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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 present conflict in Israel within the framework of a course in christology while addressing the demands of Seattle University's Catholic Jesuit philosophy.

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.

The most common paradigm of contemporary Protestant theological education for ministerial formation is that of schooling, seen in the institution of the theological seminary/college. This article notes the limitations of the schooling paradigm for educational intervention in the range of domains inherent in effective ministerial formation; recognizes that teaching and learning take different but still legitimate shape when used to describe educational processes in this context; and argues for an integrated, formational, and missional community paradigm modeled especially on the relationship of Jesus with his disciples as being both more consistent with biblical precedents and more effective educationally. The implications of this for the role of faculty of theological institutions are explored.

There is no pedagogical philosophy or technique that ensures the emergence of genuine community in the religious studies classroom. But teachers can engage in activities that create the conditions for community and student transformation. Among these is strategic self-disclosure – the practice of revealing one's own orientation toward a subject matter, a discipline, or the institutional context in which teaching and learning take place. But strategic self-disclosure is not without risks. It can permanently alter the classroom environment and may tap into the teacher's insecurities. The author explores these matters by analyzing a remarkable teaching experience in which community happened.

This essay explores pedagogical practices and ethical obligations in the embrace of cultural and religious diversity by a faculty team in a theological school course. Attention is given to the interplay of art and ethical dilemmas in an educational praxis that calls into question students' taken-for-granted worldviews and theologies. In the first of three sections the writers identify several assumptions they brought to the conduct of the course regarding diversity, art, and pedagogy. The second section describes student encounters with and responses to art from a variety of cultural contexts. The paper concludes with a critical reflection on ethical and political issues arising from pedagogical practices that engage students with art.

"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.

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.

The questions raised by the integration of digital technologies into theology and pedagogy are broader than simple questions of how to use a particular tool. Instead, this integration raises cultural questions that require cultural interventions in response. Shweder's notion of "thinking through others" provides an evocative framework for envisioning more complex pedagogical responses. This essay is based on a presentation delivered to the first annual conference on Theology and Pedagogy in Cyberspace, held in Evanston, Illinois on 19–20 April 2001.

Theological schools are increasingly exploring online distance education as a mode of course delivery. Yet while online course delivery has the potential for effective, deep learning it can also have a number of pitfalls. This article introduces online distance education and examines in detail the pedagogical possibilities for online learning by providing a number of examples drawn from online courses. While championing the use of online course delivery for theological schools, it also sounds a note of caution by advocating that the use of technology should be driven by sound pedagogical principles. Putting pedagogy before technology will insure quality education no matter what the content or mode of delivery.

Whatever will happen in the way of the confluence of pedagogy and technology, it will not so much perpetuate past models in more efficient ways as it will reflect a stronger element of (for example) the unanticipated success of Napster. The author suggests a fivefold interpretation of Napster's implications as a guideline of what cybermedia do well, and how theological educators can use cybermedia to enrich their classroom teaching by distinguishing online from in-class education. Cybermedia serve best when they do not duplicate or usurp functions best accomplished in person, and personal interaction thrives when not burdened with information-transmission that might as well take place online.