Resources

This classroom note describes the lessons I learned from the use of formal debates during the two semesters I taught "Paul and Early Christianity" to undergraduates at a liberal arts college in Ohio. The purpose of the course was primarily to give students the exegetical skills to understand Paul in his own context. The secondary purpose was to help students understand the role that exegetical differences play in different moral and theological uses of Paul. I found that the debates helped students understand the controversial nature of biblical exegesis, to read the course material carefully, to develop clear arguments, and to empathize with different points of view. The debates also entailed certain problems, some of which were hindrances that needed to be corrected. However, some apparent problems actually turned out to be teaching opportunities and even served as their own solutions. Appendices, including the course syllabus and debate questions and readings, can be found at: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/journal/article2.aspx?id=11362

Good teaching is both powerful and cautious. It is powerful insofar as it creates engaged students. Because an engaged mind is particularly receptive, however, good teaching is also cautious insofar as it provides students with focused guidance through the process of appropriating the learning material. This article reflects critically on expressionist pedagogy by evaluating a classroom situation in which students reacted in unexpected ways to the professor's disclosure of a personal story. It concludes that effective teaching exceeds the goal of merely facilitating student engagement. That is, the use of self-disclosure has the power to create engaged students, but it also requires cautious content consideration when facilitating post-disclosure learning. If, by using the powerful expressionist pedagogy of self-disclosure, we engage students but fail to cautiously guide them through the learning material, we have not taken seriously the ethical responsibility that teaching also implies.

The present article describes a modular approach to teaching Genesis 1–3 that values depth over breadth even in an introductory class. The module allows students to learn about the text and its original context by orienting discussion around contemporary issues of practical concern. Specifically, the creation-evolution debates provide an opportunity for students to learn about contemporary political, social, and legal implications of interpreting Genesis 1–3. The conflict of traditional and modern values emerges also in issues surrounding gender and autonomy in Genesis 2–3. This pedagogical approach challenges various student worldviews to promote discussion and greater intellectual sophistication. The correlation of the text with ongoing contemporary issues engages student interest and motivates learning. It also allows the class to explore both the ancient text and its interpretation in diverse communities. Finally, the module allows considerable flexibility for student and teacher interest and the needs of a given class.

Discussions on teaching and learning within theological seminaries often center on the question of student diversity, focused primarily upon issues of race, gender, and ethnicity. At the same time that seminaries are challenged to deal with a multitude of pedagogical suppositions emerging from increasingly diverse learning goals, seminaries must also pay attention to the ways their students challenge an institution's core mission to train ministers for service in churches and denominations. Based upon the author's experience teaching in a mainline Protestant seminary, the essay discusses three student cultures that often overlap among today's seminarians. These three student cultures, referred to here as "church seminarian," "new paradigm seminarian," and "vocational seminarian," carry very different understandings of the seminary's role to prepare students for ministry. A critical discernment of these cultures might challenge seminary faculty to reevaluate their educational and missional suppositions amidst divergent student career objectives.

This article addresses the epistemological disarray and secularizing trends in American culture, while also suggesting a way for Catholic institutions to meet their responsibilities under Ex Corde Ecclesiae. It employs Bernard Lonergan's work to establish a theoretical foundation for education and outlines two specific liberal arts courses, Beginning with Knowing, in which students develop a methodological foundation for objective knowledge, and The Catholic Tradition, which transmits important Catholic perspectives and values.

One goal of the Wabash Center is to honor teachers for their potential, and hospitality has been a primary means to that end. A lesson learned is that the intention and effort to honor teachers create contexts for meaningful discussions, creative learning, and personal renewal of those engaged in workshops and consultations. The lesson is valuable for those engaged in all forms of adult learning, especially in colleges and theological schools.

Assessing the impact of Wabash Center programs on theological education, this article focuses on the vocation of the theological educator, particularly on the impact of theological teaching on faith and on the institutions, values, and practices that shape living. Five contributions of the Wabash Center are highlighted: (1) guiding seminary faculty in the practices of teaching, (2) enhancing the teaching preparation of doctoral students for theological education, (3) linking effective teaching to the development of seminary curricula, (4) enlarging the literature on teaching in theological education, and (5) nurturing the vocation of seminary educators.

As associate director and then director of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Lucinda Huffaker has been a key factor in the Center's reputation for hospitality. The Center's work presupposes that reflection on teaching improves teaching and learning, and good reflection on one's teaching requires taking risks and making oneself vulnerable. Hospitality helps create a "safe space" that encourages such risks, even in the current inhospitable academic world, where factors like competitiveness and the increasing use of adjuncts make honest reflection on teaching difficult.

The study of religion seeks to understand life and life practices, which means that it is internally suited to dynamic teaching-learning methods such as exploration, conversation, and imaginative construction. Wabash Center hospitality enables reflective conversations about the nature of our craft, the shape of our vocation, and the direction of our discipline.