Other Sessions On Teaching

Other Sessions on Teaching

AAR & SBL Conferences
San Diego California
November 21-25, 2019

M21-201
Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE)
Theme: Vocation, Teaching, and Religious Studies
Thursday – 1:00 PM-5:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Cobalt 500 (Fifth Level)

This gathering provides an opportunity for teachers and scholars in the field of religious studies to discuss the intersections of that field with programs for vocational reflection and discernment. Although the language of vocation, calling, and purpose is increasingly present in undergraduate education, its significance has remained relatively under-theorized in academic circles, including in religious studies generally. In addition, the broadening of the conversation about interfaith and interreligious studies is having an effect on the work being done on vocation (and vice versa).

Should the concepts of vocation and calling play a role in the religious studies classroom?
Can the concept of vocation, with its historically Christian roots, function in the increasingly multi-faith context of higher education?
What pedagogical assumptions undergird attention to vocation and calling in the teaching of religious studies?
What teaching strategies have been used—successfully or otherwise—to incorporate vocation into undergraduate coursework in religion?

This gathering will be of interest to those who teach undergraduate courses in religious studies, theology, and related fields, including those that focus on interreligious and interfaith studies.

S22-102a
A22-110
THATCamp – The Humanities and Technology Camp
Theme: THATCamp – The Humanities and Technology Camp
Friday – 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Room: 24C (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

The advent of digital technology and social media has not only transformed how today religious communities function, they have also changed how scholars teach about and conduct research on religion more broadly. If you are interested in how technology is changing—or can change—the work of scholars of religion, then we invite you to attend the THATCamp AAR & SBL unconference taking place the day before the AAR & SBL conferences begin. THATCamp brings together scholars to explore the role of technology in humanities scholarship. This is not a conference for techno-elites, it is a conference for every one of all skill levels. If you are new to digital humanities, come and learn. If you are a seasoned pro, come and share. The cost of the workshop is $30, which includes a full session, coffee and a light snack. To participate, select this workshop when registering for the Annual Meeting. If you have already registered for the Annual Meeting, you may contact annualmeeting@sbl-site.org to reserve a space in this workshop.

M22-103
Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE)
Theme: Vocation, Teaching, and Religious Studies
Friday – 9:00 AM-12:30 PM
Marriott Marquis-Solana (South Tower – First Level)

Should the concepts of vocation and calling play a role in the religious studies classroom?
Can the concept of vocation, with its historically Christian roots, function in the increasingly multi-faith context of higher education?
What pedagogical assumptions undergird attention to vocation and calling in the teaching of religious studies?
What teaching strategies have been used—successfully or otherwise—to incorporate vocation into undergraduate coursework in religion?

This gathering will be of interest to those who teach undergraduate courses in religious studies, theology, and related fields, including those that focus on interreligious and interfaith studies.

S22-206
Using Performance to Teach the Bible
Friday – 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Room: 28B (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Registration for this workshop is available through Annual Meetings registration. The eighth annual workshop sponsored by the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media offers sessions on using performance to engage students with biblical text, lead by experienced teaching scholars. The participants will be involved in active learning throughout the afternoon. Cost of registration is $50 and can be submitted through SBL Annual Meetings registration. Additional information is available from Phil Ruge-Jones at rugejones@gmail.com.

A22-207
Buddhist Contemplation Workshop
Theme: Teaching Buddhist Contemplation in Higher Education
Friday – 2:00 PM-5:30 PM
Convention Center-7A (Upper Level West)

There has been an increased interest in the applications of contemplative activities in the Buddhist studies classroom. Yet, what kinds of learner-centered projects can we offer students that will help them experience Buddhist meditation? How can we connect Buddhist contemplation to broad social issues? Also, how do we teach meditation “safely”?

This workshop aims to address those questions and explore contemplative pedagogy in teaching Buddhism. We will include a round table discussion and activities that will offer participants several methods they can adapt for their own teaching. Presenters will discuss strategies such as the “Warrior’s Exam,” a contemplation curriculum, a Cognitively-based Compassion Training program, creating a safe contemplation environment, and bridging Buddhist contemplation with gender equality or social justice issues.

This workshop contributes to scholarly conversations about the challenges, reflections, and praxis of Buddhist contemplative pedagogy in higher education. Please contact Gloria Chien at chien@gonzaga.edu for questions.

Panelists:

Gloria I-Ling Chien, Gonzaga University
Namdrol Miranda Adams, Maitripa College
Jane Compson, University of Washington, Tacoma
Amelia Hall, Naropa University
Karma Lekshe Tsomo, University of San Diego

A23-124
Teaching Religion Unit
Theme: Teaching Religion and James Lang’s Book Small Teaching: A Conversation
Saturday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 204A (Second Level)

James Lang in his book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Teaching argues that student learning can be improved with modest changes to course design and teaching practices without resorting to wholesale overhauls of courses. In this moderated panel discussion, religion and theology faculty will discuss Lang’s proposals from their experience of teaching.

Kate DeConinck, University of San Diego
Small Teaching with First-Year Undergraduate Students

Laura Taylor, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University
Small Teaching: Structured Reading Groups

Natalie Williams, Saint Peter’s Preparatory School
Using Small Teaching Tactics in High School Ethics Courses

A23-220
Ethics Unit and Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Unit and Liberation Theologies Unit and Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogy Unit

S23-106
Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies / Teaching Biblical Studies in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
Joint Session With: Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies, Teaching Biblical Studies in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
Saturday – 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 1B (Upper Level West) – Convention Center
Theme: 10-Minute Teaching Tips for Teaching Biblical Studies

Nicholas A. Elder, Marquette University
Teaching Tip: Top Five (13 min)

Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, Bluffton University
Draw This Text: A 10-Minute Teaching Tip (13 min)

Kara Lyons-Pardue, Point Loma Nazarene University
Bite-Sized Expertise: Bible Dictionary Abstracts and Presentations (13 min)

George Branch-Trevathan, Thiel College
So Many Learning Goals, So Little Time! A “Critical Introduction” to a Biblical Writing as Omnibus Assignment (13 min)

Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, University of Houston
Who Destroyed the Death Star? Teaching Source Criticism with Star Wars (13 min)

Callie Callon, University of St. Michael’s College
Helping Students Negotiate the Variety of Jesuses in an Introductory New Testament Course (13 min)

Dominic S. Irudayaraj, Hekima College, Nairobi; Biblicum, Rome
Mending the “Misplaced” Ending of Job: A Further Note on Roncace’s Model (13 min)

Tina Shepardson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Complicating “What the Bible Says” in a Land of Jesus and Football (13 min)

Michael Niebauer, Duquesne University
Using the Cosmic Mountain to Teach the Biblical Narrative (13 min)

John Hilton III, Brigham Young University
The Skittles Game: Helping Those in Need (13 min)

S23-136
Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation / Racism, Pedagogy and Biblical Studies
Joint Session With: Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation, Racism, Pedagogy and Biblical Studies
Theme: Critical Race Theory and Biblical Criticism
Saturday – 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Balboa (South Tower – Level Three) – Marriott Marquis

Haley Gabrielle, Emory University
Critical Race Theory for South Asian Americans, and Paul’s Ambiguity in Acts (25 min)

Wongi Park, Belmont University
Whiteness Studies in Biblical Studies: A Minoritized Critique (25 min)

Joseph A. Marchal, Ball State University
Ancient Trap Doors of Transitivity: Captive Flesh, Minoritized Figures, and Paul’s Letters (25 min)

Jennifer T. Kaalund, Iona College
What Inheritance Awaits You? Boundaries and Belonging in Hebrews (25 min)

A23-220
Theme: Teaching in Times of Crisis: Practices and Promises of Liberative Pedagogies
Saturday – 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Convention Center-6F (Upper Level West)

We live in a time of socio-historical transition on political, cultural, and ecological fronts. What is our role as teachers of theology and religious studies in this time? What pedagogical strategies can we employ in our classrooms in order to create liberative spaces where, together with our students, we can engage the critical questions of our time and envision a new future of justice and flourishing? Join us in a panel discussion, hosted by eight teacher-scholars who will share their own practices of liberative pedagogy and open a discussion of what it means to teach in this time of crisis and open a time of collaborative discussion.

Panelists:
Unregistered Participant
Kyle Lambelet, Emory University
Jennifer Quigley, Drew University
Michael A. Walker, North Park Theological Seminary
Salih Sayilgan, Wesley Theological Seminary
Mary Emily Duba, University of Chicago
Jaisy Joseph, Seattle University

A23-333
Religion, Affect, and Emotion Unit
Theme: Pedagogy and Affective Knowledge
Saturday – 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Aqua 314 (Third Level)

To be a teacher is (ostensibly) to be a model of knowledge – of right knowledge – an orthodox posture. What happens when this hardened orthodox posture is liquified, when it is contextualized or relativized with sense experience? In other words, what happens when it is entertained as being shot through with feeling? What happens to the pedagogical scene when we track the agencies and bodies of those who inhabit it: their proximity and distance, the way they attract, push back, and repel against one another? And, not least, in what ways is the pedagogical scene resonant with what we call religion? What does mystical experience teach, and how?

Kyle Johnson, Boston College
Affect, Mysticism, and Orthopathy: An Interdisciplinary Reading of Julian of Norwich

Justine Ellis, University of Oxford
“The Integrity of the Teacher”: Challenges for Non-Dualist Pedagogy in Religious Literacy

Ada Jaarsma, Mount Royal University
The Affective Life of Pedagogy

A23-306
Student Lounge Roundtable
Saturday – 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Room: 14B (Mezzanine Level) – Convention Center
Theme: Mastering Online Education: Effective and Engaging Teaching in a Digital Classroom

Many colleges and universities are turning their attention to online and hybrid education in order both to expand their student body and accommodate students who are interested in furthering their education but unable to attend as fulltime residential students. This workshop draws on years of experience in digital classrooms to highlight some of the basics of online education from the perspective of a practitioner. It emphasizes key considerations about course design, communication with students, classroom management in an online setting, best practices for student engagement, disability accommodations, and a few tips and tricks learned through years of experience. This workshop proposes a guided conversation during which each of the above topics is discussed briefly with encouragement for students to offer their own questions and insights. In addition to addressing student concerns, this discussion will also highlight current scholarship on best practices in online education and particular challenges associated with digital classrooms and online education.

Andrew Klumpp, Southern Methodist University, Panelist

A23-211
Afro-American Religious History Unit and North American Religions Unit
Theme: Africana Religious Studies: Fifty Years since the Black Revolution on Campus
Saturday – 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Convention Center-16B (Mezzanine Level)

Fifty years ago the field of Black Studies was birthed through the revolutionary fire of students in the Black Power movement. On nearly two hundred campuses across the U.S., Black students as well as Latinx, Asian American, and Native American students, and their allies occupied buildings, listed demands, and reimagined the means and ends of higher education. Students of color dreamed of an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-racist discipline. Among the many conversations to be had at the intersection of ethnic studies and religious studies, this roundtable will use the fiftieth anniversary as an opportunity, specifically, to reflect on the relationship between the origins and ongoing formation of Black Studies and those of Religious Studies; the former forged in anti-racist protest, the latter in imperial conquest. Scholars of Africana religions often find themselves precariously positioned between two fields. This roundtable aims to bring together scholars at various stages in their careers to discuss this intersection. How have these contrasting disciplinary histories impacted relationships between the two? How might the tensions between them be generative for both? How can scholars of Africana religions make their work legible across disciplinary lines? In our current political climate, what is our responsibility to both fields as well as to publics outside the academy?

Panelists:
Vaughn Booker, Dartmouth College
Ras Michael Brown, Southern Illinois University
Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Princeton University
Unregistered Participant
Judith Weisenfeld, Princeton University
Alexia Williams, Yale University

Business Meeting:
Alexis S. Wells-Oghoghomeh, Vanderbilt University
Lerone Martin, Washington University, St. Louis

A23-208
Teaching and Learning Committee
Theme: Death to the Term Paper! Building Better Assignments and Assessments
Saturday – 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Aqua C (Third Level)

The Teaching and Learning Committee will facilitate an engaging, hands on workshop that will help participants build assignments that are creative, more plagiarism resistant, and, importantly, that will also assess course outcomes. In this workshop participants will identify the key components of a successful assignment; explore strategies for designing creative scaffolded and staged assignments; describe the purpose and features of a capstone project; discover how to effectively consider outcomes in assignment strategies; and demonstrate ways to buffer against plagiarism.

Panelists:
Amy Hale, Atlanta, GA

A23-306
Student Lounge Roundtable
Theme: Mastering Online Education: Effective and Engaging Teaching in a Digital Classroom
Saturday – 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Convention Center-14B (Mezzanine Level)

Panelists:
Andrew Klumpp, Southern Methodist University

A23-340
Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogy Unit
Theme: Transgressing Borders: Immigration and Transformative Pedagogy in Religious Studies Classrooms
Saturday – 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Convention Center-28B (Upper Level East)

In light of the Annual Meeting’s location in San Diego and the recent changes in immigration policy that serve to limit the entry of immigrants into the United States, this panel will outline transformative pedagogical strategies for teaching about the politics of immigration and Religion. The papers examine models and best practices of community-engaged learning and describe partnerships with faith-based organizations and community groups to support learning on the topic of immigration.

Cassie Trentaz, Warner Pacific College
Crossing Borders and Raising the Stakes: Bridging Higher Education and Community Organizing to Get Real Shit Done in Real Time, a Model

Sara Williams, Emory University

Suzanne Klatt, Miami University
On the Borders: A Multiaxial Approach to Transformative Pedagogy on Immigration

Kelly Figueroa-Ray, Saint Olaf College
Even the Cartel Members Pray: Studying Immigration through the Lens of Lived Theology

Business Meeting:
Laura Stivers, Dominican University of California

S23-301
Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies
Theme: Teaching Tips for Teaching the Hebrew Bible in Its Setting
Saturday – 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 28D (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Justus Ghormley, Valparaiso University
Teaching Ancient Hebrew Cosmology through Drawing (15 min)

Kristin J. Wendland, Wartburg College
Leviticus on the Lawn: Helping Students Understand a Priestly Worldview (15 min)

Jennifer J. Williams, Linfield College
Understanding the Complexity of Identity in Yehud and the Classroom (15 min)

Julie Faith Parker, General Theological Seminary
Adieu Sumeria: A Cuneiform Introduction to the Sophisticated Land Abraham Left Behind (15 min)

Jonathan Parker, Berry College
Walking the Land: Teaching the Bible through Kinesthetic Learning Strategies in the Undergraduate Setting (15 min)

Stephanie Peek, Judson College (Marion, AL)
Addressing Sexual Assault through a Neglected Biblical Text (15 min)

A23-401
Academic Labor and Contingent Faculty Committee and Teaching and Learning Committee
Theme: Content Creation and Intellectual Property Panel
Saturday – 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Cobalt 520 (Fifth Level)

This workshop will examine related issues in intellectual property and content creation in higher education. The academic model relies on the creation of content for scholarship and teaching. Open access scholarship and open educational materials offer an alternative model for content generation and use. This workshop will examine the role of open access scholarship in religious studies and open educational resources in teaching.
In addition, the development of reusable course templates often requires a collaboration between the college, instructional designers, and faculty subject matter experts. This leads to questions of the fairness of compensation for course design, questions of academic freedom in teaching, and the ethics of intellectual property retention in creating reusable materials.

Panelists:
Amy Hale, Atlanta, GA
Mary E. Hess, Luther Seminary

A24-126
Teaching Religion Unit
Theme: Workshop on Effective Grading
Sunday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202A (Second Level)

This session will focus on a practical issue, effective grading strategies. If you love to grade, this session isn’t for you. If you’d rather clean out your closets or do anything else to avoid grading, then you’ll want to join us. We’ll begin by thinking about what, exactly, we want to accomplish when we grade. Then, we’ll look at what the research says about what kind of feedback is most effective. Finally, we’ll explore strategies for giving good feedback to students quickly and more effectively.After this hour and a half interactive workshop led by a religion faculty member who serves as the Director of a University Teaching and Learning Center, there will follow a series of short presentations and discussion organized around the topic of grading.

Jane Webster, Barton College
Peer Grading of Participation

Kiara Jorgenson, Saint Olaf College
Humanizing Grading: Deepening Critical Written Reflection through Ongoing Peer-Review in First-Year Undergraduate Religion Courses

Jessica Tinklenberg, Claremont Graduate University
Co-Designed Rubrics for Transparency, Student Buy-In, and More Efficient Grading

T.L. Brink, Crafton Hills College
Multiple Options Grading

A24-109
Comparative Studies in Religion Unit
Theme: Teaching Comparison
Sunday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Convention Center-3 (Upper Level West)

Comparison in the study of religion, although a longstanding and often-invoked method, has mostly been a lonely undertaking, carried out by individuals whose approaches were rather idiosyncratic. While many comparative studies that have been produced since the 19th century are valuable and productive, until recently the discipline had not developed common methodical guidelines, techniques, or models that could be taught as part of the training in Religious Studies. This roundtable discusses ways in which this methodical training may be implemented in Religious Studies curricula in various settings: On the lower- and upper-division levels at large public universities; in the core curriculum at a liberal arts college; at a mid-sized metropolitan university; and at a community college. After presenting their respective teaching methods, the panelists will invite the audience to join in a discussion about rationales, techniques, and desired learning outcomes of teaching comparison in the classroom.

Panelists:
Ann Taves, University of California, Santa Barbara
Oliver Freiberger, University of Texas
Massimo Rondolino, Carroll University
Nikolas Hoel, Northeastern Illinois University
Grant Potts, Austin Community College

Business Meeting:
Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan, Austin College
Oliver Freiberger, University of Texas

A24-122
Ricoeur Unit
Theme: The Just University: Paul Ricoeur and the Hope of Higher Education
Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire 411A (Fourth Level)

Given the changing landscape of Higher Education, we will be exploring the manifold ways Paul Ricoeur’s work provides hopeful insight and necessary provocation into the task and mission of the modern university. We aim to initiate a productive discussion among diverse and interdisciplinary scholars addressing four areas: Just Pedagogy, Just Curriculum, Just Profession, Just University. Papers will be available through the AAR website ahead of the annual meeting in San Diego. Panelists will offer short synopses of their papers in order to devote the greater part of the session to discussion of these important topics.

Howard Pickett, Washington and Lee University
Doing Time and Narrative: Teaching in (and out of) Prisons with Paul Ricoeur’s Philosophy of Education

Daniel Boscaljon, University of Iowa
Fallible Man and Just Pedagogy: Instruction, Evaluation, and Development

Laura Schmidt Roberts, Fresno Pacific University
Practical Formation: Teaching Critical Thinking via Ricoeur’s Hermeneutical Model

Michael LeChevallier, University of Chicago
Teaching and Learning in Just Institutions: A Ricoeurean Analysis

Robert Vosloo, Stellenbosch University
Wounded Memory and a Pedagogy of Hope: Engaging Ricoeur within the Context of Contested and Conflicting Pasts

Business Meeting:

Glenn Whitehouse, Florida Gulf Coast University
David Hall, Centre College

A24-102
Special Topics Forum
Theme: Teaching against Islamophobia: Lessons and Questions
Sunday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Convention Center-15A (Mezzanine Level)

This roundtable session will reflect on how members of the AAR across a broad array of fields of specialization can teach against Islamophobia in a variety of educational contexts, and how the AAR can support their pedagogical work. The roundtable discussion will include reflections from AAR leadership and participants in the 2018 “Teaching Against Islamophobia” workshop (co-sponsored with the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion) and the 2018 “Countering Islamophobia” workshop.

Panelists:
Todd Green, Luther College
Alice Hunt, American Academy of Religion
Sajida Jalalzai, Trinity University
Oluwatomisin Oredein, Texas Christian University
Heather White, University of Puget Sound

A24-217
Hinduism Unit and Teaching Religion Unit
Theme: Teaching Religion in Translation: Take Hinduism, for Example
Sunday – 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Cobalt 502A (Fifth Level)

Much has been written in recent years regarding the intellectual influences and consequences of various translation practices in scholarship on religion. The purpose of the present panel is to extend this discussion into its correlate pedagogical contexts. Taking “Hinduism” as the site of conversation, this roundtable panel will engage key questions regarding the use of works of translation in teaching religion, including: How can and how should one select translations for classroom use? How can and how should cultural difference be treated with and in translation, and how can and how do particular translations variously accentuate or cause such differences to fade? And how can the written word be set in tandem with other cultural forms, particularly in light of the fact that many religious texts have fleshed-out “lives” in the form of traditions of public performance and narration? Panelists will encourage an open discussion of these and related issues.

Panelists:
Francis X. Clooney, Harvard University
John Nemec, University of Virginia
Shubha Pathak, American University
Katherine C. Zubko, University of North Carolina, Asheville
Bruce M. Sullivan, Northern Arizona University
Meghan Hartman, University of Virginia

A24-204
Teaching and Learning Committee and Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Unit and Cultural History of the Study of Religion Unit
Theme: Theory and Method 2.0: Decolonizing the Field
Sunday – 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Convention Center-15A (Mezzanine Level)

By examining approaches to the study and definition of “religion” that emanate from the experiences of marginalized peoples, this roundtable calls attention to the histories of violence and subjugation concealed within the theoretical and methodological tools of the field, illuminates the limitations of canonical definitions of religion, and explores the possibilities of decolonized critical tools. The central questions that organize our roundtable is: how do scholars study the religiosity of precolonial and colonized peoples (ref)using intellectual apparatuses entrenched in histories of colonialism? Moreover, how do scholars teach “theory and method” courses without reifying religious, racial, sexual, and political hierarchies within, between, and in relationship to historically marginalized groups? Working from the margins of Indigenous Studies, Sikh Studies, Africana Studies, and American Religious History, this roundtable explores the possibilities––for pedagogy and praxis––that are opened when canon and uniformity are deprioritized, as well as the ethical imperatives of this unapologetically decolonial work.

Panelists:
Alexis S. Wells-Oghoghomeh, Vanderbilt University
Natalie Avalos, University of Colorado
Elana Jefferson-Tatum, Tufts University
Simran Jeet Singh, New York University
Laura McTighe, Dartmouth College

S24-203
Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies
Theme: The Digital Debate: Pros and Cons of Technology in the Classroom
Sunday – 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 29B (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

David Joseph Sigrist, Stellenbosch University
Active Learning with Digital Natives: Evidence-Based Practical Solutions of the Intentional and Careful Use of Technological Devices for Post-secondary in Class Instruction (25 min)

Chris Jones, Washburn University
Phones Over Drones! Incorporating Technology into an Active Learning Classroom (25 min)

Troy M. Troftgruben, Wartburg Theological Seminary
Collaborative Wikis: Better Than a Final Exam (25 min)

Renate Hood, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
“Come and See”: Do Personal Mobile Devices Enhance or Reduce Course Experiences? (25 min)

Erica Martin, Seattle University
Digital Devil’s Advocate: Why and How to Ban Tech in the Classroom (25 min)

S24-236
Racism, Pedagogy and Biblical Studies / Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation
Joint Session With: Racism, Pedagogy and Biblical Studies, Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation
Theme: Introductory Bible Courses as Entry to Interrogate/Address Disciplinary and Pedagogical Whiteness
Sunday – 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Cardiff (South Tower – Level Three) – Marriott Marquis

Roberto Mata, Santa Clara University, Panelist (20 min)
Roger Nam, George Fox University, Panelist (20 min)
Justine Wilson, North American Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies, Panelist (20 min)
Denise Buell, Williams College, Panelist (20 min)
Love Sechrest, Columbia Theological Seminary, Respondent (15 min)
Caroline Johnson Hodge, College of the Holy Cross, Respondent (15 min), Discussion (30 min)

A24-341
Buddhist Pedagogy Seminar
Theme: Innovative Methods and Models for Teaching Buddhism
Sunday – 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire A (Fourth Level)

This session offers three, critical interventions into Buddhist pedagogy along with practical ideas for improvements within the following areas: teaching Buddhism in public schools, redesigning introductory Buddhist courses, and recreating religious experience.

Trung Huynh’s paper argues that Buddhists should advocate for their First Amendment right to offer Buddhist courses in public schools. Nathan McGovern advocates for an improved model of teaching Buddhism. It first focuses on modern, western conceptions of Buddhism, then examines actual practice in different Buddhist traditions. This model benefits students by clarifying the difference between Western images of Buddhism and its realities. John Nelson’s presentation reveals the benefits of engaging students with a physical representation of Buddhist pilgrimage practice through a “campus pilgrimage” assignment, for which students integrate Buddhist texts, walking meditation, and chanting.

This session contributes to Buddhist pedagogy by offering innovative approaches to reaching today’s undergraduates and public school students.

Trung Huynh, University of Houston
Advocacy for Teaching Buddhist Courses in Public Schools

Nathan McGovern, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
De-Coveraging the Introduction to Buddhism Class

John Nelson, University of San Francisco
Campus Pilgrimage: A Walk into Buddhist Presence

Responding:
Jonathan Young, California State University, Bakersfield

S24-344
Student Advisory Board
Theme: Teaching All Students: Accessible Pedagogy
Sunday – 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 32A (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

In this panel, we will explore some of the primary barriers in making classrooms and lecture halls helpful learning spaces for students of with and without disabilities. We will discuss different areas of biblical studies, and some experienced teachers will share their expertise in the field. We will then break into small groups and work on case studies, and participants will design a lesson plan or lecture before getting feedback from their peers and the panelists.

Sara Wells, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena), Panelist
Bethany Fox, Fuller Theological Seminary, Panelist
Brenda Issen, Pacific Lutheran University, Panelist
Benjamin Conner, Western Theological Seminary, Panelist

S24-346
Teaching Biblical Studies in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
Theme: Using Online Resources to Teach the Bible in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
Sunday – 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 10 (Upper Level West) – Convention Center

Carl N. Toney, Hope International University
Turning Dung into Fertilizer: One Professor’s Journey through Free eBible Tools (20 min)

Seth Heringer, Toccoa Falls College
Picturing Textual Criticism: Using Digital Images to Capture Student Attention (20 min)

Eric A. Seibert, Messiah College
“You Don’t Always Die from Tobacco” and Other Unexpected Insights from Bible 101: Harnessing the Power of Brief, Provocative Video Clips to Teach Biblical Studies (20 min)

Kimberly Bauser McBrien, Trinity University
Reading Together Apart: Collective Annotation as an Out-of-Class Reading Tool (20 min)

Timothy Luckritz Marquis, Virginia Commonwealth University
Course Text Site: The LMS, Interpretation, and Community in Online Biblical Studies (20 min)

S24-348
Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible
Theme: Teaching the Bible with and through Reception
Sunday – 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Indigo D (Second Level) – Hilton Bayfront

Presenters in this session will offer reflections on reception and teaching, treating such things as instances in which a consideration of reception had a significant impact on the understanding of a biblical text or texts in the classroom; on how their thinking about reception emerged from pedagogical experience; or pedagogical experiences in which reception highlighted, created, or mitigated what struck students as a particularly troubling dimension of a biblical text or texts.

Laura Jean Torgerson, Graduate Theological Union
Defending the Reina Valera (By Misquoting It): Pentecostal Textual Practice and Ideology in Conflict (20 min)

Ingunn Aadland, IKO–Church Educational Centre
Bible and Children: Educators Loyalty towards the Cultural Bible (20 min)

Michael R Whitenton, Baylor University
Reaching Readers Reasoning Morally: Moral Intuitions, Moral Confounding, and Teaching the Bible (20 min)

Rebecca Esterson, Graduate Theological Union
Judge Not? The Pedagogical Puzzle of Right Interpretation and Wrong Interpretation (20 min)

Jo Carruthers, Lancaster University
Mourning as Political Protest at Purim (20 min)

A24-408
Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Unit
Theme: Buddhist Chaplaincy: Friendship through the Challenges of Life
Sunday – 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Convention Center-24A (Upper Level East)

As the number of Buddhist chaplains in the U.S. grows, questions arise about their training, the particular contributions they make to the broader culture, and what their roles are in particular contexts. This session will address questions such as what paradigms would be more accessible to ALL, or at least most, Buddhist chaplains, regardless of their sectarian affiliations? How are the practices and philosophy of Zen Buddhism contributing to hospice care in particular? What happens in the interpreting of Buddhism as Buddhist chaplains take a greater role in higher education outside the classroom?

Monica Sanford, Rochester Institute of Technology
Kalyāṇamitra: Spiritual Friendship as a Paradigm for Buddhist Chaplaincy

Andrea Vecchione, North Bay Center for Compassionate Care Institute
Life Is a Period of Itself; Death Is a Period of Itself: Shaping the Death and Dying Landscape: Zen Buddhist Compassionate/Contemplative Care Programs and Their Impact on Hospice, Palliative Care, and Chaplaincy Programs

Grace G. Burford, Davidson College
Can Buddhism Contribute Positively to the Lives of North American Undergraduates? A Critical and Constructive Reflection on Buddhist Chaplaincy for College Students

Responding:
Wendy Cadge, Brandeis University

A24-439
Buddhist Pedagogy Seminar
Theme: Contemplation in the Buddhist Studies Classroom
Sunday – 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire A (Fourth Level)

This session offers three investigations into Buddhist contemplative pedagogical practices and theories.

Julie Regan articulates how engaging students with reading scripture, taking vows, and practicing contemplation helps them deepen their understanding of Buddhist training in wisdom, ethics, and meditation. Anna Lannstrom argues how contemplative practice enhances students’ wellbeing and character development. She draws from her experience in teaching Buddhist philosophy, leading metta meditation, and co-teaching with a yoga teacher. Lannstrom will also investigate the costs and benefits of those practices. On the other hand, Peter Romaskiewicz helps us to explore the potential legal pitfalls in teaching religious practice in public universities. He will also examine pedagogical theories for employing Buddhist meditation in the classroom, and will discuss teaching contemplative practices in Religious Studies more broadly.

This session offers new insights in the promises, and potential dangers, of integrating Buddhist meditation and other contemplative practices into higher education curricula.

Julie Regan, La Salle University
Experiments with Buddhist Forms of Thought, Action, and Practice in the Classroom

Anna Lannstrom, Stonehill College
Let’s Be Buddhists for the Next Few Weeks! Costs and Benefits of Making Students Explore Buddhism from the Inside

Peter M. Romaskiewicz, University of California, Santa Barbara
Meditation in the Classroom: A Pedagogical Defense for the Practice of Religious Ritual?

Responding:
Ben Van Overmeire, Duke Kunshan University

A24-412
Comparative Religious Ethics Unit
Theme: Teaching Comparative Religious Ethics
Sunday – 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Aqua F (Third Level)

This session will focus on the pedagogical methods and practices that instructors have employed in teaching religious ethics in comparative contexts. In particular, the panelists and audience members will have the opportunity to discuss two pedagogical methods in particular: (1) the first involves teaching comparative religious ethics through student group site visits and the (2) second highlights Jigsaw cooperative learning strategy as a way to teach and assess comparative religious ethics.

Fred Glennon, Le Moyne College
Using Jigsaw and Case Studies to Teach and Assess Comparative Religious Ethics

Ross Moret, Florida State University
Teaching Comparative Religious Ethics through Student Group Site Visits

Responding:
Unregistered Participant

A24-437
Women of Color Scholarship, Teaching, and Activism Unit
Theme: Teaching Islam and Muslim Studies: Cross-Disciplinary and Anti-Disciplinary Orientations to Pedagogies in North American Academia
Sunday – 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Marriott Marquis-Leucadia (South Tower – First Level)

In this roundtable, we – women of color scholars teaching in North American universities – will discuss our relational, transnational, multi-,and anti-disciplinary conceptions of Islam and Muslim Studies and how we teach and perform our critiques at the site of university. While situated in different fields of Ethnic Studies, Social Justice Education, Literature, and Religious Studies, each of us shares a deep commitment to thinking through ethical, intellectual, situational, and other political questions related to teaching about Islam and Muslim communities across continents. We will pay particular attention to intersections of different forms of violences—e.g., anti-Black, racist, Orientalist, heteropatriarchal, Islamophobic, neo/colonial, institutional, and familial. We will also highlight productive ways to talk about resistance strategies to these violences which circulate Muslims as always/already/only brown, uphold the binaries of “good” vs. “bad” Muslim, demonize our anti-occupation struggles, and represent patriarchal violence as an exclusively or innately Muslim terrain.

Panelists:
Unregistered Participant
Shehnaz Haqqani, Mercer University
Unregistered Participant
Merin Shobhana Xavier, Queen’s University
Sarah Eltantawi, Evergreen State College

P25-133
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
Theme: Podcast as Pedagogical Tool
Monday – 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Indigo B (Second Level) – Hilton Bayfront

How are podcasts pedagogical tools for the classroom and beyond? The panel will address this question and discuss how podcasts offer space for the creation of feminist-centered networks and conversations that are pedagogical resources. We will explore the work of making podcasts, the material logistics and the careful planning of topics and questions for teaching and public discussion. The roundtable discussion will also be recorded and made into a podcast.

Sarah Emanuel, Colby College, Panelist (20 min)
Kelsi Morrison-Atkins, Harvard University, Panelist (20 min)
Tomi Oredein, Memphis Seminary, Panelist (15 min)
Susan Woolever, Drew University, Panelist (15 min)
Juliane Hammer, UNC Chapel Hill, Panelist (15 min)
Tina Pippin, Agnes Scott College, Respondent (20 min)

Roundtable Discussion (30 min)

S25-145
Postcolonial Studies and Biblical Studies
Theme: Teaching Biblical Studies from a Postcolonial Perspective
This session explores ideas that would shape a curriculum in biblical studies that is shaped by a postcolonial hermeneutic.
Monday – 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Aqua 300B (Third Level) – Hilton Bayfront

Paige Rawson, Wingate University
Teaching the Bible with 2020 Vision (20 min)

Robert D. Maldonado, California State University – Fresno
A Postcolonial Bible Curriculum: It’s All about Knowledge, Power, Culture, and Politics (20 min)

Brian Fiu Kolia, University of Divinity, Melbourne AUS
The Donkey as Tamasoaalii: A Fagogo Reading of Balaam and the Donkey in Numbers 22:22–35 (20 min)

S25-155
Teaching Biblical Studies with a Disability: Can You Be Hired?
Monday – 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 32A (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Sponsored by the Professional Development Committee. While finding a teaching position in some facet of biblical studies is not easy for those with no disability, it is far harder for those who have a disability which is apparent and/or disclosed during a job interview. This session will: 1) talk about the challenges of being hired with an apparent disability; 2) offer examples of faculty who had a disability when they were interviewed and hired; and 3) describe solutions and strategies for writing cover letters, interviewing, and performing “test teaching” with a disability.

Kenneth Litwak, Gateway Seminary (Los Angeles), Panelist
Rebecca Raphael, Texas State University, Panelist
Brenda Ihssen, Pacific Lutheran University, Panelist
Nick Shrubsole, University of Central Florida, Panelist

A25-205
Teaching and Learning Committee and Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Unit and Cultural History of the Study of Religion Unit
Theme: Theory and Method 2.0: Reconceiving Shared Space
Monday – 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Convention Center-24A (Upper Level East)

This panel examines how “methods and theories” in the study of religion might be revitalized in a manner that simultaneously challenges the field’s colonial and otherwise parochial heritage and works to overcome its present state of fragmentation. The four papers consider the role of such courses in bringing—or failing to bring—scholars who work on religion in very different times and places into a shared discipline. Doing so requires asking how methods and theories courses can play this integrating role without championing the revivification of a 19th- and early 20th-century male European canon. We also reflect on the significance of this integration itself at a moment when the humanities often feel threatened. We argue that the kind of integration of the discipline of religious studies that revitalized methods and theories courses could yield is essential to providing compelling arguments for the discipline’s significance.

Thomas A. Lewis, Brown University
Theory and Method and the Stakes of a Fragmented Discipline

Noreen Khawaja, Yale University
Old Enemies, New Friends

Sonam Kachru, University of Virginia
It’s Easy If You Try: A Plea for Imagination and Experiment in Theories and Methods

Robert A. Orsi, Northwestern University
Theory and Method beyond the Great Derangement

S25-242
Racism, Pedagogy and Biblical Studies
Theme: Best Practices for Latinx Students in Our Biblical Studies Classrooms
Monday – 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 30E (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Eric Barreto, Princeton Theological Seminary, Panelist (20 min)
Lydia Hernández-Marcial, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Panelist (20 min)
Francisco Lozada, Brite Divinity School (TCU), Panelist (20 min)
Kay Higuera Smith, Azusa Pacific University, Panelist (20 min)
Monica Rey, Boston University, Respondent (15 min)
Sara Ronis, Saint Mary’s University (San Antonio), Respondent (15 min)

Discussion (28 min)

A25-300
Academic Labor and Contingent Faculty Committee and Graduate Student Committee and Teaching Religion Unit
Theme: Teaching Unfamiliar Topics
Monday – 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202A (Second Level)

In collaboration with the Graduate Student Committee and the Academic Labor and Contingent Faculty Working Group, the Teaching Religion Unit is facilitating conversations about teaching unfamiliar topics and/or teaching outside one’s research area. This session will take place as conversations around tables focused on particular areas or courses. We anticipate that our presenters and participants bring a range of pedagogical experience and research knowledge to each table so that faculty currently engaged in teaching unfamiliar topics, faculty who anticipate teaching outside their research subjects, and future faculty, including graduate students, can share tips, tricks, and sources.

Alyssa Beall, West Virginia University
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Academia: Navigating Alien Courses, and Surviving.

Emily Bennett, Bellevue University, Central Community College
Teaching Unfamiliar Topics

Matthew Hotham, Ball State University
Teaching Islam across the Curriculum: Strategies for Enhancing Teaching about Islam beyond the Religious Studies Classroom

Anne Blankenship, North Dakota State University
Strategies for Teaching Unfamiliar Topics

Beth Ritter-Conn, Belmont University
Learning to Swim: How to Survive in the Deep End When Teaching Unfamiliar Course Material

Responding:
Aaron Ghiloni, University of Queensland

A25-327
Religion and the Social Sciences Unit
Theme: A Guide to Teaching and Research with Quantitative Data for the Suspicious and Afraid: A Roundtable of Friendly Sociologists of Religion
Monday – 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Convention Center-26B (Upper Level East)

This workshop will be a discussion of how professors, teachers, and researchers with little to no quantitative research experience can access and begin to use quantitative data and quantitative methodologies for their teaching and research on religion. The workshop will be led by Art Farnsley, Todd Ferguson, and Jeffrey Guhin. Art Farnsley is is Research Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. For nine years, he was the Executive Officer of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Todd Ferguson is an assistant professor in the department of Social Work, Sociology, and Criminal Justice at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Jeffrey Guhin is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In this workshop, the three panelists will introduce some basic tips for reading (and writing) quantitative analyses of religion, using the Association of Religion Data Archives for examples of helpful ways to use quantitative data to teach and research religion using quantitative analysis.

Panelists:
Todd Ferguson, Baylor University
Arthur Farnsley, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis

S25-341
Teaching Biblical Studies in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
Monday – 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 23B (Upper Level East) – Convention Center
Theme: Teaching the Bible to Students Who Do Not Read

Sylvie Raquel, Trinity International University
To Read or Not to Read? That is the Question! (20 min)

Daniel Frayer-Griggs, Duquesne University
Encountering Enkidu in Contemporary Music (20 min)

Rahel Wells, Andrews University
Purim as Pedagogy (20 min)

Sara Ronis, Saint Mary’s University (San Antonio)
Integrating Chevruta into the Bible Studies Classroom: Cultivating a Social Reading of the Bible (20 min)

A25-414
Daoist Studies Unit
Theme: Authenticity, Wellness, and the Daoist Curriculum
Monday – 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202B (Second Level)

This program of papers explores the pedagogy of teaching Daoist religious traditions, in both theory and practice, and the implications of this for broader comparative work. The individual papers each address concrete strategies for teaching Daoist concepts and practices effectively to undergraduate students, but also address the larger theme of how our research on Daoist traditions can and should inform our pedagogy, and how our pedagogy can and should enrich our scholarship. This is especially important in the inherently comparative and cross-cultural contexts in which most members work. The program thus opens a larger conversation on the role of pedagogy in scholarly work that will be of interest to all AAR members.

Bede Bidlack, Saint Anselm College
A Pedagogy from Somewhere: Teaching Daoism Comparatively

Matthew Duperon, Susquehanna University
Authenticity and Self-Forgetting: Teaching Zhuangzi with Introspective Techniques from the Text”

Beverley Zhang, Arizona State University
Daoist Zhenren and Well-Being

Pamela D. Winfield, Elon University
No Needles Required: Teaching Daoist Healing Techniques

Responding:
Randall Nadeau, Trinity University

A26-114
Teaching Religion Unit
Theme: Climate Change Is Everything Change: Integrating Environmental Commitment in Religious Studies Courses
Tuesday – 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202A (Second Level)

Our environmental tipping point requires the mobilization of all cultural domains and social institutions in responding to climate change. This interactive roundtable session will prepare scholars to integrate modules and topics of environmental studies into diverse Religious Studies courses. The first part of this session will begin with an overview of different approaches to teaching about climate change in courses such as applied ethics, world religions, theory and method, introduction to (tradition X, Y, or Z), scriptural studies, pop culture and religion, and other subfields. The second part of this participatory roundtable will shift into a collaborative workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring a syllabus of a course in which they’d like to integrate climate change-related material for a collective reworking that will identify important topics and methods for buttressing environmental commitment.

Panelists:
Jennifer Thompson, California State University, Northridge
Danielle Widmann Abraham, Ursinus College

P26-125
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
Theme: Student-Centered Grammar Instruction in the Introductory Biblical Hebrew Class
Tuesday – 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Indigo 204A (Second Level) – Hilton Bayfront

Eran Shuali, Université de Strasbourg
Yehudit: A New Biblical Hebrew Textbook in French (30 min)

Matthew A Thomas, Fuller Theological Seminary
Teaching/Learning Biblical Hebrew Online: Challenges and Community (30 min)

Sarah Lynn Baker, University of Texas at Austin
“Gap” Activities in the Biblical Hebrew Classroom (30 min)

Roundtable Discussion (40 min)

Other Sessions on Teaching

AAR & SBL Conferences San Diego California November 21-25, 2019

AAR & SBL Conferences
San Diego California
November 21-25, 2019