technology and social networking have different facilities and difficulties that educators would do well to carefully address and ...
This essay provides an overview of the distinctive challenges presented to teaching and learning in religious and theological studies by the conditions and characteristics of “millennial” students. While the emerging literature on this generation is far from consistent, it is still instructive and important to engage, as students that are immersed in technology and social networking have different facilities and difficulties that educators would do well to carefully address and ...
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This essay provides an overview of the distinctive challenges presented to teaching and learning in religious and theological studies by the conditions and characteristics of “millennial” students. While the emerging literature on this generation is far from consistent, it is still instructive and important to engage, as students that are immersed in technology and social networking have different facilities and difficulties that educators would do well to carefully address and critically employ. Teachers in theological and religious studies are distinctly positioned to grapple with such conditions, particularly around the practices of identity formation, media literacy, and embodiment. Attention to the development of such practices engages key issues for both the millennial students and the religious and theological studies teacher: virtual reality, spiritual identity, globalization and violence, critical consumption and ethical creativity, focused and contemplative thinking, and intercultural and interpersonal respect.
This essay provides an overview of the distinctive challenges presented to teaching and learning in religious and theological studies by the conditions and characteristics of “millennial” students. While the emerging literature on this generation is far from consistent, it is still instructive and important to engage, as students that are immersed in technology and social networking have different facilities and difficulties that educators would do well to carefully address and critically employ. Teachers in theological and religious studies are distinctly positioned to grapple with such conditions, particularly around the practices of identity formation, media literacy, and embodiment. Attention to the development of such practices engages key issues for both the millennial students and the religious and theological studies teacher: virtual reality, spiritual identity, globalization and violence, critical consumption and ethical creativity, focused and contemplative thinking, and intercultural and interpersonal respect.

Religion & Education Volume 31, no.2
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Studying Religious Diversity in Public Education: An Interpretive Approach to Religious and Intercultural Understanding
ch. 2 The Complex and Rich Landscape of Student Spirituality: Findings from the Goucher College Spirituality Survey
ch. 3 Being Religious at Knox College: Attitudes Toward Religion, Christian Expression, and Conservative Values on Campus
ch. 4 Religious Autonomy and World Religious Education
ch. 5 Comparing the Influence of Religion on Education in the United States and Overseas: A Meta-Analysis
ch 6. The Religious Free Speech Rights of Public School Teachers: Wigg vx. Sioux Falls School District
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Studying Religious Diversity in Public Education: An Interpretive Approach to Religious and Intercultural Understanding
ch. 2 The Complex and Rich Landscape of Student Spirituality: Findings from the Goucher College Spirituality Survey
ch. 3 Being Religious at Knox College: Attitudes Toward Religion, Christian Expression, and Conservative Values on Campus
ch. 4 Religious Autonomy and World Religious Education
ch. 5 Comparing the Influence of Religion on Education in the United States and Overseas: A Meta-Analysis
ch 6. The Religious Free Speech Rights of Public School Teachers: Wigg vx. Sioux Falls School District
Contributors

Religion & Education Volume 32, no.2
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Evangelicals on Campus: An Exploration of Culture, Faith and College Life
ch. 2 The Big Chill: Are Campuses Turning a Cold Shoulder to Religious Students?
ch. 3 Jesus, the Enlightenment and Teaching World History: The Struggles of an Evangelical Scholar
ch. 4 Listening to Teacher Voices: Religion in Schools in the Rural South
ch. 5 In The World But Not of It? Voices and Experiences of Conservative Christian Students in Public Schools
Contributors
Coming in Future Issues
Books Received
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Evangelicals on Campus: An Exploration of Culture, Faith and College Life
ch. 2 The Big Chill: Are Campuses Turning a Cold Shoulder to Religious Students?
ch. 3 Jesus, the Enlightenment and Teaching World History: The Struggles of an Evangelical Scholar
ch. 4 Listening to Teacher Voices: Religion in Schools in the Rural South
ch. 5 In The World But Not of It? Voices and Experiences of Conservative Christian Students in Public Schools
Contributors
Coming in Future Issues
Books Received

Religion & Education Volume 32, no.1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Special Focus Section
Rethinking Religion, Education, and Pluralism in Europe and the United States
ch. 1 Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality: Issues in Public Religious Education
ch. 2 Religion, Pluralism, and Public Education in America
ch. 3 Defining and Promoting the Study of Religion in British and American Schools
ch. 4 Engaging the Believer A Contribution to the Discussion of Robert Jackson's Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality
ch. 5 The Study of Religion in American Schools Response to Robert Jackson's Religious Education and Plurality
ch. 6 European and Danish Religious Education: Human Rights, the Secular State, and Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality
ch. 7 Recasting Agreements that Govern Teaching and Learning: An Intellectual and Spiritual Framework for Transformation
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Special Focus Section
Rethinking Religion, Education, and Pluralism in Europe and the United States
ch. 1 Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality: Issues in Public Religious Education
ch. 2 Religion, Pluralism, and Public Education in America
ch. 3 Defining and Promoting the Study of Religion in British and American Schools
ch. 4 Engaging the Believer A Contribution to the Discussion of Robert Jackson's Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality
ch. 5 The Study of Religion in American Schools Response to Robert Jackson's Religious Education and Plurality
ch. 6 European and Danish Religious Education: Human Rights, the Secular State, and Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality
ch. 7 Recasting Agreements that Govern Teaching and Learning: An Intellectual and Spiritual Framework for Transformation
Contributors
Additional Info:
By “Decoding” what an expert does so that he or she does not get stuck at the bottleneck, we can spell out crucial operations, the “critical thinking” of a discipline.
By “Decoding” what an expert does so that he or she does not get stuck at the bottleneck, we can spell out crucial operations, the “critical thinking” of a discipline.
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By “Decoding” what an expert does so that he or she does not get stuck at the bottleneck, we can spell out crucial operations, the “critical thinking” of a discipline.
By “Decoding” what an expert does so that he or she does not get stuck at the bottleneck, we can spell out crucial operations, the “critical thinking” of a discipline.

Religion & Education Volume 33, no.2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Special Issue Spirituality in Higher Education
ch. 1 Guest Editor's Preface
ch. 2 Learning With Heart And Mind: Embracing Wholeness in Learning Communities
ch. 3 Integrating Religion and Spirituality in Higher Education: Meeting the Global Challenges of the 21st Century
ch. 4 Equanimity and Spirituality
ch. 5 How Colleges Differ in their Efforts to Promote Moral and Ethical Development in College
ch. 6 Understanding the "Interior" Life of Faculty: How Important is Spirituality?
ch. 7 The Dynamics of Spirituality and the Religious Experience
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Special Issue Spirituality in Higher Education
ch. 1 Guest Editor's Preface
ch. 2 Learning With Heart And Mind: Embracing Wholeness in Learning Communities
ch. 3 Integrating Religion and Spirituality in Higher Education: Meeting the Global Challenges of the 21st Century
ch. 4 Equanimity and Spirituality
ch. 5 How Colleges Differ in their Efforts to Promote Moral and Ethical Development in College
ch. 6 Understanding the "Interior" Life of Faculty: How Important is Spirituality?
ch. 7 The Dynamics of Spirituality and the Religious Experience
Contributors

Insider, Outsider and Gender Identities in the Religion Classroom
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Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Insider, Outsider, and Gender Identities in the Religion Classroom (Laurie L. Patton) ch. 2 Crossovers and Cross-ups: A Cautionary (NancyFalk)
ch. 3 Mindfield or Mindfield: Teaching Religion in a Multicultural Classroom (Zayn R. Kassam)
ch. 4 Taking Myself Seriously: Transformation of a Working Pedagogical Model (Marcia Y. Riggs)
ch. 5 Spotlight on Teaching: Insider/Outsider (Francisca Cho)
ch. 6 Holy Shock at Sacred Cities: "Rocks Are not my Problem" "Why aren't Women Allowed to make the Pilgrimage to Mecca?" (Kimberly Patton)
ch. 7 Teaching Critical Theory (Miriam Peskowitz)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Insider, Outsider, and Gender Identities in the Religion Classroom (Laurie L. Patton) ch. 2 Crossovers and Cross-ups: A Cautionary (NancyFalk)
ch. 3 Mindfield or Mindfield: Teaching Religion in a Multicultural Classroom (Zayn R. Kassam)
ch. 4 Taking Myself Seriously: Transformation of a Working Pedagogical Model (Marcia Y. Riggs)
ch. 5 Spotlight on Teaching: Insider/Outsider (Francisca Cho)
ch. 6 Holy Shock at Sacred Cities: "Rocks Are not my Problem" "Why aren't Women Allowed to make the Pilgrimage to Mecca?" (Kimberly Patton)
ch. 7 Teaching Critical Theory (Miriam Peskowitz)
Additional Info:
In this essay I reflect on my experience thus far of teaching Islam as a non-Muslim at Metropolitan State University and at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. I begin by narrating a conversation about conversion that I had with one of my Muslim students. Then I introduce the theme of multiplicity as a way of being, teaching, and learning. The third section illustrates the ...
In this essay I reflect on my experience thus far of teaching Islam as a non-Muslim at Metropolitan State University and at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. I begin by narrating a conversation about conversion that I had with one of my Muslim students. Then I introduce the theme of multiplicity as a way of being, teaching, and learning. The third section illustrates the ...
Additional Info:
In this essay I reflect on my experience thus far of teaching Islam as a non-Muslim at Metropolitan State University and at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. I begin by narrating a conversation about conversion that I had with one of my Muslim students. Then I introduce the theme of multiplicity as a way of being, teaching, and learning. The third section illustrates the theme of multiplicity pedagogically with reference to institutional identity, choice of textbooks, topical organization of the course, the "mosque visit" assignment, and class composition and student roles in the classroom. I conclude in the fourth section with personal reflections on multiplicity in relation to credibility and identity, politics and transformation. The essay was inspired by my realization that I embody multiple religious identities, and that one of my purposes is to build community inside and outside the classroom in an effort not only to transcend the tendency of our culture to adopt an essentialist view of Islam as suspect and alien, but also to recover Islam as a universal religion and to consider its agenda for world transformation alongside those of other religions.
In this essay I reflect on my experience thus far of teaching Islam as a non-Muslim at Metropolitan State University and at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. I begin by narrating a conversation about conversion that I had with one of my Muslim students. Then I introduce the theme of multiplicity as a way of being, teaching, and learning. The third section illustrates the theme of multiplicity pedagogically with reference to institutional identity, choice of textbooks, topical organization of the course, the "mosque visit" assignment, and class composition and student roles in the classroom. I conclude in the fourth section with personal reflections on multiplicity in relation to credibility and identity, politics and transformation. The essay was inspired by my realization that I embody multiple religious identities, and that one of my purposes is to build community inside and outside the classroom in an effort not only to transcend the tendency of our culture to adopt an essentialist view of Islam as suspect and alien, but also to recover Islam as a universal religion and to consider its agenda for world transformation alongside those of other religions.

"Our "Special Promise" as Teachers: Scholars of Religion and the Politics of Tolerance"
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Religion & Education Volume 33, no.3
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 God, Darwin, and the Courts: An Evolving Debate
ch. 2 Teaching the Contexts: Why Evolution Should Be Taught As An Argument and How it Might be Done
ch. 3 Problems in the Philosophical Bases of Intelligent Design
ch. 4 Challenging the Myth of Human Superiority
ch. 5 "This Evolution Bit is Straight from Satan": McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education and the Democratization of Southern Christianity
ch. 6 A Clash of Opposing Worldviews: How One Professor Teaches the Intelligent Design/Evolution Controversy
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 God, Darwin, and the Courts: An Evolving Debate
ch. 2 Teaching the Contexts: Why Evolution Should Be Taught As An Argument and How it Might be Done
ch. 3 Problems in the Philosophical Bases of Intelligent Design
ch. 4 Challenging the Myth of Human Superiority
ch. 5 "This Evolution Bit is Straight from Satan": McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education and the Democratization of Southern Christianity
ch. 6 A Clash of Opposing Worldviews: How One Professor Teaches the Intelligent Design/Evolution Controversy
Contributors

Religion and Film: Capturing the Imagination
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Religion and Film: Capturing the Imagination (Gordon Matties)
ch. 2 Apocalyptic Visions: Beyond Corporeality (Ann Pearson)
ch. 3 Seduction by Visual Image (Barbara DeConcici)
ch. 4 Teaching Film and Religion (Paul V. Flesher, and Robert Torry)
ch. 5 Teaching Field of Cosmogonic Myth (Mara E. Donaldson)
ch. 6 A Picture's Worth: Teaching Religion and Film (Irena S. M. Makarushka)
ch. 7 Religion and Popular Movies (Conrad Ostwalt)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Religion and Film: Capturing the Imagination (Gordon Matties)
ch. 2 Apocalyptic Visions: Beyond Corporeality (Ann Pearson)
ch. 3 Seduction by Visual Image (Barbara DeConcici)
ch. 4 Teaching Film and Religion (Paul V. Flesher, and Robert Torry)
ch. 5 Teaching Field of Cosmogonic Myth (Mara E. Donaldson)
ch. 6 A Picture's Worth: Teaching Religion and Film (Irena S. M. Makarushka)
ch. 7 Religion and Popular Movies (Conrad Ostwalt)

"Developing a Wisdom Community As a Feminist Hermeneutic: Pedagogy for a New Millennium"
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Traversing a rock-strewn terrain of essentialist methodologies historically employed for teaching Islam, the author espouses a non-Essentialist pedagogy that combines critical reflection, analysis of historical methods, and development of an appreciation for alternative notions about Islam and global interdependence. In this essay the author contends that teaching Islam ought to avoid our and their language and instead aim at helping students think in critically reflective, creative, and relational ways so ...
Traversing a rock-strewn terrain of essentialist methodologies historically employed for teaching Islam, the author espouses a non-Essentialist pedagogy that combines critical reflection, analysis of historical methods, and development of an appreciation for alternative notions about Islam and global interdependence. In this essay the author contends that teaching Islam ought to avoid our and their language and instead aim at helping students think in critically reflective, creative, and relational ways so ...
Additional Info:
Traversing a rock-strewn terrain of essentialist methodologies historically employed for teaching Islam, the author espouses a non-Essentialist pedagogy that combines critical reflection, analysis of historical methods, and development of an appreciation for alternative notions about Islam and global interdependence. In this essay the author contends that teaching Islam ought to avoid our and their language and instead aim at helping students think in critically reflective, creative, and relational ways so that they might learn to "think of civilizations as transformative, reflexive, and fluid entities."
Traversing a rock-strewn terrain of essentialist methodologies historically employed for teaching Islam, the author espouses a non-Essentialist pedagogy that combines critical reflection, analysis of historical methods, and development of an appreciation for alternative notions about Islam and global interdependence. In this essay the author contends that teaching Islam ought to avoid our and their language and instead aim at helping students think in critically reflective, creative, and relational ways so that they might learn to "think of civilizations as transformative, reflexive, and fluid entities."

"Methods and Theories in the Classroom: Teaching the Study of Myths and Rituals"
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Religion & Education Volume 33, no.1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Exploring Religious Pluralism in Higher Education: Non-Majority Religious Perspectives among Entering First-Year College Students
ch. 2 Teaching Adolescents about Religious Pluralism in a Post- 9/11 World
ch. 3 Diversity and Spirituality in Secular Higher Education: The Teaching Paradox
ch. 4 Evoke: Remembering an Institution's Mission Through Soulful Renewal
ch. 5 Social Studies Teacher Educators: A Survey of Attitudes Toward Religion in the Curriculum
Contributors
Coming in Future Issues
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Exploring Religious Pluralism in Higher Education: Non-Majority Religious Perspectives among Entering First-Year College Students
ch. 2 Teaching Adolescents about Religious Pluralism in a Post- 9/11 World
ch. 3 Diversity and Spirituality in Secular Higher Education: The Teaching Paradox
ch. 4 Evoke: Remembering an Institution's Mission Through Soulful Renewal
ch. 5 Social Studies Teacher Educators: A Survey of Attitudes Toward Religion in the Curriculum
Contributors
Coming in Future Issues
Additional Info:
In this edited transcript of a panel at the Society of Biblical Literature (November 23, 2009, Boston, Massachusetts), five Bible scholars give brief presentations on various challenges and opportunities encountered when teaching academic biblical studies courses online in both undergraduate and theological education contexts. Each presentation is followed by questions from the audience and discussion. Topics include: a typology of different approaches to online teaching, advantages and disadvantages of online compared to ...
In this edited transcript of a panel at the Society of Biblical Literature (November 23, 2009, Boston, Massachusetts), five Bible scholars give brief presentations on various challenges and opportunities encountered when teaching academic biblical studies courses online in both undergraduate and theological education contexts. Each presentation is followed by questions from the audience and discussion. Topics include: a typology of different approaches to online teaching, advantages and disadvantages of online compared to ...
Additional Info:
In this edited transcript of a panel at the Society of Biblical Literature (November 23, 2009, Boston, Massachusetts), five Bible scholars give brief presentations on various challenges and opportunities encountered when teaching academic biblical studies courses online in both undergraduate and theological education contexts. Each presentation is followed by questions from the audience and discussion. Topics include: a typology of different approaches to online teaching, advantages and disadvantages of online compared to face-to-face classrooms (for both students and faculty), opportunities for imaginative exercises online, the advantages of online threaded discussions, and the joys and pitfalls of bringing your course into an online environment for the first time.
In this edited transcript of a panel at the Society of Biblical Literature (November 23, 2009, Boston, Massachusetts), five Bible scholars give brief presentations on various challenges and opportunities encountered when teaching academic biblical studies courses online in both undergraduate and theological education contexts. Each presentation is followed by questions from the audience and discussion. Topics include: a typology of different approaches to online teaching, advantages and disadvantages of online compared to face-to-face classrooms (for both students and faculty), opportunities for imaginative exercises online, the advantages of online threaded discussions, and the joys and pitfalls of bringing your course into an online environment for the first time.
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Religion & Education Volume 34, no.1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 "Do You Believe in the Whole Idea of 'God the Father'?" How College Students Talk about Spiritual Transformation
ch. 2 Bible Bills, Bible Curricula, and Controversies of Biblical Proportions: Legislative Efforts to Promote Bible Courses in Public Schools
ch. 3 The Philosophy of Baha'i Education
ch. 4 Religion and High Academic Achievements in Puerto Rican High School Students
ch. 5 Government Involvement in Religious Education: Perspectives from Abraham Kuyper on School Choice
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 "Do You Believe in the Whole Idea of 'God the Father'?" How College Students Talk about Spiritual Transformation
ch. 2 Bible Bills, Bible Curricula, and Controversies of Biblical Proportions: Legislative Efforts to Promote Bible Courses in Public Schools
ch. 3 The Philosophy of Baha'i Education
ch. 4 Religion and High Academic Achievements in Puerto Rican High School Students
ch. 5 Government Involvement in Religious Education: Perspectives from Abraham Kuyper on School Choice
Contributors

Religion & Education Volume 34, no.2
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Talking With Students About Faith in an Era of Religious Extremes
ch. 2 Exploring Religion and Christianity as Points of Diversity Within Counseling Training Programs
ch. 3 Addressing the Identity-Relevance Dilemma: Religious Particularity and Pluralism as Presbyterian Church-Related Colleges
ch. 4 Planning for Change in Christian Colleges: Learnings from Lilly's PTEV
ch. 5 Islamic and Liberal Visions of Citizenship Education: Religion and State in the National Curriculum of Pakistan
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Talking With Students About Faith in an Era of Religious Extremes
ch. 2 Exploring Religion and Christianity as Points of Diversity Within Counseling Training Programs
ch. 3 Addressing the Identity-Relevance Dilemma: Religious Particularity and Pluralism as Presbyterian Church-Related Colleges
ch. 4 Planning for Change in Christian Colleges: Learnings from Lilly's PTEV
ch. 5 Islamic and Liberal Visions of Citizenship Education: Religion and State in the National Curriculum of Pakistan
Contributors

The PRS-LTSN Journal 1, no. 1
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Thinking, believing and sharing: editorial
ch. 2 Welcome from the Director (George MacDonald Ross)
ch. 3 The LTSN and the PRS-LTSN
ch. 4 QAA Benchmarking Project
ch. 5 Workshops, Events and Networks
ch. 6 Teaching Pjilosophy and HPS to Science Students (Geoffrey Cantor)
ch. 7 The Vision of God and its Impact on the Educational Process (William S. Campbell)
ch. 8 The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act: the Implications for PRS (Gary Bunt)
ch. 9 Cultivating Transferable Skills in Philosophy Undergraduates (Christopher Cowley)
ch. 10 Double Marking versus Monitoring of Examinations (Roger White)
ch. 11 Report on a History of Science, Technology and Medicine Workshop, Leeds, 30-31 May 2001 (Graeme Gooday)
ch. 12 Report of a Workshop on Teaching South Asian Religious Traditions, Centre for Applied South Asian Studies, University of Manchester, 18 May 2001 (Suthren Hirst, Searle-Chatterjee, and Nesbitt)
ch. 13 About the Journal
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Thinking, believing and sharing: editorial
ch. 2 Welcome from the Director (George MacDonald Ross)
ch. 3 The LTSN and the PRS-LTSN
ch. 4 QAA Benchmarking Project
ch. 5 Workshops, Events and Networks
ch. 6 Teaching Pjilosophy and HPS to Science Students (Geoffrey Cantor)
ch. 7 The Vision of God and its Impact on the Educational Process (William S. Campbell)
ch. 8 The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act: the Implications for PRS (Gary Bunt)
ch. 9 Cultivating Transferable Skills in Philosophy Undergraduates (Christopher Cowley)
ch. 10 Double Marking versus Monitoring of Examinations (Roger White)
ch. 11 Report on a History of Science, Technology and Medicine Workshop, Leeds, 30-31 May 2001 (Graeme Gooday)
ch. 12 Report of a Workshop on Teaching South Asian Religious Traditions, Centre for Applied South Asian Studies, University of Manchester, 18 May 2001 (Suthren Hirst, Searle-Chatterjee, and Nesbitt)
ch. 13 About the Journal

Religion & Education Volume 34, no.3
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Measuring Faculty Spirituality and its Relationship to Teaching Style
ch. 2 Learning to Teach about Religion in Public Schools: Perspectives and Experiences of Student Teachers in the Program for Religion and Secondary Education at Harvard Divinity School
ch. 3 Rain and Snow, Bless the Lord: Quaker Theology and Teacher Education Practice
ch. 4 Life on Campus after September 11th: Undergraduates' Attitudes Regarding War and Religious Discrimination
ch. 5 Review of the Bible in History and Literature
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Measuring Faculty Spirituality and its Relationship to Teaching Style
ch. 2 Learning to Teach about Religion in Public Schools: Perspectives and Experiences of Student Teachers in the Program for Religion and Secondary Education at Harvard Divinity School
ch. 3 Rain and Snow, Bless the Lord: Quaker Theology and Teacher Education Practice
ch. 4 Life on Campus after September 11th: Undergraduates' Attitudes Regarding War and Religious Discrimination
ch. 5 Review of the Bible in History and Literature
Contributors
Additional Info:
Although comparative theology is a continuously growing method in the study of religion, it is still relatively new and not widely accepted in either confessional or secular institutions. Scholars may face difficulty when seeking their institutions' acceptance for a comparative theology course. One way of generating interest and approval for such a course is by designing it from the center of the institution's mission. Professors can look to the institution's ...
Although comparative theology is a continuously growing method in the study of religion, it is still relatively new and not widely accepted in either confessional or secular institutions. Scholars may face difficulty when seeking their institutions' acceptance for a comparative theology course. One way of generating interest and approval for such a course is by designing it from the center of the institution's mission. Professors can look to the institution's ...
Additional Info:
Although comparative theology is a continuously growing method in the study of religion, it is still relatively new and not widely accepted in either confessional or secular institutions. Scholars may face difficulty when seeking their institutions' acceptance for a comparative theology course. One way of generating interest and approval for such a course is by designing it from the center of the institution's mission. Professors can look to the institution's mission as a resource for teaching comparatively. We offer four examples from Catholic institutions of how this might be done. Reid Locklin offers further insights in his response to our explorations.
Although comparative theology is a continuously growing method in the study of religion, it is still relatively new and not widely accepted in either confessional or secular institutions. Scholars may face difficulty when seeking their institutions' acceptance for a comparative theology course. One way of generating interest and approval for such a course is by designing it from the center of the institution's mission. Professors can look to the institution's mission as a resource for teaching comparatively. We offer four examples from Catholic institutions of how this might be done. Reid Locklin offers further insights in his response to our explorations.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Theory Practice Learning: Models in Violence Studies and Conflict Resolution (Richard Freund)
ch. 2 Experiential Learning: Pedagogy for Life (Barbara A.B. Bobbi Patterson)
ch. 3 The Challenges of Experience for Learning about Violence against Women (Traci C. West)
ch. 4 Religious Practices for Social Change (Thee Smith)
ch. 5 Nonviolence in the Modern World (John E. Cort)
ch. 6 Experiential Education: Pedagogy Across the Spectrum (Peter Gathje)
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Theory Practice Learning: Models in Violence Studies and Conflict Resolution (Richard Freund)
ch. 2 Experiential Learning: Pedagogy for Life (Barbara A.B. Bobbi Patterson)
ch. 3 The Challenges of Experience for Learning about Violence against Women (Traci C. West)
ch. 4 Religious Practices for Social Change (Thee Smith)
ch. 5 Nonviolence in the Modern World (John E. Cort)
ch. 6 Experiential Education: Pedagogy Across the Spectrum (Peter Gathje)

Religion & Education Volume 35, no.3
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Dueling Weltanschauungen: Contemporary Collegiate Worldviews Part 1
ch. 2 Between Secularism and Pluralism: Religious Clubs on the Queen's University Campus
ch. 3 John Haught and the New Atheists
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Dueling Weltanschauungen: Contemporary Collegiate Worldviews Part 1
ch. 2 Between Secularism and Pluralism: Religious Clubs on the Queen's University Campus
ch. 3 John Haught and the New Atheists
Contributors

Textbook Gods: Genre, Text and Teaching Religious Studies
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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In recent years there has been a renewed interest in textbooks, partly because they have maintained their position as an important genre. Not too many years ago – and perhaps currently as well – many considered textbooks outdated or archaic compared with technological advances such as the Internet and different kinds of educational ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In recent years there has been a renewed interest in textbooks, partly because they have maintained their position as an important genre. Not too many years ago – and perhaps currently as well – many considered textbooks outdated or archaic compared with technological advances such as the Internet and different kinds of educational ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In recent years there has been a renewed interest in textbooks, partly because they have maintained their position as an important genre. Not too many years ago – and perhaps currently as well – many considered textbooks outdated or archaic compared with technological advances such as the Internet and different kinds of educational software. Despite these changes, textbooks for school subjects and for academic studies continue to be in demand. Textbooks seem to constitute a genre in which established truths are conveyed, and may thus represent stable forces in a world of flux and rapid changes. Textbook Gods offers perspectives on representations of religion and religions in textbooks. The contributions emerge from different contexts, ranging from European countries, to North America, Japan and Australia. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction: Theoretical Perspectives on Textbooks/Textbooks in Religious Studies Research (Bengt-Ove Andreassen)
ch. 1 Closed and Open Concepts of Religion: The Problem of Essentialism in Teaching about Relilgion (Torsten Hylén)
ch. 2 Establishing Religion through Textbooks: Religions in Japan's "Ethics" Program (Satoko Fujiwara)
ch. 3 Bad Religions and Good Religions: The Representation of Religion and Religious Traditions in a New Swiss Textbook (Katharina Frank)
ch. 4 To Learn about the Other and Get to Know Him: Judaism and the Jewish Community of Quebec as represented in Ethics and Religious Culture Textbooks (Sivane Hirsch and Marie Mc Andrew)
ch. 5 Researching Materials Used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England (Barbara Wintersgill)
ch. 6 Representations of Indigenous Australian Religions in New South Wales (NSW) Higher School Certificate Studies of Religion Textbooks (Carole M. Cusack)
ch. 7 Visual Engagement: Textbooks and the Materiality of Religion (Mary Hayward)
ch. 8 Cartographic Representations of Religion(s) in Norwegian Textbooks (Suzanne Anett Thobro)
ch. 9 A Reservoir of Symbols: On the Conceptualization of "Religion" in Introductory Books for RE in Teacher Education in Norway (Bengt-Ove Andreasen)
ch. 10 Stones and Bones: Indigenous African Religions and the "Evolution" of World Religions (James R. Lewis)
ch. 11 "Christianity" for "the Christianity" - That is the Question (Annika Hvithamar)
ch. 12 School Bible in the Service of the Danish National Church - A Case Study (Jens-André P. Herbener)
Index
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In recent years there has been a renewed interest in textbooks, partly because they have maintained their position as an important genre. Not too many years ago – and perhaps currently as well – many considered textbooks outdated or archaic compared with technological advances such as the Internet and different kinds of educational software. Despite these changes, textbooks for school subjects and for academic studies continue to be in demand. Textbooks seem to constitute a genre in which established truths are conveyed, and may thus represent stable forces in a world of flux and rapid changes. Textbook Gods offers perspectives on representations of religion and religions in textbooks. The contributions emerge from different contexts, ranging from European countries, to North America, Japan and Australia. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction: Theoretical Perspectives on Textbooks/Textbooks in Religious Studies Research (Bengt-Ove Andreassen)
ch. 1 Closed and Open Concepts of Religion: The Problem of Essentialism in Teaching about Relilgion (Torsten Hylén)
ch. 2 Establishing Religion through Textbooks: Religions in Japan's "Ethics" Program (Satoko Fujiwara)
ch. 3 Bad Religions and Good Religions: The Representation of Religion and Religious Traditions in a New Swiss Textbook (Katharina Frank)
ch. 4 To Learn about the Other and Get to Know Him: Judaism and the Jewish Community of Quebec as represented in Ethics and Religious Culture Textbooks (Sivane Hirsch and Marie Mc Andrew)
ch. 5 Researching Materials Used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England (Barbara Wintersgill)
ch. 6 Representations of Indigenous Australian Religions in New South Wales (NSW) Higher School Certificate Studies of Religion Textbooks (Carole M. Cusack)
ch. 7 Visual Engagement: Textbooks and the Materiality of Religion (Mary Hayward)
ch. 8 Cartographic Representations of Religion(s) in Norwegian Textbooks (Suzanne Anett Thobro)
ch. 9 A Reservoir of Symbols: On the Conceptualization of "Religion" in Introductory Books for RE in Teacher Education in Norway (Bengt-Ove Andreasen)
ch. 10 Stones and Bones: Indigenous African Religions and the "Evolution" of World Religions (James R. Lewis)
ch. 11 "Christianity" for "the Christianity" - That is the Question (Annika Hvithamar)
ch. 12 School Bible in the Service of the Danish National Church - A Case Study (Jens-André P. Herbener)
Index
Additional Info:
Like religious studies, Jewish studies is an academic exploration of literature, ritual, history, philosophy, and experience across disciplinary boundaries. As with all area studies, Jewish studies balances itself – often precariously – as a bridge across that range of methodological options. The breadth of theories employed by each has complicated the teaching of an upper level seminar in Jewish studies. Conceived as a cross between a parade of scholars course and a ...
Like religious studies, Jewish studies is an academic exploration of literature, ritual, history, philosophy, and experience across disciplinary boundaries. As with all area studies, Jewish studies balances itself – often precariously – as a bridge across that range of methodological options. The breadth of theories employed by each has complicated the teaching of an upper level seminar in Jewish studies. Conceived as a cross between a parade of scholars course and a ...
Additional Info:
Like religious studies, Jewish studies is an academic exploration of literature, ritual, history, philosophy, and experience across disciplinary boundaries. As with all area studies, Jewish studies balances itself – often precariously – as a bridge across that range of methodological options. The breadth of theories employed by each has complicated the teaching of an upper level seminar in Jewish studies. Conceived as a cross between a parade of scholars course and a senior capstone experience, the class employed the broad thematic principle of "identity." In doing so, it exposed the biases of the students, the subject, and the instructor.
Like religious studies, Jewish studies is an academic exploration of literature, ritual, history, philosophy, and experience across disciplinary boundaries. As with all area studies, Jewish studies balances itself – often precariously – as a bridge across that range of methodological options. The breadth of theories employed by each has complicated the teaching of an upper level seminar in Jewish studies. Conceived as a cross between a parade of scholars course and a senior capstone experience, the class employed the broad thematic principle of "identity." In doing so, it exposed the biases of the students, the subject, and the instructor.

Religion & Education Volume 35, no.2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 The Developmental Pathways of Evangelical Christian Students
ch. 2 Talking with Students about Truth: Using Heidegger to Loosen the Grip of Literal Absolutes
ch. 3 Public Funding, Religious Education, and Multiculturalism in Canada
ch. 4 Latino/a Participation and Engagement in Community Events, in Church Settings, and in Educational Settings
ch. 5 The Servant and Teacher: "Poured Out Like Water" An Essay on Teaching and Living
ch. 6 Judical "hostility to all things religious in public life" or Healthy Separation of Religion and Public Education?
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 The Developmental Pathways of Evangelical Christian Students
ch. 2 Talking with Students about Truth: Using Heidegger to Loosen the Grip of Literal Absolutes
ch. 3 Public Funding, Religious Education, and Multiculturalism in Canada
ch. 4 Latino/a Participation and Engagement in Community Events, in Church Settings, and in Educational Settings
ch. 5 The Servant and Teacher: "Poured Out Like Water" An Essay on Teaching and Living
ch. 6 Judical "hostility to all things religious in public life" or Healthy Separation of Religion and Public Education?
Contributors
Additional Info:
This paper is a reflection on the two most significant challenges that I have faced teaching the introductory course in Islam. The first is the challenge of teaching Islam after September 11, 2001, the events of which gave rise to such pedagogical questions as how much and in what ways the course syllabus should change, and in particular how we should address issues such as extremism and terrorism. The second is the ...
This paper is a reflection on the two most significant challenges that I have faced teaching the introductory course in Islam. The first is the challenge of teaching Islam after September 11, 2001, the events of which gave rise to such pedagogical questions as how much and in what ways the course syllabus should change, and in particular how we should address issues such as extremism and terrorism. The second is the ...
Additional Info:
This paper is a reflection on the two most significant challenges that I have faced teaching the introductory course in Islam. The first is the challenge of teaching Islam after September 11, 2001, the events of which gave rise to such pedagogical questions as how much and in what ways the course syllabus should change, and in particular how we should address issues such as extremism and terrorism. The second is the challenge of being a non-Muslim teaching Islam, which raises issues of authority (particularly when there are Muslim students in the classroom). The limitations and advantages of teaching a tradition as an outsider are explored, and strategies for compensating for the limitations are suggested. The final section of the essay explores the following question: When, if ever, can (or should) we as teachers move from explaining and analyzing the positions taken by members of a tradition to criticizing them?
This paper is a reflection on the two most significant challenges that I have faced teaching the introductory course in Islam. The first is the challenge of teaching Islam after September 11, 2001, the events of which gave rise to such pedagogical questions as how much and in what ways the course syllabus should change, and in particular how we should address issues such as extremism and terrorism. The second is the challenge of being a non-Muslim teaching Islam, which raises issues of authority (particularly when there are Muslim students in the classroom). The limitations and advantages of teaching a tradition as an outsider are explored, and strategies for compensating for the limitations are suggested. The final section of the essay explores the following question: When, if ever, can (or should) we as teachers move from explaining and analyzing the positions taken by members of a tradition to criticizing them?

Religion & Education Volume 35, no.1
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 "Complete Victory is Our Objective": The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools
ch. 2 Community, Freedom, and Commitment: Student Discipline at Religiously- Affiliated Colleges and Universities
ch. 3 World Religions in Modesto: Findings from a Curricular Innovation
ch. 4 Teaching from the Edge
ch. 5 Wholeness and Creativity in Religious Studies Teaching
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 "Complete Victory is Our Objective": The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools
ch. 2 Community, Freedom, and Commitment: Student Discipline at Religiously- Affiliated Colleges and Universities
ch. 3 World Religions in Modesto: Findings from a Curricular Innovation
ch. 4 Teaching from the Edge
ch. 5 Wholeness and Creativity in Religious Studies Teaching
Contributors
Additional Info:
The increasing religious diversity in educational space has raised a legitimate question on how Catholic theology/catechesis must be taught in Philippine Catholic universities given the institutional mandate to educate students “into the faith of the Church through teaching of Christian doctrine in an organic and systematic way” (Wuerl, 2013, 1). On this note, the paper makes reference to “centered pluralism” (CP), a positional posture espoused by Georgetown University in dealing with ...
The increasing religious diversity in educational space has raised a legitimate question on how Catholic theology/catechesis must be taught in Philippine Catholic universities given the institutional mandate to educate students “into the faith of the Church through teaching of Christian doctrine in an organic and systematic way” (Wuerl, 2013, 1). On this note, the paper makes reference to “centered pluralism” (CP), a positional posture espoused by Georgetown University in dealing with ...
Additional Info:
The increasing religious diversity in educational space has raised a legitimate question on how Catholic theology/catechesis must be taught in Philippine Catholic universities given the institutional mandate to educate students “into the faith of the Church through teaching of Christian doctrine in an organic and systematic way” (Wuerl, 2013, 1). On this note, the paper makes reference to “centered pluralism” (CP), a positional posture espoused by Georgetown University in dealing with this predicament. In an attempt to (re)appropriate CP into local context, there is a need to explore the Filipino conception of self/others as enveloped within the indigenous concept of kapwa. Hereon, the paper finds that CP is not just feasibly suitable in local context but with kapwa's more inclusive description of the relationship of self and others, a CP‐based teaching paradigm in theology/catechesis is a promising project in the educational scene of the Philippines.
The increasing religious diversity in educational space has raised a legitimate question on how Catholic theology/catechesis must be taught in Philippine Catholic universities given the institutional mandate to educate students “into the faith of the Church through teaching of Christian doctrine in an organic and systematic way” (Wuerl, 2013, 1). On this note, the paper makes reference to “centered pluralism” (CP), a positional posture espoused by Georgetown University in dealing with this predicament. In an attempt to (re)appropriate CP into local context, there is a need to explore the Filipino conception of self/others as enveloped within the indigenous concept of kapwa. Hereon, the paper finds that CP is not just feasibly suitable in local context but with kapwa's more inclusive description of the relationship of self and others, a CP‐based teaching paradigm in theology/catechesis is a promising project in the educational scene of the Philippines.
Additional Info:
Teaching bioethics might be likened to a rollercoaster ride of twists, turns, and dips that invite teachers and students to experience something of their own edges of fear and comfort. Here the author provides readers with a glimpse into her distinctive approach to teaching bioethics that encourages students to move beyond boundaries of personal comfort zones by willfully transgressing traditional or comfortable boundaries. The essay describes how this is accomplished ...
Teaching bioethics might be likened to a rollercoaster ride of twists, turns, and dips that invite teachers and students to experience something of their own edges of fear and comfort. Here the author provides readers with a glimpse into her distinctive approach to teaching bioethics that encourages students to move beyond boundaries of personal comfort zones by willfully transgressing traditional or comfortable boundaries. The essay describes how this is accomplished ...
Additional Info:
Teaching bioethics might be likened to a rollercoaster ride of twists, turns, and dips that invite teachers and students to experience something of their own edges of fear and comfort. Here the author provides readers with a glimpse into her distinctive approach to teaching bioethics that encourages students to move beyond boundaries of personal comfort zones by willfully transgressing traditional or comfortable boundaries. The essay describes how this is accomplished through a variety of methods – provocative readings, classroom discussion, student response papers, and student ethics committees. The author contends that teaching bioethics ought to include critical pedagogical methods and an alertness for real-life intersections of science and ethics. Teaching bioethics can be a subversive activity that encourages students and teachers to engage in making life morally livable.
Teaching bioethics might be likened to a rollercoaster ride of twists, turns, and dips that invite teachers and students to experience something of their own edges of fear and comfort. Here the author provides readers with a glimpse into her distinctive approach to teaching bioethics that encourages students to move beyond boundaries of personal comfort zones by willfully transgressing traditional or comfortable boundaries. The essay describes how this is accomplished through a variety of methods – provocative readings, classroom discussion, student response papers, and student ethics committees. The author contends that teaching bioethics ought to include critical pedagogical methods and an alertness for real-life intersections of science and ethics. Teaching bioethics can be a subversive activity that encourages students and teachers to engage in making life morally livable.

Religion & Education Volume 36, no.1
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Dueling Weltanschauungen: Contemporary Collegiate Worldviews Part II Toleration and Diversity as Defining Values?
ch. 2 Race Through Religious Eyes: Focusing Teacher Reflectivity on Race, Culture, and Spiritual Belief
ch. 3 Faith-Based Charter Schools: An Idea Whose Time is Unlikely to Come
ch. 4 Bible Electives in Public Schools: A Guide From the Society of Biblical Literature
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 Dueling Weltanschauungen: Contemporary Collegiate Worldviews Part II Toleration and Diversity as Defining Values?
ch. 2 Race Through Religious Eyes: Focusing Teacher Reflectivity on Race, Culture, and Spiritual Belief
ch. 3 Faith-Based Charter Schools: An Idea Whose Time is Unlikely to Come
ch. 4 Bible Electives in Public Schools: A Guide From the Society of Biblical Literature
Contributors
Additional Info:
Many early efforts at teaching preaching online incurred disastrous losses in quality. Revamped versions now claim to meet, and in some areas even exceed, classroom learning effectiveness, with potentially significant gains for students from non‐dominant cultures. Students preach in local ethnic and denominational contexts, so a wider range of sermon styles can flourish in indigenous soil. Students hear immediate feedback from their community, and from their online peers and ...
Many early efforts at teaching preaching online incurred disastrous losses in quality. Revamped versions now claim to meet, and in some areas even exceed, classroom learning effectiveness, with potentially significant gains for students from non‐dominant cultures. Students preach in local ethnic and denominational contexts, so a wider range of sermon styles can flourish in indigenous soil. Students hear immediate feedback from their community, and from their online peers and ...
Additional Info:
Many early efforts at teaching preaching online incurred disastrous losses in quality. Revamped versions now claim to meet, and in some areas even exceed, classroom learning effectiveness, with potentially significant gains for students from non‐dominant cultures. Students preach in local ethnic and denominational contexts, so a wider range of sermon styles can flourish in indigenous soil. Students hear immediate feedback from their community, and from their online peers and professor. Online discussion formats level the playing field for non‐native speakers. By remaining embedded in their denominational and ethnic environments, student's cultural differences may be simultaneously affirmed and critiqued. This article describes capacities which predict success among preaching students, and how culture may influence the manifestation of these capacities. It details best practices and continuing challenges for professors making the transition to online preaching courses, as they seek to build culturally sustaining learning environments in which diverse students may flourish.
Many early efforts at teaching preaching online incurred disastrous losses in quality. Revamped versions now claim to meet, and in some areas even exceed, classroom learning effectiveness, with potentially significant gains for students from non‐dominant cultures. Students preach in local ethnic and denominational contexts, so a wider range of sermon styles can flourish in indigenous soil. Students hear immediate feedback from their community, and from their online peers and professor. Online discussion formats level the playing field for non‐native speakers. By remaining embedded in their denominational and ethnic environments, student's cultural differences may be simultaneously affirmed and critiqued. This article describes capacities which predict success among preaching students, and how culture may influence the manifestation of these capacities. It details best practices and continuing challenges for professors making the transition to online preaching courses, as they seek to build culturally sustaining learning environments in which diverse students may flourish.
Additional Info:
Service learning pedagogy often assumes a variety of forms when connected with classroom teaching. Through a creative use of service learning pedagogy, the author constructs learning designs that foster student engagement with course content and prompts interrelated connections between the subjects and their own service learning experiences. The author highlights the importance of setting a context for service learning through creating activities linked to learning goals, integrating service learning components ...
Service learning pedagogy often assumes a variety of forms when connected with classroom teaching. Through a creative use of service learning pedagogy, the author constructs learning designs that foster student engagement with course content and prompts interrelated connections between the subjects and their own service learning experiences. The author highlights the importance of setting a context for service learning through creating activities linked to learning goals, integrating service learning components ...
Additional Info:
Service learning pedagogy often assumes a variety of forms when connected with classroom teaching. Through a creative use of service learning pedagogy, the author constructs learning designs that foster student engagement with course content and prompts interrelated connections between the subjects and their own service learning experiences. The author highlights the importance of setting a context for service learning through creating activities linked to learning goals, integrating service learning components with classroom teaching methods, and proactively engaging student apathy, resistance, and faith perspectives through specific assignments that combine experience, analysis, and subject matter. The course described in this essay directly contributed to the author's receiving the 2004 Fortress Press Award for Undergraduate Teaching.
Service learning pedagogy often assumes a variety of forms when connected with classroom teaching. Through a creative use of service learning pedagogy, the author constructs learning designs that foster student engagement with course content and prompts interrelated connections between the subjects and their own service learning experiences. The author highlights the importance of setting a context for service learning through creating activities linked to learning goals, integrating service learning components with classroom teaching methods, and proactively engaging student apathy, resistance, and faith perspectives through specific assignments that combine experience, analysis, and subject matter. The course described in this essay directly contributed to the author's receiving the 2004 Fortress Press Award for Undergraduate Teaching.

Religion & Education Volume 36, no.3
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 The Quest for Meaning: Teaching Spirituality in Communication, Social Work, Nursing, and Leadership
ch. 2 The 'Invisible Institution' and a Disappearing Achievement Gap
ch. 3 An Empirical Study on Factors Influencing Parents' School Choice
ch. 4 Religion Inside the Schoolhouse Gate: Gatekeeping Forces and Religion Coverage in Public High School Newspapers
ch. 5 Teaching and the Seasons of Time: The Final Days of an Art Class
Contributors
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
ch. 1 The Quest for Meaning: Teaching Spirituality in Communication, Social Work, Nursing, and Leadership
ch. 2 The 'Invisible Institution' and a Disappearing Achievement Gap
ch. 3 An Empirical Study on Factors Influencing Parents' School Choice
ch. 4 Religion Inside the Schoolhouse Gate: Gatekeeping Forces and Religion Coverage in Public High School Newspapers
ch. 5 Teaching and the Seasons of Time: The Final Days of an Art Class
Contributors
Additional Info:
This article discusses an experiential teaching method that uses secular activities that are simple, accessible, and analogous to religious practice in order to facilitate comparative religious study. These “analogous activities” – for example, social rituals, stillness, yoga, a social media fast, singing, nonviolent communication, and mindfulness meditation – provide a third point of reference that allows students to pivot between their understanding of religion and those of practitioners and scholars of religion. ...
This article discusses an experiential teaching method that uses secular activities that are simple, accessible, and analogous to religious practice in order to facilitate comparative religious study. These “analogous activities” – for example, social rituals, stillness, yoga, a social media fast, singing, nonviolent communication, and mindfulness meditation – provide a third point of reference that allows students to pivot between their understanding of religion and those of practitioners and scholars of religion. ...
Additional Info:
This article discusses an experiential teaching method that uses secular activities that are simple, accessible, and analogous to religious practice in order to facilitate comparative religious study. These “analogous activities” – for example, social rituals, stillness, yoga, a social media fast, singing, nonviolent communication, and mindfulness meditation – provide a third point of reference that allows students to pivot between their understanding of religion and those of practitioners and scholars of religion. Experiential learning can be quite successful if deliberately sequenced to allow students to encounter a series of interpretive frameworks and structured with prompts and parameters that encourage reflection and critical analysis of their experience. In my course engaging in analogous activities not only impacted students' understanding of Asian religions, but also led them to question two previous assumptions: first, that religious beliefs were more important than religious practices, which is particularly problematic in regards to Asian religious traditions that place more emphasis on orthopraxy than orthodoxy, and second, that religion was something separate from one's everyday or lived reality.
This article discusses an experiential teaching method that uses secular activities that are simple, accessible, and analogous to religious practice in order to facilitate comparative religious study. These “analogous activities” – for example, social rituals, stillness, yoga, a social media fast, singing, nonviolent communication, and mindfulness meditation – provide a third point of reference that allows students to pivot between their understanding of religion and those of practitioners and scholars of religion. Experiential learning can be quite successful if deliberately sequenced to allow students to encounter a series of interpretive frameworks and structured with prompts and parameters that encourage reflection and critical analysis of their experience. In my course engaging in analogous activities not only impacted students' understanding of Asian religions, but also led them to question two previous assumptions: first, that religious beliefs were more important than religious practices, which is particularly problematic in regards to Asian religious traditions that place more emphasis on orthopraxy than orthodoxy, and second, that religion was something separate from one's everyday or lived reality.
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Biblical texts have been handed on to us through a long history of interpretation. Awareness of this rich but complex process is one of the goals of biblical teaching. Since the earliest centuries of the church there has been a parallel history of artistic interaction with the biblical text. These artistic treatments of biblical subjects have had a great cultural impact and have deeply influenced public perceptions and understandings of ...
Biblical texts have been handed on to us through a long history of interpretation. Awareness of this rich but complex process is one of the goals of biblical teaching. Since the earliest centuries of the church there has been a parallel history of artistic interaction with the biblical text. These artistic treatments of biblical subjects have had a great cultural impact and have deeply influenced public perceptions and understandings of ...
Additional Info:
Biblical texts have been handed on to us through a long history of interpretation. Awareness of this rich but complex process is one of the goals of biblical teaching. Since the earliest centuries of the church there has been a parallel history of artistic interaction with the biblical text. These artistic treatments of biblical subjects have had a great cultural impact and have deeply influenced public perceptions and understandings of the Bible. Unfortunately, seldom does this history of artistic interpretation become a part of Bible courses. In this paper, I reflect on learnings from a serious effort to take artistic resources and methodologies into account in teaching Hebrew Bible in a theological school. My most successful efforts have employed the ancient Jewish interpretive method of midrash. Use of midrash opens new, imaginative possibilities that can enliven and extend our usual exegesis of texts. More specifically, midrash provides the ideal category for understanding artistic interactions with biblical texts. Through midrash students can understand artists to be both profound respecters of the power and integrity of biblical texts, while at the same time extending and entering into imaginative encounter with those texts. This article will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming book Arts, Theology, and the Church: New Intersections.
Biblical texts have been handed on to us through a long history of interpretation. Awareness of this rich but complex process is one of the goals of biblical teaching. Since the earliest centuries of the church there has been a parallel history of artistic interaction with the biblical text. These artistic treatments of biblical subjects have had a great cultural impact and have deeply influenced public perceptions and understandings of the Bible. Unfortunately, seldom does this history of artistic interpretation become a part of Bible courses. In this paper, I reflect on learnings from a serious effort to take artistic resources and methodologies into account in teaching Hebrew Bible in a theological school. My most successful efforts have employed the ancient Jewish interpretive method of midrash. Use of midrash opens new, imaginative possibilities that can enliven and extend our usual exegesis of texts. More specifically, midrash provides the ideal category for understanding artistic interactions with biblical texts. Through midrash students can understand artists to be both profound respecters of the power and integrity of biblical texts, while at the same time extending and entering into imaginative encounter with those texts. This article will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming book Arts, Theology, and the Church: New Intersections.
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One-page Teaching Tactic that taps into students' interest in and knowledge of Facebook to help them read the Bible's four Gospels with fresh eyes.
One-page Teaching Tactic that taps into students' interest in and knowledge of Facebook to help them read the Bible's four Gospels with fresh eyes.
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One-page Teaching Tactic that taps into students' interest in and knowledge of Facebook to help them read the Bible's four Gospels with fresh eyes.
One-page Teaching Tactic that taps into students' interest in and knowledge of Facebook to help them read the Bible's four Gospels with fresh eyes.

Muslim Women, Transnational Feminism and the Ethics of Pedagogy: Contested Imaginaries in Post-9/11 Cultural Practice
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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Following a long historical legacy, Muslim women’s lives continue to be represented and circulate widely as a vehicle of intercultural understanding within a context of the "war on terror." Following Edward Said’s thesis that these cultural forms reflect and participate in the power plays of empire, this volume ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Following a long historical legacy, Muslim women’s lives continue to be represented and circulate widely as a vehicle of intercultural understanding within a context of the "war on terror." Following Edward Said’s thesis that these cultural forms reflect and participate in the power plays of empire, this volume ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Following a long historical legacy, Muslim women’s lives continue to be represented and circulate widely as a vehicle of intercultural understanding within a context of the "war on terror." Following Edward Said’s thesis that these cultural forms reflect and participate in the power plays of empire, this volume examines the popular and widespread production and reception of Muslim women’s lives and narratives in literature, poetry, cinema, television and popular culture within the politics of a post-9/11 world. This edited collection provides a timely exploration into the pedagogical and ethical possibilities opened up by transnational, feminist, and anti-colonial readings that can work against sensationalized and stereotypical representations of Muslim women. It addresses the gap in contemporary theoretical discourse amongst educators teaching literary and cultural texts by and about Muslim Women, and brings scholars from the fields of education, literary and cultural studies, and Muslim women’s studies to examine the politics and ethics of transnational anti-colonial reading practices and pedagogy. The book features interviews with Muslim women artists and cultural producers who provide engaging reflections on the transformative role of the arts as a form of critical public pedagogy. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Contested Imaginaries of Reading Muslim Women and Muslim Women Reading Back (Jasmin Zine and Lisa K. Taylor)
Part I: Transnational Anti-Colonial Feminist Reading Practices
ch. 1 SUR/VEIL: The Veil as Blank(et) Signifier (Megan MacDonald)
ch. 2 Khamosh Pani: Reading Partition Muslim Masculinities and Femininities in an Age of Terror (Shahnaz Khan)
ch. 3 Breaking the Stigma? The Anti-Heroine in Fatih Akin’s Head On (Mine Eren)
ch. 4 Pedagogies of Solidarity in Suheir Hammad’s "First Writing Since" (Dana M. Olwan)
Part II: The Politics of Production and Reception
ch. 5 A Too-Quick Enthusiasm for the Other": North American Women’s Book Clubs and the Politics of Reading (Catherine Burwell)
ch. 6 Of Activist Fandoms, Auteur Pedagogy and Imperial Feminism: From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to "I am Du’a Khalil" (Trish Salah)
Part III: Transformative Pedagogies
ch. 7 Cartographies of Difference and Pedagogies of Peril: Muslim Girls and Women in Western Young Adult Fiction Novels (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 8 “Shaking Up" Vision: The Video Diary as Personal and Pedagogical Intervention in Mona Hatoum’s Measures of Distance (Mehre Gomez Fonseca)
ch. 9 From Empathy to Estrangement, From Enlightenment to Implication: A Pedagogical Framework for (Re)Reading Literary Desire Against the "Slow Acculturation of Imperialism" (Lisa K. Taylor)
Part IV: Reflections on Cultural Production
ch. 10 Interview with Mohja Kahf (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 11 Interview with Zarqa Nawaz (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 12 Interview with Rasha Salti (Rasha Salti and Lisa K. Taylor)
ch. 13 Interview with Tayyibah Taylor (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 14 Interview with Sofia Baig (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 15 Interview with Sahar Ullah (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 16 Interview with Jamelie Hassan (Lisa K. Taylor)
Contributors
Index
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Following a long historical legacy, Muslim women’s lives continue to be represented and circulate widely as a vehicle of intercultural understanding within a context of the "war on terror." Following Edward Said’s thesis that these cultural forms reflect and participate in the power plays of empire, this volume examines the popular and widespread production and reception of Muslim women’s lives and narratives in literature, poetry, cinema, television and popular culture within the politics of a post-9/11 world. This edited collection provides a timely exploration into the pedagogical and ethical possibilities opened up by transnational, feminist, and anti-colonial readings that can work against sensationalized and stereotypical representations of Muslim women. It addresses the gap in contemporary theoretical discourse amongst educators teaching literary and cultural texts by and about Muslim Women, and brings scholars from the fields of education, literary and cultural studies, and Muslim women’s studies to examine the politics and ethics of transnational anti-colonial reading practices and pedagogy. The book features interviews with Muslim women artists and cultural producers who provide engaging reflections on the transformative role of the arts as a form of critical public pedagogy. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Contested Imaginaries of Reading Muslim Women and Muslim Women Reading Back (Jasmin Zine and Lisa K. Taylor)
Part I: Transnational Anti-Colonial Feminist Reading Practices
ch. 1 SUR/VEIL: The Veil as Blank(et) Signifier (Megan MacDonald)
ch. 2 Khamosh Pani: Reading Partition Muslim Masculinities and Femininities in an Age of Terror (Shahnaz Khan)
ch. 3 Breaking the Stigma? The Anti-Heroine in Fatih Akin’s Head On (Mine Eren)
ch. 4 Pedagogies of Solidarity in Suheir Hammad’s "First Writing Since" (Dana M. Olwan)
Part II: The Politics of Production and Reception
ch. 5 A Too-Quick Enthusiasm for the Other": North American Women’s Book Clubs and the Politics of Reading (Catherine Burwell)
ch. 6 Of Activist Fandoms, Auteur Pedagogy and Imperial Feminism: From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to "I am Du’a Khalil" (Trish Salah)
Part III: Transformative Pedagogies
ch. 7 Cartographies of Difference and Pedagogies of Peril: Muslim Girls and Women in Western Young Adult Fiction Novels (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 8 “Shaking Up" Vision: The Video Diary as Personal and Pedagogical Intervention in Mona Hatoum’s Measures of Distance (Mehre Gomez Fonseca)
ch. 9 From Empathy to Estrangement, From Enlightenment to Implication: A Pedagogical Framework for (Re)Reading Literary Desire Against the "Slow Acculturation of Imperialism" (Lisa K. Taylor)
Part IV: Reflections on Cultural Production
ch. 10 Interview with Mohja Kahf (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 11 Interview with Zarqa Nawaz (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 12 Interview with Rasha Salti (Rasha Salti and Lisa K. Taylor)
ch. 13 Interview with Tayyibah Taylor (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 14 Interview with Sofia Baig (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 15 Interview with Sahar Ullah (Jasmin Zine)
ch. 16 Interview with Jamelie Hassan (Lisa K. Taylor)
Contributors
Index
Additional Info:
Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this ...
Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this ...
Additional Info:
Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this gap, through a year-long collaboration, a group of professors and instructors with expertise and experience teaching sexuality and religion in a variety of disciplines and diverse institutional and religious contexts developed, tested, and refined classroom teaching strategies to shift from a content-based “subject matter” to an embodied learning experience, resulting in perspective transformation as a primary student-learning outcome. Findings in the form of “guiding questions,” encourage instructors to attend to contextual, experiential, and performative aspects of the classroom environment.
Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this gap, through a year-long collaboration, a group of professors and instructors with expertise and experience teaching sexuality and religion in a variety of disciplines and diverse institutional and religious contexts developed, tested, and refined classroom teaching strategies to shift from a content-based “subject matter” to an embodied learning experience, resulting in perspective transformation as a primary student-learning outcome. Findings in the form of “guiding questions,” encourage instructors to attend to contextual, experiential, and performative aspects of the classroom environment.

Religion & Education Volume 41, no.3
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editorial
Religious Freedom and the Eye of the Beholder (Michael D. Waggoner)
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Cultivating Commitment and Openness in the Christian College Context: A Study of the Institutional Predictors of Fallibilist Christian Spirituality (P. Jesse Rine)
ch. 2 African American Homeschoolers: The Force of Faith and the Reality of Race in the Homeschooling experience (Ama Mazama and Garvey Lundy)
ch. 3 When Yoga is Kosher but Kabbalah is Not: Spirituality and Cultural Appropriation in Jewish Education (Stuart Z. Charmé)
ch. 4 Not What Every Other Girl Wants: American Indian Women's Educational Aspirations (Maureen Snow Andrade)
ch. 5 Religious Issues in English Education: An Examination of the Filed (Robert Todd Bruce and Beatrice Bailey)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editorial
Religious Freedom and the Eye of the Beholder (Michael D. Waggoner)
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Cultivating Commitment and Openness in the Christian College Context: A Study of the Institutional Predictors of Fallibilist Christian Spirituality (P. Jesse Rine)
ch. 2 African American Homeschoolers: The Force of Faith and the Reality of Race in the Homeschooling experience (Ama Mazama and Garvey Lundy)
ch. 3 When Yoga is Kosher but Kabbalah is Not: Spirituality and Cultural Appropriation in Jewish Education (Stuart Z. Charmé)
ch. 4 Not What Every Other Girl Wants: American Indian Women's Educational Aspirations (Maureen Snow Andrade)
ch. 5 Religious Issues in English Education: An Examination of the Filed (Robert Todd Bruce and Beatrice Bailey)
Additional Info:
How do we deal with our own sexuality as teachers and as learners in the classroom? As a seminary professor in a mainline Christian context, I find that discussing sexuality increases student discomfort levels by threatening to raise questions about the connections between morality, behavior, and bodies of those in the room – questions we have been culturally trained to avoid. In order to decrease discomfort, many instructors approach sexuality only ...
How do we deal with our own sexuality as teachers and as learners in the classroom? As a seminary professor in a mainline Christian context, I find that discussing sexuality increases student discomfort levels by threatening to raise questions about the connections between morality, behavior, and bodies of those in the room – questions we have been culturally trained to avoid. In order to decrease discomfort, many instructors approach sexuality only ...
Additional Info:
How do we deal with our own sexuality as teachers and as learners in the classroom? As a seminary professor in a mainline Christian context, I find that discussing sexuality increases student discomfort levels by threatening to raise questions about the connections between morality, behavior, and bodies of those in the room – questions we have been culturally trained to avoid. In order to decrease discomfort, many instructors approach sexuality only as content-based subject matter. Particularly for ministry students, this approach can be a disservice to their discernment process and preparation for future ministry contexts, especially for those in turmoil regarding sexuality-related issues. By explicitly engaging how personal experience and cultural contexts shape our sexuality, pedagogical models can promote critical self-reflection and seek perspective transformation, not values change, as a resource for professional sexual ethics training in ministry.
How do we deal with our own sexuality as teachers and as learners in the classroom? As a seminary professor in a mainline Christian context, I find that discussing sexuality increases student discomfort levels by threatening to raise questions about the connections between morality, behavior, and bodies of those in the room – questions we have been culturally trained to avoid. In order to decrease discomfort, many instructors approach sexuality only as content-based subject matter. Particularly for ministry students, this approach can be a disservice to their discernment process and preparation for future ministry contexts, especially for those in turmoil regarding sexuality-related issues. By explicitly engaging how personal experience and cultural contexts shape our sexuality, pedagogical models can promote critical self-reflection and seek perspective transformation, not values change, as a resource for professional sexual ethics training in ministry.
Additional Info:
Many undergraduates are culturally shaped to avoid making ethical judgments. They spontaneously adopt relativist and skeptical strategies such as “It all depends,” or “Whose morality?” or “Who's to say?” as ways of fending off the challenge of making moral decisions. The current tsunami that is washing away traditional sexual norms is both a result and a cause of this cultural shift. Case studies can mitigate this decline and help students ...
Many undergraduates are culturally shaped to avoid making ethical judgments. They spontaneously adopt relativist and skeptical strategies such as “It all depends,” or “Whose morality?” or “Who's to say?” as ways of fending off the challenge of making moral decisions. The current tsunami that is washing away traditional sexual norms is both a result and a cause of this cultural shift. Case studies can mitigate this decline and help students ...
Additional Info:
Many undergraduates are culturally shaped to avoid making ethical judgments. They spontaneously adopt relativist and skeptical strategies such as “It all depends,” or “Whose morality?” or “Who's to say?” as ways of fending off the challenge of making moral decisions. The current tsunami that is washing away traditional sexual norms is both a result and a cause of this cultural shift. Case studies can mitigate this decline and help students to grow in both confidence and ability to make good ethical judgments. The case method, used with a Socratic pedagogy, engages imagination and counters the deficits in empathy found in many contemporary students. It moves students toward understanding morality itself. Against skepticism, it assists students in exercising practical reason, culminating in decision. Five cases invite students to overcome extreme relativism, to look for and evaluate relevant differences, and to enter into ethical discussion with other students on the sexual issues they face in their college years.
Many undergraduates are culturally shaped to avoid making ethical judgments. They spontaneously adopt relativist and skeptical strategies such as “It all depends,” or “Whose morality?” or “Who's to say?” as ways of fending off the challenge of making moral decisions. The current tsunami that is washing away traditional sexual norms is both a result and a cause of this cultural shift. Case studies can mitigate this decline and help students to grow in both confidence and ability to make good ethical judgments. The case method, used with a Socratic pedagogy, engages imagination and counters the deficits in empathy found in many contemporary students. It moves students toward understanding morality itself. Against skepticism, it assists students in exercising practical reason, culminating in decision. Five cases invite students to overcome extreme relativism, to look for and evaluate relevant differences, and to enter into ethical discussion with other students on the sexual issues they face in their college years.
Additional Info:
After decades of marginalization in the secularized twentieth-century academy, moral education has enjoyed a recent resurgence in American higher education, with the establishment of more than 100 ethics centers and programs on campuses across the country. Yet the idea that the university has a civic responsibility to teach its undergraduate students ethics and morality has been met with skepticism, suspicion, and even outright rejection from both inside and outside the academy. ...
After decades of marginalization in the secularized twentieth-century academy, moral education has enjoyed a recent resurgence in American higher education, with the establishment of more than 100 ethics centers and programs on campuses across the country. Yet the idea that the university has a civic responsibility to teach its undergraduate students ethics and morality has been met with skepticism, suspicion, and even outright rejection from both inside and outside the academy. ...
Additional Info:
After decades of marginalization in the secularized twentieth-century academy, moral education has enjoyed a recent resurgence in American higher education, with the establishment of more than 100 ethics centers and programs on campuses across the country. Yet the idea that the university has a civic responsibility to teach its undergraduate students ethics and morality has been met with skepticism, suspicion, and even outright rejection from both inside and outside the academy. In this collection, renowned scholars of philosophy, politics, and religion debate the role of ethics in the university, investigating whether universities should proactively cultivate morality and ethics, what teaching ethics entails, and what moral education should accomplish. The essays quickly open up to broader questions regarding the very purpose of a university education in modern society. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Foreword (Noah Pickus)
Acknowledgments
I. Introduction: Why the Return to Ethics? Why Now?
ch. 1 Debating Moral Education: An Introduction (Elizabeth Kiss and J. Peter Euben)
ch. 2 The Changing Contours of Moral Education in American Colleges and Universities (Julie Reuben)
II. What Are Universities For?
ch. 3 Aim High: A Response to Stanley Fish (Elizabeth Kiss and J. Peter Euben)
ch. 4 I Know It When I See It: A Reply to Kiss and Euben (Stanley Fish)
ch. 5 The Pathos of the University: The Case of Stanley Fish (Stanley Hauerwas)
ch. 6 On the Distribution of Moral Badges: A Few Worries (Elizabeth V. Spelman)
III. The Politics and Ethics of Higher Education
ch. 7 Pluralism and the Education of the Spirit (Wilson Carey McWilliams and Susan McWilliams)
ch. 8 Multiculturalism and Moral Education (Lawrence Blum)
ch. 9 Against Civic Education (James Bernard Murphy)
ch. 10 Education, Independence, and Acknowledgment (Patchen Markell)
ch. 11 The Power of Morality (George Shulman)
ch. 12 Hunger, Ethics, and the University: A Radical Democratic Goad in Ten Pieces (Romand Coles)
IV. Which Virtues? Whose Character?
ch. 13 Is There an Ethicist in the House? How Can We Tell? (David A. Hoekema)
ch. 14 The Possibility of Moral Education in the University Today (J. Donald Moon)
ch. 15 Is a Humanistic Education Humanizing? (Ruth W. Grant)
ch. 16 Players and Spectators: Sports and Ethical Training in the American University (Michael Allen Gillespie)
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
After decades of marginalization in the secularized twentieth-century academy, moral education has enjoyed a recent resurgence in American higher education, with the establishment of more than 100 ethics centers and programs on campuses across the country. Yet the idea that the university has a civic responsibility to teach its undergraduate students ethics and morality has been met with skepticism, suspicion, and even outright rejection from both inside and outside the academy. In this collection, renowned scholars of philosophy, politics, and religion debate the role of ethics in the university, investigating whether universities should proactively cultivate morality and ethics, what teaching ethics entails, and what moral education should accomplish. The essays quickly open up to broader questions regarding the very purpose of a university education in modern society. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Foreword (Noah Pickus)
Acknowledgments
I. Introduction: Why the Return to Ethics? Why Now?
ch. 1 Debating Moral Education: An Introduction (Elizabeth Kiss and J. Peter Euben)
ch. 2 The Changing Contours of Moral Education in American Colleges and Universities (Julie Reuben)
II. What Are Universities For?
ch. 3 Aim High: A Response to Stanley Fish (Elizabeth Kiss and J. Peter Euben)
ch. 4 I Know It When I See It: A Reply to Kiss and Euben (Stanley Fish)
ch. 5 The Pathos of the University: The Case of Stanley Fish (Stanley Hauerwas)
ch. 6 On the Distribution of Moral Badges: A Few Worries (Elizabeth V. Spelman)
III. The Politics and Ethics of Higher Education
ch. 7 Pluralism and the Education of the Spirit (Wilson Carey McWilliams and Susan McWilliams)
ch. 8 Multiculturalism and Moral Education (Lawrence Blum)
ch. 9 Against Civic Education (James Bernard Murphy)
ch. 10 Education, Independence, and Acknowledgment (Patchen Markell)
ch. 11 The Power of Morality (George Shulman)
ch. 12 Hunger, Ethics, and the University: A Radical Democratic Goad in Ten Pieces (Romand Coles)
IV. Which Virtues? Whose Character?
ch. 13 Is There an Ethicist in the House? How Can We Tell? (David A. Hoekema)
ch. 14 The Possibility of Moral Education in the University Today (J. Donald Moon)
ch. 15 Is a Humanistic Education Humanizing? (Ruth W. Grant)
ch. 16 Players and Spectators: Sports and Ethical Training in the American University (Michael Allen Gillespie)
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
Additional Info:
Georgia State University associate professor of religious studies, Molly Bassett, writes about a dual-level course she's teaching for a third time this fall titled "Religious Dimensions in Human Experience.” Part 2, is a reflection by one of her former graduate students, Sarah Levine, who took the course the first time Bassett taught it in the fall of 2010.
Georgia State University associate professor of religious studies, Molly Bassett, writes about a dual-level course she's teaching for a third time this fall titled "Religious Dimensions in Human Experience.” Part 2, is a reflection by one of her former graduate students, Sarah Levine, who took the course the first time Bassett taught it in the fall of 2010.
Additional Info:
Georgia State University associate professor of religious studies, Molly Bassett, writes about a dual-level course she's teaching for a third time this fall titled "Religious Dimensions in Human Experience.” Part 2, is a reflection by one of her former graduate students, Sarah Levine, who took the course the first time Bassett taught it in the fall of 2010.
Georgia State University associate professor of religious studies, Molly Bassett, writes about a dual-level course she's teaching for a third time this fall titled "Religious Dimensions in Human Experience.” Part 2, is a reflection by one of her former graduate students, Sarah Levine, who took the course the first time Bassett taught it in the fall of 2010.

"Wisdom, Sophia, and The Fear of Knowing"
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Wisdom or questing to know God and the world evokes fear through case studies of the controversial Reimagining Conference and the race related responses to the O. J. Simpson verdict, the fear of knowing God (which included the fear of questioning dominant metaphors of God) and the fear of knowing ourselves are explored. From this analysis, a view of wisdom is proposed and also an approach to education that inspires ...
Wisdom or questing to know God and the world evokes fear through case studies of the controversial Reimagining Conference and the race related responses to the O. J. Simpson verdict, the fear of knowing God (which included the fear of questioning dominant metaphors of God) and the fear of knowing ourselves are explored. From this analysis, a view of wisdom is proposed and also an approach to education that inspires ...
Additional Info:
Wisdom or questing to know God and the world evokes fear through case studies of the controversial Reimagining Conference and the race related responses to the O. J. Simpson verdict, the fear of knowing God (which included the fear of questioning dominant metaphors of God) and the fear of knowing ourselves are explored. From this analysis, a view of wisdom is proposed and also an approach to education that inspires and encourages people to seek to know and respond to God and the world.
Wisdom or questing to know God and the world evokes fear through case studies of the controversial Reimagining Conference and the race related responses to the O. J. Simpson verdict, the fear of knowing God (which included the fear of questioning dominant metaphors of God) and the fear of knowing ourselves are explored. From this analysis, a view of wisdom is proposed and also an approach to education that inspires and encourages people to seek to know and respond to God and the world.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: scaffolded short, "in character" writing assignments in an online course, to foster critical reflection on different sides of an argument.
One page Teaching Tactic: scaffolded short, "in character" writing assignments in an online course, to foster critical reflection on different sides of an argument.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: scaffolded short, "in character" writing assignments in an online course, to foster critical reflection on different sides of an argument.
One page Teaching Tactic: scaffolded short, "in character" writing assignments in an online course, to foster critical reflection on different sides of an argument.


Cases and Course Design
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Cases and Course Design (Robert L. Stivers)
ch. 2 Case Writing and Teaching in a Seminary: Reflecting on Ministry Experience (V. Sue Zabel)
ch. 3 Law and Order: Waco, Texas, 1993, Revisited (Leland E. Elhard)
ch. 4 Sopater's Body (David E. Frederickson)
ch. 5 Adult Learners, Feminist Practices, and the Use of Cases (Carol Allen)
ch. 6 A Study of Case Studies (Anne Reissner)
ch. 7 Case Studies and the Teaching of History (Garth M. Rosell)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Cases and Course Design (Robert L. Stivers)
ch. 2 Case Writing and Teaching in a Seminary: Reflecting on Ministry Experience (V. Sue Zabel)
ch. 3 Law and Order: Waco, Texas, 1993, Revisited (Leland E. Elhard)
ch. 4 Sopater's Body (David E. Frederickson)
ch. 5 Adult Learners, Feminist Practices, and the Use of Cases (Carol Allen)
ch. 6 A Study of Case Studies (Anne Reissner)
ch. 7 Case Studies and the Teaching of History (Garth M. Rosell)

Religion & Education Volume 37, no. 1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 How School Law Scholars Teach about Religion in Public Schools: An Analysis of Graduate and Undergraduate Textbooks (Suzanne E. Eckes)
ch. 2 Finding Congruence, Finding Meaning: Value Intersections and Transforming Relationships among Faculty and Staff at a Religious College (Alyssa N. Bryant, Christy Moran Craft)
ch. 3 Asking Sacred Questions: Understanding Religion's Impact on Teacher Belief and Action (Kimberly White)
ch. 4 The Evolving Place of Research on Religion in the American Educational Research Association (Jason Nelson)
Resource Reviews
ch. 5 A Buddhist in the Classroom
ch. 6 American Educational History: School, Society, and the Common Good
ch. 7 Education about Religions and Beliefs (ERB) Clearninghouse
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 How School Law Scholars Teach about Religion in Public Schools: An Analysis of Graduate and Undergraduate Textbooks (Suzanne E. Eckes)
ch. 2 Finding Congruence, Finding Meaning: Value Intersections and Transforming Relationships among Faculty and Staff at a Religious College (Alyssa N. Bryant, Christy Moran Craft)
ch. 3 Asking Sacred Questions: Understanding Religion's Impact on Teacher Belief and Action (Kimberly White)
ch. 4 The Evolving Place of Research on Religion in the American Educational Research Association (Jason Nelson)
Resource Reviews
ch. 5 A Buddhist in the Classroom
ch. 6 American Educational History: School, Society, and the Common Good
ch. 7 Education about Religions and Beliefs (ERB) Clearninghouse
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: begins discussion of human sexuality and the Bible from students' social context rather than “what does the Bible say?” -- derails the rush to judgment and demonstrates the multiplicity of sexuality “issues” in the room.
One page Teaching Tactic: begins discussion of human sexuality and the Bible from students' social context rather than “what does the Bible say?” -- derails the rush to judgment and demonstrates the multiplicity of sexuality “issues” in the room.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: begins discussion of human sexuality and the Bible from students' social context rather than “what does the Bible say?” -- derails the rush to judgment and demonstrates the multiplicity of sexuality “issues” in the room.
One page Teaching Tactic: begins discussion of human sexuality and the Bible from students' social context rather than “what does the Bible say?” -- derails the rush to judgment and demonstrates the multiplicity of sexuality “issues” in the room.
Additional Info:
The Bible is a non-western text subject to a variety of interpretations and applications – constructive and destructive. The academic study of the Bible, therefore, requires critical thinking skills and the ability to engage with diversity. The reality is that most first-year college students have not yet developed these skills. Rather than bemoan students' lack of development, the essay explores ways of teaching and applying critical thinking within the context of ...
The Bible is a non-western text subject to a variety of interpretations and applications – constructive and destructive. The academic study of the Bible, therefore, requires critical thinking skills and the ability to engage with diversity. The reality is that most first-year college students have not yet developed these skills. Rather than bemoan students' lack of development, the essay explores ways of teaching and applying critical thinking within the context of ...
Additional Info:
The Bible is a non-western text subject to a variety of interpretations and applications – constructive and destructive. The academic study of the Bible, therefore, requires critical thinking skills and the ability to engage with diversity. The reality is that most first-year college students have not yet developed these skills. Rather than bemoan students' lack of development, the essay explores ways of teaching and applying critical thinking within the context of an introductory Religion course. The essay claims that first-year college students can better learn the content of the discipline and function in a pluralistic world if the teaching of critical thinking skills is a part of the pedagogy.
The Bible is a non-western text subject to a variety of interpretations and applications – constructive and destructive. The academic study of the Bible, therefore, requires critical thinking skills and the ability to engage with diversity. The reality is that most first-year college students have not yet developed these skills. Rather than bemoan students' lack of development, the essay explores ways of teaching and applying critical thinking within the context of an introductory Religion course. The essay claims that first-year college students can better learn the content of the discipline and function in a pluralistic world if the teaching of critical thinking skills is a part of the pedagogy.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Intercultural and Transnational Pedagogy: Editors' Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Thoughts on Intercultural Education in Religious Studies (Edwin David)
ch. 3 The 2010 Census and the Undergraduate Classroom (Philip Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 4 Teaching Buddhism, Teaching Otherness?: “Many Buddhisms” in Transnational Chicago (Anne Mocko)
ch. 5 Chi, Postcolonial Theory, and Theological Pedagogy (Grace Ji-Sun Kim)
ch. 6 Interrogating the University Archive (Gregory Lee Cuéllar)
ch. 7 Teaching Religion and Theology: Intercultural and Transnational Online Resources (Jonathan Y. Tan)
ch. 8 Intercultural and Transnational Pedagogies: Suggested Resources
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Intercultural and Transnational Pedagogy: Editors' Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Thoughts on Intercultural Education in Religious Studies (Edwin David)
ch. 3 The 2010 Census and the Undergraduate Classroom (Philip Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 4 Teaching Buddhism, Teaching Otherness?: “Many Buddhisms” in Transnational Chicago (Anne Mocko)
ch. 5 Chi, Postcolonial Theory, and Theological Pedagogy (Grace Ji-Sun Kim)
ch. 6 Interrogating the University Archive (Gregory Lee Cuéllar)
ch. 7 Teaching Religion and Theology: Intercultural and Transnational Online Resources (Jonathan Y. Tan)
ch. 8 Intercultural and Transnational Pedagogies: Suggested Resources
Additional Info:
Can students learn religious history from movies? While using film as text is likely to attract students' interest, will such a course be able to negotiate the complex intertwining of film with religion and history to provide students with more than mere entertainment? Will students respond to a challenge to move beyond a movie's surface visual experience to address the core lessons history posits: it's not always been this way, ...
Can students learn religious history from movies? While using film as text is likely to attract students' interest, will such a course be able to negotiate the complex intertwining of film with religion and history to provide students with more than mere entertainment? Will students respond to a challenge to move beyond a movie's surface visual experience to address the core lessons history posits: it's not always been this way, ...
Additional Info:
Can students learn religious history from movies? While using film as text is likely to attract students' interest, will such a course be able to negotiate the complex intertwining of film with religion and history to provide students with more than mere entertainment? Will students respond to a challenge to move beyond a movie's surface visual experience to address the core lessons history posits: it's not always been this way, we are the product of what has come before us, I/we are being called to change? This article discusses one attempt to answer these questions and examines both the opportunities and difficulties of using movies to teach religious history.
Can students learn religious history from movies? While using film as text is likely to attract students' interest, will such a course be able to negotiate the complex intertwining of film with religion and history to provide students with more than mere entertainment? Will students respond to a challenge to move beyond a movie's surface visual experience to address the core lessons history posits: it's not always been this way, we are the product of what has come before us, I/we are being called to change? This article discusses one attempt to answer these questions and examines both the opportunities and difficulties of using movies to teach religious history.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: How to start classroom discussions about sensitive issues such as human sexuality
One page Teaching Tactic: How to start classroom discussions about sensitive issues such as human sexuality
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: How to start classroom discussions about sensitive issues such as human sexuality
One page Teaching Tactic: How to start classroom discussions about sensitive issues such as human sexuality
Additional Info:
This article proposes strategies for teaching about sexuality in Islam through student-centered learning activities, such as self-reflection, multimedia presentations, and small group discussions. We focus on a diversity of perspectives related to veiling in Islam. The approaches we describe help students deconstruct and reevaluate common U.S. cultural assumptions that equate veiling in Islam with the oppression of Muslim women. Through the use of Likert scale questionnaires and written reflection ...
This article proposes strategies for teaching about sexuality in Islam through student-centered learning activities, such as self-reflection, multimedia presentations, and small group discussions. We focus on a diversity of perspectives related to veiling in Islam. The approaches we describe help students deconstruct and reevaluate common U.S. cultural assumptions that equate veiling in Islam with the oppression of Muslim women. Through the use of Likert scale questionnaires and written reflection ...
Additional Info:
This article proposes strategies for teaching about sexuality in Islam through student-centered learning activities, such as self-reflection, multimedia presentations, and small group discussions. We focus on a diversity of perspectives related to veiling in Islam. The approaches we describe help students deconstruct and reevaluate common U.S. cultural assumptions that equate veiling in Islam with the oppression of Muslim women. Through the use of Likert scale questionnaires and written reflection papers, we have found that students are able to acknowledge and distinguish a multiplicity of perspectives regarding veiling and sexuality in Islam after they have been introduced to academic scholarship on the history of veiling, and after they have had multiple opportunities to engage in small and large group discussions on the topic.
This article proposes strategies for teaching about sexuality in Islam through student-centered learning activities, such as self-reflection, multimedia presentations, and small group discussions. We focus on a diversity of perspectives related to veiling in Islam. The approaches we describe help students deconstruct and reevaluate common U.S. cultural assumptions that equate veiling in Islam with the oppression of Muslim women. Through the use of Likert scale questionnaires and written reflection papers, we have found that students are able to acknowledge and distinguish a multiplicity of perspectives regarding veiling and sexuality in Islam after they have been introduced to academic scholarship on the history of veiling, and after they have had multiple opportunities to engage in small and large group discussions on the topic.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue
Journal Issue
Additional Info:
Journal Issue
Table Of Content:
Contributors
Ch 1. Harnessing the Power of Storytelling in the Hindu Studies Classroom and Beyond (Raj Balkaran)
Ch 2. Teaching Stories about Teaching Self: Upaniṣadic Narrative in the Classroom (Steven E. Lindquist)
Ch 3. Innovative Narrative Strategies in Hinduism Textbooks (Hillary Rodrigues)
Ch 4. Teaching Tales: Mokashi’s “Religious” Narratives (Jeffrey M. Brackett)
Ch 5. The Dynamic Canon of the Purāṇas and the Ethnography of the Classroom (Elizabeth M. Rohlman)
Ch 6. Teaching Hindu Stories as Ways of Fashioning Selves and Framing Lives (Shana Sippy)
Ch 7. Narrative Pedagogy and Transmedia Balancing (Caleb Simmons)
Resources
Journal Issue
Table Of Content:
Contributors
Ch 1. Harnessing the Power of Storytelling in the Hindu Studies Classroom and Beyond (Raj Balkaran)
Ch 2. Teaching Stories about Teaching Self: Upaniṣadic Narrative in the Classroom (Steven E. Lindquist)
Ch 3. Innovative Narrative Strategies in Hinduism Textbooks (Hillary Rodrigues)
Ch 4. Teaching Tales: Mokashi’s “Religious” Narratives (Jeffrey M. Brackett)
Ch 5. The Dynamic Canon of the Purāṇas and the Ethnography of the Classroom (Elizabeth M. Rohlman)
Ch 6. Teaching Hindu Stories as Ways of Fashioning Selves and Framing Lives (Shana Sippy)
Ch 7. Narrative Pedagogy and Transmedia Balancing (Caleb Simmons)
Resources
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. In this issue of Spotlight, contributors suggest that the shift to online education involves a complex process of translation. Not unlike language translation, translation from traditional educational models to online environments requires a greater or lesser reconceptualization of education itself. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. In this issue of Spotlight, contributors suggest that the shift to online education involves a complex process of translation. Not unlike language translation, translation from traditional educational models to online environments requires a greater or lesser reconceptualization of education itself. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. In this issue of Spotlight, contributors suggest that the shift to online education involves a complex process of translation. Not unlike language translation, translation from traditional educational models to online environments requires a greater or lesser reconceptualization of education itself. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Translating Religion Courses to an Online Format: Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Rethinking Online Education (Sandie Gravett)
ch. 3 Introducing Religion to Cyberstudents (Erica Hurwitz Andrus)
ch. 4 Diversity in Online Education (Andrew T. Arroyo)
ch. 5 Hybrid or Blended Teaching Formats: What and Why (John T. Strong)
ch. 6 Dancing Online with Your Students (Marla J. Selvidge)
ch. 7 The Challenge of Online Education (John Baumann)
ch. 8 The Internet Is Not a Classroom: Online Education and the Challenges of Socialization (Annie Blazer, and Brandi Denison)
ch. 9 Navigating the Sea of Cyberspace (Justin Arft)
ch. 10 Translating Religion Courses to an Online Format: Suggested Resources
Journal Issue. In this issue of Spotlight, contributors suggest that the shift to online education involves a complex process of translation. Not unlike language translation, translation from traditional educational models to online environments requires a greater or lesser reconceptualization of education itself. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Translating Religion Courses to an Online Format: Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Rethinking Online Education (Sandie Gravett)
ch. 3 Introducing Religion to Cyberstudents (Erica Hurwitz Andrus)
ch. 4 Diversity in Online Education (Andrew T. Arroyo)
ch. 5 Hybrid or Blended Teaching Formats: What and Why (John T. Strong)
ch. 6 Dancing Online with Your Students (Marla J. Selvidge)
ch. 7 The Challenge of Online Education (John Baumann)
ch. 8 The Internet Is Not a Classroom: Online Education and the Challenges of Socialization (Annie Blazer, and Brandi Denison)
ch. 9 Navigating the Sea of Cyberspace (Justin Arft)
ch. 10 Translating Religion Courses to an Online Format: Suggested Resources

Can Communicative Principles Enhance Classical Language Acquisition?
Additional Info:
Is it feasible for nonfluent instructors to teach Biblical Hebrew by communicative principles? If it is feasible, will communicative instruction enhance postsecondary learning of a classical language? To begin answering these questions, two consultants representing second language acquisition (SLA) and technology-assisted language learning led 8 Biblical Hebrew instructors and a graduate assistant through a 3-year process involving study of SLA principles, development of Biblical Hebrew classroom manuals, training of teachers, and ...
Is it feasible for nonfluent instructors to teach Biblical Hebrew by communicative principles? If it is feasible, will communicative instruction enhance postsecondary learning of a classical language? To begin answering these questions, two consultants representing second language acquisition (SLA) and technology-assisted language learning led 8 Biblical Hebrew instructors and a graduate assistant through a 3-year process involving study of SLA principles, development of Biblical Hebrew classroom manuals, training of teachers, and ...
Additional Info:
Is it feasible for nonfluent instructors to teach Biblical Hebrew by communicative principles? If it is feasible, will communicative instruction enhance postsecondary learning of a classical language? To begin answering these questions, two consultants representing second language acquisition (SLA) and technology-assisted language learning led 8 Biblical Hebrew instructors and a graduate assistant through a 3-year process involving study of SLA principles, development of Biblical Hebrew classroom manuals, training of teachers, and field-testing of materials with more than 90 students in 7 institutions. More than two-thirds of the students and all instructors found the communicative approach both effective and preferable to grammar-translation and audiolingual methods customarily employed for learning classical languages.
Is it feasible for nonfluent instructors to teach Biblical Hebrew by communicative principles? If it is feasible, will communicative instruction enhance postsecondary learning of a classical language? To begin answering these questions, two consultants representing second language acquisition (SLA) and technology-assisted language learning led 8 Biblical Hebrew instructors and a graduate assistant through a 3-year process involving study of SLA principles, development of Biblical Hebrew classroom manuals, training of teachers, and field-testing of materials with more than 90 students in 7 institutions. More than two-thirds of the students and all instructors found the communicative approach both effective and preferable to grammar-translation and audiolingual methods customarily employed for learning classical languages.
Additional Info:
This article presents a particular teaching strategy that involves using food playfully in the classroom in order to change the mood, generate different forms of learning, and prod students to connect food and religion. I offer a rationale for teaching with food, then provide an application from a university course on Gnosticism. My goal is to encourage college and university teachers of religion to take food, and play, more seriously ...
This article presents a particular teaching strategy that involves using food playfully in the classroom in order to change the mood, generate different forms of learning, and prod students to connect food and religion. I offer a rationale for teaching with food, then provide an application from a university course on Gnosticism. My goal is to encourage college and university teachers of religion to take food, and play, more seriously ...
Additional Info:
This article presents a particular teaching strategy that involves using food playfully in the classroom in order to change the mood, generate different forms of learning, and prod students to connect food and religion. I offer a rationale for teaching with food, then provide an application from a university course on Gnosticism. My goal is to encourage college and university teachers of religion to take food, and play, more seriously in their teaching.
This article presents a particular teaching strategy that involves using food playfully in the classroom in order to change the mood, generate different forms of learning, and prod students to connect food and religion. I offer a rationale for teaching with food, then provide an application from a university course on Gnosticism. My goal is to encourage college and university teachers of religion to take food, and play, more seriously in their teaching.

Religion & Education Volume 39, no.3
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Religion, Education and Critical Thinking
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Misinterpreting the Spirit and Heart: Religious and Paradigmatic Tension in Ethnographic Research (Peter Magolda, Kelsey Ebben Gross)
ch. 2 Moderate Ultra-Orthodoxy: Complexity and Nuance in American Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Moshe Krakowski)
ch. 3 The Impact of Religious Studies Courses: Measuring Change in College Students' Attitudes (Bret Lewis)
ch. 4 Freedom to Hold or Not to Hold Group Beliefs: The Case of Religious Beliefs in French and Polish Public School Textbooks(Sebastien Urbanski)
ch. 5 Integrating Client Religious Beliefs in Counseling: Evolving Theory, Research, Education, and Practice (Jennifer R. Curry, Leila F. Roach)
Resource Review
ch. 6 Religious Diversity and Children's Literature: Strategies and Resources (Shabana Mir)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Religion, Education and Critical Thinking
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Misinterpreting the Spirit and Heart: Religious and Paradigmatic Tension in Ethnographic Research (Peter Magolda, Kelsey Ebben Gross)
ch. 2 Moderate Ultra-Orthodoxy: Complexity and Nuance in American Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Moshe Krakowski)
ch. 3 The Impact of Religious Studies Courses: Measuring Change in College Students' Attitudes (Bret Lewis)
ch. 4 Freedom to Hold or Not to Hold Group Beliefs: The Case of Religious Beliefs in French and Polish Public School Textbooks(Sebastien Urbanski)
ch. 5 Integrating Client Religious Beliefs in Counseling: Evolving Theory, Research, Education, and Practice (Jennifer R. Curry, Leila F. Roach)
Resource Review
ch. 6 Religious Diversity and Children's Literature: Strategies and Resources (Shabana Mir)

Interreligious Learning and Teaching: A Christian Rationale for a Transformative Praxis
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: There is still resistance in Christian institutions to interreligious dialogue. Many feel that such a practice weakens Christian faith, and promotes the idea that Christianity is merely one among many different religious options. When it comes to higher education, there is the fear that both college and seminary students will “lose ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: There is still resistance in Christian institutions to interreligious dialogue. Many feel that such a practice weakens Christian faith, and promotes the idea that Christianity is merely one among many different religious options. When it comes to higher education, there is the fear that both college and seminary students will “lose ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: There is still resistance in Christian institutions to interreligious dialogue. Many feel that such a practice weakens Christian faith, and promotes the idea that Christianity is merely one among many different religious options. When it comes to higher education, there is the fear that both college and seminary students will “lose their faith” if they are invited to study other religious traditions from a positive perspective.
Unfortunately, this attitude belies the current culture in which we live, which constantly exposes us to the beliefs and practices of others. Kristin Johnston Largen sees this setting as an opportunity and seeks to provide not only the theological grounding for such a position but also some practical advice on how both to teach and live out this conviction in a way that promotes greater understanding and respect for others and engenders a deeper appreciation of one’s own faith tradition.
Largen’s synopsis of interreligious education and suggested action includes contributions by Mary E. Hess and Christy Lohr Sapp. Hess and Sapp provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Largen’s proposed approach. As a group, Largen, Hess, and Sapp create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
ch. 1 Our Interreligious Life in the Twenty-First Century North American Context (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Chapter Praxis Points (Christy Lohr Sapp)
Praxis Point #1
Praxis Point #2
Praxis Point #3
Praxis Point #4
Praxis Point #5
Praxis Point #6
Chapter Response: What are Students’ Questions? (Mary Hess)
ch. 2 A Christian Rationale for Interreligious Teaching and Learning (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Chapter Praxis Points (Christy Lohr Sapp)
Praxis Point #7
Praxis Point #8
Praxis Point #9
Chapter Response: How Do We Understand Student Learning? (Mary Hess)
ch. 3 Outcomes, Strategies, and Assessment for Interreligious Teaching and Learning (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Chapter Praxis Points (Christy Lohr Sapp)
Praxis Point #10
Praxis Point #11
Praxis Point #12
Chapter Response: How Do Theological of the Pluralism of Faith Help? (Mary Hess)
Epilogue
Returning to the Questions with Which We Begin (Mary Hess)
Endings and Beginnings (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Works Cited
Photo Credits
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: There is still resistance in Christian institutions to interreligious dialogue. Many feel that such a practice weakens Christian faith, and promotes the idea that Christianity is merely one among many different religious options. When it comes to higher education, there is the fear that both college and seminary students will “lose their faith” if they are invited to study other religious traditions from a positive perspective.
Unfortunately, this attitude belies the current culture in which we live, which constantly exposes us to the beliefs and practices of others. Kristin Johnston Largen sees this setting as an opportunity and seeks to provide not only the theological grounding for such a position but also some practical advice on how both to teach and live out this conviction in a way that promotes greater understanding and respect for others and engenders a deeper appreciation of one’s own faith tradition.
Largen’s synopsis of interreligious education and suggested action includes contributions by Mary E. Hess and Christy Lohr Sapp. Hess and Sapp provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Largen’s proposed approach. As a group, Largen, Hess, and Sapp create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
ch. 1 Our Interreligious Life in the Twenty-First Century North American Context (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Chapter Praxis Points (Christy Lohr Sapp)
Praxis Point #1
Praxis Point #2
Praxis Point #3
Praxis Point #4
Praxis Point #5
Praxis Point #6
Chapter Response: What are Students’ Questions? (Mary Hess)
ch. 2 A Christian Rationale for Interreligious Teaching and Learning (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Chapter Praxis Points (Christy Lohr Sapp)
Praxis Point #7
Praxis Point #8
Praxis Point #9
Chapter Response: How Do We Understand Student Learning? (Mary Hess)
ch. 3 Outcomes, Strategies, and Assessment for Interreligious Teaching and Learning (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Chapter Praxis Points (Christy Lohr Sapp)
Praxis Point #10
Praxis Point #11
Praxis Point #12
Chapter Response: How Do Theological of the Pluralism of Faith Help? (Mary Hess)
Epilogue
Returning to the Questions with Which We Begin (Mary Hess)
Endings and Beginnings (Kristin Johnston Largen)
Works Cited
Photo Credits

Cases and Course Design
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Cases and Course Design (Robert L. Stivers)
ch. 2 Case Writing and Teaching in a Seminary: Reflecting on Ministry Experience (V. Sue Zabel)
ch. 3 Law and Order: Waco, Texas, 1993, Revisited (Leland E. Elhard)
ch. 4 Sopater's Body (David E. Frederickson)
ch. 5 Adult Learners, Feminist Practices, and the Use of Cases (Carol Allen)
ch. 6 A Study of Case Studies (Anne Reissner)
ch. 7 Case Studies and the Teaching of History (Garth M. Rosell)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Cases and Course Design (Robert L. Stivers)
ch. 2 Case Writing and Teaching in a Seminary: Reflecting on Ministry Experience (V. Sue Zabel)
ch. 3 Law and Order: Waco, Texas, 1993, Revisited (Leland E. Elhard)
ch. 4 Sopater's Body (David E. Frederickson)
ch. 5 Adult Learners, Feminist Practices, and the Use of Cases (Carol Allen)
ch. 6 A Study of Case Studies (Anne Reissner)
ch. 7 Case Studies and the Teaching of History (Garth M. Rosell)
Additional Info:
A case of community-based service learning in the School of Theology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is analyzed for what it means to teach biblical studies in an African context where biblical scholarship is partially constituted by ordinary African readers of the Bible and where context is a central pedagogical concept. Reflecting on a series of experiments over the past ten years in two second-year University level ...
A case of community-based service learning in the School of Theology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is analyzed for what it means to teach biblical studies in an African context where biblical scholarship is partially constituted by ordinary African readers of the Bible and where context is a central pedagogical concept. Reflecting on a series of experiments over the past ten years in two second-year University level ...
Additional Info:
A case of community-based service learning in the School of Theology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is analyzed for what it means to teach biblical studies in an African context where biblical scholarship is partially constituted by ordinary African readers of the Bible and where context is a central pedagogical concept. Reflecting on a series of experiments over the past ten years in two second-year University level modules, the article analyzes the contours of a partnership between the academy and local communities of the poor, working-class, and marginalized through community-based service learning. This partnership provides a form of contextualization that enables students to integrate the forms of engagement with the Bible they bring to their formal theological studies and the forms of critical distance that characterize the discipline of biblical studies.
A case of community-based service learning in the School of Theology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is analyzed for what it means to teach biblical studies in an African context where biblical scholarship is partially constituted by ordinary African readers of the Bible and where context is a central pedagogical concept. Reflecting on a series of experiments over the past ten years in two second-year University level modules, the article analyzes the contours of a partnership between the academy and local communities of the poor, working-class, and marginalized through community-based service learning. This partnership provides a form of contextualization that enables students to integrate the forms of engagement with the Bible they bring to their formal theological studies and the forms of critical distance that characterize the discipline of biblical studies.

Insider, Outsider and Gender Identities in the Religion Classroom
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Insider, Outsider, and Gender Identities in the Religion Classroom (Laurie L. Patton) ch. 2 Crossovers and Cross-ups: A Cautionary (NancyFalk)
ch. 3 Mindfield or Mindfield: Teaching Religion in a Multicultural Classroom (Zayn R. Kassam)
ch. 4 Taking Myself Seriously: Transformation of a Working Pedagogical Model (Marcia Y. Riggs)
ch. 5 Spotlight on Teaching: Insider/Outsider (Francisca Cho)
ch. 6 Holy Shock at Sacred Cities: "Rocks Are not my Problem" "Why aren't Women Allowed to make the Pilgrimage to Mecca?" (Kimberly Patton)
ch. 7 Teaching Critical Theory (Miriam Peskowitz)
Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Insider, Outsider, and Gender Identities in the Religion Classroom (Laurie L. Patton) ch. 2 Crossovers and Cross-ups: A Cautionary (NancyFalk)
ch. 3 Mindfield or Mindfield: Teaching Religion in a Multicultural Classroom (Zayn R. Kassam)
ch. 4 Taking Myself Seriously: Transformation of a Working Pedagogical Model (Marcia Y. Riggs)
ch. 5 Spotlight on Teaching: Insider/Outsider (Francisca Cho)
ch. 6 Holy Shock at Sacred Cities: "Rocks Are not my Problem" "Why aren't Women Allowed to make the Pilgrimage to Mecca?" (Kimberly Patton)
ch. 7 Teaching Critical Theory (Miriam Peskowitz)
Additional Info:
An entire special issue of “Teaching Theology and Religion” on the topic of addressing sexuality in the classroom (in both undergraduate and theological education contexts).
An entire special issue of “Teaching Theology and Religion” on the topic of addressing sexuality in the classroom (in both undergraduate and theological education contexts).
Additional Info:
An entire special issue of “Teaching Theology and Religion” on the topic of addressing sexuality in the classroom (in both undergraduate and theological education contexts).
Table Of Content:
Ch 1. Embodied Learning: Teaching Sexuality and Religion to a Changing Student Body (Kate Ott, Darryl W. Stephens)
Ch 2. Inviting Perspective Transformation: Sexual History Awareness for Professional Formation (Kate Ott)
Ch 3. Case Method Strategies for Teaching Sexual Ethics to Relativists and Skeptics (Edward Vacek)
Ch 4. Trigger Warnings, Covenants of Presence and More: Cultivating Safe Space for Theological Discussions about Sexual Trauma (Stephanie M. Crumpton)
Ch 5. Sexual and Religious Autobiography (Kent L. Brintnall)
Ch 6. Safely Discussing What Cannot Be Said Out Loud (Patricia Beattle Jung)
Ch 7. Beginning with Social Context: Human Sexuality and the Bible (Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre)
Ch 8. Actively Listening to Testimonies about Rape Culture and Religion (Traci C. West)
Ch 9. Getting a Sense of the Room When Discussing Sexuality (Darryl W. Stephens)
Ch 10. Teaching about Sexuality and Veiling in Islam (Amy Defibaugh, Brett Krutzsch)
Ch 11. Civic Learning and Teaching as a Resource for Sexual Justice: An Undergraduate Religious Studies Course Module (Elisabeth T. Vasko)
Ch 12. A Response to Elisabeth T. Vasko: The Risk and Reward of Teaching About Sexual Assault for the Theologian on a Catholic Campus (Donna Freitas)
Ch 13. Teaching Sexuality and Christianity for Perspective Transformation: Suggested Resources and Strategies (Katia Moles)
Ch 14. Teaching about Teaching Sexuality and Religion (Daryl W. Stephens)
An entire special issue of “Teaching Theology and Religion” on the topic of addressing sexuality in the classroom (in both undergraduate and theological education contexts).
Table Of Content:
Ch 1. Embodied Learning: Teaching Sexuality and Religion to a Changing Student Body (Kate Ott, Darryl W. Stephens)
Ch 2. Inviting Perspective Transformation: Sexual History Awareness for Professional Formation (Kate Ott)
Ch 3. Case Method Strategies for Teaching Sexual Ethics to Relativists and Skeptics (Edward Vacek)
Ch 4. Trigger Warnings, Covenants of Presence and More: Cultivating Safe Space for Theological Discussions about Sexual Trauma (Stephanie M. Crumpton)
Ch 5. Sexual and Religious Autobiography (Kent L. Brintnall)
Ch 6. Safely Discussing What Cannot Be Said Out Loud (Patricia Beattle Jung)
Ch 7. Beginning with Social Context: Human Sexuality and the Bible (Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre)
Ch 8. Actively Listening to Testimonies about Rape Culture and Religion (Traci C. West)
Ch 9. Getting a Sense of the Room When Discussing Sexuality (Darryl W. Stephens)
Ch 10. Teaching about Sexuality and Veiling in Islam (Amy Defibaugh, Brett Krutzsch)
Ch 11. Civic Learning and Teaching as a Resource for Sexual Justice: An Undergraduate Religious Studies Course Module (Elisabeth T. Vasko)
Ch 12. A Response to Elisabeth T. Vasko: The Risk and Reward of Teaching About Sexual Assault for the Theologian on a Catholic Campus (Donna Freitas)
Ch 13. Teaching Sexuality and Christianity for Perspective Transformation: Suggested Resources and Strategies (Katia Moles)
Ch 14. Teaching about Teaching Sexuality and Religion (Daryl W. Stephens)

Courses and Canons in the Study of Religion (With Continual Reference to Jonathan Z. Smith)
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It is a commonplace that scholarship and teaching inform one another. Minimally, this means that the materials of research guide the formation of a syllabus. In courses that are introductory, however, teachers are called to reflect on the foundations of their scholarship. In this task, teaching serves to unsettle and provoke research, not only in the decision of what books to teach, but also in the course's argument. I propose ...
It is a commonplace that scholarship and teaching inform one another. Minimally, this means that the materials of research guide the formation of a syllabus. In courses that are introductory, however, teachers are called to reflect on the foundations of their scholarship. In this task, teaching serves to unsettle and provoke research, not only in the decision of what books to teach, but also in the course's argument. I propose ...
Additional Info:
It is a commonplace that scholarship and teaching inform one another. Minimally, this means that the materials of research guide the formation of a syllabus. In courses that are introductory, however, teachers are called to reflect on the foundations of their scholarship. In this task, teaching serves to unsettle and provoke research, not only in the decision of what books to teach, but also in the course's argument. I propose that this argument be directed not toward a field in some ideal shape but toward the more elementary concepts of course, canon, and introduction themselves, since teaching an introductory course is perforce to consider the very nature of introduction. The three concepts of introduction, canon, and course are integral to thinking across the arts and sciences, nowhere more so than in the study of religion, where the work of Jonathan Z. Smith has tunneled, if only partially, into their paradoxes.
It is a commonplace that scholarship and teaching inform one another. Minimally, this means that the materials of research guide the formation of a syllabus. In courses that are introductory, however, teachers are called to reflect on the foundations of their scholarship. In this task, teaching serves to unsettle and provoke research, not only in the decision of what books to teach, but also in the course's argument. I propose that this argument be directed not toward a field in some ideal shape but toward the more elementary concepts of course, canon, and introduction themselves, since teaching an introductory course is perforce to consider the very nature of introduction. The three concepts of introduction, canon, and course are integral to thinking across the arts and sciences, nowhere more so than in the study of religion, where the work of Jonathan Z. Smith has tunneled, if only partially, into their paradoxes.
Additional Info:
Southern fiction writer Flannery O'Connor once characterized the South as Christ-haunted, and having taught in the South for eight years now, I have come to appreciate O'Connor's evaluation. Most of the students I encounter understand one predominant way to practice Christian faith: assent to propositional theology. Most of them either accept this view uncritically or reject Christian thought completely, seeing it as stifling. My goal is to introduce the diversity ...
Southern fiction writer Flannery O'Connor once characterized the South as Christ-haunted, and having taught in the South for eight years now, I have come to appreciate O'Connor's evaluation. Most of the students I encounter understand one predominant way to practice Christian faith: assent to propositional theology. Most of them either accept this view uncritically or reject Christian thought completely, seeing it as stifling. My goal is to introduce the diversity ...
Additional Info:
Southern fiction writer Flannery O'Connor once characterized the South as Christ-haunted, and having taught in the South for eight years now, I have come to appreciate O'Connor's evaluation. Most of the students I encounter understand one predominant way to practice Christian faith: assent to propositional theology. Most of them either accept this view uncritically or reject Christian thought completely, seeing it as stifling. My goal is to introduce the diversity of Christian thought in a non-threatening way. Knowing story's potential to draw people into community as well as to transform consciousness, I believe story offers a less threatening way to invite students to explore diversity. This paper describes a course titled "Christian Thought and Contemporary Short Fiction," a course I developed to try to introduce students to a variety of ways to understand Christian thought and practice Christian faith. The paper describes development and facilitation of the course, including student responses to the course content and evaluation of the course.
Southern fiction writer Flannery O'Connor once characterized the South as Christ-haunted, and having taught in the South for eight years now, I have come to appreciate O'Connor's evaluation. Most of the students I encounter understand one predominant way to practice Christian faith: assent to propositional theology. Most of them either accept this view uncritically or reject Christian thought completely, seeing it as stifling. My goal is to introduce the diversity of Christian thought in a non-threatening way. Knowing story's potential to draw people into community as well as to transform consciousness, I believe story offers a less threatening way to invite students to explore diversity. This paper describes a course titled "Christian Thought and Contemporary Short Fiction," a course I developed to try to introduce students to a variety of ways to understand Christian thought and practice Christian faith. The paper describes development and facilitation of the course, including student responses to the course content and evaluation of the course.

Religion & Education Volume 42, no.3
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 (Mis) Understanding Islam in a Suburban Texas School District (Miriam D. Ezzani and Melanie C. Brooks)
ch. 2 Uncovered: Two Generations of African American Muslim Parents Speak Out About Education (Aisha El-Amin)
ch. 3 Religious Beliefs, Knowledge, and Teaching Actions: Elementary Teacher Candidates and World Religions (Derek Anderson, Holly Mathys and Tanya Cook)
ch. 4 When the Children Asked to Study God, What Did the Parents Say: Building Family Engagement Around Sensitive Topics (Mona M. Abo-Zena and Ben Mardell)
ch. 5 Exploratory Study of Professional and Personal Beliefs of Early Childhood Teachers in Public Schools: Their Perceptions of Religiousness and Teaching Efficacy (Shin Ji Kang)
ch. 6 Curricular Documents and the Positioning of Teachers and Students in Catholic Schools: The Cult of Personality (Kevin J. Burke)
ch. 7 Supporting Minority Belonging: Finnish Minority RE Teacher Perspectives on the Significance of RE (Harriet Zilliacus and Arto Kallioniemi)
ch. 8 “If It Feels Good…”: Research on School Selection Process Motives Among Parents of Young Children (Ina ter Avest, Gerdien Bertram-Troost and Siebren Miedema)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 (Mis) Understanding Islam in a Suburban Texas School District (Miriam D. Ezzani and Melanie C. Brooks)
ch. 2 Uncovered: Two Generations of African American Muslim Parents Speak Out About Education (Aisha El-Amin)
ch. 3 Religious Beliefs, Knowledge, and Teaching Actions: Elementary Teacher Candidates and World Religions (Derek Anderson, Holly Mathys and Tanya Cook)
ch. 4 When the Children Asked to Study God, What Did the Parents Say: Building Family Engagement Around Sensitive Topics (Mona M. Abo-Zena and Ben Mardell)
ch. 5 Exploratory Study of Professional and Personal Beliefs of Early Childhood Teachers in Public Schools: Their Perceptions of Religiousness and Teaching Efficacy (Shin Ji Kang)
ch. 6 Curricular Documents and the Positioning of Teachers and Students in Catholic Schools: The Cult of Personality (Kevin J. Burke)
ch. 7 Supporting Minority Belonging: Finnish Minority RE Teacher Perspectives on the Significance of RE (Harriet Zilliacus and Arto Kallioniemi)
ch. 8 “If It Feels Good…”: Research on School Selection Process Motives Among Parents of Young Children (Ina ter Avest, Gerdien Bertram-Troost and Siebren Miedema)
Additional Info:
This paper explores the use of Peter Berger's theory of religion and its features of alienation and dealienation to lead students to the critical awareness of the role that human beings play in the construction of social worlds, including most especially our religious worlds. After summarizing Berger's theory of the alienating and potentially dealienating capacity of religion, the paper describes how the author used the study of certain biblical texts, ...
This paper explores the use of Peter Berger's theory of religion and its features of alienation and dealienation to lead students to the critical awareness of the role that human beings play in the construction of social worlds, including most especially our religious worlds. After summarizing Berger's theory of the alienating and potentially dealienating capacity of religion, the paper describes how the author used the study of certain biblical texts, ...
Additional Info:
This paper explores the use of Peter Berger's theory of religion and its features of alienation and dealienation to lead students to the critical awareness of the role that human beings play in the construction of social worlds, including most especially our religious worlds. After summarizing Berger's theory of the alienating and potentially dealienating capacity of religion, the paper describes how the author used the study of certain biblical texts, the Wisdom of Solomon and the pericope of the controversy over clean and unclean foods, as presented in both Matthew and Mark, to explore both the alienating and dealienating aspects of religion as presented in these selected biblical texts. The paper also describes how the author encouraged students to embrace as the most responsible stance a dealienating stance toward religion, especially one's own.
This paper explores the use of Peter Berger's theory of religion and its features of alienation and dealienation to lead students to the critical awareness of the role that human beings play in the construction of social worlds, including most especially our religious worlds. After summarizing Berger's theory of the alienating and potentially dealienating capacity of religion, the paper describes how the author used the study of certain biblical texts, the Wisdom of Solomon and the pericope of the controversy over clean and unclean foods, as presented in both Matthew and Mark, to explore both the alienating and dealienating aspects of religion as presented in these selected biblical texts. The paper also describes how the author encouraged students to embrace as the most responsible stance a dealienating stance toward religion, especially one's own.


Teaching the Bible in the Liberal Arts Classroom
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Teaching biblical studies in the undergraduate liberal arts classroom poses many challenges. Do biblical studies deserve a place at a secular liberal arts college? In church-affiliated colleges, should courses in Bible toe the denominational line? Can we claim that biblical studies advance the goals of liberal education, whatever we might think they are?
On a more practical level, how can an instructor engage the attention of students who ...
Teaching biblical studies in the undergraduate liberal arts classroom poses many challenges. Do biblical studies deserve a place at a secular liberal arts college? In church-affiliated colleges, should courses in Bible toe the denominational line? Can we claim that biblical studies advance the goals of liberal education, whatever we might think they are?
On a more practical level, how can an instructor engage the attention of students who ...
Additional Info:
Teaching biblical studies in the undergraduate liberal arts classroom poses many challenges. Do biblical studies deserve a place at a secular liberal arts college? In church-affiliated colleges, should courses in Bible toe the denominational line? Can we claim that biblical studies advance the goals of liberal education, whatever we might think they are?
On a more practical level, how can an instructor engage the attention of students who are taking a course in biblical studies only to fulfill a requirement? How best to begin with students from non-religious backgrounds who begin a course with no real knowledge of the Bible at all? How best to deal with students who already think they know what the Bible is all about, and resist any ideas or approaches that might threaten their ideas?
This collection of pedagogical essays reflects the practical experience of instructors who have spent years teaching biblical studies successfully to undergraduates at liberal arts colleges. The essays address both methodological approaches and specific classroom strategies for teaching biblical studies effectively in a way that advances the skills of thinking and expression that are essential to a liberal arts education. The product of several years of conversation among working professors from an array of liberal arts colleges, these essays offer insights and inspiration for biblical studies instructors who work in a very specific and demanding academic environment. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part I: Biblical Studies In The Liberal Arts
ch. 1 A Forensic Rationale for Biblical Studies in American Liberal Education (Matthew C. Baldwin)
ch. 2 Occupy Academic Bible Teaching (Susanne Scholz)
ch. 3 Challenges to Teaching Biblical Literature as a General Education Requirement (Stan Harstine and Phillip Wisely)
ch. 4 ‘Not as the Scribes’: Teaching Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts Curriculum (Glenn S. Holland)
ch. 5 What Do Athens and Jerusalem Have to Do with Sioux Falls? (Murray Joseph Haar and Anna Madesen)
ch. 6 Teaching the Bible in a Secular School (Christian Brady)
ch. 7 Engaging Diverse Students in a Required Biblical Studies Course (Margaret P. Cowan)
ch. 8 Arts Integration and Service-Learning in Introduction to Biblical Literature (Sharon Betsworth)
ch. 9 The Role of the Upper-Level Biblical Studies Seminar (Benjamin White)
Part II: Pedagogical Theory and Biblical Studies
ch. 10 Teaching the Material and Teaching the Students (Shane Kirkpatrick
ch. 11 Service-Learning in Undergraduate Biblical Studies Courses (Janet S. Everhart)
ch. 12 The Reality of Multiple Voices in Biblical Religion (J. Bradley Chance)
ch. 13 Collaborative Learning and the Pedagogy of the Bible (Alison Schofield)
ch. 14 Shifting Contexts and Goals for Introducing the Bible (Bryan D. Bibb)
Part III: Case Studies
ch. 15 Bible-Trek, Next Generation: Adapting a Bible Survey Course for a New Audience (Jonathan David Lawrence)
ch. 16 Dildos and Dismemberment: Reading Difficult Biblical Texts Classroom (Janet Everhart)
ch. 17 Reading Textual Violence as ‘Real’ Violence (Amy C. Cottrill)
ch. 18 Engaging Students Online: Using Wiki Technology (Carl Toney)
ch. 19 What’s the Harm in Harmonization? Using Jesus Films (Margaret E. Ramey)
ch. 20 Teaching with Meta-questions (Jane S. Webster)
ch. 21 Course Design and the Use of Meta-Questions (Russell Arnold)
ch. 22 Biblical Studies and Metacognitive Reading Skills (Rodney K. Duke)
ch. 23 Teaching Revelation to the Left Behind Generation (Susan E. Hylen)
Teaching biblical studies in the undergraduate liberal arts classroom poses many challenges. Do biblical studies deserve a place at a secular liberal arts college? In church-affiliated colleges, should courses in Bible toe the denominational line? Can we claim that biblical studies advance the goals of liberal education, whatever we might think they are?
On a more practical level, how can an instructor engage the attention of students who are taking a course in biblical studies only to fulfill a requirement? How best to begin with students from non-religious backgrounds who begin a course with no real knowledge of the Bible at all? How best to deal with students who already think they know what the Bible is all about, and resist any ideas or approaches that might threaten their ideas?
This collection of pedagogical essays reflects the practical experience of instructors who have spent years teaching biblical studies successfully to undergraduates at liberal arts colleges. The essays address both methodological approaches and specific classroom strategies for teaching biblical studies effectively in a way that advances the skills of thinking and expression that are essential to a liberal arts education. The product of several years of conversation among working professors from an array of liberal arts colleges, these essays offer insights and inspiration for biblical studies instructors who work in a very specific and demanding academic environment. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part I: Biblical Studies In The Liberal Arts
ch. 1 A Forensic Rationale for Biblical Studies in American Liberal Education (Matthew C. Baldwin)
ch. 2 Occupy Academic Bible Teaching (Susanne Scholz)
ch. 3 Challenges to Teaching Biblical Literature as a General Education Requirement (Stan Harstine and Phillip Wisely)
ch. 4 ‘Not as the Scribes’: Teaching Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts Curriculum (Glenn S. Holland)
ch. 5 What Do Athens and Jerusalem Have to Do with Sioux Falls? (Murray Joseph Haar and Anna Madesen)
ch. 6 Teaching the Bible in a Secular School (Christian Brady)
ch. 7 Engaging Diverse Students in a Required Biblical Studies Course (Margaret P. Cowan)
ch. 8 Arts Integration and Service-Learning in Introduction to Biblical Literature (Sharon Betsworth)
ch. 9 The Role of the Upper-Level Biblical Studies Seminar (Benjamin White)
Part II: Pedagogical Theory and Biblical Studies
ch. 10 Teaching the Material and Teaching the Students (Shane Kirkpatrick
ch. 11 Service-Learning in Undergraduate Biblical Studies Courses (Janet S. Everhart)
ch. 12 The Reality of Multiple Voices in Biblical Religion (J. Bradley Chance)
ch. 13 Collaborative Learning and the Pedagogy of the Bible (Alison Schofield)
ch. 14 Shifting Contexts and Goals for Introducing the Bible (Bryan D. Bibb)
Part III: Case Studies
ch. 15 Bible-Trek, Next Generation: Adapting a Bible Survey Course for a New Audience (Jonathan David Lawrence)
ch. 16 Dildos and Dismemberment: Reading Difficult Biblical Texts Classroom (Janet Everhart)
ch. 17 Reading Textual Violence as ‘Real’ Violence (Amy C. Cottrill)
ch. 18 Engaging Students Online: Using Wiki Technology (Carl Toney)
ch. 19 What’s the Harm in Harmonization? Using Jesus Films (Margaret E. Ramey)
ch. 20 Teaching with Meta-questions (Jane S. Webster)
ch. 21 Course Design and the Use of Meta-Questions (Russell Arnold)
ch. 22 Biblical Studies and Metacognitive Reading Skills (Rodney K. Duke)
ch. 23 Teaching Revelation to the Left Behind Generation (Susan E. Hylen)
Additional Info:
A project team developing resources for teaching Biblical languages using methods borrowed from the field of Second Language Acquisition used for modern languages.
A project team developing resources for teaching Biblical languages using methods borrowed from the field of Second Language Acquisition used for modern languages.
Additional Info:
A project team developing resources for teaching Biblical languages using methods borrowed from the field of Second Language Acquisition used for modern languages.
A project team developing resources for teaching Biblical languages using methods borrowed from the field of Second Language Acquisition used for modern languages.
Additional Info:
Journal issue. Full text is available online.
Journal issue. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies: Pedagogical Challenges and Strategies (Bernadette McNary-Zak and Rebecca Todd Peters)
ch. 2 Learning Contracts in Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies (Lynn R. Huber)
ch. 3 Close Reading for Undergraduate Research (Carolyn Jones Medine)
ch. 4 Journal Writing for Undergraduate Research (Jeffrey Brackett)
ch. 5 Transferring Undergraduate Research Pedagogies to the Classroom (John R. Lanci)
ch. 6 Undergraduate Research as Collaborative Pedagogy and Research (Paul O. Myhre, and Brandon Cornett)
ch. 7 Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies: References and Resources
Journal issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies: Pedagogical Challenges and Strategies (Bernadette McNary-Zak and Rebecca Todd Peters)
ch. 2 Learning Contracts in Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies (Lynn R. Huber)
ch. 3 Close Reading for Undergraduate Research (Carolyn Jones Medine)
ch. 4 Journal Writing for Undergraduate Research (Jeffrey Brackett)
ch. 5 Transferring Undergraduate Research Pedagogies to the Classroom (John R. Lanci)
ch. 6 Undergraduate Research as Collaborative Pedagogy and Research (Paul O. Myhre, and Brandon Cornett)
ch. 7 Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies: References and Resources
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Background and Overview (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Engaged Pedagogy and Civic Engagement (Swasti Bhattacharyya)
ch. 3 Site Visits and Civic Engagement (Marianne Delaporte, and Hans Wiersma)
ch. 4 Civic Engagement and International Service-Learning (Philip Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 5 Civic Engagement and Civic Spaces (Rebekka King)
ch. 6 Reflections on Engaged Civic Learning and Teaching (Bobbi Patterson)
ch. 7 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Suggested Resources
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Background and Overview (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Engaged Pedagogy and Civic Engagement (Swasti Bhattacharyya)
ch. 3 Site Visits and Civic Engagement (Marianne Delaporte, and Hans Wiersma)
ch. 4 Civic Engagement and International Service-Learning (Philip Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 5 Civic Engagement and Civic Spaces (Rebekka King)
ch. 6 Reflections on Engaged Civic Learning and Teaching (Bobbi Patterson)
ch. 7 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Suggested Resources
Additional Info:
University teaching and learning take place within ever more specialized disciplinary settings, each characterized by its unique traditions, concepts, practices and procedures. It is now widely recognized that support for teaching and learning needs to take this discipline-specificity into account. However, in a world characterized by rapid change, complexity and uncertainty, problems do not present themselves as distinct subjects but increasingly within trans-disciplinary contexts calling for graduate outcomes that go ...
University teaching and learning take place within ever more specialized disciplinary settings, each characterized by its unique traditions, concepts, practices and procedures. It is now widely recognized that support for teaching and learning needs to take this discipline-specificity into account. However, in a world characterized by rapid change, complexity and uncertainty, problems do not present themselves as distinct subjects but increasingly within trans-disciplinary contexts calling for graduate outcomes that go ...
Additional Info:
University teaching and learning take place within ever more specialized disciplinary settings, each characterized by its unique traditions, concepts, practices and procedures. It is now widely recognized that support for teaching and learning needs to take this discipline-specificity into account. However, in a world characterized by rapid change, complexity and uncertainty, problems do not present themselves as distinct subjects but increasingly within trans-disciplinary contexts calling for graduate outcomes that go beyond specialized knowledge and skills. This ground-breaking book highlights the important interplay between context-specific and context-transcendent aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. It explores critical questions, such as:
What are the ‘ways of thinking and practicing’ characteristic of particular disciplines? How can students be supported in becoming participants of particular disciplinary discourse communities?
Can the diversity in teaching, learning and assessment practices that we observe across departments be attributed exclusively to disciplinary structure?
To what extent do the disciplines prepare students for the complexities and uncertainties that characterize their later professional, civic and personal lives?
Written for university teachers, educational developers as well as new and experienced researchers of Higher Education, this highly-anticipated first edition offers innovative perspectives from leading Canadian, US and UK scholars on how academic learning within particular disciplines can help students acquire the skills, abilities and dispositions they need to succeed academically and also post graduation.
Carolin Kreber is Professor of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and the Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment at the University of Edinburgh (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Figures and tables
Contributors
Forword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Introduction - Setting The Context
ch. 1 Supporting Student Learning in the Context of Diversity, Complexity and Uncertanity
ch. 2 The Modern Research University and its Disciplines: The Interplay between Contextual and Context-transcendent Influences on Teaching
Part II: Disciplines and Their Epistemological Structure
ch. 3 (research-based) The Commons: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Encounters
ch. 4 (reactive) Academic Disciplines: Homes or Barricades?
ch. 5 (reactive) Hard and Soft - A Useful Way of Thinking about Disciplines? Reflections from Engineering Education on Disciplinary Identities
Part III: Ways of Thinking and Practicing
ch. 6 (researched-based) Ways of Thinking and Practicing in Biology and History: Disciplinary Aspects of Teaching and Learning Environments
ch. 7 (reactive) Exploring Disciplinary in Academic Development: Do Ways of Thinking and Practicing Help Faculty to Think about Learning and Teaching?
ch. 8 (reactive) Opening History's Black Boxes: Decoding the Disciplinary Unconscious of Historians
Part IV: Exploring Disciplinary Teaching and Learning From a Socio-Cultural Perspective
ch. 9 (research-based) Guiding Students into a Discipline: The Significance of the Teacher
ch. 10 (reactive) Diverse Student Voices within Disciplinary Discourses
ch. 11 (reactive) Guiding Students into a Discipline: The Significance of the Student's View
Part V: Learning Partnerships In Disciplinary Learning
ch. 12 (research-based) Educating Students for Self-Authorship: Learning Partnerships to Achieve Complex Outcomes
ch. 13 (reactive) Supporting Student Development In and Beyond the Disciplines: The Role of the Curriculum
ch. 14 (reactive) Constraints to Implementing Learning Partnership Models and Self-Authorship in the Arts and Humanities
Part VI: Disciplines And Their Interactions With Teaching And Learning Regimes
ch. 15 (research-based) Beyond Epistemological Essentialism: Academic Tribes in the Twenty-First Century
ch. 16 (reactive) Exploring Teaching and Learning Regimes in Higher Education Settings
ch. 17 (reactive) Teaching and Learning Regimes from Within: Significant Networks as a Locus for the Social Construction of Teaching and Learning
Part VII: General Observations On Previous Themes
ch. 18 Assessment for Career and Citizenship
ch. 19 Teaching Within and Beyond the Disciplines: The Challenge for Faculty
Index
University teaching and learning take place within ever more specialized disciplinary settings, each characterized by its unique traditions, concepts, practices and procedures. It is now widely recognized that support for teaching and learning needs to take this discipline-specificity into account. However, in a world characterized by rapid change, complexity and uncertainty, problems do not present themselves as distinct subjects but increasingly within trans-disciplinary contexts calling for graduate outcomes that go beyond specialized knowledge and skills. This ground-breaking book highlights the important interplay between context-specific and context-transcendent aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. It explores critical questions, such as:
What are the ‘ways of thinking and practicing’ characteristic of particular disciplines? How can students be supported in becoming participants of particular disciplinary discourse communities?
Can the diversity in teaching, learning and assessment practices that we observe across departments be attributed exclusively to disciplinary structure?
To what extent do the disciplines prepare students for the complexities and uncertainties that characterize their later professional, civic and personal lives?
Written for university teachers, educational developers as well as new and experienced researchers of Higher Education, this highly-anticipated first edition offers innovative perspectives from leading Canadian, US and UK scholars on how academic learning within particular disciplines can help students acquire the skills, abilities and dispositions they need to succeed academically and also post graduation.
Carolin Kreber is Professor of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and the Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment at the University of Edinburgh (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Figures and tables
Contributors
Forword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Introduction - Setting The Context
ch. 1 Supporting Student Learning in the Context of Diversity, Complexity and Uncertanity
ch. 2 The Modern Research University and its Disciplines: The Interplay between Contextual and Context-transcendent Influences on Teaching
Part II: Disciplines and Their Epistemological Structure
ch. 3 (research-based) The Commons: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Encounters
ch. 4 (reactive) Academic Disciplines: Homes or Barricades?
ch. 5 (reactive) Hard and Soft - A Useful Way of Thinking about Disciplines? Reflections from Engineering Education on Disciplinary Identities
Part III: Ways of Thinking and Practicing
ch. 6 (researched-based) Ways of Thinking and Practicing in Biology and History: Disciplinary Aspects of Teaching and Learning Environments
ch. 7 (reactive) Exploring Disciplinary in Academic Development: Do Ways of Thinking and Practicing Help Faculty to Think about Learning and Teaching?
ch. 8 (reactive) Opening History's Black Boxes: Decoding the Disciplinary Unconscious of Historians
Part IV: Exploring Disciplinary Teaching and Learning From a Socio-Cultural Perspective
ch. 9 (research-based) Guiding Students into a Discipline: The Significance of the Teacher
ch. 10 (reactive) Diverse Student Voices within Disciplinary Discourses
ch. 11 (reactive) Guiding Students into a Discipline: The Significance of the Student's View
Part V: Learning Partnerships In Disciplinary Learning
ch. 12 (research-based) Educating Students for Self-Authorship: Learning Partnerships to Achieve Complex Outcomes
ch. 13 (reactive) Supporting Student Development In and Beyond the Disciplines: The Role of the Curriculum
ch. 14 (reactive) Constraints to Implementing Learning Partnership Models and Self-Authorship in the Arts and Humanities
Part VI: Disciplines And Their Interactions With Teaching And Learning Regimes
ch. 15 (research-based) Beyond Epistemological Essentialism: Academic Tribes in the Twenty-First Century
ch. 16 (reactive) Exploring Teaching and Learning Regimes in Higher Education Settings
ch. 17 (reactive) Teaching and Learning Regimes from Within: Significant Networks as a Locus for the Social Construction of Teaching and Learning
Part VII: General Observations On Previous Themes
ch. 18 Assessment for Career and Citizenship
ch. 19 Teaching Within and Beyond the Disciplines: The Challenge for Faculty
Index
Additional Info:
This article explores assignments as a core teaching practice essential to integrating the cognitive, personal, and professional identities of seminary students. These core practices emerge in seminary curricula where there is a strong focus on the teaching of canonical texts and a goal of achieving textual mastery. We propose that carefully chosen and constructive assignments achieve the kind of integration necessary for building content knowledge and the professional, spiritual, and ...
This article explores assignments as a core teaching practice essential to integrating the cognitive, personal, and professional identities of seminary students. These core practices emerge in seminary curricula where there is a strong focus on the teaching of canonical texts and a goal of achieving textual mastery. We propose that carefully chosen and constructive assignments achieve the kind of integration necessary for building content knowledge and the professional, spiritual, and ...
Additional Info:
This article explores assignments as a core teaching practice essential to integrating the cognitive, personal, and professional identities of seminary students. These core practices emerge in seminary curricula where there is a strong focus on the teaching of canonical texts and a goal of achieving textual mastery. We propose that carefully chosen and constructive assignments achieve the kind of integration necessary for building content knowledge and the professional, spiritual, and religious identities of our students. While the difference between the educational goals of clergy-training in a seminary and training graduate students in the academy can be sharp, we argue here for ways to make that contrast both productive and generative.
This article explores assignments as a core teaching practice essential to integrating the cognitive, personal, and professional identities of seminary students. These core practices emerge in seminary curricula where there is a strong focus on the teaching of canonical texts and a goal of achieving textual mastery. We propose that carefully chosen and constructive assignments achieve the kind of integration necessary for building content knowledge and the professional, spiritual, and religious identities of our students. While the difference between the educational goals of clergy-training in a seminary and training graduate students in the academy can be sharp, we argue here for ways to make that contrast both productive and generative.

Religious and Theological Studies in American Higher Education: A Pilot Study
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Finding ways to reduce students' anxiety and maximize the value of learning Greek and Hebrew is a continual challenge for biblical language teachers. Some language teachers use technology tools such as web sites or CDs with audio lessons to improve the experience. Though these tools are helpful, this paper explores the value gained from understanding first how students learn and then how technology tools best support that learning. Developments in ...
Finding ways to reduce students' anxiety and maximize the value of learning Greek and Hebrew is a continual challenge for biblical language teachers. Some language teachers use technology tools such as web sites or CDs with audio lessons to improve the experience. Though these tools are helpful, this paper explores the value gained from understanding first how students learn and then how technology tools best support that learning. Developments in ...
Additional Info:
Finding ways to reduce students' anxiety and maximize the value of learning Greek and Hebrew is a continual challenge for biblical language teachers. Some language teachers use technology tools such as web sites or CDs with audio lessons to improve the experience. Though these tools are helpful, this paper explores the value gained from understanding first how students learn and then how technology tools best support that learning. Developments in cognitive psychology and neuroscience offer many insights concerning adult learning and retention. After a presentation of key insights, several ideas are suggested for enhancing the learning and retention experience of biblical language students.
Finding ways to reduce students' anxiety and maximize the value of learning Greek and Hebrew is a continual challenge for biblical language teachers. Some language teachers use technology tools such as web sites or CDs with audio lessons to improve the experience. Though these tools are helpful, this paper explores the value gained from understanding first how students learn and then how technology tools best support that learning. Developments in cognitive psychology and neuroscience offer many insights concerning adult learning and retention. After a presentation of key insights, several ideas are suggested for enhancing the learning and retention experience of biblical language students.
Additional Info:
In its creative integration of the disciplines of writing, rhetoric, and theology, Writing Theology Well provides a standard text for theological educators engaged in the teaching and mentoring of writing across the theological curriculum. As a theological rhetoric, it will also encourage excellence in theological writing in the public domain by helping to equip students for their wider vocations as writers, preachers, and communicators in a variety of ministerial and ...
In its creative integration of the disciplines of writing, rhetoric, and theology, Writing Theology Well provides a standard text for theological educators engaged in the teaching and mentoring of writing across the theological curriculum. As a theological rhetoric, it will also encourage excellence in theological writing in the public domain by helping to equip students for their wider vocations as writers, preachers, and communicators in a variety of ministerial and ...
Additional Info:
In its creative integration of the disciplines of writing, rhetoric, and theology, Writing Theology Well provides a standard text for theological educators engaged in the teaching and mentoring of writing across the theological curriculum. As a theological rhetoric, it will also encourage excellence in theological writing in the public domain by helping to equip students for their wider vocations as writers, preachers, and communicators in a variety of ministerial and professional contexts. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part I Writing Theological Rhetorics Well
ch. 1 Writing Theology Well in Its Own Context
ch. 2 Writing Theological Reflection Well: Rhetorics of Process, Problem Solving, and Proclamation
ch. 3 Writing Theological Argument Well: Rhetorics of Inquiry, Reading, Reflection, and Persuasion
ch. 4 Writing the Theological Essay Well: Rhetorics of Identification, Correlation, Suspicion, and Construction
Part II Writing Theological and Biblical Research Well
ch. 5 Writing Theological Research Well (I): Rhetorics of Research and Investigation
ch. 6 Writing Theological Research Well (II): Rhetorics of Organization and Documentation
ch. 7 Writing the Biblical Essay Well (I): Rhetorics of Exegesis and Interpretation
ch. 8 Writing the Biblical Essay Well (II): A Critical-Hermeneutical Rhetoric
Part III Toward a Theological Style and Voice of Your Own
ch. 9 Writing with Theological Imagination Well: Rhetorics of Analogy, Metaphor, and Symbol
ch. 10 Rewriting Theology Well (I): Rhetorics of Style and Voice
ch. 11 Rewriting Theology Well (II): Rhetorics of Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs
ch. 12 Rewriting Theology Well (III): A Rhetoric of Revision
Epilogue: Writing Theology Well in Your New Context: From Writing for Professors to Writing with a Professional Voice
Notes
Index
In its creative integration of the disciplines of writing, rhetoric, and theology, Writing Theology Well provides a standard text for theological educators engaged in the teaching and mentoring of writing across the theological curriculum. As a theological rhetoric, it will also encourage excellence in theological writing in the public domain by helping to equip students for their wider vocations as writers, preachers, and communicators in a variety of ministerial and professional contexts. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part I Writing Theological Rhetorics Well
ch. 1 Writing Theology Well in Its Own Context
ch. 2 Writing Theological Reflection Well: Rhetorics of Process, Problem Solving, and Proclamation
ch. 3 Writing Theological Argument Well: Rhetorics of Inquiry, Reading, Reflection, and Persuasion
ch. 4 Writing the Theological Essay Well: Rhetorics of Identification, Correlation, Suspicion, and Construction
Part II Writing Theological and Biblical Research Well
ch. 5 Writing Theological Research Well (I): Rhetorics of Research and Investigation
ch. 6 Writing Theological Research Well (II): Rhetorics of Organization and Documentation
ch. 7 Writing the Biblical Essay Well (I): Rhetorics of Exegesis and Interpretation
ch. 8 Writing the Biblical Essay Well (II): A Critical-Hermeneutical Rhetoric
Part III Toward a Theological Style and Voice of Your Own
ch. 9 Writing with Theological Imagination Well: Rhetorics of Analogy, Metaphor, and Symbol
ch. 10 Rewriting Theology Well (I): Rhetorics of Style and Voice
ch. 11 Rewriting Theology Well (II): Rhetorics of Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs
ch. 12 Rewriting Theology Well (III): A Rhetoric of Revision
Epilogue: Writing Theology Well in Your New Context: From Writing for Professors to Writing with a Professional Voice
Notes
Index
Additional Info:
The undergraduate study of religion is predominantly undertaken by non-majors who are meeting a general education requirement. This means that, while curricular discussions make important distinctions between the work of lower- and upper-division courses, many religion and theology faculty are teaching hybrid courses that we call “introductory upper-level courses.” These play an introductory role in general education while also serving the study of religion in a more advanced way. Attention ...
The undergraduate study of religion is predominantly undertaken by non-majors who are meeting a general education requirement. This means that, while curricular discussions make important distinctions between the work of lower- and upper-division courses, many religion and theology faculty are teaching hybrid courses that we call “introductory upper-level courses.” These play an introductory role in general education while also serving the study of religion in a more advanced way. Attention ...
Additional Info:
The undergraduate study of religion is predominantly undertaken by non-majors who are meeting a general education requirement. This means that, while curricular discussions make important distinctions between the work of lower- and upper-division courses, many religion and theology faculty are teaching hybrid courses that we call “introductory upper-level courses.” These play an introductory role in general education while also serving the study of religion in a more advanced way. Attention to how these courses fit into multiple curricular goals will be important for the scholarship of teaching and learning in religious studies and theology. This essay draws on scholarship about introductory teaching and a survey of faculty about introductory upper-level courses to argue that the content of such courses should be understood as serving the study of religion at an advanced level, the context should be understood as introducing general education goals, and the goals for intellectual growth must strike a challenging balance between the two.
The undergraduate study of religion is predominantly undertaken by non-majors who are meeting a general education requirement. This means that, while curricular discussions make important distinctions between the work of lower- and upper-division courses, many religion and theology faculty are teaching hybrid courses that we call “introductory upper-level courses.” These play an introductory role in general education while also serving the study of religion in a more advanced way. Attention to how these courses fit into multiple curricular goals will be important for the scholarship of teaching and learning in religious studies and theology. This essay draws on scholarship about introductory teaching and a survey of faculty about introductory upper-level courses to argue that the content of such courses should be understood as serving the study of religion at an advanced level, the context should be understood as introducing general education goals, and the goals for intellectual growth must strike a challenging balance between the two.
Additional Info:
For several years the field of Second Language Acquisition has benefited from methods associated with communicative language learning. However, these benefits have largely been overlooked when teaching ancient languages, likely because the objective for ancient languages is literacy, not oral fluency. This article outlines an experiment that capitalized on communicative language methods to accelerate literacy for beginning students of Biblical Hebrew.
For several years the field of Second Language Acquisition has benefited from methods associated with communicative language learning. However, these benefits have largely been overlooked when teaching ancient languages, likely because the objective for ancient languages is literacy, not oral fluency. This article outlines an experiment that capitalized on communicative language methods to accelerate literacy for beginning students of Biblical Hebrew.
Additional Info:
For several years the field of Second Language Acquisition has benefited from methods associated with communicative language learning. However, these benefits have largely been overlooked when teaching ancient languages, likely because the objective for ancient languages is literacy, not oral fluency. This article outlines an experiment that capitalized on communicative language methods to accelerate literacy for beginning students of Biblical Hebrew.
For several years the field of Second Language Acquisition has benefited from methods associated with communicative language learning. However, these benefits have largely been overlooked when teaching ancient languages, likely because the objective for ancient languages is literacy, not oral fluency. This article outlines an experiment that capitalized on communicative language methods to accelerate literacy for beginning students of Biblical Hebrew.
Additional Info:
The purpose of this essay is to offer a survey of religious studies capstones from twenty-nine U.S. colleges and universities, to identify the most common frustrations about the capstone, and to observe how departments resolve such frustrations. I conclude that the most successful capstones -- in terms of students’ performance and faculty satisfaction -- are those that are carefully linked to their department’s major curriculum, pedagogies, and staffing, ...
The purpose of this essay is to offer a survey of religious studies capstones from twenty-nine U.S. colleges and universities, to identify the most common frustrations about the capstone, and to observe how departments resolve such frustrations. I conclude that the most successful capstones -- in terms of students’ performance and faculty satisfaction -- are those that are carefully linked to their department’s major curriculum, pedagogies, and staffing, ...
Additional Info:
The purpose of this essay is to offer a survey of religious studies capstones from twenty-nine U.S. colleges and universities, to identify the most common frustrations about the capstone, and to observe how departments resolve such frustrations. I conclude that the most successful capstones -- in terms of students’ performance and faculty satisfaction -- are those that are carefully linked to their department’s major curriculum, pedagogies, and staffing, that set out to achieve a reasonable set of objectives, and that are aligned with their institutional mission, culture, and expectations for assessment. Yet, I argue that it is becoming increasingly difficult to design our capstone experiences according to the above principles because of the proliferation of departmental and institutional pressures we presently face. Finally, I offer some guidelines by which we might devise or revise our capstones to alleviate some of the most common pressures.
The purpose of this essay is to offer a survey of religious studies capstones from twenty-nine U.S. colleges and universities, to identify the most common frustrations about the capstone, and to observe how departments resolve such frustrations. I conclude that the most successful capstones -- in terms of students’ performance and faculty satisfaction -- are those that are carefully linked to their department’s major curriculum, pedagogies, and staffing, that set out to achieve a reasonable set of objectives, and that are aligned with their institutional mission, culture, and expectations for assessment. Yet, I argue that it is becoming increasingly difficult to design our capstone experiences according to the above principles because of the proliferation of departmental and institutional pressures we presently face. Finally, I offer some guidelines by which we might devise or revise our capstones to alleviate some of the most common pressures.
Additional Info:
What happens when a class assignment becomes a source of controversy? How do we respond? What do we learn? By describing the controversy surrounding an assignment on religion and representation, this article examines conflict’s productive role in teaching about New Religious Movements (NRMs) and religion. It suggests that we consider how our personal and institutional dispositions toward conflict influence our pedagogies. Moreover, it urges us to consider how teaching ...
What happens when a class assignment becomes a source of controversy? How do we respond? What do we learn? By describing the controversy surrounding an assignment on religion and representation, this article examines conflict’s productive role in teaching about New Religious Movements (NRMs) and religion. It suggests that we consider how our personal and institutional dispositions toward conflict influence our pedagogies. Moreover, it urges us to consider how teaching ...
Additional Info:
What happens when a class assignment becomes a source of controversy? How do we respond? What do we learn? By describing the controversy surrounding an assignment on religion and representation, this article examines conflict’s productive role in teaching about New Religious Movements (NRMs) and religion. It suggests that we consider how our personal and institutional dispositions toward conflict influence our pedagogies. Moreover, it urges us to consider how teaching conflicts within and/or between disciplines can enhance our learning objectives and stimulate students’ ability to think critically.
What happens when a class assignment becomes a source of controversy? How do we respond? What do we learn? By describing the controversy surrounding an assignment on religion and representation, this article examines conflict’s productive role in teaching about New Religious Movements (NRMs) and religion. It suggests that we consider how our personal and institutional dispositions toward conflict influence our pedagogies. Moreover, it urges us to consider how teaching conflicts within and/or between disciplines can enhance our learning objectives and stimulate students’ ability to think critically.
Additional Info:
This paper explores the possibilities and challenges inherent in employing community service-learning as a pedagogy for engaging undergraduates in theology and religious studies courses that contribute to racial reconciliation. The paper summarizes research from the scholarship of teaching and learning on best practices for structuring service-learning projects and processes that hold the possibility of students' genuine engagement with issues of race and the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.
This paper explores the possibilities and challenges inherent in employing community service-learning as a pedagogy for engaging undergraduates in theology and religious studies courses that contribute to racial reconciliation. The paper summarizes research from the scholarship of teaching and learning on best practices for structuring service-learning projects and processes that hold the possibility of students' genuine engagement with issues of race and the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.
Additional Info:
This paper explores the possibilities and challenges inherent in employing community service-learning as a pedagogy for engaging undergraduates in theology and religious studies courses that contribute to racial reconciliation. The paper summarizes research from the scholarship of teaching and learning on best practices for structuring service-learning projects and processes that hold the possibility of students' genuine engagement with issues of race and the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.
This paper explores the possibilities and challenges inherent in employing community service-learning as a pedagogy for engaging undergraduates in theology and religious studies courses that contribute to racial reconciliation. The paper summarizes research from the scholarship of teaching and learning on best practices for structuring service-learning projects and processes that hold the possibility of students' genuine engagement with issues of race and the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: A final paper assignment that knits together the major themes of the course by drawing on activities from the first day of class and peer interviews students have conducted during the semester.
One page Teaching Tactic: A final paper assignment that knits together the major themes of the course by drawing on activities from the first day of class and peer interviews students have conducted during the semester.
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One page Teaching Tactic: A final paper assignment that knits together the major themes of the course by drawing on activities from the first day of class and peer interviews students have conducted during the semester.
One page Teaching Tactic: A final paper assignment that knits together the major themes of the course by drawing on activities from the first day of class and peer interviews students have conducted during the semester.

Teaching Buddhism: New Insights on Understanding and Presenting the Traditions
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Click Here for Book Review
Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to ...
Click Here for Book Review
Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to new areas.
Teaching Buddhism establishes a dialogue between the community of instructors of Buddhism and leading scholars in the field who are updating, revising, and correcting earlier understandings of Buddhist traditions. Each chapter presents new ideas within a particular theme of Buddhist studies and explores how courses can be enhanced with these insights. Contributors in the first section focus on the typical approaches, figures, and traditions in undergraduate courses, such as the role of philosophy in Buddhism, Nagarjuna, Yogacara Buddhism, tantric traditions, and Zen Buddhism. They describe the impact of recent developments-like new studies in the cognitive sciences-on scholarship in those areas. Part Two examines how political engagement and ritual practice have shaped the tradition throughout its history. Focus then shifts to the issues facing instructors of Buddhism-dilemmas for the scholar-practitioner in the academic and monastic classroom, the tradition's possible roles in teaching feminism and diversity, and how to present the tradition in the context of a world religions course. In the final section, contributors offer stories of their own experiences teaching, paying particular attention to the ways in which American culture has impacted them. They discuss the development of courses on American Buddhism; using course material on the family and children; the history and trajectory of a Buddhist-Christian dialog; and Buddhist bioethics, environmentalism, economic development, and social justice. In synthesizing this vast and varied body of research, the contributors in this volume have provided an invaluable service to the field (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part 1: Updating Perennial Course Subjects
1) Teaching Buddhism as Philosophy - Mark Siderits
2) Teaching Nagarjuna - Roger R. Jackson
3) Teaching Yogacara Buddhism Using Cognitive Science - William S. Waldron
4) Teaching Tantric Buddhism in an Undergraduate Classroom Context - David B. Gray
5) Rethinking the Teaching of Zen Buddhism - Steven Heine
Part 2: Reimagining the Content of "Buddhism"
6) In Defense of the Dharma: Buddhists and Politics - Thomas Borchert and Ian Harris
7) Conveying Buddhist Tradition through its Rituals - Todd Lewis
Part 3: Issues in Teaching, Practice, and Connecting Students with the Tradition
8) Teaching Buddhism in the Western Academy - Jan Willis
9) Teaching Buddhist History to Buddhist Practitioners - Rita M. Gross
10) Deconstructing Identity Categories and Cultivating Appreciation for Diversity: Teaching Buddhism and Feminism - Hsiao-Lan Hu
11) Teaching Buddhism in the World Religions Course - Challenges and Promise - Gary DeAngelis
Part 4: Buddhism and the American Context
12) When The Iron Bird Flies: Seeking Western Buddhism in the Classroom - Charles Prebish
13) Conveying Buddhism in the Classroom: Working with Assumptions on Family and Children - Vanessa R. Sasson
14) Teaching Engaged Buddhism in Uncertain Times - Christopher Queen
Part 5: Buddhism in New Academic Fields
15) History of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue - Paul O. Ingram
16) Teaching Buddhist Bioethics - Damien Keown
17) Buddhist Environmentalism - Leslie E. Sponsel and Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel
18) Buddhism and Economic Development - Laszlo Zsolnai
19) "We Can Do No Less:" Buddhism and Social Justice - Anna Brown
Click Here for Book Review
Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to new areas.
Teaching Buddhism establishes a dialogue between the community of instructors of Buddhism and leading scholars in the field who are updating, revising, and correcting earlier understandings of Buddhist traditions. Each chapter presents new ideas within a particular theme of Buddhist studies and explores how courses can be enhanced with these insights. Contributors in the first section focus on the typical approaches, figures, and traditions in undergraduate courses, such as the role of philosophy in Buddhism, Nagarjuna, Yogacara Buddhism, tantric traditions, and Zen Buddhism. They describe the impact of recent developments-like new studies in the cognitive sciences-on scholarship in those areas. Part Two examines how political engagement and ritual practice have shaped the tradition throughout its history. Focus then shifts to the issues facing instructors of Buddhism-dilemmas for the scholar-practitioner in the academic and monastic classroom, the tradition's possible roles in teaching feminism and diversity, and how to present the tradition in the context of a world religions course. In the final section, contributors offer stories of their own experiences teaching, paying particular attention to the ways in which American culture has impacted them. They discuss the development of courses on American Buddhism; using course material on the family and children; the history and trajectory of a Buddhist-Christian dialog; and Buddhist bioethics, environmentalism, economic development, and social justice. In synthesizing this vast and varied body of research, the contributors in this volume have provided an invaluable service to the field (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part 1: Updating Perennial Course Subjects
1) Teaching Buddhism as Philosophy - Mark Siderits
2) Teaching Nagarjuna - Roger R. Jackson
3) Teaching Yogacara Buddhism Using Cognitive Science - William S. Waldron
4) Teaching Tantric Buddhism in an Undergraduate Classroom Context - David B. Gray
5) Rethinking the Teaching of Zen Buddhism - Steven Heine
Part 2: Reimagining the Content of "Buddhism"
6) In Defense of the Dharma: Buddhists and Politics - Thomas Borchert and Ian Harris
7) Conveying Buddhist Tradition through its Rituals - Todd Lewis
Part 3: Issues in Teaching, Practice, and Connecting Students with the Tradition
8) Teaching Buddhism in the Western Academy - Jan Willis
9) Teaching Buddhist History to Buddhist Practitioners - Rita M. Gross
10) Deconstructing Identity Categories and Cultivating Appreciation for Diversity: Teaching Buddhism and Feminism - Hsiao-Lan Hu
11) Teaching Buddhism in the World Religions Course - Challenges and Promise - Gary DeAngelis
Part 4: Buddhism and the American Context
12) When The Iron Bird Flies: Seeking Western Buddhism in the Classroom - Charles Prebish
13) Conveying Buddhism in the Classroom: Working with Assumptions on Family and Children - Vanessa R. Sasson
14) Teaching Engaged Buddhism in Uncertain Times - Christopher Queen
Part 5: Buddhism in New Academic Fields
15) History of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue - Paul O. Ingram
16) Teaching Buddhist Bioethics - Damien Keown
17) Buddhist Environmentalism - Leslie E. Sponsel and Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel
18) Buddhism and Economic Development - Laszlo Zsolnai
19) "We Can Do No Less:" Buddhism and Social Justice - Anna Brown
Additional Info:
This essay analyzes student learning through place-based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land-based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place-based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions ...
This essay analyzes student learning through place-based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land-based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place-based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions ...
Additional Info:
This essay analyzes student learning through place-based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land-based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place-based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions and expressions of religious experience. Across disciplines, place-based pedagogies can expand and deepen text-based learning, cultivate recognition of various ways of knowing, foster affective connections to the local community, and develop critical skills for addressing patterns of displacement and ecological denigration.
This essay analyzes student learning through place-based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land-based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place-based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions and expressions of religious experience. Across disciplines, place-based pedagogies can expand and deepen text-based learning, cultivate recognition of various ways of knowing, foster affective connections to the local community, and develop critical skills for addressing patterns of displacement and ecological denigration.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: dealing with emotional outbursts or rude student behavior.
One page Teaching Tactic: dealing with emotional outbursts or rude student behavior.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: dealing with emotional outbursts or rude student behavior.
One page Teaching Tactic: dealing with emotional outbursts or rude student behavior.
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One page Teaching Tactic: Inspiring students through informal encounters with the wide diversity of actual living biblical scholars.
One page Teaching Tactic: Inspiring students through informal encounters with the wide diversity of actual living biblical scholars.
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One page Teaching Tactic: Inspiring students through informal encounters with the wide diversity of actual living biblical scholars.
One page Teaching Tactic: Inspiring students through informal encounters with the wide diversity of actual living biblical scholars.
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The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take “fresh” and “strange” as signs of existential threat. The author explores this delicate pedagogical situation, drawing on several years' experience directing a study abroad program and ...
The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take “fresh” and “strange” as signs of existential threat. The author explores this delicate pedagogical situation, drawing on several years' experience directing a study abroad program and ...
Additional Info:
The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take “fresh” and “strange” as signs of existential threat. The author explores this delicate pedagogical situation, drawing on several years' experience directing a study abroad program and on the thought of figures from the Western existentialist tradition and Chinese Confucian philosophy. The article focuses particularly on “oh events” – defined as moments when one learns one has something to learn and something to unlearn. The author argues that the experience of shame that is typical of oh events can become a valuable resource for cross-cultural learning and personal transformation, if teachers assist students to reflect on the experience as a sign of differing, but potentially harmonizable, cultural expectations. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take “fresh” and “strange” as signs of existential threat. The author explores this delicate pedagogical situation, drawing on several years' experience directing a study abroad program and on the thought of figures from the Western existentialist tradition and Chinese Confucian philosophy. The article focuses particularly on “oh events” – defined as moments when one learns one has something to learn and something to unlearn. The author argues that the experience of shame that is typical of oh events can become a valuable resource for cross-cultural learning and personal transformation, if teachers assist students to reflect on the experience as a sign of differing, but potentially harmonizable, cultural expectations. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: Scaffolded activities and assignments beginning the first day of class to help students engage significant life questions in the Bible.
One page Teaching Tactic: Scaffolded activities and assignments beginning the first day of class to help students engage significant life questions in the Bible.
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One page Teaching Tactic: Scaffolded activities and assignments beginning the first day of class to help students engage significant life questions in the Bible.
One page Teaching Tactic: Scaffolded activities and assignments beginning the first day of class to help students engage significant life questions in the Bible.
Additional Info:
The Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature chose Wisdom Ways, by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, as the basis for a discussion on teaching at its November 1902 meeting in Toronto. Each presenter commented on the underlying pedagogy of the book, sharing exercises and assignments they had used in their classrooms to help students interpret the materials, especially from a feminist and/or liberationist perspective. Adapted ...
The Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature chose Wisdom Ways, by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, as the basis for a discussion on teaching at its November 1902 meeting in Toronto. Each presenter commented on the underlying pedagogy of the book, sharing exercises and assignments they had used in their classrooms to help students interpret the materials, especially from a feminist and/or liberationist perspective. Adapted ...
Additional Info:
The Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature chose Wisdom Ways, by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, as the basis for a discussion on teaching at its November 1902 meeting in Toronto. Each presenter commented on the underlying pedagogy of the book, sharing exercises and assignments they had used in their classrooms to help students interpret the materials, especially from a feminist and/or liberationist perspective. Adapted from the SBL presentations, this is a different type of review essay that describes the use of a book in three different settings: a free-standing seminary, a state university, and a university-affiliated divinity school. These three distinct contexts are in turn the settings for three individual pedagogical styles. The result is a conversation among author, teachers, text, and students that illustrates the interplay of teaching, learning, and context.
The Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature chose Wisdom Ways, by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, as the basis for a discussion on teaching at its November 1902 meeting in Toronto. Each presenter commented on the underlying pedagogy of the book, sharing exercises and assignments they had used in their classrooms to help students interpret the materials, especially from a feminist and/or liberationist perspective. Adapted from the SBL presentations, this is a different type of review essay that describes the use of a book in three different settings: a free-standing seminary, a state university, and a university-affiliated divinity school. These three distinct contexts are in turn the settings for three individual pedagogical styles. The result is a conversation among author, teachers, text, and students that illustrates the interplay of teaching, learning, and context.
Additional Info:
This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcription of a panel recorded at the 2010 Society for Biblical Literature conference. The panelists were asked to reflect on William Placher’s recently published theological commentary on Mark as an example or test case of how one might use a biblical commentary as a classroom resource. Karl Barth wrote that insofar as their usefulness to pastors ...
This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcription of a panel recorded at the 2010 Society for Biblical Literature conference. The panelists were asked to reflect on William Placher’s recently published theological commentary on Mark as an example or test case of how one might use a biblical commentary as a classroom resource. Karl Barth wrote that insofar as their usefulness to pastors ...
Additional Info:
This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcription of a panel recorded at the 2010 Society for Biblical Literature conference. The panelists were asked to reflect on William Placher’s recently published theological commentary on Mark as an example or test case of how one might use a biblical commentary as a classroom resource. Karl Barth wrote that insofar as their usefulness to pastors goes, most modern commentaries are “no commentary at all, but merely the first step toward a commentary.” What value might commentaries have for our students, whether future pastors or undergraduates in the liberal arts? While the panel consisted of teachers of undergraduates as well as theological students, the emphasis of the presentations and subsequent discussion focused mostly on theological formation.
This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcription of a panel recorded at the 2010 Society for Biblical Literature conference. The panelists were asked to reflect on William Placher’s recently published theological commentary on Mark as an example or test case of how one might use a biblical commentary as a classroom resource. Karl Barth wrote that insofar as their usefulness to pastors goes, most modern commentaries are “no commentary at all, but merely the first step toward a commentary.” What value might commentaries have for our students, whether future pastors or undergraduates in the liberal arts? While the panel consisted of teachers of undergraduates as well as theological students, the emphasis of the presentations and subsequent discussion focused mostly on theological formation.
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This paper discusses strategies I employed during seven years of teaching within a study abroad program focusing on religion. This year-long program traveled to four Asian countries and included immersion experiences in monasteries, ashrams, and other religious institutions. I identify four principles and discuss accompanying exercises that guided my teaching: (1) Accept and observe anxiety. Inability to understand is a sign that direct and deep contact is taking place. (2) Educate about ...
This paper discusses strategies I employed during seven years of teaching within a study abroad program focusing on religion. This year-long program traveled to four Asian countries and included immersion experiences in monasteries, ashrams, and other religious institutions. I identify four principles and discuss accompanying exercises that guided my teaching: (1) Accept and observe anxiety. Inability to understand is a sign that direct and deep contact is taking place. (2) Educate about ...
Additional Info:
This paper discusses strategies I employed during seven years of teaching within a study abroad program focusing on religion. This year-long program traveled to four Asian countries and included immersion experiences in monasteries, ashrams, and other religious institutions. I identify four principles and discuss accompanying exercises that guided my teaching: (1) Accept and observe anxiety. Inability to understand is a sign that direct and deep contact is taking place. (2) Educate about education. Help students to see the aims, assumptions, and context of the teaching strategies religious practitioners employ. (3) Make it practical. Devise exercises that students can do and do well and that do not demand synthetic, systematic comprehension even as a goal. (4) Stop making sense. Build pauses and breaks into the train of reflection on the meaning of experience. These spaces give room for the shifts in the ways of learning that study abroad demands. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
This paper discusses strategies I employed during seven years of teaching within a study abroad program focusing on religion. This year-long program traveled to four Asian countries and included immersion experiences in monasteries, ashrams, and other religious institutions. I identify four principles and discuss accompanying exercises that guided my teaching: (1) Accept and observe anxiety. Inability to understand is a sign that direct and deep contact is taking place. (2) Educate about education. Help students to see the aims, assumptions, and context of the teaching strategies religious practitioners employ. (3) Make it practical. Devise exercises that students can do and do well and that do not demand synthetic, systematic comprehension even as a goal. (4) Stop making sense. Build pauses and breaks into the train of reflection on the meaning of experience. These spaces give room for the shifts in the ways of learning that study abroad demands. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Additional Info:
Teaching a required introductory Bible course to non-majors at a church-related college presents a number of pedagogical challenges. When considering how to teach such a course in the context of concerns common to the liberal arts, I find myself reflecting on authority. My thoughts on the teaching of this course in my own context are organized around authority understood as a developmental issue, an educational issue, and a religious issue. ...
Teaching a required introductory Bible course to non-majors at a church-related college presents a number of pedagogical challenges. When considering how to teach such a course in the context of concerns common to the liberal arts, I find myself reflecting on authority. My thoughts on the teaching of this course in my own context are organized around authority understood as a developmental issue, an educational issue, and a religious issue. ...
Additional Info:
Teaching a required introductory Bible course to non-majors at a church-related college presents a number of pedagogical challenges. When considering how to teach such a course in the context of concerns common to the liberal arts, I find myself reflecting on authority. My thoughts on the teaching of this course in my own context are organized around authority understood as a developmental issue, an educational issue, and a religious issue. In each case, I seek to use my discipline and the primary and secondary materials of the course as occasions for the development of capacities that will contribute to the life of students as critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and responsible global citizens.
Teaching a required introductory Bible course to non-majors at a church-related college presents a number of pedagogical challenges. When considering how to teach such a course in the context of concerns common to the liberal arts, I find myself reflecting on authority. My thoughts on the teaching of this course in my own context are organized around authority understood as a developmental issue, an educational issue, and a religious issue. In each case, I seek to use my discipline and the primary and secondary materials of the course as occasions for the development of capacities that will contribute to the life of students as critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and responsible global citizens.
Additional Info:
This essay is concerned with study abroad experiences as opportunities for student cognitive development, using the interpretive lens of educational psychologist William G. Perry. A standard and often valuable assignment in courses on world religions is a site visit to a religious institution in one's local area. This may concretize otherwise abstract materials and help students reflect on ways in which the lived experience of religion differs from its presentation ...
This essay is concerned with study abroad experiences as opportunities for student cognitive development, using the interpretive lens of educational psychologist William G. Perry. A standard and often valuable assignment in courses on world religions is a site visit to a religious institution in one's local area. This may concretize otherwise abstract materials and help students reflect on ways in which the lived experience of religion differs from its presentation ...
Additional Info:
This essay is concerned with study abroad experiences as opportunities for student cognitive development, using the interpretive lens of educational psychologist William G. Perry. A standard and often valuable assignment in courses on world religions is a site visit to a religious institution in one's local area. This may concretize otherwise abstract materials and help students reflect on ways in which the lived experience of religion differs from its presentation in course texts and other academic materials. Increasingly, study abroad trips are being offered as extended and more intensive ways of bringing this material to life, offering students opportunity to see lived religion within another cultural framework. At the heart of this paper is the contention that such study abroad experiences function not simply as longer, more intense versions of site visits but, rather, as experiences that invert the subject and object of study. The worldview of the student becomes a primary object of study, which is examined, as it were, by the particulars of the religion(s) under investigation and the cultures of which said religion(s) are a part. Where site visits offer students an opportunity to visit the strange amidst the familiar, study abroad trips provide opportunities for students to become the strange within a recalibrated familiar. The subject becomes the object and is interrogated by the context of study. While local, stateside site visits can offer a degree of such dislocation, their brevity, together with some degree of assimilation to the larger culture flows on the part of the local religious institution being visited, most often mitigates any significant inversion. Students generally see such institutions as either mildly or wildly exotic, but always within their frame of reference, which constitutes the norm. When abroad, the normative experience of students is often subverted in ways that lay bare the assumptions behind such views and makes possible another world in which to live. Simply put, the subject and object of study change places. If this inversion is carefully attended to, it can provide rich insight into not only the topics nominally being studied but also occasion opportunity for real cognitive development on the part of the student. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
This essay is concerned with study abroad experiences as opportunities for student cognitive development, using the interpretive lens of educational psychologist William G. Perry. A standard and often valuable assignment in courses on world religions is a site visit to a religious institution in one's local area. This may concretize otherwise abstract materials and help students reflect on ways in which the lived experience of religion differs from its presentation in course texts and other academic materials. Increasingly, study abroad trips are being offered as extended and more intensive ways of bringing this material to life, offering students opportunity to see lived religion within another cultural framework. At the heart of this paper is the contention that such study abroad experiences function not simply as longer, more intense versions of site visits but, rather, as experiences that invert the subject and object of study. The worldview of the student becomes a primary object of study, which is examined, as it were, by the particulars of the religion(s) under investigation and the cultures of which said religion(s) are a part. Where site visits offer students an opportunity to visit the strange amidst the familiar, study abroad trips provide opportunities for students to become the strange within a recalibrated familiar. The subject becomes the object and is interrogated by the context of study. While local, stateside site visits can offer a degree of such dislocation, their brevity, together with some degree of assimilation to the larger culture flows on the part of the local religious institution being visited, most often mitigates any significant inversion. Students generally see such institutions as either mildly or wildly exotic, but always within their frame of reference, which constitutes the norm. When abroad, the normative experience of students is often subverted in ways that lay bare the assumptions behind such views and makes possible another world in which to live. Simply put, the subject and object of study change places. If this inversion is carefully attended to, it can provide rich insight into not only the topics nominally being studied but also occasion opportunity for real cognitive development on the part of the student. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
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Two troublesome portraits of religious studies professors often exist in the minds of some students at any given time: the Guru, or wise spiritual teacher, and the Deceiver. These metaphors capture student perceptions of us that may be ill-informed and beyond our control. We will examine and compare how our own chosen metaphors for teaching – theological typologist and neutral enthusiast – respond creatively to the unchosen metaphors of guru or deceiver. ...
Two troublesome portraits of religious studies professors often exist in the minds of some students at any given time: the Guru, or wise spiritual teacher, and the Deceiver. These metaphors capture student perceptions of us that may be ill-informed and beyond our control. We will examine and compare how our own chosen metaphors for teaching – theological typologist and neutral enthusiast – respond creatively to the unchosen metaphors of guru or deceiver. ...
Additional Info:
Two troublesome portraits of religious studies professors often exist in the minds of some students at any given time: the Guru, or wise spiritual teacher, and the Deceiver. These metaphors capture student perceptions of us that may be ill-informed and beyond our control. We will examine and compare how our own chosen metaphors for teaching – theological typologist and neutral enthusiast – respond creatively to the unchosen metaphors of guru or deceiver. We cannot avoid being cast as gurus/deceivers, but we can discern how our own metaphors for teaching engage "unchosen" student metaphors for us. This exercise can enhance our self-awareness about our own normative agendas in the classroom, and help to sharpen colleagues' conversations about our sometimes differing assumptions regarding the discipline and teaching of religious studies.
Two troublesome portraits of religious studies professors often exist in the minds of some students at any given time: the Guru, or wise spiritual teacher, and the Deceiver. These metaphors capture student perceptions of us that may be ill-informed and beyond our control. We will examine and compare how our own chosen metaphors for teaching – theological typologist and neutral enthusiast – respond creatively to the unchosen metaphors of guru or deceiver. We cannot avoid being cast as gurus/deceivers, but we can discern how our own metaphors for teaching engage "unchosen" student metaphors for us. This exercise can enhance our self-awareness about our own normative agendas in the classroom, and help to sharpen colleagues' conversations about our sometimes differing assumptions regarding the discipline and teaching of religious studies.


Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies
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A groundbreaking book on using meditation in education and how it can enhance teaching and learning.
Meditation and the Classroom inventively articulates how educators can use meditation to educate the whole student. Notably, a number of universities have initiated contemplative studies options and others have opened contemplative spaces. This represents an attempt to address the inner life. It is also a sign of a new era, one in ...
A groundbreaking book on using meditation in education and how it can enhance teaching and learning.
Meditation and the Classroom inventively articulates how educators can use meditation to educate the whole student. Notably, a number of universities have initiated contemplative studies options and others have opened contemplative spaces. This represents an attempt to address the inner life. It is also a sign of a new era, one in ...
Additional Info:
A groundbreaking book on using meditation in education and how it can enhance teaching and learning.
Meditation and the Classroom inventively articulates how educators can use meditation to educate the whole student. Notably, a number of universities have initiated contemplative studies options and others have opened contemplative spaces. This represents an attempt to address the inner life. It is also a sign of a new era, one in which the United States is more spiritually diverse than ever before. Examples from university classrooms and statements by students indicate benefits include increased self-awareness, creativity, and compassion.
The religious studies scholars who have contributed to this book often teach about meditation, but here they include reflections on how meditation has affected them and their teaching. Until recently, though, even many religious studies professors would find sharing meditation experiences, let alone teaching meditation techniques, a breach of disciplinary and academic protocols. The value of teaching meditation and teaching about meditation is discussed. Ethical issues such as pluralism, respect, qualifications, power and coercion, and avoiding actual or perceived proselytization are also examined. While methods for religious studies are emphasized, the book provides valuable guidance for all those interested in this endeavor. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Editors’ Introduction
I. Why Contemplatives Pedagogy? The Religious Studies Dialogue
ch. 1 The Convergence of Liberal Education and Contemplative Education—Inevitable?
ch. 2 Meditation and Education: India, Tibet, and Modern America
ch. 3 Contemplative Studies: Can It Flourish in the Religious Studies Classrom?
ch. 4 Contemplative Studies and the Art of Persuasion: The Institutional Challenge
II. The Contemplative Professor
ch. 5 From Content, to Context, to Contemplation: One Professor’s Journey
ch. 6 The Collective Dynamics of Contemplative Practice
ch. 7 The Mindful Teacher as the Foundation of Contemplative Pedagogy
ch. 8 Compassion Beyond Fatigue: Contemplative Training for Educators and Other Helping Professionals
ch. 9 Field Notes from a Daoist Professor
III. Critical Issues In Contemplative Teaching
ch. 10 Training the Heart Responsibly: Ethical Considerations in Contemplative Teaching
ch. 11 Invitation and Coercion in Contemplative Pedagogy
ch. 12 Interiority and Higher Education: The Neurophenomenology of Contemplation
IV. Contemplative-Based Courses
ch. 13 Embodied Contemplative Learning: Aikido as a Case Study
ch. 14 Reflections on Theory and Practice: The Case of Modern Yoga
ch. 15 Sustaining Life: Contemplative Pedagogies in a Religion and Ecology Course
ch. 16 Adab: Courteous Behavior in the Classroom
ch. 17 Experiencing Medieval Christian Spirituality
V. Contemplative Exercises For The Classroom
ch. 18 Awareness Practices in an Undergraduate Buddhism Course
ch. 19 Contemplative Inquiry: Beyond the Disembodied Subject
ch. 20 Love of Wisdom Puts You on the Spot: The Warrior Exam
ch. 21 A Meeting of the Minds in Cyberspace: Eco-contemplative Methods for Online Teaching
ch. 22 Mindfulness in the History Classroom: Teaching as Interbeing
ch. 23 Two Contemplative Practices That Animate the Study of Religion
ch. 24 Mindfulness and Contemplative Practice in Art and Religion
VI. Conclusion: Does It Work? Evaluations From Our Students
ch. 25 Emotional Learning: Re-cognizing Emotion and Thought in a Buddhism Course
ch. 26 Meditation in the Classroom: What Do the Students Say They Learn?
Selected Bibliography List of Contributors Index
A groundbreaking book on using meditation in education and how it can enhance teaching and learning.
Meditation and the Classroom inventively articulates how educators can use meditation to educate the whole student. Notably, a number of universities have initiated contemplative studies options and others have opened contemplative spaces. This represents an attempt to address the inner life. It is also a sign of a new era, one in which the United States is more spiritually diverse than ever before. Examples from university classrooms and statements by students indicate benefits include increased self-awareness, creativity, and compassion.
The religious studies scholars who have contributed to this book often teach about meditation, but here they include reflections on how meditation has affected them and their teaching. Until recently, though, even many religious studies professors would find sharing meditation experiences, let alone teaching meditation techniques, a breach of disciplinary and academic protocols. The value of teaching meditation and teaching about meditation is discussed. Ethical issues such as pluralism, respect, qualifications, power and coercion, and avoiding actual or perceived proselytization are also examined. While methods for religious studies are emphasized, the book provides valuable guidance for all those interested in this endeavor. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Editors’ Introduction
I. Why Contemplatives Pedagogy? The Religious Studies Dialogue
ch. 1 The Convergence of Liberal Education and Contemplative Education—Inevitable?
ch. 2 Meditation and Education: India, Tibet, and Modern America
ch. 3 Contemplative Studies: Can It Flourish in the Religious Studies Classrom?
ch. 4 Contemplative Studies and the Art of Persuasion: The Institutional Challenge
II. The Contemplative Professor
ch. 5 From Content, to Context, to Contemplation: One Professor’s Journey
ch. 6 The Collective Dynamics of Contemplative Practice
ch. 7 The Mindful Teacher as the Foundation of Contemplative Pedagogy
ch. 8 Compassion Beyond Fatigue: Contemplative Training for Educators and Other Helping Professionals
ch. 9 Field Notes from a Daoist Professor
III. Critical Issues In Contemplative Teaching
ch. 10 Training the Heart Responsibly: Ethical Considerations in Contemplative Teaching
ch. 11 Invitation and Coercion in Contemplative Pedagogy
ch. 12 Interiority and Higher Education: The Neurophenomenology of Contemplation
IV. Contemplative-Based Courses
ch. 13 Embodied Contemplative Learning: Aikido as a Case Study
ch. 14 Reflections on Theory and Practice: The Case of Modern Yoga
ch. 15 Sustaining Life: Contemplative Pedagogies in a Religion and Ecology Course
ch. 16 Adab: Courteous Behavior in the Classroom
ch. 17 Experiencing Medieval Christian Spirituality
V. Contemplative Exercises For The Classroom
ch. 18 Awareness Practices in an Undergraduate Buddhism Course
ch. 19 Contemplative Inquiry: Beyond the Disembodied Subject
ch. 20 Love of Wisdom Puts You on the Spot: The Warrior Exam
ch. 21 A Meeting of the Minds in Cyberspace: Eco-contemplative Methods for Online Teaching
ch. 22 Mindfulness in the History Classroom: Teaching as Interbeing
ch. 23 Two Contemplative Practices That Animate the Study of Religion
ch. 24 Mindfulness and Contemplative Practice in Art and Religion
VI. Conclusion: Does It Work? Evaluations From Our Students
ch. 25 Emotional Learning: Re-cognizing Emotion and Thought in a Buddhism Course
ch. 26 Meditation in the Classroom: What Do the Students Say They Learn?
Selected Bibliography List of Contributors Index
Additional Info:
Reflecting on two study abroad trips to New Zealand in 2005 and 2007, I suggest in this essay that it is possible to mitigate the risk of (American or European) students recapitulating imperial attitudes through development of a rigorous curriculum focusing on the legacies of colonialism, institutional racism, and the somewhat dubious phenomenon of “post-colonialism.” Readings, I argue, should be in continual play during cultural and social activities, operating in a dialectal ...
Reflecting on two study abroad trips to New Zealand in 2005 and 2007, I suggest in this essay that it is possible to mitigate the risk of (American or European) students recapitulating imperial attitudes through development of a rigorous curriculum focusing on the legacies of colonialism, institutional racism, and the somewhat dubious phenomenon of “post-colonialism.” Readings, I argue, should be in continual play during cultural and social activities, operating in a dialectal ...
Additional Info:
Reflecting on two study abroad trips to New Zealand in 2005 and 2007, I suggest in this essay that it is possible to mitigate the risk of (American or European) students recapitulating imperial attitudes through development of a rigorous curriculum focusing on the legacies of colonialism, institutional racism, and the somewhat dubious phenomenon of “post-colonialism.” Readings, I argue, should be in continual play during cultural and social activities, operating in a dialectal move toward an “ethics of respect.” Such an ethics remains aporetic, or uncertain, insofar as no code of behavior can render us immune to the political and polemical effects of past and present forms of imperialism. However, a cultivated respect for distance and difference, including regarding questions of “authenticity,” can help to actualize the transformative promise of studying (indigenous) religion abroad. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Reflecting on two study abroad trips to New Zealand in 2005 and 2007, I suggest in this essay that it is possible to mitigate the risk of (American or European) students recapitulating imperial attitudes through development of a rigorous curriculum focusing on the legacies of colonialism, institutional racism, and the somewhat dubious phenomenon of “post-colonialism.” Readings, I argue, should be in continual play during cultural and social activities, operating in a dialectal move toward an “ethics of respect.” Such an ethics remains aporetic, or uncertain, insofar as no code of behavior can render us immune to the political and polemical effects of past and present forms of imperialism. However, a cultivated respect for distance and difference, including regarding questions of “authenticity,” can help to actualize the transformative promise of studying (indigenous) religion abroad. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).

Religion & Education Volume 38, no. 2
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Integrating Religious and Professional Identities: Christian Faculty at Public Institutions of Higher Education (Christy Moran Craft, John D. Foubert, Jessica Jelkin Lane)
ch. 2 Teaching: Tolerance in Public Education: Organizing the Exposure to Religious and Life-Stance Diversity (Ole Henrik Borchgrevink Hansen)
ch. 3 Measuring Faculty Spirituality and Its Relationship to Teaching Style (John J. Cecero, Tracy A. Prout)
ch. 4 Reinvention and Context: Freirean Approaches to Pedagogical Dialogue in Catholic, Jewish, and Public Schools (John L. Watzke, Maria Fernanda Montes Valencia)
ch. 5 Spirituality as a Pragmatic Science: Toward the Establishment of a Holistic Educational Rationale (Oren Ergas)
Resource Review
ch. 6 Neither Jew Nor Gentile: Exploring Issues of Racial Diversity on Protestant College Campuses
ch. 7 A Kindly Providence: An Alaskan Missionary's Story, 1926-2006 by Fr. Louis L. Renner, S. J.
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Integrating Religious and Professional Identities: Christian Faculty at Public Institutions of Higher Education (Christy Moran Craft, John D. Foubert, Jessica Jelkin Lane)
ch. 2 Teaching: Tolerance in Public Education: Organizing the Exposure to Religious and Life-Stance Diversity (Ole Henrik Borchgrevink Hansen)
ch. 3 Measuring Faculty Spirituality and Its Relationship to Teaching Style (John J. Cecero, Tracy A. Prout)
ch. 4 Reinvention and Context: Freirean Approaches to Pedagogical Dialogue in Catholic, Jewish, and Public Schools (John L. Watzke, Maria Fernanda Montes Valencia)
ch. 5 Spirituality as a Pragmatic Science: Toward the Establishment of a Holistic Educational Rationale (Oren Ergas)
Resource Review
ch. 6 Neither Jew Nor Gentile: Exploring Issues of Racial Diversity on Protestant College Campuses
ch. 7 A Kindly Providence: An Alaskan Missionary's Story, 1926-2006 by Fr. Louis L. Renner, S. J.
Additional Info:
Conservative (fundamentalist, evangelical) Christian students present a general theological worldview that often correlates with significant anxiety. In a foreign setting, the anxiety of conservative students, removed from their supportive infrastructure, can be considerably heightened. This structure of thinking and emotion presents distinctive challenges and opportunities. Drawing upon my work as a clinician and as a religion professor who conducted study abroad programs, I make suggestions for working effectively with conservative ...
Conservative (fundamentalist, evangelical) Christian students present a general theological worldview that often correlates with significant anxiety. In a foreign setting, the anxiety of conservative students, removed from their supportive infrastructure, can be considerably heightened. This structure of thinking and emotion presents distinctive challenges and opportunities. Drawing upon my work as a clinician and as a religion professor who conducted study abroad programs, I make suggestions for working effectively with conservative ...
Additional Info:
Conservative (fundamentalist, evangelical) Christian students present a general theological worldview that often correlates with significant anxiety. In a foreign setting, the anxiety of conservative students, removed from their supportive infrastructure, can be considerably heightened. This structure of thinking and emotion presents distinctive challenges and opportunities. Drawing upon my work as a clinician and as a religion professor who conducted study abroad programs, I make suggestions for working effectively with conservative Christian students in study abroad contexts. Suggestions include predeparture, in-country, and post-trip strategies. Specific examples of conversations with students are provided to illustrate the challenges and strategies. This essay is published alongside of seven other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Conservative (fundamentalist, evangelical) Christian students present a general theological worldview that often correlates with significant anxiety. In a foreign setting, the anxiety of conservative students, removed from their supportive infrastructure, can be considerably heightened. This structure of thinking and emotion presents distinctive challenges and opportunities. Drawing upon my work as a clinician and as a religion professor who conducted study abroad programs, I make suggestions for working effectively with conservative Christian students in study abroad contexts. Suggestions include predeparture, in-country, and post-trip strategies. Specific examples of conversations with students are provided to illustrate the challenges and strategies. This essay is published alongside of seven other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Additional Info:
How will we teach the Bible in the twenty-first century? This essay is intended to contribute to that larger discussion in three ways: after a brief introduction, I will, first, state some general working assumptions about the present situation of the church and about teaching the New Testament in the context of a seminary or divinity school; second, I will describe the course "Reading James in Haiti" which I designed ...
How will we teach the Bible in the twenty-first century? This essay is intended to contribute to that larger discussion in three ways: after a brief introduction, I will, first, state some general working assumptions about the present situation of the church and about teaching the New Testament in the context of a seminary or divinity school; second, I will describe the course "Reading James in Haiti" which I designed ...
Additional Info:
How will we teach the Bible in the twenty-first century? This essay is intended to contribute to that larger discussion in three ways: after a brief introduction, I will, first, state some general working assumptions about the present situation of the church and about teaching the New Testament in the context of a seminary or divinity school; second, I will describe the course "Reading James in Haiti" which I designed and taught in the Spring of 2002; finally, and much more briefly, I will comment on the implications of transformational travel experiences like this one for the ability of seminarians to understand New Testament texts more deeply than the classroom setting allows.
How will we teach the Bible in the twenty-first century? This essay is intended to contribute to that larger discussion in three ways: after a brief introduction, I will, first, state some general working assumptions about the present situation of the church and about teaching the New Testament in the context of a seminary or divinity school; second, I will describe the course "Reading James in Haiti" which I designed and taught in the Spring of 2002; finally, and much more briefly, I will comment on the implications of transformational travel experiences like this one for the ability of seminarians to understand New Testament texts more deeply than the classroom setting allows.
Additional Info:
This response explains three ways in which the preceding essays are a significant contribution to the study of study abroad, explores three additional issues, and makes three suggestions for future work on religious studies and study abroad. This response is published alongside of six other essays, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
This response explains three ways in which the preceding essays are a significant contribution to the study of study abroad, explores three additional issues, and makes three suggestions for future work on religious studies and study abroad. This response is published alongside of six other essays, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Additional Info:
This response explains three ways in which the preceding essays are a significant contribution to the study of study abroad, explores three additional issues, and makes three suggestions for future work on religious studies and study abroad. This response is published alongside of six other essays, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
This response explains three ways in which the preceding essays are a significant contribution to the study of study abroad, explores three additional issues, and makes three suggestions for future work on religious studies and study abroad. This response is published alongside of six other essays, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Additional Info:
Student assignments and assessment – is there life beyond the ten-page essay? Drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences and experience with an assignment in which students were asked to address course content in anything but an essay, the author considers the challenges and virtues of a creative format that does not rely exclusively on linguistic intelligence. The process, presentations, and evaluative approach employed in an assignment that called upon student ...
Student assignments and assessment – is there life beyond the ten-page essay? Drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences and experience with an assignment in which students were asked to address course content in anything but an essay, the author considers the challenges and virtues of a creative format that does not rely exclusively on linguistic intelligence. The process, presentations, and evaluative approach employed in an assignment that called upon student ...
Additional Info:
Student assignments and assessment – is there life beyond the ten-page essay? Drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences and experience with an assignment in which students were asked to address course content in anything but an essay, the author considers the challenges and virtues of a creative format that does not rely exclusively on linguistic intelligence. The process, presentations, and evaluative approach employed in an assignment that called upon student creativity in a "Women and the Bible" course are described, and pedagogical and practical considerations explored. The analysis of a particularly memorable student submission reveals layers of complexity seldom achieved in a conventional essay format.
Student assignments and assessment – is there life beyond the ten-page essay? Drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences and experience with an assignment in which students were asked to address course content in anything but an essay, the author considers the challenges and virtues of a creative format that does not rely exclusively on linguistic intelligence. The process, presentations, and evaluative approach employed in an assignment that called upon student creativity in a "Women and the Bible" course are described, and pedagogical and practical considerations explored. The analysis of a particularly memorable student submission reveals layers of complexity seldom achieved in a conventional essay format.
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One page Teaching Tactic: student-centered process demonstrating the processes and reasonableness of biblical textual criticism.
One page Teaching Tactic: student-centered process demonstrating the processes and reasonableness of biblical textual criticism.
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One page Teaching Tactic: student-centered process demonstrating the processes and reasonableness of biblical textual criticism.
One page Teaching Tactic: student-centered process demonstrating the processes and reasonableness of biblical textual criticism.
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching the Moral Traditions of Others: Editor's Introduction (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 Educating Students as Immanent Critics of Religious-Moral Traditions (Rosemary B. Kellison)
ch. 3 Marriage and Moral Traditions of Others: Teaching Religious Ethics and World Religions (Irene Oh)
ch. 4 Using Group Work and Case Study to Teach about Islamic Law (Nahed Artoul Zehr)
ch. 5 Critical Thinking and Teaching the Religious Traditions of Others (Steven Benko)
ch. 6 Wider Moral Communities: A Framework for Teaching Comparative Religious Ethics (Mark Larrimore)
ch. 7 The Personal is Pedagogical: Embracing Moral Debate in the Religious Studies Classroom (Elizabeth Barre)
Resources
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching the Moral Traditions of Others: Editor's Introduction (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 Educating Students as Immanent Critics of Religious-Moral Traditions (Rosemary B. Kellison)
ch. 3 Marriage and Moral Traditions of Others: Teaching Religious Ethics and World Religions (Irene Oh)
ch. 4 Using Group Work and Case Study to Teach about Islamic Law (Nahed Artoul Zehr)
ch. 5 Critical Thinking and Teaching the Religious Traditions of Others (Steven Benko)
ch. 6 Wider Moral Communities: A Framework for Teaching Comparative Religious Ethics (Mark Larrimore)
ch. 7 The Personal is Pedagogical: Embracing Moral Debate in the Religious Studies Classroom (Elizabeth Barre)
Resources
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What are grades doing in a homiletics classroom? This article traces the function of grades through the broader history of the educational system in the United States and then makes suggestions for how grades can be used more effectively in teaching preaching. Beginning in the nineteenth century, teachers used grades to rank and motivate students, as well as communicate across institutions. With the more recent assessment movement, educators have conceptualized ...
What are grades doing in a homiletics classroom? This article traces the function of grades through the broader history of the educational system in the United States and then makes suggestions for how grades can be used more effectively in teaching preaching. Beginning in the nineteenth century, teachers used grades to rank and motivate students, as well as communicate across institutions. With the more recent assessment movement, educators have conceptualized ...
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What are grades doing in a homiletics classroom? This article traces the function of grades through the broader history of the educational system in the United States and then makes suggestions for how grades can be used more effectively in teaching preaching. Beginning in the nineteenth century, teachers used grades to rank and motivate students, as well as communicate across institutions. With the more recent assessment movement, educators have conceptualized grading as the larger process of evaluating the success of learning objectives. The commission on accreditation for the Association of Theological Schools does not view grades as part of its assessment, but it evaluates theological schools on whether they achieve intended learning outcomes. Theological educators need to be able to evaluate whether their teaching fulfills their schools' mission and learning objectives. For homiletics, the author measures learning through pre- and post-preaching feedback and incorporates professor- and student-crafted rubrics.
What are grades doing in a homiletics classroom? This article traces the function of grades through the broader history of the educational system in the United States and then makes suggestions for how grades can be used more effectively in teaching preaching. Beginning in the nineteenth century, teachers used grades to rank and motivate students, as well as communicate across institutions. With the more recent assessment movement, educators have conceptualized grading as the larger process of evaluating the success of learning objectives. The commission on accreditation for the Association of Theological Schools does not view grades as part of its assessment, but it evaluates theological schools on whether they achieve intended learning outcomes. Theological educators need to be able to evaluate whether their teaching fulfills their schools' mission and learning objectives. For homiletics, the author measures learning through pre- and post-preaching feedback and incorporates professor- and student-crafted rubrics.
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Teaching music in certain seminary contexts poses particular challenges for teaching and learning. The theme of disjuncture between teacher and student in courses that aim to incorporate music in the seminary curriculum are more vital than ever before because of the extreme cultural diversity of our population and integral nature of music in the worship life of religious communities. This essay tackles the difficulties associated with teaching worship music in ...
Teaching music in certain seminary contexts poses particular challenges for teaching and learning. The theme of disjuncture between teacher and student in courses that aim to incorporate music in the seminary curriculum are more vital than ever before because of the extreme cultural diversity of our population and integral nature of music in the worship life of religious communities. This essay tackles the difficulties associated with teaching worship music in ...
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Teaching music in certain seminary contexts poses particular challenges for teaching and learning. The theme of disjuncture between teacher and student in courses that aim to incorporate music in the seminary curriculum are more vital than ever before because of the extreme cultural diversity of our population and integral nature of music in the worship life of religious communities. This essay tackles the difficulties associated with teaching worship music in seminaries where there are a plurality of religious traditions represented and a host of expectations held by diverse student bodies about what connotes worship music. Topics addressed include issues concerning terminology, repertoire, pedagogical methods for teaching worship music, and current issues in church music.
Teaching music in certain seminary contexts poses particular challenges for teaching and learning. The theme of disjuncture between teacher and student in courses that aim to incorporate music in the seminary curriculum are more vital than ever before because of the extreme cultural diversity of our population and integral nature of music in the worship life of religious communities. This essay tackles the difficulties associated with teaching worship music in seminaries where there are a plurality of religious traditions represented and a host of expectations held by diverse student bodies about what connotes worship music. Topics addressed include issues concerning terminology, repertoire, pedagogical methods for teaching worship music, and current issues in church music.
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One page Teaching Tactic: encouraging discussion of significant course material on the first day of class.
One page Teaching Tactic: encouraging discussion of significant course material on the first day of class.
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One page Teaching Tactic: encouraging discussion of significant course material on the first day of class.
One page Teaching Tactic: encouraging discussion of significant course material on the first day of class.
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Grammar-translation pedagogy is the standard for biblical language instruction. Second language acquisition scholars have argued that grammar-translation is ineffective and not empirically justified. Moreover, evidence suggests most seminary graduates do not use biblical languages effectively in ministry. Task-based instruction is an important alternative pedagogy which focuses on the tasks students will be using the language for and designs the curriculum around those tasks. A task-based approach de-emphasizes translation and memorization ...
Grammar-translation pedagogy is the standard for biblical language instruction. Second language acquisition scholars have argued that grammar-translation is ineffective and not empirically justified. Moreover, evidence suggests most seminary graduates do not use biblical languages effectively in ministry. Task-based instruction is an important alternative pedagogy which focuses on the tasks students will be using the language for and designs the curriculum around those tasks. A task-based approach de-emphasizes translation and memorization ...
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Grammar-translation pedagogy is the standard for biblical language instruction. Second language acquisition scholars have argued that grammar-translation is ineffective and not empirically justified. Moreover, evidence suggests most seminary graduates do not use biblical languages effectively in ministry. Task-based instruction is an important alternative pedagogy which focuses on the tasks students will be using the language for and designs the curriculum around those tasks. A task-based approach de-emphasizes translation and memorization of forms. Instead, the emphasis from the beginning is on biblical interpretation and exposition. Available software based resources offer new possibilities for task-based teaching, as students can identify forms and vocabulary and have access to a library of resources. A task-based pedagogy using these tools enables students to quickly develop skills in biblical interpretation that are normally reserved for the third or fourth semester of study. Task-based pedagogy offers great promise for effective and efficient biblical language pedagogy.
Grammar-translation pedagogy is the standard for biblical language instruction. Second language acquisition scholars have argued that grammar-translation is ineffective and not empirically justified. Moreover, evidence suggests most seminary graduates do not use biblical languages effectively in ministry. Task-based instruction is an important alternative pedagogy which focuses on the tasks students will be using the language for and designs the curriculum around those tasks. A task-based approach de-emphasizes translation and memorization of forms. Instead, the emphasis from the beginning is on biblical interpretation and exposition. Available software based resources offer new possibilities for task-based teaching, as students can identify forms and vocabulary and have access to a library of resources. A task-based pedagogy using these tools enables students to quickly develop skills in biblical interpretation that are normally reserved for the third or fourth semester of study. Task-based pedagogy offers great promise for effective and efficient biblical language pedagogy.
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The paper explores the impact of the change in populations, the impact of electronic communication, and the multiplicity of methodological approaches on the ethos and practices of biblical studies. It proposes a rhetorical emancipatory educational paradigm and explores its possibilities for the professional education of biblical scholars on the doctoral level. Since both college and seminary teachers are shaped in and through their doctoral studies, it is necessary to focus ...
The paper explores the impact of the change in populations, the impact of electronic communication, and the multiplicity of methodological approaches on the ethos and practices of biblical studies. It proposes a rhetorical emancipatory educational paradigm and explores its possibilities for the professional education of biblical scholars on the doctoral level. Since both college and seminary teachers are shaped in and through their doctoral studies, it is necessary to focus ...
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The paper explores the impact of the change in populations, the impact of electronic communication, and the multiplicity of methodological approaches on the ethos and practices of biblical studies. It proposes a rhetorical emancipatory educational paradigm and explores its possibilities for the professional education of biblical scholars on the doctoral level. Since both college and seminary teachers are shaped in and through their doctoral studies, it is necessary to focus on doctoral education in order to address the growing recognition that the discipline of biblical studies in its present form needs to cultivate transformative intellectuals who are not only at home in the academy but also can critically intervene in the public discourses and uses of the Bible in religious communities, democratic publics, or global inter-religious relations.
The paper explores the impact of the change in populations, the impact of electronic communication, and the multiplicity of methodological approaches on the ethos and practices of biblical studies. It proposes a rhetorical emancipatory educational paradigm and explores its possibilities for the professional education of biblical scholars on the doctoral level. Since both college and seminary teachers are shaped in and through their doctoral studies, it is necessary to focus on doctoral education in order to address the growing recognition that the discipline of biblical studies in its present form needs to cultivate transformative intellectuals who are not only at home in the academy but also can critically intervene in the public discourses and uses of the Bible in religious communities, democratic publics, or global inter-religious relations.
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What does it mean to teach virtue, or to learn it? We consider this question through an institutional review board (IRB) supported research study attending to student learning experiences in undergraduate ethics courses at a Catholic university with an explicit commitment to social justice. This essay draws on and interprets qualitative data concerning the outcomes of select pedagogical approaches that involve exposing students to the experiences of others: the use ...
What does it mean to teach virtue, or to learn it? We consider this question through an institutional review board (IRB) supported research study attending to student learning experiences in undergraduate ethics courses at a Catholic university with an explicit commitment to social justice. This essay draws on and interprets qualitative data concerning the outcomes of select pedagogical approaches that involve exposing students to the experiences of others: the use ...
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What does it mean to teach virtue, or to learn it? We consider this question through an institutional review board (IRB) supported research study attending to student learning experiences in undergraduate ethics courses at a Catholic university with an explicit commitment to social justice. This essay draws on and interprets qualitative data concerning the outcomes of select pedagogical approaches that involve exposing students to the experiences of others: the use of narratives; participation in structured experiential learning activities; and community engagement through deep listening and facilitated dialogue. We focus our interpretation around the implications of these pedagogies in relation to student understanding of and attitudes regarding three character traits identified as “other-regarding” virtues in theological and philosophical scholarship – altruism, compassion, and solidarity. This paper considers the implications of these pedagogies and the practical effects of different sorts of teaching strategies on students' self-understanding as moral agents
What does it mean to teach virtue, or to learn it? We consider this question through an institutional review board (IRB) supported research study attending to student learning experiences in undergraduate ethics courses at a Catholic university with an explicit commitment to social justice. This essay draws on and interprets qualitative data concerning the outcomes of select pedagogical approaches that involve exposing students to the experiences of others: the use of narratives; participation in structured experiential learning activities; and community engagement through deep listening and facilitated dialogue. We focus our interpretation around the implications of these pedagogies in relation to student understanding of and attitudes regarding three character traits identified as “other-regarding” virtues in theological and philosophical scholarship – altruism, compassion, and solidarity. This paper considers the implications of these pedagogies and the practical effects of different sorts of teaching strategies on students' self-understanding as moral agents
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Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Team Teaching in Religious Studies: Editor's Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Embodies Religion, Embodied Teaching: Team Teaching "Food Religion" (Norma Baumel Joseph, and Leslie C. Orr)
ch. 3 Brain, Stomach and Soul (Cara Anthony, and Elsie Amel)
ch. 4 Building Interdisciplinary Networks: Team Teaching Benefits for Religious Studies Professors (Melissa Stewart, and Deborah Field)
ch. 5 Jews and Christians Learn from Memoirs: A Collegially Taught Course (Mary C. Boys, and Sarah Tauber)
ch. 6 Team Teaching India's Identities across State and National Borders (Amy L. Allocco, and Brian K. Pennington)
ch. 7 Team Teaching in Religious Studies: Suggested Resources
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Team Teaching in Religious Studies: Editor's Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Embodies Religion, Embodied Teaching: Team Teaching "Food Religion" (Norma Baumel Joseph, and Leslie C. Orr)
ch. 3 Brain, Stomach and Soul (Cara Anthony, and Elsie Amel)
ch. 4 Building Interdisciplinary Networks: Team Teaching Benefits for Religious Studies Professors (Melissa Stewart, and Deborah Field)
ch. 5 Jews and Christians Learn from Memoirs: A Collegially Taught Course (Mary C. Boys, and Sarah Tauber)
ch. 6 Team Teaching India's Identities across State and National Borders (Amy L. Allocco, and Brian K. Pennington)
ch. 7 Team Teaching in Religious Studies: Suggested Resources
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This article reports on a practitioner action research project focused on developing, trialing, and reflecting upon a continuous and formative-assessment plan for a foundational New Testament survey course. Three pedagogical convictions are discussed and drive the design of the assessment. Seven to nine assessment items (depending on level of study) based on course learning outcomes and informed by Bloom's taxonomy of learning, were developed and implemented. Students provided feedback on ...
This article reports on a practitioner action research project focused on developing, trialing, and reflecting upon a continuous and formative-assessment plan for a foundational New Testament survey course. Three pedagogical convictions are discussed and drive the design of the assessment. Seven to nine assessment items (depending on level of study) based on course learning outcomes and informed by Bloom's taxonomy of learning, were developed and implemented. Students provided feedback on ...
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This article reports on a practitioner action research project focused on developing, trialing, and reflecting upon a continuous and formative-assessment plan for a foundational New Testament survey course. Three pedagogical convictions are discussed and drive the design of the assessment. Seven to nine assessment items (depending on level of study) based on course learning outcomes and informed by Bloom's taxonomy of learning, were developed and implemented. Students provided feedback on the assessment through an anonymous online survey. The results demonstrate that students preferred continuous assessment to an exam and major essay, and that they better achieved the course learning outcomes. In conclusion, this style of assessment is effective in driving and assessing student learning and so provides a basis for further action reflection.
This article reports on a practitioner action research project focused on developing, trialing, and reflecting upon a continuous and formative-assessment plan for a foundational New Testament survey course. Three pedagogical convictions are discussed and drive the design of the assessment. Seven to nine assessment items (depending on level of study) based on course learning outcomes and informed by Bloom's taxonomy of learning, were developed and implemented. Students provided feedback on the assessment through an anonymous online survey. The results demonstrate that students preferred continuous assessment to an exam and major essay, and that they better achieved the course learning outcomes. In conclusion, this style of assessment is effective in driving and assessing student learning and so provides a basis for further action reflection.
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This essay chronicles the academic odyssey of a young professor who sets out to revise the department's Introduction to Religion course only to realize that she must first clarify her vocational commitments before she can create a teachable course. She is convinced through working with many students who express disdain or even hostility toward the subject matter that she wants to model a relationship to the subject matter that says ...
This essay chronicles the academic odyssey of a young professor who sets out to revise the department's Introduction to Religion course only to realize that she must first clarify her vocational commitments before she can create a teachable course. She is convinced through working with many students who express disdain or even hostility toward the subject matter that she wants to model a relationship to the subject matter that says ...
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This essay chronicles the academic odyssey of a young professor who sets out to revise the department's Introduction to Religion course only to realize that she must first clarify her vocational commitments before she can create a teachable course. She is convinced through working with many students who express disdain or even hostility toward the subject matter that she wants to model a relationship to the subject matter that says religion matters, but is uncertain how to do this. After an autobiographical foray into her academic upbringing in active learning, the author articulates four values to model in her teaching: personal relevance, academic responsibility, ethics, and community. The author then engages current scholarship in active learning, and narrates the process of translating those four values into concrete course goals and particular assignments. The essay concludes with an assessment of teaching the revised course.
This essay chronicles the academic odyssey of a young professor who sets out to revise the department's Introduction to Religion course only to realize that she must first clarify her vocational commitments before she can create a teachable course. She is convinced through working with many students who express disdain or even hostility toward the subject matter that she wants to model a relationship to the subject matter that says religion matters, but is uncertain how to do this. After an autobiographical foray into her academic upbringing in active learning, the author articulates four values to model in her teaching: personal relevance, academic responsibility, ethics, and community. The author then engages current scholarship in active learning, and narrates the process of translating those four values into concrete course goals and particular assignments. The essay concludes with an assessment of teaching the revised course.
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This article begins by recognizing the increasing use of film in Religion, Theology, and Bible courses. It contends that in many Biblical Studies (and Religious Studies and Theology) courses, students are neither taught how to view films properly, nor how to place films into constructive dialogue with biblical texts. The article argues for a specific pedagogical approach to the use of film in which students learn how to view a ...
This article begins by recognizing the increasing use of film in Religion, Theology, and Bible courses. It contends that in many Biblical Studies (and Religious Studies and Theology) courses, students are neither taught how to view films properly, nor how to place films into constructive dialogue with biblical texts. The article argues for a specific pedagogical approach to the use of film in which students learn how to view a ...
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This article begins by recognizing the increasing use of film in Religion, Theology, and Bible courses. It contends that in many Biblical Studies (and Religious Studies and Theology) courses, students are neither taught how to view films properly, nor how to place films into constructive dialogue with biblical texts. The article argues for a specific pedagogical approach to the use of film in which students learn how to view a film closely, in its entirety, on its own terms, and in its own voice. Viewing a film in this manner by attending to its aesthetic integrity is a prerequisite for constructing a fruitful dialogue between films and biblical texts. The essay concludes with three specific examples of what this approach might look like. Two responses follow the essay; Erin Runions of Pomona College considers two additional learning goals we might consider, and Richard Ascough of Queens University at Kingston helpfully distinguishes a range of possible pedagogical goals for introducing film into the Biblical Studies classroom.
This article begins by recognizing the increasing use of film in Religion, Theology, and Bible courses. It contends that in many Biblical Studies (and Religious Studies and Theology) courses, students are neither taught how to view films properly, nor how to place films into constructive dialogue with biblical texts. The article argues for a specific pedagogical approach to the use of film in which students learn how to view a film closely, in its entirety, on its own terms, and in its own voice. Viewing a film in this manner by attending to its aesthetic integrity is a prerequisite for constructing a fruitful dialogue between films and biblical texts. The essay concludes with three specific examples of what this approach might look like. Two responses follow the essay; Erin Runions of Pomona College considers two additional learning goals we might consider, and Richard Ascough of Queens University at Kingston helpfully distinguishes a range of possible pedagogical goals for introducing film into the Biblical Studies classroom.
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
cb. 1 Teaching Asian American Religions and Religiosities: Guest Editor’s Introduction (Jonathan H. X. Lee)
ch. 2 Teaching Asian Religions from within the Asian American Community (Emily S. Wu)
ch. 3 Teaching and Learning through the Manzanar Pilgrimage (Joanne Doi)
ch. 4 Teaching about Asian American Sacred Spaces at a Catholic College (Linh Hoang)
ch. 5 On Learning and Teaching the Art of Sho (Ronald Y. Nakasone)
ch. 6 Asian American Music and Religion: Scaffolding to Teach Hybridity and to Reduce Anxiety (Brett J. Esaki)
ch. 7 Teaching Asian American Islam and Racialization through Film (Rabia Kamal)
ch. 8 Critical Pedagogy for Sikh American Religiosity and Race Jaideep Singh, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Race & Gender
ch. 9 Vietnamese American Religions within a Transnational Framework (Thien-Huong T. Ninh)
ch. 10 Inserting Christianity into Asian American Studies (Dean Ryuta Adachi)
ch. 11 Suggested Resources
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
cb. 1 Teaching Asian American Religions and Religiosities: Guest Editor’s Introduction (Jonathan H. X. Lee)
ch. 2 Teaching Asian Religions from within the Asian American Community (Emily S. Wu)
ch. 3 Teaching and Learning through the Manzanar Pilgrimage (Joanne Doi)
ch. 4 Teaching about Asian American Sacred Spaces at a Catholic College (Linh Hoang)
ch. 5 On Learning and Teaching the Art of Sho (Ronald Y. Nakasone)
ch. 6 Asian American Music and Religion: Scaffolding to Teach Hybridity and to Reduce Anxiety (Brett J. Esaki)
ch. 7 Teaching Asian American Islam and Racialization through Film (Rabia Kamal)
ch. 8 Critical Pedagogy for Sikh American Religiosity and Race Jaideep Singh, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Race & Gender
ch. 9 Vietnamese American Religions within a Transnational Framework (Thien-Huong T. Ninh)
ch. 10 Inserting Christianity into Asian American Studies (Dean Ryuta Adachi)
ch. 11 Suggested Resources
Additional Info:
Many faculty members reach for powerful clips or entire films to give background information to a topic or to provoke discussion. We do this because we have a sense that such materials engage students in a way that more theoretical texts, speculative discussions, or even case studies do not. In the field of ethics, however, one meets resistance to employing narratives that are too engaging. The wary ethicist doubts that ...
Many faculty members reach for powerful clips or entire films to give background information to a topic or to provoke discussion. We do this because we have a sense that such materials engage students in a way that more theoretical texts, speculative discussions, or even case studies do not. In the field of ethics, however, one meets resistance to employing narratives that are too engaging. The wary ethicist doubts that ...
Additional Info:
Many faculty members reach for powerful clips or entire films to give background information to a topic or to provoke discussion. We do this because we have a sense that such materials engage students in a way that more theoretical texts, speculative discussions, or even case studies do not. In the field of ethics, however, one meets resistance to employing narratives that are too engaging. The wary ethicist doubts that a medium that manipulates the viewer, engages the emotions, and elicits a personal connection to the characters is the best resource for ethical reflection. This paper argues that film, like other narrative forms, is indeed an appropriate medium for teaching ethics and suggests methods for doing so effectively.
Many faculty members reach for powerful clips or entire films to give background information to a topic or to provoke discussion. We do this because we have a sense that such materials engage students in a way that more theoretical texts, speculative discussions, or even case studies do not. In the field of ethics, however, one meets resistance to employing narratives that are too engaging. The wary ethicist doubts that a medium that manipulates the viewer, engages the emotions, and elicits a personal connection to the characters is the best resource for ethical reflection. This paper argues that film, like other narrative forms, is indeed an appropriate medium for teaching ethics and suggests methods for doing so effectively.
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This essay describes an introductory class exercise to help prepare students to critically examine both religious beliefs and scientific findings. Using a published pedagogical exercise originally designed to teach Popperian falsificationism and modified to encompass a variety of schools of thought about hypothesis testing, the paper explores how groups of students utilized assigned philosophical approaches such as neojustificationism, falsificationism, or conventionalism. A description of the exercise and some of the ...
This essay describes an introductory class exercise to help prepare students to critically examine both religious beliefs and scientific findings. Using a published pedagogical exercise originally designed to teach Popperian falsificationism and modified to encompass a variety of schools of thought about hypothesis testing, the paper explores how groups of students utilized assigned philosophical approaches such as neojustificationism, falsificationism, or conventionalism. A description of the exercise and some of the ...
Additional Info:
This essay describes an introductory class exercise to help prepare students to critically examine both religious beliefs and scientific findings. Using a published pedagogical exercise originally designed to teach Popperian falsificationism and modified to encompass a variety of schools of thought about hypothesis testing, the paper explores how groups of students utilized assigned philosophical approaches such as neojustificationism, falsificationism, or conventionalism. A description of the exercise and some of the learning outcomes are included.
This essay describes an introductory class exercise to help prepare students to critically examine both religious beliefs and scientific findings. Using a published pedagogical exercise originally designed to teach Popperian falsificationism and modified to encompass a variety of schools of thought about hypothesis testing, the paper explores how groups of students utilized assigned philosophical approaches such as neojustificationism, falsificationism, or conventionalism. A description of the exercise and some of the learning outcomes are included.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: discussion of a classical text that moves students from description to analysis and evaluation.
One page Teaching Tactic: discussion of a classical text that moves students from description to analysis and evaluation.
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One page Teaching Tactic: discussion of a classical text that moves students from description to analysis and evaluation.
One page Teaching Tactic: discussion of a classical text that moves students from description to analysis and evaluation.
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Creating ways to make a discipline come alive for those who are not experts - even for students who may not take more than one or two courses in the disciplines they study - requires rigorous thought about what really matters in a field and how to engage students in its practice.
Faculty from Alverno College representing a range of liberal arts disciplines - chemistry, economics, history, literature, ...
Creating ways to make a discipline come alive for those who are not experts - even for students who may not take more than one or two courses in the disciplines they study - requires rigorous thought about what really matters in a field and how to engage students in its practice.
Faculty from Alverno College representing a range of liberal arts disciplines - chemistry, economics, history, literature, ...
Additional Info:
Creating ways to make a discipline come alive for those who are not experts - even for students who may not take more than one or two courses in the disciplines they study - requires rigorous thought about what really matters in a field and how to engage students in its practice.
Faculty from Alverno College representing a range of liberal arts disciplines - chemistry, economics, history, literature, mathematics and philosophy - here reflect on what it has meant for them to approach their disciplines as frameworks for student learning.
The authors all demonstrate how the ways of thinking they have identified as significant for their students in their respective disciplines have affected the way they design learning experiences. They show how they have shaped their teaching around the ways of thinking they want their students to develop within and across their disciplines; and what that means in terms of designing assessments that require students to demonstrate their thinking and understanding through application and use. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction
ch. 1 Common ground : how history professors and undergraduate students learn through history (James Roth)
ch. 2 Learning to think mathematically (Susan Pustejovsky)
ch. 3 Teaching students to practice philosophy (Donna Englemann)
ch. 4 Making economics matter to students (Zohreh Emami)
ch. 5 Reading and responding to literature: developing critical perspectives (Lucy Cromwell)
ch. 6 Articulating the cognitive processes at the heart of chemistry (Ann van Heerden)
ch. 7 Because Hester Prynne was an existentialist, or why using disciplines as frameworks for learning clarifies life (Rebecca Valentine)
Creating ways to make a discipline come alive for those who are not experts - even for students who may not take more than one or two courses in the disciplines they study - requires rigorous thought about what really matters in a field and how to engage students in its practice.
Faculty from Alverno College representing a range of liberal arts disciplines - chemistry, economics, history, literature, mathematics and philosophy - here reflect on what it has meant for them to approach their disciplines as frameworks for student learning.
The authors all demonstrate how the ways of thinking they have identified as significant for their students in their respective disciplines have affected the way they design learning experiences. They show how they have shaped their teaching around the ways of thinking they want their students to develop within and across their disciplines; and what that means in terms of designing assessments that require students to demonstrate their thinking and understanding through application and use. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction
ch. 1 Common ground : how history professors and undergraduate students learn through history (James Roth)
ch. 2 Learning to think mathematically (Susan Pustejovsky)
ch. 3 Teaching students to practice philosophy (Donna Englemann)
ch. 4 Making economics matter to students (Zohreh Emami)
ch. 5 Reading and responding to literature: developing critical perspectives (Lucy Cromwell)
ch. 6 Articulating the cognitive processes at the heart of chemistry (Ann van Heerden)
ch. 7 Because Hester Prynne was an existentialist, or why using disciplines as frameworks for learning clarifies life (Rebecca Valentine)
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: a discussion exercise on the first day of class fools students in order to disrupt their prior assumptions of what constitutes a “real religion."
One page Teaching Tactic: a discussion exercise on the first day of class fools students in order to disrupt their prior assumptions of what constitutes a “real religion."
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: a discussion exercise on the first day of class fools students in order to disrupt their prior assumptions of what constitutes a “real religion."
One page Teaching Tactic: a discussion exercise on the first day of class fools students in order to disrupt their prior assumptions of what constitutes a “real religion."
Additional Info:
This article focuses on Reflective Structured Dialogue as a set of practices developed in the context of conflict resolution that are well suited to handling quotidian uneasiness and extraordinary moments of disruption in religious studies classrooms. After introducing Reflective Structured Dialogue's history, goals, and general practices, the authors consider its uses in classroom settings. They argue that a classroom in which teachers understand themselves as facilitators, and in which students ...
This article focuses on Reflective Structured Dialogue as a set of practices developed in the context of conflict resolution that are well suited to handling quotidian uneasiness and extraordinary moments of disruption in religious studies classrooms. After introducing Reflective Structured Dialogue's history, goals, and general practices, the authors consider its uses in classroom settings. They argue that a classroom in which teachers understand themselves as facilitators, and in which students ...
Additional Info:
This article focuses on Reflective Structured Dialogue as a set of practices developed in the context of conflict resolution that are well suited to handling quotidian uneasiness and extraordinary moments of disruption in religious studies classrooms. After introducing Reflective Structured Dialogue's history, goals, and general practices, the authors consider its uses in classroom settings. They argue that a classroom in which teachers understand themselves as facilitators, and in which students are experienced in structured dialogue practices – including being comfortable in a state of intellectual “wobble” – is one more apt to be able to engage with, and more likely to benefit from, disruptive events.
This article focuses on Reflective Structured Dialogue as a set of practices developed in the context of conflict resolution that are well suited to handling quotidian uneasiness and extraordinary moments of disruption in religious studies classrooms. After introducing Reflective Structured Dialogue's history, goals, and general practices, the authors consider its uses in classroom settings. They argue that a classroom in which teachers understand themselves as facilitators, and in which students are experienced in structured dialogue practices – including being comfortable in a state of intellectual “wobble” – is one more apt to be able to engage with, and more likely to benefit from, disruptive events.
Additional Info:
Internships and other experiential education courses in Religious Studies departments particularly benefit from careful pedagogical preparation. In addition to the usual components of conceptual content and skills, these courses require knowledge about and understanding of human communication and interaction and organizational function. To be successfully collaborative in the classroom and with Community Partners for learning and service, students and teachers need tools for participant observation, integration of data and response, ...
Internships and other experiential education courses in Religious Studies departments particularly benefit from careful pedagogical preparation. In addition to the usual components of conceptual content and skills, these courses require knowledge about and understanding of human communication and interaction and organizational function. To be successfully collaborative in the classroom and with Community Partners for learning and service, students and teachers need tools for participant observation, integration of data and response, ...
Additional Info:
Internships and other experiential education courses in Religious Studies departments particularly benefit from careful pedagogical preparation. In addition to the usual components of conceptual content and skills, these courses require knowledge about and understanding of human communication and interaction and organizational function. To be successfully collaborative in the classroom and with Community Partners for learning and service, students and teachers need tools for participant observation, integration of data and response, and reflection. This article proposes and discusses using 10 strategies of ethnography as a pedagogical frame. Developed in an internship class, these ten tools are demonstrated through teacher discussion and reflection and students' written work. Specific connections to the field of Religious Studies are highlighted. The article is written in the hopes of stimulating additional conversations on how experiential learning and teaching, specifically the use of ethnography, can be effectively and appropriately used in Religious Studies courses.
Internships and other experiential education courses in Religious Studies departments particularly benefit from careful pedagogical preparation. In addition to the usual components of conceptual content and skills, these courses require knowledge about and understanding of human communication and interaction and organizational function. To be successfully collaborative in the classroom and with Community Partners for learning and service, students and teachers need tools for participant observation, integration of data and response, and reflection. This article proposes and discusses using 10 strategies of ethnography as a pedagogical frame. Developed in an internship class, these ten tools are demonstrated through teacher discussion and reflection and students' written work. Specific connections to the field of Religious Studies are highlighted. The article is written in the hopes of stimulating additional conversations on how experiential learning and teaching, specifically the use of ethnography, can be effectively and appropriately used in Religious Studies courses.
Additional Info:
TTR Teaching Tactic: a group process to design an interfaith ritual in which every religion is respected and no religion is privileged.
TTR Teaching Tactic: a group process to design an interfaith ritual in which every religion is respected and no religion is privileged.
Additional Info:
TTR Teaching Tactic: a group process to design an interfaith ritual in which every religion is respected and no religion is privileged.
TTR Teaching Tactic: a group process to design an interfaith ritual in which every religion is respected and no religion is privileged.

Dancing in the Rain: Leading with Compassion, Vitality, and Mindfulness in Education
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Click Here for Book Review
Dancing in the Rain offers a lively and accessible guide aimed at helping education leaders thrive under pressure by developing the inner strengths of mindfulness and self-compassion, expressing emotions wisely, and maintaining a clear focus on the values that matter most. Jerome T. Murphy, a scholar and former dean who has written ...
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Dancing in the Rain offers a lively and accessible guide aimed at helping education leaders thrive under pressure by developing the inner strengths of mindfulness and self-compassion, expressing emotions wisely, and maintaining a clear focus on the values that matter most. Jerome T. Murphy, a scholar and former dean who has written ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Dancing in the Rain offers a lively and accessible guide aimed at helping education leaders thrive under pressure by developing the inner strengths of mindfulness and self-compassion, expressing emotions wisely, and maintaining a clear focus on the values that matter most. Jerome T. Murphy, a scholar and former dean who has written and taught about the inner life of education leaders, argues that the main barrier to thriving as leaders is not the outside pressures we face, but how we respond to them inside our minds and hearts.
In this concise volume, Murphy draws on a combination of Eastern contemplative traditions and Western psychology, as well as his own experience and research in the field of education leadership. He presents a series of exercises and activities to help educators take discomfort more in stride, savor the joys and satisfactions of leadership work, and thrive as effective leaders guided by heartfelt values.
Every day, education leaders find themselves swamped in a maelstrom of pressures that add to the complex challenges of educating all students to a high level. With humor and compassion, Dancing in the Rain shows educators how to lead lives of consequence and purpose in the face of life’s inescapable downpours. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Forward
Introduction
PART I Drowning in the Rain
Ch 1. The Difficulties of Leadership
Ch 2. Making a Hard Job Harder
PART II Introducing MY DANCE
Ch 3. The MY DANCE Framework
Ch 4. Getting Ready to Dance
PART III MY DANCE, Step by Step<.b>
ch 5. Mind Your Values
ch 6. Yield to Now
Ch 7. Disentangle from Upsets
Ch 8. Allow Unease
Ch 9. Nourish Yourself
Ch 10. Cherish Self-Compassion Ch 11. Express Feelings Wisely
PART IV Putting It All Together
Ch 12. Pick Up Your Feet and Dance
Appendix
Click Here for Book Review
Dancing in the Rain offers a lively and accessible guide aimed at helping education leaders thrive under pressure by developing the inner strengths of mindfulness and self-compassion, expressing emotions wisely, and maintaining a clear focus on the values that matter most. Jerome T. Murphy, a scholar and former dean who has written and taught about the inner life of education leaders, argues that the main barrier to thriving as leaders is not the outside pressures we face, but how we respond to them inside our minds and hearts.
In this concise volume, Murphy draws on a combination of Eastern contemplative traditions and Western psychology, as well as his own experience and research in the field of education leadership. He presents a series of exercises and activities to help educators take discomfort more in stride, savor the joys and satisfactions of leadership work, and thrive as effective leaders guided by heartfelt values.
Every day, education leaders find themselves swamped in a maelstrom of pressures that add to the complex challenges of educating all students to a high level. With humor and compassion, Dancing in the Rain shows educators how to lead lives of consequence and purpose in the face of life’s inescapable downpours. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Forward
Introduction
PART I Drowning in the Rain
Ch 1. The Difficulties of Leadership
Ch 2. Making a Hard Job Harder
PART II Introducing MY DANCE
Ch 3. The MY DANCE Framework
Ch 4. Getting Ready to Dance
PART III MY DANCE, Step by Step<.b>
ch 5. Mind Your Values
ch 6. Yield to Now
Ch 7. Disentangle from Upsets
Ch 8. Allow Unease
Ch 9. Nourish Yourself
Ch 10. Cherish Self-Compassion Ch 11. Express Feelings Wisely
PART IV Putting It All Together
Ch 12. Pick Up Your Feet and Dance
Appendix

Breakaway Learners Strategies for Post-Secondary Success with At-Risk Students
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This powerful book explores how institutions of higher education can successfully serve “breakaway” students—first-generation, low-income students who are trying to break away from the past in order to create a more secure future. The gap between low-SES and high-SES students persists as efforts to close it have not met with great ...
Click Here for Book Review
This powerful book explores how institutions of higher education can successfully serve “breakaway” students—first-generation, low-income students who are trying to break away from the past in order to create a more secure future. The gap between low-SES and high-SES students persists as efforts to close it have not met with great ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
This powerful book explores how institutions of higher education can successfully serve “breakaway” students—first-generation, low-income students who are trying to break away from the past in order to create a more secure future. The gap between low-SES and high-SES students persists as efforts to close it have not met with great success. In this provocative book, Gross offers a new approach to addressing inequities by focusing on students who have succeeded despite struggling with the impacts of poverty and trauma. Gross draws on her experience as a college president to outline practical steps that postsecondary institutions can take to create structures of support and opportunity that build reciprocal trust. Students must trust their institutions and professors, professors must trust their students, and eventually students must learn to trust themselves. Visit the book’s website at breakawaylearners.com.(From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgements
ch. 1 Can You See the Stars at Night?
ch. 2 Anchoring Lasticity
ch. 3 Who Are Our Students?-Now and Into the Future
ch. 4 Breakaway Students and Culture Change
ch. 5 Yes, the Positives of Toxic Stress and Trauma
ch. 6 Elasticity: One of the Lasticity's Building Blocks
ch. 7 The Untapped Power of Plasticity
ch. 8 Pivoting right
ch. 9 Lasticity's Reciprocal Heart
ch. 10 Belief in Self Isn't Easy
ch. 11 Animating Lasticity on a College Campus
ch. 12 Lasticity Goes Big
ch. 13 Lasticity's Hurdles and How to Surmount Them
ch. 14 Money and Its Meaning
ch 15. Lasticity's Growing Urgency
ch. 16. Lasticity's Entrance into the Lexicon
ch. 17. Promises Made and Kept
Notes
Additional Relevant Readings
Index
About the Author
Books Received
Index To Volume
Click Here for Book Review
This powerful book explores how institutions of higher education can successfully serve “breakaway” students—first-generation, low-income students who are trying to break away from the past in order to create a more secure future. The gap between low-SES and high-SES students persists as efforts to close it have not met with great success. In this provocative book, Gross offers a new approach to addressing inequities by focusing on students who have succeeded despite struggling with the impacts of poverty and trauma. Gross draws on her experience as a college president to outline practical steps that postsecondary institutions can take to create structures of support and opportunity that build reciprocal trust. Students must trust their institutions and professors, professors must trust their students, and eventually students must learn to trust themselves. Visit the book’s website at breakawaylearners.com.(From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgements
ch. 1 Can You See the Stars at Night?
ch. 2 Anchoring Lasticity
ch. 3 Who Are Our Students?-Now and Into the Future
ch. 4 Breakaway Students and Culture Change
ch. 5 Yes, the Positives of Toxic Stress and Trauma
ch. 6 Elasticity: One of the Lasticity's Building Blocks
ch. 7 The Untapped Power of Plasticity
ch. 8 Pivoting right
ch. 9 Lasticity's Reciprocal Heart
ch. 10 Belief in Self Isn't Easy
ch. 11 Animating Lasticity on a College Campus
ch. 12 Lasticity Goes Big
ch. 13 Lasticity's Hurdles and How to Surmount Them
ch. 14 Money and Its Meaning
ch 15. Lasticity's Growing Urgency
ch. 16. Lasticity's Entrance into the Lexicon
ch. 17. Promises Made and Kept
Notes
Additional Relevant Readings
Index
About the Author
Books Received
Index To Volume
Additional Info:
Over the last decade, the discipline of religious studies has promoted religious literacy as both an invaluable contribution to curriculum and an indispensable social good. While much has been written on the importance of the study of religion for the development of religious literacy, little attention has been given to the identification of the disciplinary skills and content knowledge (or what we refer to as religious studies competencies) a student ...
Over the last decade, the discipline of religious studies has promoted religious literacy as both an invaluable contribution to curriculum and an indispensable social good. While much has been written on the importance of the study of religion for the development of religious literacy, little attention has been given to the identification of the disciplinary skills and content knowledge (or what we refer to as religious studies competencies) a student ...
Additional Info:
Over the last decade, the discipline of religious studies has promoted religious literacy as both an invaluable contribution to curriculum and an indispensable social good. While much has been written on the importance of the study of religion for the development of religious literacy, little attention has been given to the identification of the disciplinary skills and content knowledge (or what we refer to as religious studies competencies) a student develops through extended study of religion. In this essay, we present an example of how to integrate a religious studies competency‐based model into program design and implementation. We argue that the transition to a competency‐based religious studies program has two potential benefits. First, competency program design provides an opportunity to redesign and update religious studies programs in a more responsible manner that aligns with our students, institution, discipline, and profession. Second, competency program design facilitates the conditions where we can better avoid duplicating the much criticized world religions paradigm.
Over the last decade, the discipline of religious studies has promoted religious literacy as both an invaluable contribution to curriculum and an indispensable social good. While much has been written on the importance of the study of religion for the development of religious literacy, little attention has been given to the identification of the disciplinary skills and content knowledge (or what we refer to as religious studies competencies) a student develops through extended study of religion. In this essay, we present an example of how to integrate a religious studies competency‐based model into program design and implementation. We argue that the transition to a competency‐based religious studies program has two potential benefits. First, competency program design provides an opportunity to redesign and update religious studies programs in a more responsible manner that aligns with our students, institution, discipline, and profession. Second, competency program design facilitates the conditions where we can better avoid duplicating the much criticized world religions paradigm.

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A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"
Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"
Additional Info:
Many college students are interested in spirituality and the "big questions" about life's meaning and values, but many professors seem not to know how to respond to that interest. In this article, the author offers several strategies to help students confront the "big questions". One way is to structure assignments and discussions so that students can have a chance to bring critical thinking directly into relationship with their own experiences ...
Many college students are interested in spirituality and the "big questions" about life's meaning and values, but many professors seem not to know how to respond to that interest. In this article, the author offers several strategies to help students confront the "big questions". One way is to structure assignments and discussions so that students can have a chance to bring critical thinking directly into relationship with their own experiences ...
Additional Info:
Many college students are interested in spirituality and the "big questions" about life's meaning and values, but many professors seem not to know how to respond to that interest. In this article, the author offers several strategies to help students confront the "big questions". One way is to structure assignments and discussions so that students can have a chance to bring critical thinking directly into relationship with their own experiences and beliefs.
Many college students are interested in spirituality and the "big questions" about life's meaning and values, but many professors seem not to know how to respond to that interest. In this article, the author offers several strategies to help students confront the "big questions". One way is to structure assignments and discussions so that students can have a chance to bring critical thinking directly into relationship with their own experiences and beliefs.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students are exposed to a reading of sacred text in the native language.
One page Teaching Tactic: students are exposed to a reading of sacred text in the native language.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students are exposed to a reading of sacred text in the native language.
One page Teaching Tactic: students are exposed to a reading of sacred text in the native language.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students discuss the nature of religion by comparing brief descriptions of founders.
One page Teaching Tactic: students discuss the nature of religion by comparing brief descriptions of founders.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students discuss the nature of religion by comparing brief descriptions of founders.
One page Teaching Tactic: students discuss the nature of religion by comparing brief descriptions of founders.
Additional Info:
Learning to think in a discipline is a demanding scholarly task that is not often associated with the development of university students. Although the intellectual development of postsecondary students is gaining increased attention, relating student development to the process of inquiry in different disciplines is unexplored terrain. This book attempts to come to a deeper understanding of thinking processes by exploring the approaches to thinking taken in different disciplines and ...
Learning to think in a discipline is a demanding scholarly task that is not often associated with the development of university students. Although the intellectual development of postsecondary students is gaining increased attention, relating student development to the process of inquiry in different disciplines is unexplored terrain. This book attempts to come to a deeper understanding of thinking processes by exploring the approaches to thinking taken in different disciplines and ...
Additional Info:
Learning to think in a discipline is a demanding scholarly task that is not often associated with the development of university students. Although the intellectual development of postsecondary students is gaining increased attention, relating student development to the process of inquiry in different disciplines is unexplored terrain. This book attempts to come to a deeper understanding of thinking processes by exploring the approaches to thinking taken in different disciplines and then considering how these could be applied to student intellectual development.
Drawing on more than twenty-five years of research, Janet Donald shows how knowledge is structured and how professors and students perceive learning in their fields-and offers strategies for constructing and using knowledge that will help postsecondary institutions to promote students' intellectual development within and across the disciplines. The author first creates a framework for understanding student intellectual development and for learning to think in different disciplines. In succeeding chapters, she describes the principal methods of inquiry in each discipline and their effects on learning to think, examining what this means for students and how we might use it to improve the instructional process.
For faculty members, this book provides insight into the representation and development of curricula, courses, and programs to improve teaching and learning processes. Professors of education may find a specific use for the comparisons across disciplines in planning courses on teaching methods, as an aid in providing students with insight into how disciplines or fields of study are constructed, and in refining their own conceptual framework in their field. Administrators, particularly of programs and departments, will find suggestions for policy initiatives that are needed to create a supportive learning environment and for organizing teaching and learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
The Author
ch. 1 Learning to Think: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective
ch. 2 Orderly Thinking: Learning in a Structured Discipline
ch. 3 Hard Thinking: Applying Structured Knowledge to Unstructured Problems
ch. 4 Inductive Thinking: Knowledge-Intensive Learning
ch. 5 Multifaceted Thinking: Learning in a Social Science
ch. 6 Precedent and Reason: Case Versus Logic
ch. 7 Organizing Instruction and Understanding Learners
ch. 8 Criticism and Creativity: Thinking in the Humanities
ch. 9 Learning, Understanding, and Meaning
References
Name Index
Subject Index
Learning to think in a discipline is a demanding scholarly task that is not often associated with the development of university students. Although the intellectual development of postsecondary students is gaining increased attention, relating student development to the process of inquiry in different disciplines is unexplored terrain. This book attempts to come to a deeper understanding of thinking processes by exploring the approaches to thinking taken in different disciplines and then considering how these could be applied to student intellectual development.
Drawing on more than twenty-five years of research, Janet Donald shows how knowledge is structured and how professors and students perceive learning in their fields-and offers strategies for constructing and using knowledge that will help postsecondary institutions to promote students' intellectual development within and across the disciplines. The author first creates a framework for understanding student intellectual development and for learning to think in different disciplines. In succeeding chapters, she describes the principal methods of inquiry in each discipline and their effects on learning to think, examining what this means for students and how we might use it to improve the instructional process.
For faculty members, this book provides insight into the representation and development of curricula, courses, and programs to improve teaching and learning processes. Professors of education may find a specific use for the comparisons across disciplines in planning courses on teaching methods, as an aid in providing students with insight into how disciplines or fields of study are constructed, and in refining their own conceptual framework in their field. Administrators, particularly of programs and departments, will find suggestions for policy initiatives that are needed to create a supportive learning environment and for organizing teaching and learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
The Author
ch. 1 Learning to Think: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective
ch. 2 Orderly Thinking: Learning in a Structured Discipline
ch. 3 Hard Thinking: Applying Structured Knowledge to Unstructured Problems
ch. 4 Inductive Thinking: Knowledge-Intensive Learning
ch. 5 Multifaceted Thinking: Learning in a Social Science
ch. 6 Precedent and Reason: Case Versus Logic
ch. 7 Organizing Instruction and Understanding Learners
ch. 8 Criticism and Creativity: Thinking in the Humanities
ch. 9 Learning, Understanding, and Meaning
References
Name Index
Subject Index

Religion & Education Volume 37, no.2
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 The Impact of Pedophile Priests on American Catholic Education: Reflections of a Cradle Catholic (Charles J. Russo)
ch. 2 University Student Affairs Staff and Their Spiritual Discussions with Students (Jill A. Burchell, Jenny J. Lee, Sara M. Olson )
ch. 3 "Anthropology-Lite": An Education Perspective on the Ideology of Religious Studies (Edward Dutton)
ch. 4 Exploring the Spiritual Needs of Adolescent Girls (Kaili Chen Zhang, Charlene Tan)
ch. 5 Yoga in the Public Schools: Diversity, Democracy and the Use of Critical Thinking in Educational Debates (Laura Douglass)
Resource Reviews
ch. 6 Religion in Education: A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries
ch. 7 Materials Used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England: A Summary
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Editor's Preface
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 The Impact of Pedophile Priests on American Catholic Education: Reflections of a Cradle Catholic (Charles J. Russo)
ch. 2 University Student Affairs Staff and Their Spiritual Discussions with Students (Jill A. Burchell, Jenny J. Lee, Sara M. Olson )
ch. 3 "Anthropology-Lite": An Education Perspective on the Ideology of Religious Studies (Edward Dutton)
ch. 4 Exploring the Spiritual Needs of Adolescent Girls (Kaili Chen Zhang, Charlene Tan)
ch. 5 Yoga in the Public Schools: Diversity, Democracy and the Use of Critical Thinking in Educational Debates (Laura Douglass)
Resource Reviews
ch. 6 Religion in Education: A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries
ch. 7 Materials Used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England: A Summary

Engaged Teaching in Theology and Religion
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Abstract: The goal of Engaged Teaching in Theology and Religion is to guide a process of self-reflection for scholars and teachers of theology and religion that leads to intentional, transformative teaching, dialogue, and reform in theological education and religious studies. Effective teaching approaches must address the selfhood of the teacher, as well ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: The goal of Engaged Teaching in Theology and Religion is to guide a process of self-reflection for scholars and teachers of theology and religion that leads to intentional, transformative teaching, dialogue, and reform in theological education and religious studies. Effective teaching approaches must address the selfhood of the teacher, as well ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: The goal of Engaged Teaching in Theology and Religion is to guide a process of self-reflection for scholars and teachers of theology and religion that leads to intentional, transformative teaching, dialogue, and reform in theological education and religious studies. Effective teaching approaches must address the selfhood of the teacher, as well as pedagogy, course content, and community engagement. This book sets itself apart from other works in the field because of this holistic approach. In addition to addressing these four areas, Harrison and Knight provide a variety of practices for teaching that take seriously students' cries for a more socially and personally relevant pedagogy and curriculum in a rapidly changing transnational world. The volume provides a well-reasoned and accessible re-thinking of teaching theology and religion so that schools of theology and departments of religion might better live out their stated goals of forming transformative, courageous, and thoughtful leaders and teachers in the twenty-first century. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Introduction: Why Do We Teach?
PART I: SELF
ch. 2 The Teaching Self: Authority through Authenticity
ch. 3 The Teaching Self and the Name Game
ch. 4 The Practice of Self
PART II: PEDAGOGY
ch. 5 Teaching Matters
ch. 6 Open Pedagogy: The Bank is Closed
ch. 7 Practices of Engaged Pedagogy
PART III: CONTENT
ch. 8 Content that Connects
ch. 9 Content that Opens Us to Other Ways of Knowing
ch. 10 Practices for Integrating Content that Awakens
PART IV: COMMUNITY
ch. 11 Community Engaged Education
ch. 12 Community: Turning Theory Into Action
ch. 13 The Practice of Community
Notes
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: The goal of Engaged Teaching in Theology and Religion is to guide a process of self-reflection for scholars and teachers of theology and religion that leads to intentional, transformative teaching, dialogue, and reform in theological education and religious studies. Effective teaching approaches must address the selfhood of the teacher, as well as pedagogy, course content, and community engagement. This book sets itself apart from other works in the field because of this holistic approach. In addition to addressing these four areas, Harrison and Knight provide a variety of practices for teaching that take seriously students' cries for a more socially and personally relevant pedagogy and curriculum in a rapidly changing transnational world. The volume provides a well-reasoned and accessible re-thinking of teaching theology and religion so that schools of theology and departments of religion might better live out their stated goals of forming transformative, courageous, and thoughtful leaders and teachers in the twenty-first century. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Introduction: Why Do We Teach?
PART I: SELF
ch. 2 The Teaching Self: Authority through Authenticity
ch. 3 The Teaching Self and the Name Game
ch. 4 The Practice of Self
PART II: PEDAGOGY
ch. 5 Teaching Matters
ch. 6 Open Pedagogy: The Bank is Closed
ch. 7 Practices of Engaged Pedagogy
PART III: CONTENT
ch. 8 Content that Connects
ch. 9 Content that Opens Us to Other Ways of Knowing
ch. 10 Practices for Integrating Content that Awakens
PART IV: COMMUNITY
ch. 11 Community Engaged Education
ch. 12 Community: Turning Theory Into Action
ch. 13 The Practice of Community
Notes
Additional Info:
This note presents a method for teaching students to analyze and interpret images in the religious studies classroom. The technique uses two separate exercises: first analyzing images as works of art and then as conveyors of discipline-specific information. Drawing on the work of Edmund Feldman, our technique grounds interpretation in a methodical description of the basic components and characteristics of images. By helping students to conceptualize the formal qualities of ...
This note presents a method for teaching students to analyze and interpret images in the religious studies classroom. The technique uses two separate exercises: first analyzing images as works of art and then as conveyors of discipline-specific information. Drawing on the work of Edmund Feldman, our technique grounds interpretation in a methodical description of the basic components and characteristics of images. By helping students to conceptualize the formal qualities of ...
Additional Info:
This note presents a method for teaching students to analyze and interpret images in the religious studies classroom. The technique uses two separate exercises: first analyzing images as works of art and then as conveyors of discipline-specific information. Drawing on the work of Edmund Feldman, our technique grounds interpretation in a methodical description of the basic components and characteristics of images. By helping students to conceptualize the formal qualities of an image as a first exercise, this technique allows them to more confidently address the challenging task of relating aspects of a given image with key concepts of religious studies. This simple first step toward interpreting religious images can help students profit more from texts, videos, lectures, field trips, and further studies in the field.
This note presents a method for teaching students to analyze and interpret images in the religious studies classroom. The technique uses two separate exercises: first analyzing images as works of art and then as conveyors of discipline-specific information. Drawing on the work of Edmund Feldman, our technique grounds interpretation in a methodical description of the basic components and characteristics of images. By helping students to conceptualize the formal qualities of an image as a first exercise, this technique allows them to more confidently address the challenging task of relating aspects of a given image with key concepts of religious studies. This simple first step toward interpreting religious images can help students profit more from texts, videos, lectures, field trips, and further studies in the field.
Additional Info:
In this book, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza continues her exploration of a radical democratic ethos in graduate biblical education. She argues that it is necessary to reframe the field of biblical studies and replace the competitive teaching models prevalent in graduate programs with an emancipatory, radical democratic pedagogical model that fosters collaboration, participation, and critical engagement. To achieve constructive engagement with the differences of social location and diversity of perspectives ...
In this book, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza continues her exploration of a radical democratic ethos in graduate biblical education. She argues that it is necessary to reframe the field of biblical studies and replace the competitive teaching models prevalent in graduate programs with an emancipatory, radical democratic pedagogical model that fosters collaboration, participation, and critical engagement. To achieve constructive engagement with the differences of social location and diversity of perspectives ...
Additional Info:
In this book, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza continues her exploration of a radical democratic ethos in graduate biblical education. She argues that it is necessary to reframe the field of biblical studies and replace the competitive teaching models prevalent in graduate programs with an emancipatory, radical democratic pedagogical model that fosters collaboration, participation, and critical engagement. To achieve constructive engagement with the differences of social location and diversity of perspectives that exist both in the Bible and in our contexts, we must become aware of the pitfalls of one-dimensional thinking that seeks to use the Bible to find definite answers and to exclude different understandings. Schüssler Fiorenza addresses such questions as, What are the educational practices and procedures that are advocated by traditional educational models and how can they be changed? What kind of educational and communicative practices do biblical studies need to develop in order to fashion an emancipatory democratizing rhetorical space and a forum of many voices? To envision, articulate, debate, and practice a radical democratic ethos of biblical studies, she identifies emerging didactic models that can foster such a radical democratic style of learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Toward a Radical Democratic Self-Understanding of Biblical Studies
Contextualizing Arguments for a Radical Democratic Educational Space
Toward a Radical Democratic Pedagogy of Biblical Studies
ch. 1 The Rhetorical Space of Graduate Biblical Studies
Charting the Problem
The Need to Transform the Discourses of Biblical Studies
Proposals for Re-Visioning Biblical Studies
Problematizing the Dualistic-Domain Construction of the Field of Biblical Studies
ch. 2 A Republic of Many Voices: Paradigms of Biblical Studies
Paradigm Criticism
Redescribing and Renaming the Four Paradigms of Biblical Studies
Conclusion
ch. 3 Fashioning a Radical Democratic Discourse
Delineating the Fourth Emancipatory Paradigm
Discursive Struggles within the Fourth Paradigm: From Margin to Postcolonialism
Toward a Shared Analytic: Intersectional Analysis of Kyriarchy
A Pedagogical Model of Agency and Conscientization
ch. 4 Changing Biblical Studies: Toward a Radical Democratic Pedagogy and Ethos
Transforming Malestream Pedagogical Models
Toward a Radical Democratic Emancipatory Pedagogy
Transforming the Didactic Triangle
Toward a Radical Democratic Emancipatory Ethos-Space
Instead of a Conclusion
Metalogue: From Theory to Practice
Creating a Radical Democratic Space: Forum
Creating a Radical Democratic Space: Seminar
A Forum of Many Voices / A Kaleidoscope of Personal Reflections
Index
In this book, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza continues her exploration of a radical democratic ethos in graduate biblical education. She argues that it is necessary to reframe the field of biblical studies and replace the competitive teaching models prevalent in graduate programs with an emancipatory, radical democratic pedagogical model that fosters collaboration, participation, and critical engagement. To achieve constructive engagement with the differences of social location and diversity of perspectives that exist both in the Bible and in our contexts, we must become aware of the pitfalls of one-dimensional thinking that seeks to use the Bible to find definite answers and to exclude different understandings. Schüssler Fiorenza addresses such questions as, What are the educational practices and procedures that are advocated by traditional educational models and how can they be changed? What kind of educational and communicative practices do biblical studies need to develop in order to fashion an emancipatory democratizing rhetorical space and a forum of many voices? To envision, articulate, debate, and practice a radical democratic ethos of biblical studies, she identifies emerging didactic models that can foster such a radical democratic style of learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Toward a Radical Democratic Self-Understanding of Biblical Studies
Contextualizing Arguments for a Radical Democratic Educational Space
Toward a Radical Democratic Pedagogy of Biblical Studies
ch. 1 The Rhetorical Space of Graduate Biblical Studies
Charting the Problem
The Need to Transform the Discourses of Biblical Studies
Proposals for Re-Visioning Biblical Studies
Problematizing the Dualistic-Domain Construction of the Field of Biblical Studies
ch. 2 A Republic of Many Voices: Paradigms of Biblical Studies
Paradigm Criticism
Redescribing and Renaming the Four Paradigms of Biblical Studies
Conclusion
ch. 3 Fashioning a Radical Democratic Discourse
Delineating the Fourth Emancipatory Paradigm
Discursive Struggles within the Fourth Paradigm: From Margin to Postcolonialism
Toward a Shared Analytic: Intersectional Analysis of Kyriarchy
A Pedagogical Model of Agency and Conscientization
ch. 4 Changing Biblical Studies: Toward a Radical Democratic Pedagogy and Ethos
Transforming Malestream Pedagogical Models
Toward a Radical Democratic Emancipatory Pedagogy
Transforming the Didactic Triangle
Toward a Radical Democratic Emancipatory Ethos-Space
Instead of a Conclusion
Metalogue: From Theory to Practice
Creating a Radical Democratic Space: Forum
Creating a Radical Democratic Space: Seminar
A Forum of Many Voices / A Kaleidoscope of Personal Reflections
Index
Additional Info:
This essay will argue that the internet provides an “added-value” to education, providing resources for more effective teaching and enhancing the learning of the students. The internet emphasizes written communication, facilitating clarity of thought and serving as the basis for critical thinking. The internet emphasizes the social dimensions of learning, and the students’ own role in their learning. This essay will illustrate the value of the internet for teaching and ...
This essay will argue that the internet provides an “added-value” to education, providing resources for more effective teaching and enhancing the learning of the students. The internet emphasizes written communication, facilitating clarity of thought and serving as the basis for critical thinking. The internet emphasizes the social dimensions of learning, and the students’ own role in their learning. This essay will illustrate the value of the internet for teaching and ...
Additional Info:
This essay will argue that the internet provides an “added-value” to education, providing resources for more effective teaching and enhancing the learning of the students. The internet emphasizes written communication, facilitating clarity of thought and serving as the basis for critical thinking. The internet emphasizes the social dimensions of learning, and the students’ own role in their learning. This essay will illustrate the value of the internet for teaching and learning through a case study of transforming a traditional introductory course on the Bible into a distance course.
This essay will argue that the internet provides an “added-value” to education, providing resources for more effective teaching and enhancing the learning of the students. The internet emphasizes written communication, facilitating clarity of thought and serving as the basis for critical thinking. The internet emphasizes the social dimensions of learning, and the students’ own role in their learning. This essay will illustrate the value of the internet for teaching and learning through a case study of transforming a traditional introductory course on the Bible into a distance course.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: to introduce and discuss course content on the first day of class, students work in groups to list what they know about the topic.
One page Teaching Tactic: to introduce and discuss course content on the first day of class, students work in groups to list what they know about the topic.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: to introduce and discuss course content on the first day of class, students work in groups to list what they know about the topic.
One page Teaching Tactic: to introduce and discuss course content on the first day of class, students work in groups to list what they know about the topic.

Religion & Education Volume 40, no.1
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Issue on Religion in Education at the University of Warwick
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Ethnography, Religious Education, and The Fifth Cup (Eleanor Nesbitt, Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 2 Religious Education Influencing Students' Attitudes: A Threat to Freedom? (Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 3 The Language of Interfaith Encounter Among Inner City Primary School Children (Julia Ipgrave)
ch. 4 Religious Extremism, Religious Education, and the Interpretive Approach (Joyce Miller)
ch. 5 Action Research and the Interpretive Approach to Religious Education (Kevin O'Grady)
ch. 6 "Very Sad, But It Works": One Pupil's Assessment Career in Religious Education (Nigel Fancourt)
ch. 7 The Interpretive Approach and Bridging the "Theory-Practice Gap": Action Research with Student Teachers of Religious Education (Judith Everington)
ch. 8 Comparative Studies in Religious Education: The Issue of Methodology (Oddrun M. H. Braten)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Issue on Religion in Education at the University of Warwick
Articles, Essays
ch. 1 Ethnography, Religious Education, and The Fifth Cup (Eleanor Nesbitt, Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 2 Religious Education Influencing Students' Attitudes: A Threat to Freedom? (Olga Schihalejev)
ch. 3 The Language of Interfaith Encounter Among Inner City Primary School Children (Julia Ipgrave)
ch. 4 Religious Extremism, Religious Education, and the Interpretive Approach (Joyce Miller)
ch. 5 Action Research and the Interpretive Approach to Religious Education (Kevin O'Grady)
ch. 6 "Very Sad, But It Works": One Pupil's Assessment Career in Religious Education (Nigel Fancourt)
ch. 7 The Interpretive Approach and Bridging the "Theory-Practice Gap": Action Research with Student Teachers of Religious Education (Judith Everington)
ch. 8 Comparative Studies in Religious Education: The Issue of Methodology (Oddrun M. H. Braten)
Additional Info:
These days, when popular religious movements are enthusiastic rather than reflective, it is particularly helpful for students to be given better ways of grasping the significance and strengths of their own beliefs. Nancey Murphy's new book presents the methods of contemporary argumentation analysis in a way that helps readers develop habits of critical reading and thinking that serve them well not only in religion, but in other fields of experience ...
These days, when popular religious movements are enthusiastic rather than reflective, it is particularly helpful for students to be given better ways of grasping the significance and strengths of their own beliefs. Nancey Murphy's new book presents the methods of contemporary argumentation analysis in a way that helps readers develop habits of critical reading and thinking that serve them well not only in religion, but in other fields of experience ...
Additional Info:
These days, when popular religious movements are enthusiastic rather than reflective, it is particularly helpful for students to be given better ways of grasping the significance and strengths of their own beliefs. Nancey Murphy's new book presents the methods of contemporary argumentation analysis in a way that helps readers develop habits of critical reading and thinking that serve them well not only in religion, but in other fields of experience and action. At one and the same time easy to read, and deep in its implications, her book is something of a tour de force. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Claims and Grounds
ch. 2 Warrants and Backing
ch. 3 Qualifiers and Rebuttals
ch. 4 Hypothetical Reasoning
ch. 5 Rhetoric and Communication
ch. 6 Academic Papers
ch. 7 Reasoning in Sermons
ch. 8 Reasoning in Ethics
ch. 9 Reasoning in History
ch. 10 Reasoning in Biblical Studies
ch. 11 Reasoning in Theology
ch. 12 Relating the Theological Disciplines
ch. 13 Philosophy of Religion
ch. 14 Apologetics and Religious Pluralism
These days, when popular religious movements are enthusiastic rather than reflective, it is particularly helpful for students to be given better ways of grasping the significance and strengths of their own beliefs. Nancey Murphy's new book presents the methods of contemporary argumentation analysis in a way that helps readers develop habits of critical reading and thinking that serve them well not only in religion, but in other fields of experience and action. At one and the same time easy to read, and deep in its implications, her book is something of a tour de force. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Claims and Grounds
ch. 2 Warrants and Backing
ch. 3 Qualifiers and Rebuttals
ch. 4 Hypothetical Reasoning
ch. 5 Rhetoric and Communication
ch. 6 Academic Papers
ch. 7 Reasoning in Sermons
ch. 8 Reasoning in Ethics
ch. 9 Reasoning in History
ch. 10 Reasoning in Biblical Studies
ch. 11 Reasoning in Theology
ch. 12 Relating the Theological Disciplines
ch. 13 Philosophy of Religion
ch. 14 Apologetics and Religious Pluralism
Additional Info:
Growing numbers of church leaders are discovering that many films are able to impact viewers with gospel truths almost as well as a good sermon. Former pastor and longtime reviewer of films Ed McNulty offers this insightful guide to help church leaders enter into dialogue with contemporary films. McNulty carefully crafts a theology of movies and then provides practical suggestions for creating and leading movie discussions with groups. In addition, ...
Growing numbers of church leaders are discovering that many films are able to impact viewers with gospel truths almost as well as a good sermon. Former pastor and longtime reviewer of films Ed McNulty offers this insightful guide to help church leaders enter into dialogue with contemporary films. McNulty carefully crafts a theology of movies and then provides practical suggestions for creating and leading movie discussions with groups. In addition, ...
Additional Info:
Growing numbers of church leaders are discovering that many films are able to impact viewers with gospel truths almost as well as a good sermon. Former pastor and longtime reviewer of films Ed McNulty offers this insightful guide to help church leaders enter into dialogue with contemporary films. McNulty carefully crafts a theology of movies and then provides practical suggestions for creating and leading movie discussions with groups. In addition, he provides people from all across the theological spectrum with a framework to understand whether the overall message of a film outweighs concerns over profanity, violence, or sex in the film. He concludes by introducing twenty-seven films and including provocative questions about each that will prepare leaders to assemble and facilitate a group. Popular films explored include The Color Purple; Crash; Hotel Rwanda; The Matrix; Million Dollar Baby, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Shawshank Redemption. Faith and Film accessibly and comprehensively helps readers and moviegoers develop "eyes that see and ears that hear" how God's messages of hope and love are revealed in contemporary films. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part 1: Looking for the Light of the World While Sitting in the Dark
Introduction: Developing a Theology of Seeing
What Has Jerusalem to Do with Hollywood?
Four Types of Films
More on Parable and Film
Help for Becoming Your Own Critic
Settings for a Film Discussion
Using the Guides in This Book
Part II: Movie Discussion Guides
American Beauty
Amistad
Babe: Pig in the City
Beyond the Sea
Chocolat
The Color Purple
Crash
Dogma
Erin Brockovich
Final Solution
The Grapes of Wrath
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Hotel Rwanda
The Insider
The Iron Giant
Les Miserables
The Matrix
Million Dollar Baby
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Pieces of April
Road to Perdition
Shawshank Redemption
The Spitfire Grill
Tender Mercies
The Thin Red Line
To End all Wars
Walking across Egypt
Appendix 1: List of Films and Their DVD Distributors
Appendix 2: Church and Theater
Notes
Bibliography
Growing numbers of church leaders are discovering that many films are able to impact viewers with gospel truths almost as well as a good sermon. Former pastor and longtime reviewer of films Ed McNulty offers this insightful guide to help church leaders enter into dialogue with contemporary films. McNulty carefully crafts a theology of movies and then provides practical suggestions for creating and leading movie discussions with groups. In addition, he provides people from all across the theological spectrum with a framework to understand whether the overall message of a film outweighs concerns over profanity, violence, or sex in the film. He concludes by introducing twenty-seven films and including provocative questions about each that will prepare leaders to assemble and facilitate a group. Popular films explored include The Color Purple; Crash; Hotel Rwanda; The Matrix; Million Dollar Baby, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Shawshank Redemption. Faith and Film accessibly and comprehensively helps readers and moviegoers develop "eyes that see and ears that hear" how God's messages of hope and love are revealed in contemporary films. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Part 1: Looking for the Light of the World While Sitting in the Dark
Introduction: Developing a Theology of Seeing
What Has Jerusalem to Do with Hollywood?
Four Types of Films
More on Parable and Film
Help for Becoming Your Own Critic
Settings for a Film Discussion
Using the Guides in This Book
Part II: Movie Discussion Guides
American Beauty
Amistad
Babe: Pig in the City
Beyond the Sea
Chocolat
The Color Purple
Crash
Dogma
Erin Brockovich
Final Solution
The Grapes of Wrath
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Hotel Rwanda
The Insider
The Iron Giant
Les Miserables
The Matrix
Million Dollar Baby
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Pieces of April
Road to Perdition
Shawshank Redemption
The Spitfire Grill
Tender Mercies
The Thin Red Line
To End all Wars
Walking across Egypt
Appendix 1: List of Films and Their DVD Distributors
Appendix 2: Church and Theater
Notes
Bibliography
Additional Info:
Discussions of world citizenship that elide the challenge of grappling with religious worldviews expose a covert intolerance at the very core of secularism, calling into question the “liberality” of liberal education. The ethical imperative of engaging with different worldviews not only demands that religions be taught, but also raises questions regarding how religious worldviews should be taught.
Discussions of world citizenship that elide the challenge of grappling with religious worldviews expose a covert intolerance at the very core of secularism, calling into question the “liberality” of liberal education. The ethical imperative of engaging with different worldviews not only demands that religions be taught, but also raises questions regarding how religious worldviews should be taught.
Additional Info:
Discussions of world citizenship that elide the challenge of grappling with religious worldviews expose a covert intolerance at the very core of secularism, calling into question the “liberality” of liberal education. The ethical imperative of engaging with different worldviews not only demands that religions be taught, but also raises questions regarding how religious worldviews should be taught.
Discussions of world citizenship that elide the challenge of grappling with religious worldviews expose a covert intolerance at the very core of secularism, calling into question the “liberality” of liberal education. The ethical imperative of engaging with different worldviews not only demands that religions be taught, but also raises questions regarding how religious worldviews should be taught.

Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
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AAR Teaching Religious Studies Series (Oxford University Press)
Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies offers an introduction to the philosophy and practice of Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies and takes up several significant ongoing questions related to it. This volume emerges from sustained conversations about the pedagogy of Undergraduate Research by a group of teacher-scholars in the discipline, and it seeks to extend those conversations. For those new to ...
AAR Teaching Religious Studies Series (Oxford University Press)
Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies offers an introduction to the philosophy and practice of Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies and takes up several significant ongoing questions related to it. This volume emerges from sustained conversations about the pedagogy of Undergraduate Research by a group of teacher-scholars in the discipline, and it seeks to extend those conversations. For those new to ...
Additional Info:
AAR Teaching Religious Studies Series (Oxford University Press)
Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies offers an introduction to the philosophy and practice of Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies and takes up several significant ongoing questions related to it. This volume emerges from sustained conversations about the pedagogy of Undergraduate Research by a group of teacher-scholars in the discipline, and it seeks to extend those conversations. For those new to Undergraduate Research, this book provides an overview of fundamental issues and pedagogical questions and practical models for application in the classroom. For seasoned mentors, it acts as a dialogue partner on emerging issues and offers insight into pertinent questions in the field based on the experience of recognized experts. Individual chapters focus on select theoretical and practical topics including the nature of collaboration between faculty and students, what it means for undergraduate students to make an "original contribution" in their research, how to identify and shape a research project that is appropriate and manageable, the types of institutional and professional support systems needed to adequately support and reward faculty who participate in this kind of pedagogy, and procedures for adequate and appropriate assessment. Student perspectives highlight the importance of Undergraduate Research to student learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Contributors
ch. 1 Theorizing Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies (Bernadette McNary-Zak and Rebecca Todd Peters)
Part I - Defining Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
ch. 2 Contributing to the Discipline (Rebecca Todd Peters and Bernadette McNary-Zak)
ch. 3 Mentoring Undergraduate Research (Lynn Huber and John Lanci)
ch. 4 Thinking about Method (Robin Rinehart)
Part II - Approaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
ch. 5 Exploring Archival Material (Paul O. Myhre)
ch. 6 Reading Religion and Culture (Carolyn M. Jones)
ch. 7 Sending Students into the Field (Jeffrey M. Brackett)
ch. 8 Examining History (David C. Ratke)
ch. 9 Working with Texts (Lynn R. Huber and Robin Rinehart)
Part III - Proposing Standards for Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
ch. 10 Training the Undergraduate Scholar (Nadia M. Lahutsky)
ch. 11 Promoting Institutional Support (Mark Gstohl)
ch. 12 Afterword: Mastering Undergraduate Research (Ann Marie Chilton)
Appendix I: Working Statements on Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
Appendix II: Learning Contract
Bibliography
Index
AAR Teaching Religious Studies Series (Oxford University Press)
Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies offers an introduction to the philosophy and practice of Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies and takes up several significant ongoing questions related to it. This volume emerges from sustained conversations about the pedagogy of Undergraduate Research by a group of teacher-scholars in the discipline, and it seeks to extend those conversations. For those new to Undergraduate Research, this book provides an overview of fundamental issues and pedagogical questions and practical models for application in the classroom. For seasoned mentors, it acts as a dialogue partner on emerging issues and offers insight into pertinent questions in the field based on the experience of recognized experts. Individual chapters focus on select theoretical and practical topics including the nature of collaboration between faculty and students, what it means for undergraduate students to make an "original contribution" in their research, how to identify and shape a research project that is appropriate and manageable, the types of institutional and professional support systems needed to adequately support and reward faculty who participate in this kind of pedagogy, and procedures for adequate and appropriate assessment. Student perspectives highlight the importance of Undergraduate Research to student learning. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Contributors
ch. 1 Theorizing Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies (Bernadette McNary-Zak and Rebecca Todd Peters)
Part I - Defining Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
ch. 2 Contributing to the Discipline (Rebecca Todd Peters and Bernadette McNary-Zak)
ch. 3 Mentoring Undergraduate Research (Lynn Huber and John Lanci)
ch. 4 Thinking about Method (Robin Rinehart)
Part II - Approaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
ch. 5 Exploring Archival Material (Paul O. Myhre)
ch. 6 Reading Religion and Culture (Carolyn M. Jones)
ch. 7 Sending Students into the Field (Jeffrey M. Brackett)
ch. 8 Examining History (David C. Ratke)
ch. 9 Working with Texts (Lynn R. Huber and Robin Rinehart)
Part III - Proposing Standards for Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
ch. 10 Training the Undergraduate Scholar (Nadia M. Lahutsky)
ch. 11 Promoting Institutional Support (Mark Gstohl)
ch. 12 Afterword: Mastering Undergraduate Research (Ann Marie Chilton)
Appendix I: Working Statements on Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies
Appendix II: Learning Contract
Bibliography
Index
Additional Info:
How should we teach religious history? What is the impact of our methodology on what, and on how, our students learn? Is there a methodology that cultivates an awareness of the multiculturalism and the need for deeper social interaction that characterizes many of our classrooms? This essay proposes and briefly explores the potential value of empathetic engagement as a pedagogical tool in response to these concerns. A specific application of ...
How should we teach religious history? What is the impact of our methodology on what, and on how, our students learn? Is there a methodology that cultivates an awareness of the multiculturalism and the need for deeper social interaction that characterizes many of our classrooms? This essay proposes and briefly explores the potential value of empathetic engagement as a pedagogical tool in response to these concerns. A specific application of ...
Additional Info:
How should we teach religious history? What is the impact of our methodology on what, and on how, our students learn? Is there a methodology that cultivates an awareness of the multiculturalism and the need for deeper social interaction that characterizes many of our classrooms? This essay proposes and briefly explores the potential value of empathetic engagement as a pedagogical tool in response to these concerns. A specific application of empathetic engagement is made to teaching and learning about the history of American Catholicism.
How should we teach religious history? What is the impact of our methodology on what, and on how, our students learn? Is there a methodology that cultivates an awareness of the multiculturalism and the need for deeper social interaction that characterizes many of our classrooms? This essay proposes and briefly explores the potential value of empathetic engagement as a pedagogical tool in response to these concerns. A specific application of empathetic engagement is made to teaching and learning about the history of American Catholicism.


Understanding Bible by Design: Create Courses with Purpose
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Today’s seminary and religious-education instructors are expected to design and redesign their courses more nimbly than in the past. We have to adapt our courses to novel learning environments, for more diverse learners, toward more diverse vocations. At the same time, institutional rewards for time invested in course design are ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Today’s seminary and religious-education instructors are expected to design and redesign their courses more nimbly than in the past. We have to adapt our courses to novel learning environments, for more diverse learners, toward more diverse vocations. At the same time, institutional rewards for time invested in course design are ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Today’s seminary and religious-education instructors are expected to design and redesign their courses more nimbly than in the past. We have to adapt our courses to novel learning environments, for more diverse learners, toward more diverse vocations. At the same time, institutional rewards for time invested in course design are fewer than ever. Understanding Bible by Design introduces the reader to Understanding by Design: an approach to course design that is proven time-efficient and grounded in the instructor’s most closely-held convictions about her subject matter’s “big ideas and essential questions.” This book’s contributors (one in Old Testament, one in New Testament, and one in Jewish Studies) demonstrate the value of Understanding Bible by Design for the Biblical Studies instructor, whether at seminary or university, face-to-face or online, from the intimate seminar to the massive MOOC.
Lester’s synopsis of course design and suggested action is followed by a collaborative dialogue with Jane S. Webster and Christopher M. Jones. Webster and Jones provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Lester’s proposed approaches. As a group, Lester, Webster, and Jones create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Setting the Problem (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 2 Understanding by Design (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 3 Understanding by Design: Old Testament in Seminary (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 4 Understanding by Design: Putting Your Course Online(G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 5 Understanding by Design: New Testament at University(Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 3: Annotated Sample Template for Essay in "New Testament" (Jane S. Webster)
ch. 6 Understanding by Design: Judaism Studies at University (Christopher M. Jones)
Appendix
Exhibit 1: Rubric for Presentations (G. Brooke Lester)
Exhibit 2: All-Purpose Rubric for "Introduction to the Old Testament" (G. Brooke Lester)
Exhibit 4: Interdisciplinary Institutional Rubric for Writing at Barton College (Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 5: Rubric for Essays in "New Testament"(Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 6: Rubric for Ritual Analysis Papers in "Ritual and Ritualization" (Christopher M. Jones)
Exhibit 7: Rubric for Drafts in "Space and Place in Early Jewish Literature" (Christopher M. Jones)
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Today’s seminary and religious-education instructors are expected to design and redesign their courses more nimbly than in the past. We have to adapt our courses to novel learning environments, for more diverse learners, toward more diverse vocations. At the same time, institutional rewards for time invested in course design are fewer than ever. Understanding Bible by Design introduces the reader to Understanding by Design: an approach to course design that is proven time-efficient and grounded in the instructor’s most closely-held convictions about her subject matter’s “big ideas and essential questions.” This book’s contributors (one in Old Testament, one in New Testament, and one in Jewish Studies) demonstrate the value of Understanding Bible by Design for the Biblical Studies instructor, whether at seminary or university, face-to-face or online, from the intimate seminar to the massive MOOC.
Lester’s synopsis of course design and suggested action is followed by a collaborative dialogue with Jane S. Webster and Christopher M. Jones. Webster and Jones provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Lester’s proposed approaches. As a group, Lester, Webster, and Jones create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Setting the Problem (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 2 Understanding by Design (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 3 Understanding by Design: Old Testament in Seminary (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 4 Understanding by Design: Putting Your Course Online(G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 5 Understanding by Design: New Testament at University(Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 3: Annotated Sample Template for Essay in "New Testament" (Jane S. Webster)
ch. 6 Understanding by Design: Judaism Studies at University (Christopher M. Jones)
Appendix
Exhibit 1: Rubric for Presentations (G. Brooke Lester)
Exhibit 2: All-Purpose Rubric for "Introduction to the Old Testament" (G. Brooke Lester)
Exhibit 4: Interdisciplinary Institutional Rubric for Writing at Barton College (Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 5: Rubric for Essays in "New Testament"(Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 6: Rubric for Ritual Analysis Papers in "Ritual and Ritualization" (Christopher M. Jones)
Exhibit 7: Rubric for Drafts in "Space and Place in Early Jewish Literature" (Christopher M. Jones)
Additional Info:
The creation and implementation of a Christian theological seminary course, "The Education of Christian Pilgrims," in which the purpose was to prepare students to teach members of a church to be and become a consciously "pilgrim Church." This article describes the genesis of the course, creating a syllabus, the actual pilgrimage undertaken by students and professor, and suggested modifications.
The creation and implementation of a Christian theological seminary course, "The Education of Christian Pilgrims," in which the purpose was to prepare students to teach members of a church to be and become a consciously "pilgrim Church." This article describes the genesis of the course, creating a syllabus, the actual pilgrimage undertaken by students and professor, and suggested modifications.
Additional Info:
The creation and implementation of a Christian theological seminary course, "The Education of Christian Pilgrims," in which the purpose was to prepare students to teach members of a church to be and become a consciously "pilgrim Church." This article describes the genesis of the course, creating a syllabus, the actual pilgrimage undertaken by students and professor, and suggested modifications.
The creation and implementation of a Christian theological seminary course, "The Education of Christian Pilgrims," in which the purpose was to prepare students to teach members of a church to be and become a consciously "pilgrim Church." This article describes the genesis of the course, creating a syllabus, the actual pilgrimage undertaken by students and professor, and suggested modifications.

Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation
Additional Info:
A hallmark of American black religion is its distinctive use of the Bible in creating community, resisting oppression, and fomenting social change. What can critical biblical studies learn from the African American experience with the Bible, and vice versa?
This singular volume marks the emergence of a critical mass of black biblical scholars. Combining sophisticated exegesis with special sensitivity to issues of race, class, and gender, the authors of ...
A hallmark of American black religion is its distinctive use of the Bible in creating community, resisting oppression, and fomenting social change. What can critical biblical studies learn from the African American experience with the Bible, and vice versa?
This singular volume marks the emergence of a critical mass of black biblical scholars. Combining sophisticated exegesis with special sensitivity to issues of race, class, and gender, the authors of ...
Additional Info:
A hallmark of American black religion is its distinctive use of the Bible in creating community, resisting oppression, and fomenting social change. What can critical biblical studies learn from the African American experience with the Bible, and vice versa?
This singular volume marks the emergence of a critical mass of black biblical scholars. Combining sophisticated exegesis with special sensitivity to issues of race, class, and gender, the authors of this scholarly collection examine the nettling questions of biblical authority, blacks and African in biblical narratives, and the liberating aspects of Scripture. Together they are reshaping and redefining the questions, concerns, and scholarship that determine how the Bible is appropriated by church, academy, and the larger society today. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
Map
Introduction
Part I: The Relevance of Biblical Scholarship and the Authority of the Bible
ch. 1 Interpreting Biblical Scholarship for the Black Church Tradition (Thomas Hoyt, Jr.)
ch. 2 The Hermeneutical Dilemma of the African American Biblical Student (Renita J. Weems)
ch. 3 Reading Her Way through the Struggle: African American Women and the Bible (Renita J. Weems)
Part II: African American Sources For Enhancing Biblical Interpretation
ch. 4 The Bible and African Americans: An Outline of an Interpretative History (Vincent L. Wimbush)
ch. 5 "An Ante-bellum Sermon": A Resource for an African American Hermeneutic (David T. Shannon)
Part III: Race and Ancient Black Africa in the Bible
ch. 6 Race, Racism, and the Biblical Narratives (Cain Hope Felder)
ch. 7 The Black Presence in the Old Testament (Charles B. Copher)
ch. 8 Beyond Identification: The Use of Africans in Old Testament Poetry and Narratives (Randall C. Bailey)
Part IV: Reinterpreting Biblical Texts
ch. 9 Who Was Hagar? (John W. Waters)
ch. 10 The Haustafeln (Household Codes) in African American Biblical Interpretation: "Free Slaves" and " Subordinate Women"(Clarice J. Martin)
ch. 11 An African American Appraisal of the Philemon-Paul-Onesimus Triangle (Lloyd A. Lewis)
Index of Ancient Sources
Index of Topics and Names
Contributors
A hallmark of American black religion is its distinctive use of the Bible in creating community, resisting oppression, and fomenting social change. What can critical biblical studies learn from the African American experience with the Bible, and vice versa?
This singular volume marks the emergence of a critical mass of black biblical scholars. Combining sophisticated exegesis with special sensitivity to issues of race, class, and gender, the authors of this scholarly collection examine the nettling questions of biblical authority, blacks and African in biblical narratives, and the liberating aspects of Scripture. Together they are reshaping and redefining the questions, concerns, and scholarship that determine how the Bible is appropriated by church, academy, and the larger society today. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
Map
Introduction
Part I: The Relevance of Biblical Scholarship and the Authority of the Bible
ch. 1 Interpreting Biblical Scholarship for the Black Church Tradition (Thomas Hoyt, Jr.)
ch. 2 The Hermeneutical Dilemma of the African American Biblical Student (Renita J. Weems)
ch. 3 Reading Her Way through the Struggle: African American Women and the Bible (Renita J. Weems)
Part II: African American Sources For Enhancing Biblical Interpretation
ch. 4 The Bible and African Americans: An Outline of an Interpretative History (Vincent L. Wimbush)
ch. 5 "An Ante-bellum Sermon": A Resource for an African American Hermeneutic (David T. Shannon)
Part III: Race and Ancient Black Africa in the Bible
ch. 6 Race, Racism, and the Biblical Narratives (Cain Hope Felder)
ch. 7 The Black Presence in the Old Testament (Charles B. Copher)
ch. 8 Beyond Identification: The Use of Africans in Old Testament Poetry and Narratives (Randall C. Bailey)
Part IV: Reinterpreting Biblical Texts
ch. 9 Who Was Hagar? (John W. Waters)
ch. 10 The Haustafeln (Household Codes) in African American Biblical Interpretation: "Free Slaves" and " Subordinate Women"(Clarice J. Martin)
ch. 11 An African American Appraisal of the Philemon-Paul-Onesimus Triangle (Lloyd A. Lewis)
Index of Ancient Sources
Index of Topics and Names
Contributors

Wabash Symposium: Consultation on Teaching: Visual Arts in the Theology or Religious Studies Classroom
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Deborah J. Haynes
Contemplative Practice: Views from the Religion Classroom and Artist's Studio (Linnea Wren)
Can Religious Faith and Contemporary Art Flourish Together? An Academic, Collaborative, and Experiential Seminar Culminating in Student-Based Art Commissions (Paul O. Myhre)
Encountering Navajo Cosmology Through Sand Painting: Teaching a Method for Engaging Visual Texts (Theresa Mason)
Opening Eyes To The Emmaus Story: A Case Study of Visual Art in Biblical Studies (Daniel G. Deffenbaugh)
Humans In The Landscape (Kimberly Vrundy)
The Dissonant Gaze: Redemption, Liberation, and the Theological Imagination (Rebecca Berru Davis)
Image Resources: An Inventory
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Deborah J. Haynes
Contemplative Practice: Views from the Religion Classroom and Artist's Studio (Linnea Wren)
Can Religious Faith and Contemporary Art Flourish Together? An Academic, Collaborative, and Experiential Seminar Culminating in Student-Based Art Commissions (Paul O. Myhre)
Encountering Navajo Cosmology Through Sand Painting: Teaching a Method for Engaging Visual Texts (Theresa Mason)
Opening Eyes To The Emmaus Story: A Case Study of Visual Art in Biblical Studies (Daniel G. Deffenbaugh)
Humans In The Landscape (Kimberly Vrundy)
The Dissonant Gaze: Redemption, Liberation, and the Theological Imagination (Rebecca Berru Davis)
Image Resources: An Inventory
Additional Info:
PowerPoint can be a genuine aid to theological education by providing a medium for employing visual art in the classroom. But PowerPoint does not and should not replace the ordinary stuff of teaching and learning theology: reading, lecturing, discussing texts, and writing papers. Like any other tool, its pedagogical benefit depends on discerning use. Particular care must be used to blunt PowerPoint's tendency to produce a disembodied, decontextualized learning environment. ...
PowerPoint can be a genuine aid to theological education by providing a medium for employing visual art in the classroom. But PowerPoint does not and should not replace the ordinary stuff of teaching and learning theology: reading, lecturing, discussing texts, and writing papers. Like any other tool, its pedagogical benefit depends on discerning use. Particular care must be used to blunt PowerPoint's tendency to produce a disembodied, decontextualized learning environment. ...
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PowerPoint can be a genuine aid to theological education by providing a medium for employing visual art in the classroom. But PowerPoint does not and should not replace the ordinary stuff of teaching and learning theology: reading, lecturing, discussing texts, and writing papers. Like any other tool, its pedagogical benefit depends on discerning use. Particular care must be used to blunt PowerPoint's tendency to produce a disembodied, decontextualized learning environment. Using PowerPoint to incorporate art into theology classes is not merely a strategy for making verbal points more powerfully. Art can sometimes go where theological words cannot.
PowerPoint can be a genuine aid to theological education by providing a medium for employing visual art in the classroom. But PowerPoint does not and should not replace the ordinary stuff of teaching and learning theology: reading, lecturing, discussing texts, and writing papers. Like any other tool, its pedagogical benefit depends on discerning use. Particular care must be used to blunt PowerPoint's tendency to produce a disembodied, decontextualized learning environment. Using PowerPoint to incorporate art into theology classes is not merely a strategy for making verbal points more powerfully. Art can sometimes go where theological words cannot.
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"Ancient Christianity, Ancient Cities – and Cyberspace?" was a teaching experiment combining the study of theology, religion, history, and new computer technologies. The course included both a regular class meeting and a concurrent digital media lab. All student assignments were digital. Students came in with a wide variety of technical knowledge and backgrounds in classical and religious studies. In addition to learning about the history and theology of early Christianity, students ...
"Ancient Christianity, Ancient Cities – and Cyberspace?" was a teaching experiment combining the study of theology, religion, history, and new computer technologies. The course included both a regular class meeting and a concurrent digital media lab. All student assignments were digital. Students came in with a wide variety of technical knowledge and backgrounds in classical and religious studies. In addition to learning about the history and theology of early Christianity, students ...
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"Ancient Christianity, Ancient Cities – and Cyberspace?" was a teaching experiment combining the study of theology, religion, history, and new computer technologies. The course included both a regular class meeting and a concurrent digital media lab. All student assignments were digital. Students came in with a wide variety of technical knowledge and backgrounds in classical and religious studies. In addition to learning about the history and theology of early Christianity, students became critical learners of technology within the ideal of a liberal arts education.
"Ancient Christianity, Ancient Cities – and Cyberspace?" was a teaching experiment combining the study of theology, religion, history, and new computer technologies. The course included both a regular class meeting and a concurrent digital media lab. All student assignments were digital. Students came in with a wide variety of technical knowledge and backgrounds in classical and religious studies. In addition to learning about the history and theology of early Christianity, students became critical learners of technology within the ideal of a liberal arts education.


Critical Thinking and the Academic Study of Religion
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This work responds to a renewed emphasis on teaching in the academy. Written from the perspective of a classroom teacher, it is a practical application of the principles behind the Critical Thinking movement to the study of religion. Emphasizing that the acquisition of critical thinking depends less on what is taught than on how it is taught, the author presents concrete examples from his own experience to illustrate a student ...
This work responds to a renewed emphasis on teaching in the academy. Written from the perspective of a classroom teacher, it is a practical application of the principles behind the Critical Thinking movement to the study of religion. Emphasizing that the acquisition of critical thinking depends less on what is taught than on how it is taught, the author presents concrete examples from his own experience to illustrate a student ...
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This work responds to a renewed emphasis on teaching in the academy. Written from the perspective of a classroom teacher, it is a practical application of the principles behind the Critical Thinking movement to the study of religion. Emphasizing that the acquisition of critical thinking depends less on what is taught than on how it is taught, the author presents concrete examples from his own experience to illustrate a student centered approach to teaching. By demonstrating how the study of religion contributes to the development of critical thinking - through the acquisition of problem-solving, decision-making, and metacognitive skills - Penaskovic suggests its value to a broader liberal arts curriculum as well. Both a theoretical review of Critical Thinking and a "nuts-and-bolts" manual on how it can be used and assessed in the classroom, this work will challenge new and veteran teachers alike to re-examine and renew what they do in the classroom. The book includes a selected, annotated bibliography on Critical Thinking. Every teacher of religion will want to read this book. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Preface
ch. 1 What Is Critical Thinking?
ch. 2 Barriers to Critical Thinking?
ch. 3 The Three Levels of Learning
ch. 4 Teaching in the Active Mode
ch. 5 Cooperative Learning
ch. 6 Critical Thinking and Creativity
ch. 7 The Assessment of Critical Thinking
ch. 8 Unsolved Mysteries
Appendix A: Glossary of Terms
Select Annotated Bibliography
This work responds to a renewed emphasis on teaching in the academy. Written from the perspective of a classroom teacher, it is a practical application of the principles behind the Critical Thinking movement to the study of religion. Emphasizing that the acquisition of critical thinking depends less on what is taught than on how it is taught, the author presents concrete examples from his own experience to illustrate a student centered approach to teaching. By demonstrating how the study of religion contributes to the development of critical thinking - through the acquisition of problem-solving, decision-making, and metacognitive skills - Penaskovic suggests its value to a broader liberal arts curriculum as well. Both a theoretical review of Critical Thinking and a "nuts-and-bolts" manual on how it can be used and assessed in the classroom, this work will challenge new and veteran teachers alike to re-examine and renew what they do in the classroom. The book includes a selected, annotated bibliography on Critical Thinking. Every teacher of religion will want to read this book. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Preface
ch. 1 What Is Critical Thinking?
ch. 2 Barriers to Critical Thinking?
ch. 3 The Three Levels of Learning
ch. 4 Teaching in the Active Mode
ch. 5 Cooperative Learning
ch. 6 Critical Thinking and Creativity
ch. 7 The Assessment of Critical Thinking
ch. 8 Unsolved Mysteries
Appendix A: Glossary of Terms
Select Annotated Bibliography
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One page Teaching Tactic: students work collaboratively and in role play, to understand historical agents.
One page Teaching Tactic: students work collaboratively and in role play, to understand historical agents.
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One page Teaching Tactic: students work collaboratively and in role play, to understand historical agents.
One page Teaching Tactic: students work collaboratively and in role play, to understand historical agents.
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This is a case study based upon my experience of teaching an introduction to rabbinic thought to a group of Orthodox Jewish students. The study of one particular midrashic pericope allowed for major tensions between academic and religious approaches to the text to surface. The tension revolved around the apparent contradiction between the rabbinic mythical perception of creation as proceeding from primary negative matter and later philosophical belief in creatio ...
This is a case study based upon my experience of teaching an introduction to rabbinic thought to a group of Orthodox Jewish students. The study of one particular midrashic pericope allowed for major tensions between academic and religious approaches to the text to surface. The tension revolved around the apparent contradiction between the rabbinic mythical perception of creation as proceeding from primary negative matter and later philosophical belief in creatio ...
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This is a case study based upon my experience of teaching an introduction to rabbinic thought to a group of Orthodox Jewish students. The study of one particular midrashic pericope allowed for major tensions between academic and religious approaches to the text to surface. The tension revolved around the apparent contradiction between the rabbinic mythical perception of creation as proceeding from primary negative matter and later philosophical belief in creatio ex nihilo. This contradiction touches upon issues of authority and of interpretation. The article explores various strategies dealing with issues of authority in general and of the meaning of the individual text in particular. Following a presentation of these strategies I offer my reflections upon my role as a teacher in this context. Dialogue emerges as an important element in the teaching process, creating a common ground between teachers and students and making them partners in a common quest for the truth of the text. Traditional dialogical modes of Jewish learning serve as the basis for the introduction of the academic agenda. This agenda is introduced as an extension of classical religious concerns rather than as an alternative to them.
This is a case study based upon my experience of teaching an introduction to rabbinic thought to a group of Orthodox Jewish students. The study of one particular midrashic pericope allowed for major tensions between academic and religious approaches to the text to surface. The tension revolved around the apparent contradiction between the rabbinic mythical perception of creation as proceeding from primary negative matter and later philosophical belief in creatio ex nihilo. This contradiction touches upon issues of authority and of interpretation. The article explores various strategies dealing with issues of authority in general and of the meaning of the individual text in particular. Following a presentation of these strategies I offer my reflections upon my role as a teacher in this context. Dialogue emerges as an important element in the teaching process, creating a common ground between teachers and students and making them partners in a common quest for the truth of the text. Traditional dialogical modes of Jewish learning serve as the basis for the introduction of the academic agenda. This agenda is introduced as an extension of classical religious concerns rather than as an alternative to them.
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Theological study abroad programs in countries like Israel can actually benefit from the political tensions in those countries when the tensions are treated with due caution and when the course is designed to account for them. Focusing on Israel as its test case, this article offers suggestions for ensuring safety in countries of conflict. At the same time, it lays the groundwork for assuring a balanced approach to studying the ...
Theological study abroad programs in countries like Israel can actually benefit from the political tensions in those countries when the tensions are treated with due caution and when the course is designed to account for them. Focusing on Israel as its test case, this article offers suggestions for ensuring safety in countries of conflict. At the same time, it lays the groundwork for assuring a balanced approach to studying the ...
Additional Info:
Theological study abroad programs in countries like Israel can actually benefit from the political tensions in those countries when the tensions are treated with due caution and when the course is designed to account for them. Focusing on Israel as its test case, this article offers suggestions for ensuring safety in countries of conflict. At the same time, it lays the groundwork for assuring a balanced approach to studying the present conflict in Israel within the framework of a course in christology while addressing the demands of Seattle University's Catholic Jesuit philosophy.
Theological study abroad programs in countries like Israel can actually benefit from the political tensions in those countries when the tensions are treated with due caution and when the course is designed to account for them. Focusing on Israel as its test case, this article offers suggestions for ensuring safety in countries of conflict. At the same time, it lays the groundwork for assuring a balanced approach to studying the present conflict in Israel within the framework of a course in christology while addressing the demands of Seattle University's Catholic Jesuit philosophy.

Turn it and Turn it Again: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts
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The study of classical Jewish texts is flourishing in day schools and adult education, synagogues and summer camps, universities and yeshivot. But serious inquiry into the practices and purposes of such study is far rarer. In this book, a diverse collection of empirical and conceptual studies illuminates particular aspects of the teaching of Bible and rabbinic literature to, and the learning of, children and adults. In addition to providing specific ...
The study of classical Jewish texts is flourishing in day schools and adult education, synagogues and summer camps, universities and yeshivot. But serious inquiry into the practices and purposes of such study is far rarer. In this book, a diverse collection of empirical and conceptual studies illuminates particular aspects of the teaching of Bible and rabbinic literature to, and the learning of, children and adults. In addition to providing specific ...
Additional Info:
The study of classical Jewish texts is flourishing in day schools and adult education, synagogues and summer camps, universities and yeshivot. But serious inquiry into the practices and purposes of such study is far rarer. In this book, a diverse collection of empirical and conceptual studies illuminates particular aspects of the teaching of Bible and rabbinic literature to, and the learning of, children and adults. In addition to providing specific insights into the pedagogy of Jewish texts, these studies serve as models of what the disciplined study of pedagogy can look like. This book will be of interest to teachers of Jewish texts in all contexts, and will be particularly valuable for the professional development of Jewish educators. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Foreword
ch. 1 Cultivating Curiosity about the Teaching of Classical Jewish Texts (Jon A. Levisohn, and Susan P. Fendrick)
Part 1: Focus on Subject Matter
ch. 2 A Map of Orientations to the Teaching of Bible (Barry W. Holtz)
ch. 3 What Are the Orientations to the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature? (Jon A. Levisohn)
ch. 4 Teaching Talmudic Hermeneutics Using a Semiotic Model of Law (Daniel Reifman)
ch. 5 Neusner, Brisk, and the Stam: Significant Methodologies for Meaningful Talmud Teaching and Study (Michael Chernick)
Part 2: Focus on Teaching and Teachers
ch. 6 The Pedagogy of Slowing Down: Teaching Talmud in a Summer Kollel (Jane Kanarek)
ch. 7 Serendipity and Pedagogy: Presenting the Weekly Parashah through Rabbinic Eyes (Carl M. Perkins)
ch. 8 Introducing the Bible: The Comparative Orientation in Practice (Jon A. Levisohn)
Part 3: Focus on Learning and Learners
ch. 9 Teaching Ancient Jewish History: An Experiment in Engaged Learning (Michael Satlow)
ch. 10 "A Judaism That Does Not Hide": Curricular Warrants for the Teaching of the Documentary Hypothesis in Community Jewish High Schools (Susan E. Tanchel)
ch. 11 Developing Student Awareness of the Talmud as an Edited Document: A Pedagogy for the Pluralistic Jewish Day School (Jeffrey Spitzer)
ch. 12 A Theory of Havruta Learning (Orit Kent)
Part 4: Focus on Context
ch. 13 "Torah Talk": Teaching Parashat Ha-shavua to Young Children (Shira Horowitz)
ch. 14 Using the Contextual Orientation to Facilitate the Study of Bible with Generation X (Beth Cousens, Susan P. Fendrick, and Jeremy S. Morrison)
ch. 15 Academic Study of the Talmud as a Spiritual Endeavor in Rabbinic Training: Delights and Dangers (Jonah Chanan Steinberg)
ch. 16 Teaching Rabbinics as an Ethical Endeavor and Teaching Ethics as a Rabbinic Endeavor (Sarra Lev)
List of Contributors
Index of Biblical and Rabbinic Sources
General Index
The study of classical Jewish texts is flourishing in day schools and adult education, synagogues and summer camps, universities and yeshivot. But serious inquiry into the practices and purposes of such study is far rarer. In this book, a diverse collection of empirical and conceptual studies illuminates particular aspects of the teaching of Bible and rabbinic literature to, and the learning of, children and adults. In addition to providing specific insights into the pedagogy of Jewish texts, these studies serve as models of what the disciplined study of pedagogy can look like. This book will be of interest to teachers of Jewish texts in all contexts, and will be particularly valuable for the professional development of Jewish educators. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Foreword
ch. 1 Cultivating Curiosity about the Teaching of Classical Jewish Texts (Jon A. Levisohn, and Susan P. Fendrick)
Part 1: Focus on Subject Matter
ch. 2 A Map of Orientations to the Teaching of Bible (Barry W. Holtz)
ch. 3 What Are the Orientations to the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature? (Jon A. Levisohn)
ch. 4 Teaching Talmudic Hermeneutics Using a Semiotic Model of Law (Daniel Reifman)
ch. 5 Neusner, Brisk, and the Stam: Significant Methodologies for Meaningful Talmud Teaching and Study (Michael Chernick)
Part 2: Focus on Teaching and Teachers
ch. 6 The Pedagogy of Slowing Down: Teaching Talmud in a Summer Kollel (Jane Kanarek)
ch. 7 Serendipity and Pedagogy: Presenting the Weekly Parashah through Rabbinic Eyes (Carl M. Perkins)
ch. 8 Introducing the Bible: The Comparative Orientation in Practice (Jon A. Levisohn)
Part 3: Focus on Learning and Learners
ch. 9 Teaching Ancient Jewish History: An Experiment in Engaged Learning (Michael Satlow)
ch. 10 "A Judaism That Does Not Hide": Curricular Warrants for the Teaching of the Documentary Hypothesis in Community Jewish High Schools (Susan E. Tanchel)
ch. 11 Developing Student Awareness of the Talmud as an Edited Document: A Pedagogy for the Pluralistic Jewish Day School (Jeffrey Spitzer)
ch. 12 A Theory of Havruta Learning (Orit Kent)
Part 4: Focus on Context
ch. 13 "Torah Talk": Teaching Parashat Ha-shavua to Young Children (Shira Horowitz)
ch. 14 Using the Contextual Orientation to Facilitate the Study of Bible with Generation X (Beth Cousens, Susan P. Fendrick, and Jeremy S. Morrison)
ch. 15 Academic Study of the Talmud as a Spiritual Endeavor in Rabbinic Training: Delights and Dangers (Jonah Chanan Steinberg)
ch. 16 Teaching Rabbinics as an Ethical Endeavor and Teaching Ethics as a Rabbinic Endeavor (Sarra Lev)
List of Contributors
Index of Biblical and Rabbinic Sources
General Index
Additional Info:
This essay explores classroom dynamics when students identify and connect their own painful experiences to structural racism or ethnocentrism exhibited in the Holocaust or parts of Jewish history. The intrusion of this proximal knowledge can be an obstacle to student learning. If engaged by professors, however, I argue that proximal knowledge can be a catalyst that promotes learning. Social scientific theory provides a useful lens for helping students to better ...
This essay explores classroom dynamics when students identify and connect their own painful experiences to structural racism or ethnocentrism exhibited in the Holocaust or parts of Jewish history. The intrusion of this proximal knowledge can be an obstacle to student learning. If engaged by professors, however, I argue that proximal knowledge can be a catalyst that promotes learning. Social scientific theory provides a useful lens for helping students to better ...
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This essay explores classroom dynamics when students identify and connect their own painful experiences to structural racism or ethnocentrism exhibited in the Holocaust or parts of Jewish history. The intrusion of this proximal knowledge can be an obstacle to student learning. If engaged by professors, however, I argue that proximal knowledge can be a catalyst that promotes learning. Social scientific theory provides a useful lens for helping students to better grasp and contextualize both their old experiences and the new materials that are being taught in the course within the larger structural frames of race, religion, and ethnicity that they have selected, but may not fully appreciate. Reflective guided journaling is an essential part of the learning experience.
This essay explores classroom dynamics when students identify and connect their own painful experiences to structural racism or ethnocentrism exhibited in the Holocaust or parts of Jewish history. The intrusion of this proximal knowledge can be an obstacle to student learning. If engaged by professors, however, I argue that proximal knowledge can be a catalyst that promotes learning. Social scientific theory provides a useful lens for helping students to better grasp and contextualize both their old experiences and the new materials that are being taught in the course within the larger structural frames of race, religion, and ethnicity that they have selected, but may not fully appreciate. Reflective guided journaling is an essential part of the learning experience.

"Windows into Faith: Theology and Religious Studies at the University"
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One page Teaching Tactic: a method for engaging students' religious questions in an Islamic Studies course
One page Teaching Tactic: a method for engaging students' religious questions in an Islamic Studies course
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One page Teaching Tactic: a method for engaging students' religious questions in an Islamic Studies course
One page Teaching Tactic: a method for engaging students' religious questions in an Islamic Studies course
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Biblical studies professors in Christian liberal arts colleges typically face greater hostility from students nurtured in fundamentalist churches than they do from those who attend mainline churches. Guiding them through their first academic study of the Bible poses many challenges. To avoid the course becoming a battlefield, and to facilitate integration on a higher level, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral provides a middle way between right-wing and left-wing extremes. This approach gives ...
Biblical studies professors in Christian liberal arts colleges typically face greater hostility from students nurtured in fundamentalist churches than they do from those who attend mainline churches. Guiding them through their first academic study of the Bible poses many challenges. To avoid the course becoming a battlefield, and to facilitate integration on a higher level, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral provides a middle way between right-wing and left-wing extremes. This approach gives ...
Additional Info:
Biblical studies professors in Christian liberal arts colleges typically face greater hostility from students nurtured in fundamentalist churches than they do from those who attend mainline churches. Guiding them through their first academic study of the Bible poses many challenges. To avoid the course becoming a battlefield, and to facilitate integration on a higher level, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral provides a middle way between right-wing and left-wing extremes. This approach gives priority to the Bible as the primary source for determining theology and practice, but relies heavily on tradition, reason, and experience as well. It also promotes interaction with the spiritual, moral, and ethical concerns expressed in the biblical texts. To adopt the Quadrilateral involves active concern for character formation, inspiring students to become better people. If we merely dispense historical-critical or literary information without considering contemporary relevance, we bore students and fail in our duties as educators.
Biblical studies professors in Christian liberal arts colleges typically face greater hostility from students nurtured in fundamentalist churches than they do from those who attend mainline churches. Guiding them through their first academic study of the Bible poses many challenges. To avoid the course becoming a battlefield, and to facilitate integration on a higher level, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral provides a middle way between right-wing and left-wing extremes. This approach gives priority to the Bible as the primary source for determining theology and practice, but relies heavily on tradition, reason, and experience as well. It also promotes interaction with the spiritual, moral, and ethical concerns expressed in the biblical texts. To adopt the Quadrilateral involves active concern for character formation, inspiring students to become better people. If we merely dispense historical-critical or literary information without considering contemporary relevance, we bore students and fail in our duties as educators.

"Communicating Faith and Online Learning"
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One page Teaching Tactic: using visual arts in the biblical studies classroom.
One page Teaching Tactic: using visual arts in the biblical studies classroom.
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One page Teaching Tactic: using visual arts in the biblical studies classroom.
One page Teaching Tactic: using visual arts in the biblical studies classroom.
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This series of short essays considers the complex choices and decision-making processes of instructors preparing to teach, and continuing to teach, introductory courses in religious studies. In a paper originally presented in the University of Chicago's “The Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion” series, Russell McCutcheon explores a “baker's dozen” of such choices and the larger pedagogical problems with which they are entwined, ranging from classic questions ...
This series of short essays considers the complex choices and decision-making processes of instructors preparing to teach, and continuing to teach, introductory courses in religious studies. In a paper originally presented in the University of Chicago's “The Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion” series, Russell McCutcheon explores a “baker's dozen” of such choices and the larger pedagogical problems with which they are entwined, ranging from classic questions ...
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This series of short essays considers the complex choices and decision-making processes of instructors preparing to teach, and continuing to teach, introductory courses in religious studies. In a paper originally presented in the University of Chicago's “The Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion” series, Russell McCutcheon explores a “baker's dozen” of such choices and the larger pedagogical problems with which they are entwined, ranging from classic questions of skill development and content coverage to philosophical concerns around students' identification with their topics of study and institutional concerns around governance and assessment. Aaron Hollander provides a brief introduction and four doctoral students at the University of Chicago Divinity School respond to McCutcheon's essay, widening its scope, testing its applicability, and interrogating its undergirding suppositions from the perspective of early-career educators in the field.
This series of short essays considers the complex choices and decision-making processes of instructors preparing to teach, and continuing to teach, introductory courses in religious studies. In a paper originally presented in the University of Chicago's “The Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion” series, Russell McCutcheon explores a “baker's dozen” of such choices and the larger pedagogical problems with which they are entwined, ranging from classic questions of skill development and content coverage to philosophical concerns around students' identification with their topics of study and institutional concerns around governance and assessment. Aaron Hollander provides a brief introduction and four doctoral students at the University of Chicago Divinity School respond to McCutcheon's essay, widening its scope, testing its applicability, and interrogating its undergirding suppositions from the perspective of early-career educators in the field.

Confronting Orientalism - A Self-Study of Educating through Hindu Dance
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The author aims to use Kuchipudi Indian classical Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about Hinduism with postcolonialism in mind. This goal arises from her dance experiences and the historical era of imperialism. Colonization occurs when those in power believe there is a need to dominate in a manner that subjugates people. Colonizers ...
Click Here for Book Review
The author aims to use Kuchipudi Indian classical Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about Hinduism with postcolonialism in mind. This goal arises from her dance experiences and the historical era of imperialism. Colonization occurs when those in power believe there is a need to dominate in a manner that subjugates people. Colonizers ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
The author aims to use Kuchipudi Indian classical Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about Hinduism with postcolonialism in mind. This goal arises from her dance experiences and the historical era of imperialism. Colonization occurs when those in power believe there is a need to dominate in a manner that subjugates people. Colonizers created colonies as they moved into territory because they felt there was a need to “civilize” the so-called savages of the land. Postcolonialism is an intellectual discourse that confronts the legacy of colonialism and attempts to de-colonize. With the legacy of colonialism and a postcolonial lens in mind, some research questions arise. How does she, as a Kuchipudi dancer, use Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about the Eastern literature of Hinduism? For non-Hindus, she feels the power of the exoticizing gaze when she dances, which might very well block the educational intention of the dance. This exoticizing gaze prevents the understanding of the traditional nature of the dance and the introduction to Hinduism as a world religion. The author’s problem is moving the exotic gaze of non-Hindus to an educational gaze that seeks to learn about the ethics of Hinduism in a manner that takes into consideration the multiple perspectives of the complex society we live in today.
Table Of Content:
Ch 1. Introduction: A Postcolonial Self-Study
Ch 2. De-Orientalized Pedagogical Spaces
Ch 3. The Gazes
Ch 4. Unveiling the Hidden Curriculum of Hindu
Ch 5. Religious Epistemology with a Focus on the Ramayana Ch 6. Conclusion
References
About the Author
Index
Click Here for Book Review
The author aims to use Kuchipudi Indian classical Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about Hinduism with postcolonialism in mind. This goal arises from her dance experiences and the historical era of imperialism. Colonization occurs when those in power believe there is a need to dominate in a manner that subjugates people. Colonizers created colonies as they moved into territory because they felt there was a need to “civilize” the so-called savages of the land. Postcolonialism is an intellectual discourse that confronts the legacy of colonialism and attempts to de-colonize. With the legacy of colonialism and a postcolonial lens in mind, some research questions arise. How does she, as a Kuchipudi dancer, use Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about the Eastern literature of Hinduism? For non-Hindus, she feels the power of the exoticizing gaze when she dances, which might very well block the educational intention of the dance. This exoticizing gaze prevents the understanding of the traditional nature of the dance and the introduction to Hinduism as a world religion. The author’s problem is moving the exotic gaze of non-Hindus to an educational gaze that seeks to learn about the ethics of Hinduism in a manner that takes into consideration the multiple perspectives of the complex society we live in today.
Table Of Content:
Ch 1. Introduction: A Postcolonial Self-Study
Ch 2. De-Orientalized Pedagogical Spaces
Ch 3. The Gazes
Ch 4. Unveiling the Hidden Curriculum of Hindu
Ch 5. Religious Epistemology with a Focus on the Ramayana Ch 6. Conclusion
References
About the Author
Index
Additional Info:
This article reflects critically on the introduction of a form of problem-based learning into a first-year Hebrew course. It begins by outlining the problems inherent in the way this course had previously been taught, and proceeds to consider the factors that needed to be taken into account in developing a solution. In particular, the need to develop a course that promotes deep rather than surface learning is emphasized. A description ...
This article reflects critically on the introduction of a form of problem-based learning into a first-year Hebrew course. It begins by outlining the problems inherent in the way this course had previously been taught, and proceeds to consider the factors that needed to be taken into account in developing a solution. In particular, the need to develop a course that promotes deep rather than surface learning is emphasized. A description ...
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This article reflects critically on the introduction of a form of problem-based learning into a first-year Hebrew course. It begins by outlining the problems inherent in the way this course had previously been taught, and proceeds to consider the factors that needed to be taken into account in developing a solution. In particular, the need to develop a course that promotes deep rather than surface learning is emphasized. A description is then given of problem-based learning and the advantages it offers. An account of problem-based learning in the context of the Hebrew course is given, followed by critical reflections based on comments put forward by students involved with the course and the teacher's reflective partners. Without ignoring the problems presented by problem-based learning, this article defends this educative strategy on the basis that it stimulates student motivation and promotes deep learning on a number of levels.
This article reflects critically on the introduction of a form of problem-based learning into a first-year Hebrew course. It begins by outlining the problems inherent in the way this course had previously been taught, and proceeds to consider the factors that needed to be taken into account in developing a solution. In particular, the need to develop a course that promotes deep rather than surface learning is emphasized. A description is then given of problem-based learning and the advantages it offers. An account of problem-based learning in the context of the Hebrew course is given, followed by critical reflections based on comments put forward by students involved with the course and the teacher's reflective partners. Without ignoring the problems presented by problem-based learning, this article defends this educative strategy on the basis that it stimulates student motivation and promotes deep learning on a number of levels.
Additional Info:
The “Make Your Own Religion” class project was designed to address a perceived need to introduce more theoretical thinking about religion into a typical religion survey course, and to do so in such a way that students would experience the wonder of theoretical discovery, and through or because of that discovery hopefully both better retain knowledge gained from the project and nurture within themselves the practice of thinking more analytically ...
The “Make Your Own Religion” class project was designed to address a perceived need to introduce more theoretical thinking about religion into a typical religion survey course, and to do so in such a way that students would experience the wonder of theoretical discovery, and through or because of that discovery hopefully both better retain knowledge gained from the project and nurture within themselves the practice of thinking more analytically ...
Additional Info:
The “Make Your Own Religion” class project was designed to address a perceived need to introduce more theoretical thinking about religion into a typical religion survey course, and to do so in such a way that students would experience the wonder of theoretical discovery, and through or because of that discovery hopefully both better retain knowledge gained from the project and nurture within themselves the practice of thinking more analytically about religion (and other social and cultural things). Despite a number of challenges and unresolved questions associated with the project, it has proven relatively successful at introducing and provoking theoretical thinking about religion in a compressed period of time, without taking an inordinate number of class periods away from the survey itself. A brief description and analysis of the assignment is followed by four short responses.
The “Make Your Own Religion” class project was designed to address a perceived need to introduce more theoretical thinking about religion into a typical religion survey course, and to do so in such a way that students would experience the wonder of theoretical discovery, and through or because of that discovery hopefully both better retain knowledge gained from the project and nurture within themselves the practice of thinking more analytically about religion (and other social and cultural things). Despite a number of challenges and unresolved questions associated with the project, it has proven relatively successful at introducing and provoking theoretical thinking about religion in a compressed period of time, without taking an inordinate number of class periods away from the survey itself. A brief description and analysis of the assignment is followed by four short responses.
Additional Info:
This resource enables biblical studies instructors to facilitate engaging classroom experiences by drawing on the arts and popular culture. It offers brief overviews of hundreds of easily accessible examples of art, film, literature, music, and other media and outlines strategies for incorporating them effectively and concisely in the classroom. Although designed primarily for college and seminary courses on the Bible, the ideas can easily be adapted for classes such as ...
This resource enables biblical studies instructors to facilitate engaging classroom experiences by drawing on the arts and popular culture. It offers brief overviews of hundreds of easily accessible examples of art, film, literature, music, and other media and outlines strategies for incorporating them effectively and concisely in the classroom. Although designed primarily for college and seminary courses on the Bible, the ideas can easily be adapted for classes such as ...
Additional Info:
This resource enables biblical studies instructors to facilitate engaging classroom experiences by drawing on the arts and popular culture. It offers brief overviews of hundreds of easily accessible examples of art, film, literature, music, and other media and outlines strategies for incorporating them effectively and concisely in the classroom. Although designed primarily for college and seminary courses on the Bible, the ideas can easily be adapted for classes such as Theology and Literature or Religion and Art as well as for nonacademic settings. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
List of Contributors
Introduction
Part 1: Music
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Music (Mark Roncace and Dan W. Clanton, Jr.)
ch. 1 Popular Music (Mark Roncace and Dan W. Clanton, Jr.)
ch. 2 Classical Music (Dan W. Clanton Jr. and Bryan Bibb)
Part 2: Film
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Film
ch. 3 The Bible in Film (Nicola Denzey and Patrick Gray)
ch. 4 Nonbiblical Narrative in Film (Nicola Denzey and Patrick Gray)
Part 3: Art
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Art
ch. 5 Biblical Subjects in Art (Lynn R. Huber, Dan W. Clanton Jr., and Jane S. Webster)
ch. 6 Abstract and Nonbiblical Art (Lynn R. Huber)
Part 4: Literature
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Literature (Jaime Clark-Soles)
ch. 7 Poetry (Ira Brent Driggers and Brent A. Strawn)
ch. 8 Prose: Fiction and Nonfiction (Jaime Clark-Soles, Patrick Gray, and Brent A. Strawn)
Part 5: Other Media
Introduction (
ch. 9 Cartoons and Comics (Dan W. Clanton, Jr.)
ch. 10 Youth Literature, Programming, and Entertainment (Mark Roncace)
ch. 11 Animated Television (Dan W. Clanton, Jr, and Mark Roncace)
ch. 12 Television Dramas and Documentation (Dan W. Clanton Jr. and Mark Roncace)
ch. 13 Internet Websites (Mark Roncace)
Indexes
Biblical Texts
Noncanonical Texts
Music
Film
Art
Literature
This resource enables biblical studies instructors to facilitate engaging classroom experiences by drawing on the arts and popular culture. It offers brief overviews of hundreds of easily accessible examples of art, film, literature, music, and other media and outlines strategies for incorporating them effectively and concisely in the classroom. Although designed primarily for college and seminary courses on the Bible, the ideas can easily be adapted for classes such as Theology and Literature or Religion and Art as well as for nonacademic settings. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
List of Contributors
Introduction
Part 1: Music
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Music (Mark Roncace and Dan W. Clanton, Jr.)
ch. 1 Popular Music (Mark Roncace and Dan W. Clanton, Jr.)
ch. 2 Classical Music (Dan W. Clanton Jr. and Bryan Bibb)
Part 2: Film
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Film
ch. 3 The Bible in Film (Nicola Denzey and Patrick Gray)
ch. 4 Nonbiblical Narrative in Film (Nicola Denzey and Patrick Gray)
Part 3: Art
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Art
ch. 5 Biblical Subjects in Art (Lynn R. Huber, Dan W. Clanton Jr., and Jane S. Webster)
ch. 6 Abstract and Nonbiblical Art (Lynn R. Huber)
Part 4: Literature
Introduction: Teaching the Bible with Literature (Jaime Clark-Soles)
ch. 7 Poetry (Ira Brent Driggers and Brent A. Strawn)
ch. 8 Prose: Fiction and Nonfiction (Jaime Clark-Soles, Patrick Gray, and Brent A. Strawn)
Part 5: Other Media
Introduction (
ch. 9 Cartoons and Comics (Dan W. Clanton, Jr.)
ch. 10 Youth Literature, Programming, and Entertainment (Mark Roncace)
ch. 11 Animated Television (Dan W. Clanton, Jr, and Mark Roncace)
ch. 12 Television Dramas and Documentation (Dan W. Clanton Jr. and Mark Roncace)
ch. 13 Internet Websites (Mark Roncace)
Indexes
Biblical Texts
Noncanonical Texts
Music
Film
Art
Literature
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching New ad Alternative Religious Movements: Guest Editor’s Introduction (Eugene V. Gallagher and Benjamin E Zeller)
ch. 2 Integrating New Religions Scholarship into Religious Studies Courses (Catherine Wessinger)
ch. 3 Teaching New Religions at a Liberal Arts College (Jeremy Rapport)
ch. 4 Using Memoirs to Learn about NRMs in the “Mini Review Essay” (Marie W. Dallam)
ch. 5 Accepting Ambiguity: A Conscious Style of Course Design and Comparison for Teaching New Relligious Movements (Lydia Willsky)
ch. 6 Everything New is Old Again: New Religious Movements as American Minority Religions (Megan Goodwin)
ch. 7 Making Familiar the Unfamiliar: Teaching RLST 2626 “Witchcraft, Paganism, and the New Age,” at the University of Sydney (Carole M. Cusack)
ch. 8 Field Trips in the Course on New Religions (W. Michael Ashcraft)
ch. 9 Suggested Resources
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching New ad Alternative Religious Movements: Guest Editor’s Introduction (Eugene V. Gallagher and Benjamin E Zeller)
ch. 2 Integrating New Religions Scholarship into Religious Studies Courses (Catherine Wessinger)
ch. 3 Teaching New Religions at a Liberal Arts College (Jeremy Rapport)
ch. 4 Using Memoirs to Learn about NRMs in the “Mini Review Essay” (Marie W. Dallam)
ch. 5 Accepting Ambiguity: A Conscious Style of Course Design and Comparison for Teaching New Relligious Movements (Lydia Willsky)
ch. 6 Everything New is Old Again: New Religious Movements as American Minority Religions (Megan Goodwin)
ch. 7 Making Familiar the Unfamiliar: Teaching RLST 2626 “Witchcraft, Paganism, and the New Age,” at the University of Sydney (Carole M. Cusack)
ch. 8 Field Trips in the Course on New Religions (W. Michael Ashcraft)
ch. 9 Suggested Resources

Beyond the Classics: Essays in Religious Studies and Liberal Education
Additional Info:
Taken ad seriatim, these essays present a wide range of differing theoretical positions and practical strategies for reform. It is our hope that, when read from this point of view, they will evoke the kind of very specific discussions, debates and actions that will be required if real change is to occur. (From the Publisher)
Taken ad seriatim, these essays present a wide range of differing theoretical positions and practical strategies for reform. It is our hope that, when read from this point of view, they will evoke the kind of very specific discussions, debates and actions that will be required if real change is to occur. (From the Publisher)
Additional Info:
Taken ad seriatim, these essays present a wide range of differing theoretical positions and practical strategies for reform. It is our hope that, when read from this point of view, they will evoke the kind of very specific discussions, debates and actions that will be required if real change is to occur. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Reconstructing liberal education : a religious studies perspective (Frank E. Reynolds)
ch. 2 University, the liberal arts, and the teaching and study of religion (Charles H. Long)
ch. 3 "Seeking an end to the primary text" or "putting an end to the text as primary" (Lawrence E. Sullivan)
ch. 4 Rethinking the humanities for the 1990s : redressing the balance (George W. Pickering)
ch. 5 Confidence and criticism : religious studies and the public purposes of liberal education (Robin W. Lovin) -- Education and the intellectual virtues (Lee H. Yearly)
ch. 6 Legal status of religious studies programs in public higher education (W. Royce Clark)
ch. 7 Four modes of discourse : blurred genres in the study of religion (Sheryl L. Burkhalter)
ch. 8 Beyond ours and theirs : the global character of religious studies (James H. Foard)
ch. 9 Religious studies and exposure to multiple worlds in the liberal arts curriculum (Judith A. Berling)
ch. 10 Writing across the curriculum : a religious studies contribution ( James H. Foard)
ch. 11 Dearth in Venice (William R. Darrow)
Taken ad seriatim, these essays present a wide range of differing theoretical positions and practical strategies for reform. It is our hope that, when read from this point of view, they will evoke the kind of very specific discussions, debates and actions that will be required if real change is to occur. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Reconstructing liberal education : a religious studies perspective (Frank E. Reynolds)
ch. 2 University, the liberal arts, and the teaching and study of religion (Charles H. Long)
ch. 3 "Seeking an end to the primary text" or "putting an end to the text as primary" (Lawrence E. Sullivan)
ch. 4 Rethinking the humanities for the 1990s : redressing the balance (George W. Pickering)
ch. 5 Confidence and criticism : religious studies and the public purposes of liberal education (Robin W. Lovin) -- Education and the intellectual virtues (Lee H. Yearly)
ch. 6 Legal status of religious studies programs in public higher education (W. Royce Clark)
ch. 7 Four modes of discourse : blurred genres in the study of religion (Sheryl L. Burkhalter)
ch. 8 Beyond ours and theirs : the global character of religious studies (James H. Foard)
ch. 9 Religious studies and exposure to multiple worlds in the liberal arts curriculum (Judith A. Berling)
ch. 10 Writing across the curriculum : a religious studies contribution ( James H. Foard)
ch. 11 Dearth in Venice (William R. Darrow)
Additional Info:
A contemporary liberal education in the humanities and social sciences should introduce students to the serious exploration of various kinds of worlds that human beings articulate and within which they live. Teachers in Buddhist studies can make a significant contribution by offering courses that focus attention on distinctively Buddhist worlds that are directly relevant to postmodern interests and concerns. These courses should also be designed to empower students with the ...
A contemporary liberal education in the humanities and social sciences should introduce students to the serious exploration of various kinds of worlds that human beings articulate and within which they live. Teachers in Buddhist studies can make a significant contribution by offering courses that focus attention on distinctively Buddhist worlds that are directly relevant to postmodern interests and concerns. These courses should also be designed to empower students with the ...
Additional Info:
A contemporary liberal education in the humanities and social sciences should introduce students to the serious exploration of various kinds of worlds that human beings articulate and within which they live. Teachers in Buddhist studies can make a significant contribution by offering courses that focus attention on distinctively Buddhist worlds that are directly relevant to postmodern interests and concerns. These courses should also be designed to empower students with the kind of interpretive skills that are needed in a postmodern environment to generate viable modes of sympathetic understanding, convincing forms of critical analysis, and the capacity to formulate and defend responsible personal and social judgments. This article is a revised version of the keynote lecture given at a McGill University conference on "Teaching Buddhism: The State of the Art," October 8–10, 1999.
A contemporary liberal education in the humanities and social sciences should introduce students to the serious exploration of various kinds of worlds that human beings articulate and within which they live. Teachers in Buddhist studies can make a significant contribution by offering courses that focus attention on distinctively Buddhist worlds that are directly relevant to postmodern interests and concerns. These courses should also be designed to empower students with the kind of interpretive skills that are needed in a postmodern environment to generate viable modes of sympathetic understanding, convincing forms of critical analysis, and the capacity to formulate and defend responsible personal and social judgments. This article is a revised version of the keynote lecture given at a McGill University conference on "Teaching Buddhism: The State of the Art," October 8–10, 1999.
Additional Info:
The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced ...
The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced ...
Additional Info:
The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced learner initiative. This essay describes the significance of each in turn, along with naming some best practices. I argue that this approach not only shifts focus toward learners and the learning environment, it works particularly well for teaching Bible courses online and in hybrid formats where interpretation of primary sources is the fundamental goal.
The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced learner initiative. This essay describes the significance of each in turn, along with naming some best practices. I argue that this approach not only shifts focus toward learners and the learning environment, it works particularly well for teaching Bible courses online and in hybrid formats where interpretation of primary sources is the fundamental goal.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students increase comprehension of reading by learning to analyze the structure of a text.
One page Teaching Tactic: students increase comprehension of reading by learning to analyze the structure of a text.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students increase comprehension of reading by learning to analyze the structure of a text.
One page Teaching Tactic: students increase comprehension of reading by learning to analyze the structure of a text.
Additional Info:
This article explores the disconnection between ethical theory and ethical practice in ethics courses at secular U.S. colleges and universities. In such contexts academic ethics focuses almost exclusively on “ethical reasoning” and leaves the business of practical moral formation of students in the realm of “student life.” I argue this disconnection is inevitable given the dominant understanding that moral formation must be guided by a consistent ethical theory, and ...
This article explores the disconnection between ethical theory and ethical practice in ethics courses at secular U.S. colleges and universities. In such contexts academic ethics focuses almost exclusively on “ethical reasoning” and leaves the business of practical moral formation of students in the realm of “student life.” I argue this disconnection is inevitable given the dominant understanding that moral formation must be guided by a consistent ethical theory, and ...
Additional Info:
This article explores the disconnection between ethical theory and ethical practice in ethics courses at secular U.S. colleges and universities. In such contexts academic ethics focuses almost exclusively on “ethical reasoning” and leaves the business of practical moral formation of students in the realm of “student life.” I argue this disconnection is inevitable given the dominant understanding that moral formation must be guided by a consistent ethical theory, and must eventuate in certain prosocial behaviors, while norms of pluralism and free inquiry mandate that academic courses not attempt to dictate certain views or behaviors as normative. Drawing on the Confucian model of moral cultivation expressed by the early Chinese figure Mengzi, I argue for a different understanding of moral formation that focuses on open-endedness, self-direction, and the acquisition of skills in directing attention and will. This approach avoids the most serious challenges to practical moral formation in secular contexts, and I suggest some broadly applicable principles for implementing these ideas in ethics courses.
This article explores the disconnection between ethical theory and ethical practice in ethics courses at secular U.S. colleges and universities. In such contexts academic ethics focuses almost exclusively on “ethical reasoning” and leaves the business of practical moral formation of students in the realm of “student life.” I argue this disconnection is inevitable given the dominant understanding that moral formation must be guided by a consistent ethical theory, and must eventuate in certain prosocial behaviors, while norms of pluralism and free inquiry mandate that academic courses not attempt to dictate certain views or behaviors as normative. Drawing on the Confucian model of moral cultivation expressed by the early Chinese figure Mengzi, I argue for a different understanding of moral formation that focuses on open-endedness, self-direction, and the acquisition of skills in directing attention and will. This approach avoids the most serious challenges to practical moral formation in secular contexts, and I suggest some broadly applicable principles for implementing these ideas in ethics courses.
Additional Info:
This classroom exercise developed out of an effort to make the methodology and practical techniques of our field come alive for students of New Testament at a variety of undergraduate levels. Adapting the controversial "voting" technique of the Westar Institute's "Jesus Seminar," students vote with colored beads on the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in Matthew's Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12). The point of the exercise is not to judge or dismiss Biblical text, ...
This classroom exercise developed out of an effort to make the methodology and practical techniques of our field come alive for students of New Testament at a variety of undergraduate levels. Adapting the controversial "voting" technique of the Westar Institute's "Jesus Seminar," students vote with colored beads on the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in Matthew's Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12). The point of the exercise is not to judge or dismiss Biblical text, ...
Additional Info:
This classroom exercise developed out of an effort to make the methodology and practical techniques of our field come alive for students of New Testament at a variety of undergraduate levels. Adapting the controversial "voting" technique of the Westar Institute's "Jesus Seminar," students vote with colored beads on the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in Matthew's Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12). The point of the exercise is not to judge or dismiss Biblical text, but to work actively and thoughtfully with the critical tools and methods of New Testament scholarship, to ponder the implications of academic assessments of "authenticity" when it comes to Biblical text, and to stimulate discussion concerning how we, as professional scholars of the Bible, approach the Gospels.
This classroom exercise developed out of an effort to make the methodology and practical techniques of our field come alive for students of New Testament at a variety of undergraduate levels. Adapting the controversial "voting" technique of the Westar Institute's "Jesus Seminar," students vote with colored beads on the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in Matthew's Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12). The point of the exercise is not to judge or dismiss Biblical text, but to work actively and thoughtfully with the critical tools and methods of New Testament scholarship, to ponder the implications of academic assessments of "authenticity" when it comes to Biblical text, and to stimulate discussion concerning how we, as professional scholars of the Bible, approach the Gospels.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: using debate to introduce a topic.
One page Teaching Tactic: using debate to introduce a topic.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: using debate to introduce a topic.
One page Teaching Tactic: using debate to introduce a topic.
Additional Info:
One of the most illuminating finds in Barbara E. Walvoord's Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses (2008) is what she calls “the great divide,” a mismatch between instructors’ goals for their courses, which are academic, and the students’ reasons for taking them, which relate to their personal interests and development. Motivation – or, rather, the lack thereof – is not explicitly considered as a potential victim of this mismatch. This article ...
One of the most illuminating finds in Barbara E. Walvoord's Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses (2008) is what she calls “the great divide,” a mismatch between instructors’ goals for their courses, which are academic, and the students’ reasons for taking them, which relate to their personal interests and development. Motivation – or, rather, the lack thereof – is not explicitly considered as a potential victim of this mismatch. This article ...
Additional Info:
One of the most illuminating finds in Barbara E. Walvoord's Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses (2008) is what she calls “the great divide,” a mismatch between instructors’ goals for their courses, which are academic, and the students’ reasons for taking them, which relate to their personal interests and development. Motivation – or, rather, the lack thereof – is not explicitly considered as a potential victim of this mismatch. This article will turn its attention squarely to this issue. First, I will review data about the “great divide” and link them to the common practice of asking our students to bracket the personal when they take our courses. The article will juxtapose this practice with what research tell us about motivation, which will allow us to further explore why the divide Walvoord and others have identified is so problematic. The article will conclude with pedagogical strategies that can help instructors intentionally influence motivation in religion courses. Ultimately, I suggest that we may be doing students – as well as ourselves, as the purveyors of our discipline – a disservice, if we do not attend to (or, worse, if we actively avoid) what we know motivates students to learn.
One of the most illuminating finds in Barbara E. Walvoord's Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses (2008) is what she calls “the great divide,” a mismatch between instructors’ goals for their courses, which are academic, and the students’ reasons for taking them, which relate to their personal interests and development. Motivation – or, rather, the lack thereof – is not explicitly considered as a potential victim of this mismatch. This article will turn its attention squarely to this issue. First, I will review data about the “great divide” and link them to the common practice of asking our students to bracket the personal when they take our courses. The article will juxtapose this practice with what research tell us about motivation, which will allow us to further explore why the divide Walvoord and others have identified is so problematic. The article will conclude with pedagogical strategies that can help instructors intentionally influence motivation in religion courses. Ultimately, I suggest that we may be doing students – as well as ourselves, as the purveyors of our discipline – a disservice, if we do not attend to (or, worse, if we actively avoid) what we know motivates students to learn.
Additional Info:
This paper introduces Rewritten Scripture and scriptural rewriting as a creative process that, when mirrored in a teaching exercise, may serve as an effective practice in teaching sacred texts. Observing changes made between scripture and its rewriting may allow readers to identify different contexts among these texts. Furthermore, the act of rewriting scripture mirrors descriptions of creativity, which itself is argued to be the highest level of cognitive operation in ...
This paper introduces Rewritten Scripture and scriptural rewriting as a creative process that, when mirrored in a teaching exercise, may serve as an effective practice in teaching sacred texts. Observing changes made between scripture and its rewriting may allow readers to identify different contexts among these texts. Furthermore, the act of rewriting scripture mirrors descriptions of creativity, which itself is argued to be the highest level of cognitive operation in ...
Additional Info:
This paper introduces Rewritten Scripture and scriptural rewriting as a creative process that, when mirrored in a teaching exercise, may serve as an effective practice in teaching sacred texts. Observing changes made between scripture and its rewriting may allow readers to identify different contexts among these texts. Furthermore, the act of rewriting scripture mirrors descriptions of creativity, which itself is argued to be the highest level of cognitive operation in learning. Therefore, the paper shows how scriptural rewriting can be simultaneously the object of the lesson and the method of learning through a two-step teaching process, using an example of scriptural rewriting in a Dead Sea Scroll. The first step offers a way to understand the meaning of Rewritten Scripture and what exegetes can learn from it, while the second step engages creativity by practicing rewriting scripture itself.
This paper introduces Rewritten Scripture and scriptural rewriting as a creative process that, when mirrored in a teaching exercise, may serve as an effective practice in teaching sacred texts. Observing changes made between scripture and its rewriting may allow readers to identify different contexts among these texts. Furthermore, the act of rewriting scripture mirrors descriptions of creativity, which itself is argued to be the highest level of cognitive operation in learning. Therefore, the paper shows how scriptural rewriting can be simultaneously the object of the lesson and the method of learning through a two-step teaching process, using an example of scriptural rewriting in a Dead Sea Scroll. The first step offers a way to understand the meaning of Rewritten Scripture and what exegetes can learn from it, while the second step engages creativity by practicing rewriting scripture itself.

Comparative Theology in the Millennial Classroom: Hybrid Identities, Negotiated Boundaries
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume explores the twenty-first century classroom as a uniquely intergenerational space of religious disaffiliation, and questions about how our work in the classroom can be, and is being, re-imagined for the new generation. The culturally hybrid identity of Millennials shapes their engagement with religious "others" on campus and in the ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume explores the twenty-first century classroom as a uniquely intergenerational space of religious disaffiliation, and questions about how our work in the classroom can be, and is being, re-imagined for the new generation. The culturally hybrid identity of Millennials shapes their engagement with religious "others" on campus and in the ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume explores the twenty-first century classroom as a uniquely intergenerational space of religious disaffiliation, and questions about how our work in the classroom can be, and is being, re-imagined for the new generation. The culturally hybrid identity of Millennials shapes their engagement with religious "others" on campus and in the classroom, pushing educators of comparative theology to develop new pedagogical strategies that leverage ways of seeing and interacting with their teachers and classmates. Reflecting on religious traditions such as Islam, Judaism, African Traditional Religions, Hinduism, Christianity, and agnosticism/atheism, this volume theorizes the theological outcomes of current pedagogies and the shifting contours of comparative theological discourse. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction
Part One - Comparative Theology in a Millennial Classroom
ch. 1 (Un)Silencing Hybridity: A Postcolonial Critique of Comparative Theology (Judith Gruber)
ch. 2 Newman, Millennials, and Teaching Comparative Theology (William L. Portier)
ch. 3 Teaching and Learning Comparative Theology with Millennial Students (Mary E. Hess)
ch. 4 The Religion Classroom as a Site for Justice (Wanda Scott)
Part Two - Interrogating Identity
ch. 5 Comparative Theology at the Intersections of (Multi)Racial and (Multi)Religious Identities (Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier)
ch. 6 Soteriological Privilege (Mara Brecht)
ch. 7 Teaching Tawhid: Unity through Diversity (Syed Adnan Hussain)
ch. 8 Feeling Comparative Theology: Millennial Affect and Reparative Learning (Lisa Gasson-Gardner and Jason Smith)
ch. 9 Constructing Boundaries by Crossing Them: Comparative Theology as a Practice of Community Self-Definition (Reid B. Locklin)
Part Three - Getting (Comparatively) Theological
ch. 10 Among the "Nones": Questing for God in the Twenty-First Century Classroom (Jeannine Hill Fletcher)
ch. 11 What Muslims Can Teach Catholics about Christianity (Rita George-Tvrtković)
ch. 12 Recognizing the Place of African Traditional Religions in the Comparative Theological Discourse: Mediating Classroom Encounters through Storytelling (SimonMary A. Aihiokhai)
ch. 13 Dharma and Moksha, Works and Faith: Comparatively Engaging the Tension Between Ethics and Spirituality (Madhuri M. Yadlapati)
ch. 14 Knowing Their Rites: The Formation of ‘Textual Confidence’ among Jewish and Muslim Women in Academic and Community-Based Settings (Shari Golberg)
ch. 15 Teaching World Theologies through Film (Jon Paul Sydnor)
Afterword (Francis X. Clooney, S.J.)
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This volume explores the twenty-first century classroom as a uniquely intergenerational space of religious disaffiliation, and questions about how our work in the classroom can be, and is being, re-imagined for the new generation. The culturally hybrid identity of Millennials shapes their engagement with religious "others" on campus and in the classroom, pushing educators of comparative theology to develop new pedagogical strategies that leverage ways of seeing and interacting with their teachers and classmates. Reflecting on religious traditions such as Islam, Judaism, African Traditional Religions, Hinduism, Christianity, and agnosticism/atheism, this volume theorizes the theological outcomes of current pedagogies and the shifting contours of comparative theological discourse. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction
Part One - Comparative Theology in a Millennial Classroom
ch. 1 (Un)Silencing Hybridity: A Postcolonial Critique of Comparative Theology (Judith Gruber)
ch. 2 Newman, Millennials, and Teaching Comparative Theology (William L. Portier)
ch. 3 Teaching and Learning Comparative Theology with Millennial Students (Mary E. Hess)
ch. 4 The Religion Classroom as a Site for Justice (Wanda Scott)
Part Two - Interrogating Identity
ch. 5 Comparative Theology at the Intersections of (Multi)Racial and (Multi)Religious Identities (Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier)
ch. 6 Soteriological Privilege (Mara Brecht)
ch. 7 Teaching Tawhid: Unity through Diversity (Syed Adnan Hussain)
ch. 8 Feeling Comparative Theology: Millennial Affect and Reparative Learning (Lisa Gasson-Gardner and Jason Smith)
ch. 9 Constructing Boundaries by Crossing Them: Comparative Theology as a Practice of Community Self-Definition (Reid B. Locklin)
Part Three - Getting (Comparatively) Theological
ch. 10 Among the "Nones": Questing for God in the Twenty-First Century Classroom (Jeannine Hill Fletcher)
ch. 11 What Muslims Can Teach Catholics about Christianity (Rita George-Tvrtković)
ch. 12 Recognizing the Place of African Traditional Religions in the Comparative Theological Discourse: Mediating Classroom Encounters through Storytelling (SimonMary A. Aihiokhai)
ch. 13 Dharma and Moksha, Works and Faith: Comparatively Engaging the Tension Between Ethics and Spirituality (Madhuri M. Yadlapati)
ch. 14 Knowing Their Rites: The Formation of ‘Textual Confidence’ among Jewish and Muslim Women in Academic and Community-Based Settings (Shari Golberg)
ch. 15 Teaching World Theologies through Film (Jon Paul Sydnor)
Afterword (Francis X. Clooney, S.J.)
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: taking students outdoors for creative activities and discussions about creation in Genesis.
One page Teaching Tactic: taking students outdoors for creative activities and discussions about creation in Genesis.
Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: taking students outdoors for creative activities and discussions about creation in Genesis.
One page Teaching Tactic: taking students outdoors for creative activities and discussions about creation in Genesis.


Teaching Civic Engagement (AAR Teaching Religious Studies) 1st Edition
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Abstract: Using a new model focused on four core capacities-intellectual complexity, social location, empathetic accountability, and motivated action--Teaching Civic Engagement explores the significance of religious studies in fostering a vibrant, just, and democratic civic order.
In the first section of the book, contributors detail this theoretical model and offer an ...
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Using a new model focused on four core capacities-intellectual complexity, social location, empathetic accountability, and motivated action--Teaching Civic Engagement explores the significance of religious studies in fostering a vibrant, just, and democratic civic order.
In the first section of the book, contributors detail this theoretical model and offer an ...
Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Using a new model focused on four core capacities-intellectual complexity, social location, empathetic accountability, and motivated action--Teaching Civic Engagement explores the significance of religious studies in fostering a vibrant, just, and democratic civic order.
In the first section of the book, contributors detail this theoretical model and offer an initial application to the sources and methods that already define much teaching in the disciplines of religious studies and theology. A second section offers chapters focused on specific strategies for teaching civic engagement in religion classrooms, including traditional textual studies, reflective writing, community-based learning, field trips, media analysis, ethnographic methods, direct community engagement and a reflective practice of "ascetic withdrawal." The final section of the volume explores theoretical issues, including the delimitation of the "civic" as a category, connections between local and global in the civic project, the question of political advocacy in the classroom, and the role of normative commitments.
Collectively these chapters illustrate the real possibility of connecting the scholarly study of religion with the societies in which we, our students, and our institutions exist. The contributing authors model new ways of engaging questions of civic belonging and social activism in the religion classroom, belying the stereotype of the ivory tower intellectual. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Contributors
Introduction
Section I: What are the Dimensions of Teaching Civic Engagement in the Religious Studies or Theology Classroom?
ch. 1 Discourse, Democracy, and the Many Faces of Civic Engagement: Four Guiding Objectives for the University Classroom (Reid B. Locklin, with Ellen Posman)
ch. 2 Sacred Sites and Staging Grounds: The Four Guiding Objectives of Civic Engagement in the Religion Classroom (Ellen Posman, with Reid B. Locklin)
Section II: What Practical Strategies and Questions Emerge from Teaching Civic Engagement in Religious Studies and Theology?
ch. 3 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Insights from a Two-Year Workshop (Melissa Stewart)
ch. 4 Giving and Receiving Hospitality during Community Engagement Courses (Marianne Delaporte)
ch. 5 Civic Engagement in the Heart of the City (Rebekka King)
ch. 6 Engaging Media and Messages in the Religion Classroom (Hans Wiersma)
ch. 7 Service and Community-Based Learning: A Pedagogy for Civic Engagement and Critical Thinking (Phil Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 8 Religious Diversity, Civic Engagement and Community-Engaged Pedagogy: Forging Bonds of Solidarity through Interfaith Dialogue (Nicholas Rademacher)
ch. 9 Stopping the Zombie Apocalypse: Ascetic Withdrawal as a Form of Civic Learning (Elizabeth W. Corrie)
Section III: What are the Theoretical Issues and Challenges in Teaching Civic Engagement in Religious Studies and Theology?
ch. 10 Thinking about the 'Civic' in Civic Engagement and Its Deployment in the Religion Classroom (Carolyn M. Jones Medine)
ch. 11 More than Global Citizenship: How Religious Studies Expands Participation in Global Communities (Karen Derris and Erin Runions)
ch. 12 Political Involvement, the Advocacy of Process, and the Religion Classroom (Forrest Clingerman and Swasti Bhattacharyya)
ch. 13 The Difference between Religious Studies and Theology in the Teaching of Civic Engagement (Tom Pearson)
ch. 14 Dreams of Democracy (Tina Pippin)
Bibliography
Index
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Using a new model focused on four core capacities-intellectual complexity, social location, empathetic accountability, and motivated action--Teaching Civic Engagement explores the significance of religious studies in fostering a vibrant, just, and democratic civic order.
In the first section of the book, contributors detail this theoretical model and offer an initial application to the sources and methods that already define much teaching in the disciplines of religious studies and theology. A second section offers chapters focused on specific strategies for teaching civic engagement in religion classrooms, including traditional textual studies, reflective writing, community-based learning, field trips, media analysis, ethnographic methods, direct community engagement and a reflective practice of "ascetic withdrawal." The final section of the volume explores theoretical issues, including the delimitation of the "civic" as a category, connections between local and global in the civic project, the question of political advocacy in the classroom, and the role of normative commitments.
Collectively these chapters illustrate the real possibility of connecting the scholarly study of religion with the societies in which we, our students, and our institutions exist. The contributing authors model new ways of engaging questions of civic belonging and social activism in the religion classroom, belying the stereotype of the ivory tower intellectual. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Contributors
Introduction
Section I: What are the Dimensions of Teaching Civic Engagement in the Religious Studies or Theology Classroom?
ch. 1 Discourse, Democracy, and the Many Faces of Civic Engagement: Four Guiding Objectives for the University Classroom (Reid B. Locklin, with Ellen Posman)
ch. 2 Sacred Sites and Staging Grounds: The Four Guiding Objectives of Civic Engagement in the Religion Classroom (Ellen Posman, with Reid B. Locklin)
Section II: What Practical Strategies and Questions Emerge from Teaching Civic Engagement in Religious Studies and Theology?
ch. 3 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Insights from a Two-Year Workshop (Melissa Stewart)
ch. 4 Giving and Receiving Hospitality during Community Engagement Courses (Marianne Delaporte)
ch. 5 Civic Engagement in the Heart of the City (Rebekka King)
ch. 6 Engaging Media and Messages in the Religion Classroom (Hans Wiersma)
ch. 7 Service and Community-Based Learning: A Pedagogy for Civic Engagement and Critical Thinking (Phil Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 8 Religious Diversity, Civic Engagement and Community-Engaged Pedagogy: Forging Bonds of Solidarity through Interfaith Dialogue (Nicholas Rademacher)
ch. 9 Stopping the Zombie Apocalypse: Ascetic Withdrawal as a Form of Civic Learning (Elizabeth W. Corrie)
Section III: What are the Theoretical Issues and Challenges in Teaching Civic Engagement in Religious Studies and Theology?
ch. 10 Thinking about the 'Civic' in Civic Engagement and Its Deployment in the Religion Classroom (Carolyn M. Jones Medine)
ch. 11 More than Global Citizenship: How Religious Studies Expands Participation in Global Communities (Karen Derris and Erin Runions)
ch. 12 Political Involvement, the Advocacy of Process, and the Religion Classroom (Forrest Clingerman and Swasti Bhattacharyya)
ch. 13 The Difference between Religious Studies and Theology in the Teaching of Civic Engagement (Tom Pearson)
ch. 14 Dreams of Democracy (Tina Pippin)
Bibliography
Index
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One page Teaching Tactic: Students imagine themselves as film directors to help visualize scriptural narratives, and thereby read more carefully.
One page Teaching Tactic: Students imagine themselves as film directors to help visualize scriptural narratives, and thereby read more carefully.
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One page Teaching Tactic: Students imagine themselves as film directors to help visualize scriptural narratives, and thereby read more carefully.
One page Teaching Tactic: Students imagine themselves as film directors to help visualize scriptural narratives, and thereby read more carefully.
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During my career, I have regularly taught a survey course on the history of Jews and Judaism in the Persian, Greek, and early Roman periods (ca. 520 BCE – 70 CE). Student performance in the course has long concerned and puzzled me. By the end of the course students demonstrated familiarity with the narratives and concepts we covered, but most did not really “think historically.” They had great difficulties using and applying the ...
During my career, I have regularly taught a survey course on the history of Jews and Judaism in the Persian, Greek, and early Roman periods (ca. 520 BCE – 70 CE). Student performance in the course has long concerned and puzzled me. By the end of the course students demonstrated familiarity with the narratives and concepts we covered, but most did not really “think historically.” They had great difficulties using and applying the ...
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During my career, I have regularly taught a survey course on the history of Jews and Judaism in the Persian, Greek, and early Roman periods (ca. 520 BCE – 70 CE). Student performance in the course has long concerned and puzzled me. By the end of the course students demonstrated familiarity with the narratives and concepts we covered, but most did not really “think historically.” They had great difficulties using and applying the historical tools they learned to new situations and evidence. In 2006 and again in 2010 I overhauled the course not only to improve it, but also to figure out how my students learned history. Using a wiki exercise, I traced how students learned and then applied these insights the next time I taught the course. In this essay I report on what I learned.
During my career, I have regularly taught a survey course on the history of Jews and Judaism in the Persian, Greek, and early Roman periods (ca. 520 BCE – 70 CE). Student performance in the course has long concerned and puzzled me. By the end of the course students demonstrated familiarity with the narratives and concepts we covered, but most did not really “think historically.” They had great difficulties using and applying the historical tools they learned to new situations and evidence. In 2006 and again in 2010 I overhauled the course not only to improve it, but also to figure out how my students learned history. Using a wiki exercise, I traced how students learned and then applied these insights the next time I taught the course. In this essay I report on what I learned.

The Anthropology of Christianity Goes to Seminary
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Discoveries by both the professor and the students, in a seminar on the anthropology of Christianity at Candler School of Theology.
Discoveries by both the professor and the students, in a seminar on the anthropology of Christianity at Candler School of Theology.
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Discoveries by both the professor and the students, in a seminar on the anthropology of Christianity at Candler School of Theology.
Discoveries by both the professor and the students, in a seminar on the anthropology of Christianity at Candler School of Theology.
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One page Teaching Tactic: working in groups to practice reading carefully and write academically.
One page Teaching Tactic: working in groups to practice reading carefully and write academically.
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One page Teaching Tactic: working in groups to practice reading carefully and write academically.
One page Teaching Tactic: working in groups to practice reading carefully and write academically.
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After laying a theoretical basis for an active learning orientation in the classroom, the co-authors describe methods they developed to evaluate active learning in two different settings of introductory courses in biblical studies. They argue that honoring diverse learning and communication styles among students does not need to compromise academic rigor. The authors show how portfolio-based assessment of student learning allows students a range of ways to demonstrate their mastery ...
After laying a theoretical basis for an active learning orientation in the classroom, the co-authors describe methods they developed to evaluate active learning in two different settings of introductory courses in biblical studies. They argue that honoring diverse learning and communication styles among students does not need to compromise academic rigor. The authors show how portfolio-based assessment of student learning allows students a range of ways to demonstrate their mastery ...
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After laying a theoretical basis for an active learning orientation in the classroom, the co-authors describe methods they developed to evaluate active learning in two different settings of introductory courses in biblical studies. They argue that honoring diverse learning and communication styles among students does not need to compromise academic rigor. The authors show how portfolio-based assessment of student learning allows students a range of ways to demonstrate their mastery of the material. Examples are provided of components of student portfolios from their undergraduate classes.
After laying a theoretical basis for an active learning orientation in the classroom, the co-authors describe methods they developed to evaluate active learning in two different settings of introductory courses in biblical studies. They argue that honoring diverse learning and communication styles among students does not need to compromise academic rigor. The authors show how portfolio-based assessment of student learning allows students a range of ways to demonstrate their mastery of the material. Examples are provided of components of student portfolios from their undergraduate classes.
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There has been significant and growing interest in teaching religious studies, and specifically world religions, in a “global” context. Bringing globalization into the classroom as a specific theoretical and pedagogical tool, however, requires not just an awareness that religions exist in an ever-globalizing environment, but a willingness to engage with globalization as a cultural, spatial, and theoretical arena within which religions interact. This article is concerned with the ways that ...
There has been significant and growing interest in teaching religious studies, and specifically world religions, in a “global” context. Bringing globalization into the classroom as a specific theoretical and pedagogical tool, however, requires not just an awareness that religions exist in an ever-globalizing environment, but a willingness to engage with globalization as a cultural, spatial, and theoretical arena within which religions interact. This article is concerned with the ways that ...
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There has been significant and growing interest in teaching religious studies, and specifically world religions, in a “global” context. Bringing globalization into the classroom as a specific theoretical and pedagogical tool, however, requires not just an awareness that religions exist in an ever-globalizing environment, but a willingness to engage with globalization as a cultural, spatial, and theoretical arena within which religions interact. This article is concerned with the ways that those of us interested in religion employ globalization in the classroom conceptually and pedagogically, and argues that “lived religion” provides a useful model for incorporating globalization into religious studies settings.
There has been significant and growing interest in teaching religious studies, and specifically world religions, in a “global” context. Bringing globalization into the classroom as a specific theoretical and pedagogical tool, however, requires not just an awareness that religions exist in an ever-globalizing environment, but a willingness to engage with globalization as a cultural, spatial, and theoretical arena within which religions interact. This article is concerned with the ways that those of us interested in religion employ globalization in the classroom conceptually and pedagogically, and argues that “lived religion” provides a useful model for incorporating globalization into religious studies settings.
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In our ostensibly secular age, discussing the real-world contexts and impacts of religious traditions in the classroom can be difficult. Religious traditions may appear at different times to different students as too irrelevant, too personal, or too inflammatory to allow them to engage openly with the materials, the issues, and each other. In this “Design & Analysis” article Aaron Ricker describes an attempt to address this awkward pedagogical situation with an ...
In our ostensibly secular age, discussing the real-world contexts and impacts of religious traditions in the classroom can be difficult. Religious traditions may appear at different times to different students as too irrelevant, too personal, or too inflammatory to allow them to engage openly with the materials, the issues, and each other. In this “Design & Analysis” article Aaron Ricker describes an attempt to address this awkward pedagogical situation with an ...
Additional Info:
In our ostensibly secular age, discussing the real-world contexts and impacts of religious traditions in the classroom can be difficult. Religious traditions may appear at different times to different students as too irrelevant, too personal, or too inflammatory to allow them to engage openly with the materials, the issues, and each other. In this “Design & Analysis” article Aaron Ricker describes an attempt to address this awkward pedagogical situation with an experiment in role-play enacted on the model of a mock conference. This description is followed by four short responses by authors who have experimented with this form of pedagogy themselves. In “Conplay,” students dramatize the wildly varying and often conflicting approaches to biblical tradition they have been reading about and discussing in class. They bring the believers, doubters, artists, and critics they have been studying into the room, to interact face-to-face with each other and the class. In Ricker's experience, this playful and collaborative event involves just the right amount of risk to allow high levels of engagement and retention, and it allows a wide range of voices to be heard in an immediate and very human register. Ricker finds Conplay to be very effective, and well worth any perceived risks when it comes to inviting students to take the reins.
In our ostensibly secular age, discussing the real-world contexts and impacts of religious traditions in the classroom can be difficult. Religious traditions may appear at different times to different students as too irrelevant, too personal, or too inflammatory to allow them to engage openly with the materials, the issues, and each other. In this “Design & Analysis” article Aaron Ricker describes an attempt to address this awkward pedagogical situation with an experiment in role-play enacted on the model of a mock conference. This description is followed by four short responses by authors who have experimented with this form of pedagogy themselves. In “Conplay,” students dramatize the wildly varying and often conflicting approaches to biblical tradition they have been reading about and discussing in class. They bring the believers, doubters, artists, and critics they have been studying into the room, to interact face-to-face with each other and the class. In Ricker's experience, this playful and collaborative event involves just the right amount of risk to allow high levels of engagement and retention, and it allows a wide range of voices to be heard in an immediate and very human register. Ricker finds Conplay to be very effective, and well worth any perceived risks when it comes to inviting students to take the reins.
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This paper, co-authored by two instructors and four of their undergraduate students, details an experimental use of 'Open Space Technology' in a Religion course on social constructionism at the University of Toronto. In addition to describing the format and its purpose, four undergraduate evaluations of the course are offered.
This paper, co-authored by two instructors and four of their undergraduate students, details an experimental use of 'Open Space Technology' in a Religion course on social constructionism at the University of Toronto. In addition to describing the format and its purpose, four undergraduate evaluations of the course are offered.
Additional Info:
This paper, co-authored by two instructors and four of their undergraduate students, details an experimental use of 'Open Space Technology' in a Religion course on social constructionism at the University of Toronto. In addition to describing the format and its purpose, four undergraduate evaluations of the course are offered.
This paper, co-authored by two instructors and four of their undergraduate students, details an experimental use of 'Open Space Technology' in a Religion course on social constructionism at the University of Toronto. In addition to describing the format and its purpose, four undergraduate evaluations of the course are offered.
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Introductory courses in theology and religion are taught at most colleges and universities across the US and UK. From public to private, non-sectarian to faith-based institutions, theology courses fulfill humanities general education requirements, and provide a foundational education for students intending further theological study. This book describes the best and most effective ways of teaching these courses. Offering practical, realistic, research-based guidance, this volume explores the best and most recent ...
Introductory courses in theology and religion are taught at most colleges and universities across the US and UK. From public to private, non-sectarian to faith-based institutions, theology courses fulfill humanities general education requirements, and provide a foundational education for students intending further theological study. This book describes the best and most effective ways of teaching these courses. Offering practical, realistic, research-based guidance, this volume explores the best and most recent ...
Additional Info:
Introductory courses in theology and religion are taught at most colleges and universities across the US and UK. From public to private, non-sectarian to faith-based institutions, theology courses fulfill humanities general education requirements, and provide a foundational education for students intending further theological study. This book describes the best and most effective ways of teaching these courses. Offering practical, realistic, research-based guidance, this volume explores the best and most recent methods in teaching-theory. This book addresses the questions and concerns frequently posed by the professors and graduate students who instruct these multifaceted courses. It covers issues such as a teacher's role in defining theology and religion, the teaching and learning process, course structure, and content. The volume also examines recent case studies of theology and religious studies courses at various institutions, including a private non-sectarian university, a public research university, a Catholic masters-level university, and at a Protestant baccalaureate college. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction
ch. 1 Faculty and Student Goals for Learning: The Great Divide
ch. 2 Were the Goals Met? Students’ Academic and Spiritual Development
ch. 3 Pedagogies: What Influenced Student Learning?
ch. 4 Case Studies: Large Classes
ch. 5 Case Studies: Small Classes in World Religions, Introduction to Religion
ch. 6 Case Studies: Small Classes in Theology, Bible, Christian Formation
Appendix A: Faculty Demographics
Appendix B: Student Demographics
Appendix C: IDEA Surveys
Appendix D: Discipline-Specific Surveys Administered to Highly Effective Classes
Appendix E: Choosing Highly-Effective Faculty
Appendix F: Data Tally for Highly-Effective Classes
Appendix G: Prompts for Student In-Class Reflections
Appendix H: Suggestions for Leading Faculty Workshops
References
Index
Introductory courses in theology and religion are taught at most colleges and universities across the US and UK. From public to private, non-sectarian to faith-based institutions, theology courses fulfill humanities general education requirements, and provide a foundational education for students intending further theological study. This book describes the best and most effective ways of teaching these courses. Offering practical, realistic, research-based guidance, this volume explores the best and most recent methods in teaching-theory. This book addresses the questions and concerns frequently posed by the professors and graduate students who instruct these multifaceted courses. It covers issues such as a teacher's role in defining theology and religion, the teaching and learning process, course structure, and content. The volume also examines recent case studies of theology and religious studies courses at various institutions, including a private non-sectarian university, a public research university, a Catholic masters-level university, and at a Protestant baccalaureate college. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Introduction
ch. 1 Faculty and Student Goals for Learning: The Great Divide
ch. 2 Were the Goals Met? Students’ Academic and Spiritual Development
ch. 3 Pedagogies: What Influenced Student Learning?
ch. 4 Case Studies: Large Classes
ch. 5 Case Studies: Small Classes in World Religions, Introduction to Religion
ch. 6 Case Studies: Small Classes in Theology, Bible, Christian Formation
Appendix A: Faculty Demographics
Appendix B: Student Demographics
Appendix C: IDEA Surveys
Appendix D: Discipline-Specific Surveys Administered to Highly Effective Classes
Appendix E: Choosing Highly-Effective Faculty
Appendix F: Data Tally for Highly-Effective Classes
Appendix G: Prompts for Student In-Class Reflections
Appendix H: Suggestions for Leading Faculty Workshops
References
Index

Religion & Education Volume 38, no. 3
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Journal Issue.
Journal Issue.
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Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Issue on the Quebec Ethics and Religious Culture Program
Preface
Articles, Essays
Perspectives from Quebec
ch. 1 Cultivating Reflection and Understanding: Foundations and Orientations of Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture Program (Ronald W. Morris)
ch. 2 From Confessional to Cultural: Religious Education in the Schools of Quebec (Spencer Boudreau)
ch. 3 "Voluntary and Secret Choices of the Mind": The ERG and Liberal-Democratic Aims of Education (Kevin McDonough)
ch. 4 On the Front Lines: A Teacher's Experience with Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture Program (Eric Van der Wee)
ch. 5 Enthusiasm and Ambivalence: Elementary School Teacher Perspectives on the Ethics and Religious Culture Program (Ronald W. Morris, Nancy Bouchard, Anne-Marie de Silva)
Perspectives from Europe, Asia, and the United States
ch. 6 On Ethics and Religious Culture in Quebec: Comments and Comparative Perspectives from a Norwegian and European Context (Bengt-Ove Andreassen)
ch. 7 Deconfessionalization Been Completed? Some Reflections upon Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) Program (Satoko Fujiwara)
ch. 8 Deweyan Democracy and Education About Religion (Emile Lester)
Journal Issue.
Table Of Content:
Special Issue on the Quebec Ethics and Religious Culture Program
Preface
Articles, Essays
Perspectives from Quebec
ch. 1 Cultivating Reflection and Understanding: Foundations and Orientations of Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture Program (Ronald W. Morris)
ch. 2 From Confessional to Cultural: Religious Education in the Schools of Quebec (Spencer Boudreau)
ch. 3 "Voluntary and Secret Choices of the Mind": The ERG and Liberal-Democratic Aims of Education (Kevin McDonough)
ch. 4 On the Front Lines: A Teacher's Experience with Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture Program (Eric Van der Wee)
ch. 5 Enthusiasm and Ambivalence: Elementary School Teacher Perspectives on the Ethics and Religious Culture Program (Ronald W. Morris, Nancy Bouchard, Anne-Marie de Silva)
Perspectives from Europe, Asia, and the United States
ch. 6 On Ethics and Religious Culture in Quebec: Comments and Comparative Perspectives from a Norwegian and European Context (Bengt-Ove Andreassen)
ch. 7 Deconfessionalization Been Completed? Some Reflections upon Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) Program (Satoko Fujiwara)
ch. 8 Deweyan Democracy and Education About Religion (Emile Lester)
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This volume gathers together papers from a broad variety of voices in biblical criticism and theological studies. The papers are divided into four major sections in keeping with their major concerns and aims: Biblical interpretation and theological education, social location and Biblical pedagogy in the US, social location and Biblical pedagogy in global perspective, and Biblical interpretation. (From the Publisher)
This volume gathers together papers from a broad variety of voices in biblical criticism and theological studies. The papers are divided into four major sections in keeping with their major concerns and aims: Biblical interpretation and theological education, social location and Biblical pedagogy in the US, social location and Biblical pedagogy in global perspective, and Biblical interpretation. (From the Publisher)
Additional Info:
This volume gathers together papers from a broad variety of voices in biblical criticism and theological studies. The papers are divided into four major sections in keeping with their major concerns and aims: Biblical interpretation and theological education, social location and Biblical pedagogy in the US, social location and Biblical pedagogy in global perspective, and Biblical interpretation. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Pedagogical Discourse and Practices in Contemporary Biblical Criticism
Part I Biblical Interpretation and Theological Education
ch. 1 Theological Education in a New Context: Reflections from the Perspective of Brazilian Theology (Paulo Fernando Carneiro de Andrade)
ch. 2 Constructive Theology and Biblical Worlds (Peter Hodgson)
ch. 3 Globalization in Theological Education (Joseph C. Hough, Jr.)
ch. 4 Jesus/the Native: Biblical Studies from a Postcolonial Perspective (Kwok Pui-lan)
ch. 5 Four Faces of Theology: Four Johannine Conversations (Jean-Pierre Ruiz)
Part II Social Location and Biblical Pedagogy in the United States
ch. 6 Crossing the Line: Three Scenes of Divine-Human Engagement in the Hebrew Bible (Francisco Garcia-Treto)
ch. 7 Reading from an Indigenous Place (Mark Lewis Taylor)
ch. 8 Pedagogical Discourse and Practices in Cultural Studies: Toward a Contextual Biblical Pedagogy (Fernando F. Segovia)
ch. 9 A New Teaching with Authority: A Re-evaluation of the Authority of the Bible (Mary Ann Tolbert)
ch. 10 A Meeting of Worlds: African Americans and the Bible (Vincent L. Wimbush)
Part III Social Location and Biblical Pedagogy in Global Perspective
ch. 11 A Reading of the Story of the Tower of Babel from the Perspective of Non-Identity: Gen 11:1-9 in the Context of Its Production (J. Severino Croatto)
ch. 12 "Go Therefore and Make Disciples of All Nations" (Matt 28:19a): A Postcolonial Perspective on Biblical Criticism and Pedagogy (Musa W. Duba)
ch. 13 Cross-Textual Interpretation and Its Implications for Biblical Studies (Archie C. C. Lee)
ch. 14 Biblical Exegesis and Its Shortcomings in Theological Education (Temba L. J. Mafico)
ch. 15 The Hermeneutics of Liberation: Theoretical Grounding for the Communitarian Reading of the Bible (Pablo Richard)
ch. 16 Biblical Studies in India: From Imperialistic Scholarship to Postcolonial Interpretation (R.S. Sugirtharajah)
Part IV Biblical Interpretation: Pedagogical Practices
ch. 17 A Rhetorical Paradigm for Pedagogy (Rebecca S. Chopp)
ch. 18 Reading the Bible in the Global Context: Issues in Methodology and Pedagogy (Denise Dombkowski Hopkins, Sharon H. Ringe, and Frederick C. Tiffany)
ch. 19 Crossing Borders: Biblical Studies in a Trans-Cultural World (Kathleen M. O'Connor)
ch. 20 Weaving a New Web of Creative Remembering (Elaine M. Wainwright)
ch. 21 Lessons for North America from a Third-World Seminary (Antoinette Clark Wire)
Contributors
Index
This volume gathers together papers from a broad variety of voices in biblical criticism and theological studies. The papers are divided into four major sections in keeping with their major concerns and aims: Biblical interpretation and theological education, social location and Biblical pedagogy in the US, social location and Biblical pedagogy in global perspective, and Biblical interpretation. (From the Publisher)
Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Pedagogical Discourse and Practices in Contemporary Biblical Criticism
Part I Biblical Interpretation and Theological Education
ch. 1 Theological Education in a New Context: Reflections from the Perspective of Brazilian Theology (Paulo Fernando Carneiro de Andrade)
ch. 2 Constructive Theology and Biblical Worlds (Peter Hodgson)
ch. 3 Globalization in Theological Education (Joseph C. Hough, Jr.)
ch. 4 Jesus/the Native: Biblical Studies from a Postcolonial Perspective (Kwok Pui-lan)
ch. 5 Four Faces of Theology: Four Johannine Conversations (Jean-Pierre Ruiz)
Part II Social Location and Biblical Pedagogy in the United States
ch. 6 Crossing the Line: Three Scenes of Divine-Human Engagement in the Hebrew Bible (Francisco Garcia-Treto)
ch. 7 Reading from an Indigenous Place (Mark Lewis Taylor)
ch. 8 Pedagogical Discourse and Practices in Cultural Studies: Toward a Contextual Biblical Pedagogy (Fernando F. Segovia)
ch. 9 A New Teaching with Authority: A Re-evaluation of the Authority of the Bible (Mary Ann Tolbert)
ch. 10 A Meeting of Worlds: African Americans and the Bible (Vincent L. Wimbush)
Part III Social Location and Biblical Pedagogy in Global Perspective
ch. 11 A Reading of the Story of the Tower of Babel from the Perspective of Non-Identity: Gen 11:1-9 in the Context of Its Production (J. Severino Croatto)
ch. 12 "Go Therefore and Make Disciples of All Nations" (Matt 28:19a): A Postcolonial Perspective on Biblical Criticism and Pedagogy (Musa W. Duba)
ch. 13 Cross-Textual Interpretation and Its Implications for Biblical Studies (Archie C. C. Lee)
ch. 14 Biblical Exegesis and Its Shortcomings in Theological Education (Temba L. J. Mafico)
ch. 15 The Hermeneutics of Liberation: Theoretical Grounding for the Communitarian Reading of the Bible (Pablo Richard)
ch. 16 Biblical Studies in India: From Imperialistic Scholarship to Postcolonial Interpretation (R.S. Sugirtharajah)
Part IV Biblical Interpretation: Pedagogical Practices
ch. 17 A Rhetorical Paradigm for Pedagogy (Rebecca S. Chopp)
ch. 18 Reading the Bible in the Global Context: Issues in Methodology and Pedagogy (Denise Dombkowski Hopkins, Sharon H. Ringe, and Frederick C. Tiffany)
ch. 19 Crossing Borders: Biblical Studies in a Trans-Cultural World (Kathleen M. O'Connor)
ch. 20 Weaving a New Web of Creative Remembering (Elaine M. Wainwright)
ch. 21 Lessons for North America from a Third-World Seminary (Antoinette Clark Wire)
Contributors
Index
Additional Info:
The author describes a positive turnaround that occurred in working with both the Prophets unit of her Hebrew Bible course and the Paul unit in her New Testament course. She initiated this turnaround by challenging the students to take over the teaching of those units through small group presentations. The emphasis on length and creativity in these presentations prompted some exemplary work on the part of students. And students now ...
The author describes a positive turnaround that occurred in working with both the Prophets unit of her Hebrew Bible course and the Paul unit in her New Testament course. She initiated this turnaround by challenging the students to take over the teaching of those units through small group presentations. The emphasis on length and creativity in these presentations prompted some exemplary work on the part of students. And students now ...
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The author describes a positive turnaround that occurred in working with both the Prophets unit of her Hebrew Bible course and the Paul unit in her New Testament course. She initiated this turnaround by challenging the students to take over the teaching of those units through small group presentations. The emphasis on length and creativity in these presentations prompted some exemplary work on the part of students. And students now identify these units as both the most memorable of the course and where their most effective learning takes place.
The author describes a positive turnaround that occurred in working with both the Prophets unit of her Hebrew Bible course and the Paul unit in her New Testament course. She initiated this turnaround by challenging the students to take over the teaching of those units through small group presentations. The emphasis on length and creativity in these presentations prompted some exemplary work on the part of students. And students now identify these units as both the most memorable of the course and where their most effective learning takes place.
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Secularization, the idea that religion would gradually diminish over time, was once widely assumed to be true by scholars of religion, but the unexpected resurgence of religious traditions has called it into question. Related debates on the distinction between religion and the secular have destabilized religious studies further. What does the crisis of secularization and secularism mean for the religious studies classroom? This essay proposes a model of religious criticism ...
Secularization, the idea that religion would gradually diminish over time, was once widely assumed to be true by scholars of religion, but the unexpected resurgence of religious traditions has called it into question. Related debates on the distinction between religion and the secular have destabilized religious studies further. What does the crisis of secularization and secularism mean for the religious studies classroom? This essay proposes a model of religious criticism ...
Additional Info:
Secularization, the idea that religion would gradually diminish over time, was once widely assumed to be true by scholars of religion, but the unexpected resurgence of religious traditions has called it into question. Related debates on the distinction between religion and the secular have destabilized religious studies further. What does the crisis of secularization and secularism mean for the religious studies classroom? This essay proposes a model of religious criticism in the wake of secularism. No longer simply claiming a "view from nowhere," students and instructors can (by observing standards of evidence, reason, and self-disclosure) combine criticism with learning. Drawn from aesthetic and ethical traditions of criticism, religious criticism can be practiced by "teaching the conflicts" and through the pedagogical models of Freire and hooks.
Secularization, the idea that religion would gradually diminish over time, was once widely assumed to be true by scholars of religion, but the unexpected resurgence of religious traditions has called it into question. Related debates on the distinction between religion and the secular have destabilized religious studies further. What does the crisis of secularization and secularism mean for the religious studies classroom? This essay proposes a model of religious criticism in the wake of secularism. No longer simply claiming a "view from nowhere," students and instructors can (by observing standards of evidence, reason, and self-disclosure) combine criticism with learning. Drawn from aesthetic and ethical traditions of criticism, religious criticism can be practiced by "teaching the conflicts" and through the pedagogical models of Freire and hooks.
