Resources

What is a "biblical scholar"? Stephen D. Moore and Yvonne Sherwood provide a thoroughly defamiliarizing and frequently entertaining re–description of this peculiar academic species and its odd disciplinary habitat. The modern—and —biblical scholar, they argue, is a product of the Enlightenment. Even when a biblical scholar imagines that she is doing something else entirely (something confessional, theoretical, literary, or even postmodern), she is sustaining Enlightened modernity and its effects. This study poses questions for scholars across the humanities concerned with the question of the religious and the secular. It also poses pressing questions for scholars and students of biblical interpretation: What other forms might biblical criticism have taken? What untried forms might biblical criticism yet take? (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: What does it mean to be authentic? Why should it matter whether or not we become more authentic? How might authenticity inform and enhance the social practice of the scholarship of university teaching and, by implication, the learning and development of students? Authenticity in and through Teaching introduces three distinct perspectives on authenticity, the existential, the critical and the communitarian, and shows what moving towards greater authenticity involves for teachers and students when viewed from each of these angles. In developing the notion of ‘the scholarship of teaching as an authentic practice', this book draws on several complementary ideas from social philosophy to explore the nature of this practice and the conditions under which it might qualify as 'authentic'. Other concepts guiding the analysis include ‘virtue’, 'being', ‘communicative action’, 'power', ‘critical reflection’ and ‘transformation’. Authenticity in and through Teaching also introduces a vision of the scholarship of teaching whose ultimate aim it is to serve the important interests of students. These important interests, it is argued, are the students’ own striving and development towards greater authenticity. Both teachers and students are thus implicated in a process of transformative learning, including objective and subjective reframing, redefinition and reconstruction, through critical reflection and critical self-reflection on assumptions. It is argued that, in important ways, this transformative process is intimately bound up with becoming more authentic. Rather than being concerned principally with rendering research evidence of ‘what works’, the scholarship of teaching emerges as a social practice that is equally concerned with the questions surrounding the value, desirability and emancipatory potential of what we do in teaching. The scholarship of teaching, therefore, also engages with the bigger questions of social justice and equality in and through higher education. The book combines Carolin Kreber's previous research on authenticity with earlier work on the scholarship of teaching, offering a provocative, fresh and timely perspective on the scholarship of university teaching and professional learning. (From the Publisher)

The 1980s produced an unprecedented large amount of literature and a vigorous debate on the purpose and nature of theological education in North America. Surveying and probing the major positions in this debate, David H. Kelsey argues in this book that the central differences between various voices in theological education emerge most clearly when viewed in light of "Athens" and "Berlin." For Kelsey, "Athens" and "Berlin" represent two very different—and ultimately irreconcilable—models of excellent education. In the case of de facto, says Kelsey, that modern North American theological education, for historical reasons, is committed to both models, resulting in ongoing tensions and struggles. Kelsey shows how a variety of significant thinkers—Newman, Niebuhr, Farley, Stackhouse, and several others—fit in the Athens-Berlin framework. In presenting a keen analysis of major themes and patterns of movement in the theological education debate, Between Athens and Berlin itself makes a significant contribution to the debate. (From the Publisher)

Dealing with conflict is an evitable part of any academic administrator’s job. Often, however, new administrators lack the skills they need to successfully resolve campus conflicts. This important resource includes an array of strategies for identifying and managing conflict between individuals, within a department, and between departments. The Jossey-Bass Academic Administrator’s Guide to Conflict Resolution shows how to turn conflicts into problems to be solved. Authors Sandra I. Cheldelin and Ann F. Lucas offer concrete approaches academic administrators can use to analyze conflicts and design effective interventions. The Jossey-Bass Academic Administrator’s Guide to Conflict Resolution is an invaluable tool that includes · Guidelines for knowing when it is appropriate to intervene in a conflict · Strategies for helping to change irrational and negative thinking to positive rational thought · Methods for handling interpersonal conflict—between two parties—within a department · An outline of the major approaches for managing conflict and information about when they work and when they don’t · Effective strategies for preventing and solving specific problems (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue. Full text is available online.

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Mark Edmundson's essays reclaim college not as the province of high-priced tuition, career training, and interactive online courses, but as the place where serious people go to broaden their minds and learn to live the rest of their lives. A renowned professor of English at the University of Virginia, Edmundson has felt firsthand the pressure on colleges to churn out a productive, high-caliber workforce for the future. Yet in these essays, many of which have run in places such as Harper's and the New York Times, he reminds us that there is more to education than greater productivity. With prose exacting yet expansive, tough-minded yet optimistic, Edmundson argues forcefully that the liberal arts are more important today than ever. Why Teach? offers Edmundson's collected writings on the subject, including several pieces that are new and previously unpublished. What they show, collectively, is that higher learning is not some staid, old notion but a necessary remedy for our troubled times. Why Teach? is brimming with the wisdom and inspiration that make learning possible. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: The authors of Teaching Applied Creative Thinking: A New Pedagogy for the 21st Century believe this book to be the first in the field about teaching creative thinking in the new millennium. While many books talk about creativity and provide the justification for adding creative thinking as a student learning outcome, this book focuses on applying creativity to the teaching and learning process. The authors ask, “does anyone truly believe the world’s problems are going to be solved by students with only a high proficiency in common core competencies?” With student learning outcomes as a goal, we must rethink teaching and learning to include creativity. Posed for the 21st-Century learner, their new paradigm, Mentor-from-the-Middle, replicates scholarly inquiry by developing a scholarly frame of mind. The teacher assumes new roles in this paradigm of scholar, mentor, facilitator, coach, model, and critical reflector. These roles in turn combine to help transform the learner into an active creative thinker. "The authors’ goals in writing this book are to fill a void, to transform teaching, to create a new model, and to develop a new approach to teaching and learning. In the old world, before the coming of Google, the transfer of knowledge was the work of the teacher; now knowledge is available at the tip of our fingers. But the Google cannot solve the world’s problems. We will always need great teachers to transform and synthesize knowledge into skills, to teach creative thinking, to apply learning, and to create a love for learning that lasts a lifetime. The authors discuss new brain research, advanced technologies, the teaching environment, and pedagogy. They synthesize this knowledge in a wonderful way to encourage the reader to think deeply about how this research might affect the teacher and the learner. (From the Publisher)

Kalwant Bhopal and Patrick Danaher examine 'race', identity and gender within education and explore the difficulties of relating these concepts to the experience of students in higher education. In drawing together the experience of local and international students in the UK and in Australia, they examine the ways identities are understood and conceptualized within higher education in local contexts and on a global level. They consider the complexity of 'race', gender and identity in relation to education within the context that education continues to be dominated by predominantly white, middle class values and perspectives. Identity and Pedagogy in Higher Education examines the extent to which education as a vehicle for change in the light of the controversial debates surrounding race and gender inequalities. (From the Publisher)

When Race Breaks Out is a guide for instructors who want to promote more honest and informed conversations about race and racism. Based on the author's personal practice and interviews with students and faculty from a variety of disciplines, this book combines personal memoirs, advice, teaching ideas, and lively stories from college classrooms. A unique ¬´ insider's guide to the main ideas, definitions, and opinions about race helps instructors answer students' questions and anticipate their reactions, both to the material and to each other. An annotated bibliography of over 150 articles, books, and videos with recommendations for classroom use is also included. (From the Publisher)