Resources

One page Teaching Tactic: students take turns in the role of "teaching assistant" to increase motivation and attention to the material.

One page Teaching Tactic: an exercise that treats student groups unequally, to learn about empathetic identification with biblical figures.

One page Teaching Tactic: a treasure hunt by which students learn about the attributes of God.

One page Teaching Tactic: students compare two theology textbooks to gain a new understanding of diversity.

In an attempt to engage students' higher-order thinking skills, we developed a documentary filmmaking project for our introduction to theology course. By documenting certain aspects of the theology of John Wesley and John Henry Newman (God, creation, revelation, Jesus, the church), students were able to delve deeply into these themes, better understanding them and their interrelationships. The project helped the students to actively practice historical theology, rather than passively learn about it through lectures. In addition, the project emphasized research skills, quality of writing and creative production, and a professional presentation at a screening.

A challenging intercultural teaching experience provided an opportunity for engaging embodied pedagogies that facilitated border crossings of language, age, gender, and experience. Influenced by the work of Augusto Boal, the author describes how improvisation, role-play, music, and drawing led seminary students in Mexico into sacred time and space toward relevant learning. Drawing upon the critical pedagogy of several educators yields implications for teaching theology and religion. The essay also invites readers into dialogue about how such border crossings can benefit their own teaching.

Stephen Prothero's Religious Literacy makes a strong case that minimal religious literacy is an essential requirement for contemporary U. S. citizens. He argues further that high schools and colleges should offer required courses in the study of religion in order to help students reach that baseline literacy. Beyond the general recommendation that such courses focus on biblical literacy and the history of Christianity, however, Prothero does not sketch out his proposal for teaching religious literacy. This essay argues that in addition to providing factual knowledge, teaching for religious literacy needs to involve sustained attention to how religious people use that factual information to orient themselves in the world, express their individual and group self-understanding, and give their lives direction and meaning. Such attention to the dynamics of religious life can also help students understand why human beings have persisted in this mode of behavior.

This manuscript is an edited transcript of a panel discussion held at a Society of Biblical Literature conference (Boston, Massachusetts, November 22 to 24, 2008). Alice Hunt begins the discussion by summarizing the content and significance of a new book by Dale Martin, The Pedagogy of The Bible (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) in which he argues that biblical studies in seminaries and divinity schools give too much emphasis to teaching the historical critical method and not enough to preparing students for ministry by teaching them to be self-reflective practioners of the improvisational skills of interpreting scripture. Then a panel of bible scholars, including the author, conduct a wide-ranging discussion that raises questions about how biblical studies might better prepare students for ministry, as well as the proper role and appropriate pedagogies for introducing biblical studies in the undergraduate liberal arts curriculum.

A 1000 word essay on using media to teach theory.

A 1000 word essay on using media to teach theory.