Resources

This unusual book begins each chapter by posing a question with which college and university teachers can be expected to identify; and then goes on to answer the question by presenting a series of examples; finally, each chapter closes with 'second thoughts', presenting a viewpoint somewhat distinct from that taken by John Cowan. This book will assist university teachers to plan and run innovative activities to enable their students to engage in effective reflective learning; it will help them adapt other teachers' work for use with their own students; and will give them a rationale for the place of reflective teaching and learning in higher education. (From the Publisher)

Everyday Knowledge and Uncommon Truths: Women of the Academy draws on the life experience and varied backgrounds of academic women from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. To provide diverse perspectives on women's experiences of being and knowing in and outside the academy, contributors draw on a range of critical approaches derived from feminism, post-structuralism, postmodernism, critical education theory, discourse theory and analysis, narrative inquiry, and life histories. (From the Publisher)

One of the most significant changes in theological education during the past two decades has been a dramatic rise in the enrollment of women in the seminaries. In this ground-breaking book, Rebecca Chopp explores the impact these new voices are having on theological education. She looks at how women and men are actually forming a new Christian praxis through their engagement with feminist practices and thought that often exist outside the sphere of official recognition. This important book will be a starting point for dialogue about the role theological education will play as this new Christian praxis emerges. (From the Publisher)

The colorful study of university divinity schools in America. This historical analysis of American Protestant university-related divinity schools tells their story in terms of powerful social and cultural forces that decisively influenced American education in general and Protestant theological education in particular. (From the Publisher)

Using the research of feminist literary critics and building upon the work of feminist biblical scholars, Emily Cheney offers three strategies for women whose ecclesiastical traditions expect them to base their sermons on biblical texts, and for women who want their sermons to reflect a feminist consciousness and compassion. The strategies focus on gender reversal, analogy, and women as exchange objects, all tested on several texts without female characters from the Gospel of Matthew. A concluding section reflects upon what role the authority of the text plays when readers use these strategies. (From the Publisher)

"The sadness I feel," writes Denise Carmody, "stems from watching the capitulation of good schools, both Christian and secular, to the pragmatism of recent times and their concomitant loss of a pervasive vision of their enterprise." Such capitulation has produced a serious crisis in American higher education, including also church-sponsored higher education, leading to a preoccupation with research and publication instead of teaching and to frequent inattention to ultimate human questions. Following an introductory discussion of teaching, research and publication, and "the difference that God makes," the book moves through such topics as human nature, physical nature, politics, divinity or ultimate reality, and education (including community services, academic freedom, and the arts and sciences). A concluding chapter focuses on vision in higher education, that is, gaining a clear sense of what a collegiate venture wants to do and the kind of curriculum and teaching that squares with what a college is trying to achieve. (From the Publisher)

The essays in this volume explore the educational implications of unsettling shifts in contemporary culture associated with postmodernism. These shifts include the fragmentation of established power blocs, the emergence of a politics of identity, growing inequalities between the haves and the have-nots in a new global economy, and the rise in influence of popular culture in defining who we are. In the academy, postmodernism has been associated with the emergence of new theoretical perspectives that are unsettling the way we think about education. These shifts, the authors suggest, are deeply contradictory and may lead in divergent political directions—some of them quite dangerous Power/Knowledge/Pedagogy examines these issues with regard to four broad domains of educational inquiry: state educational policy and curriculum reform, student identity formation, the curriculum as a text, and critical pedagogy. The book contributes to the dialogue on the forging of a new commonsense discourse on democratic educational renewal, attuned to the changing times in which we live. (From the Publisher)

The aim of this book is both to raise questions about the contemporary theological enterprise and to suggest ways to improve theological education at the college, seminary, and graduate levels. With that in mind the editors have here gathered together important essays by leading theologians and prominent bishops that provide expert assessment of the present state of Catholic theological education and its future prospects, treating a full range of the most pressing topics, from undergraduate and graduate programs to the role of bishops and the task of inculturation. (From the Publisher)

You have finished your Ph.D. and landed your first academic job. Scanning the fine print, you realize the introductory class you have been assigned to teach is being held in an auditorium. A really big auditorium. Panic begins to set in. . . . In this handy and practical book, Elisa Carbone offers a wealth of sound advice on how to deal with a large class, from the first day to end-of-semester evaluations. Full of examples taken from many different disciplines, Teaching Large Classes will be an ideal companion for any teacher facing the challenge of the large introductory class. (From the Publisher)

Dialogue in Teaching presents a detailed examination of dialogue as a cluster of related dialogical styles and approaches, not just a single entity. The author offers a critical and conceptual study of the nature of dialogue and a discussion of concrete issues in teaching with dialogue: how it works, why it is beneficial for teaching, how it sometimes fails, and how to improve on it. Organizing his book around the metaphor of playing a game, Burbules speaks to scholars and teachers, in sophisticated yet accessible language, about a topic of great interest to both groups. (From the Publisher)