Resources

The author notes that current seminary stutipsdents show great variation in their academic skills, in their familiarity with the basics of Christianity, and in their sense of, and skill in, theological method. This condition is both caused and exacerbated by the students' acculturation in American religious privatism, which makes them resist a critical and constructive examination of their views and hinders their understanding of theology as an undertaking of and for the Church. The author describes a number of pedagogical strategies, teaching techniques, and classroom exercises that have shown some effectiveness in overcoming these problems.

How can we best address writing improvement for seminary students? This article describes the implementation of a Writing Assistance Program that teaches remedial skills in grammar structure and paper organization as well as mentors all students to develop their fullest writing potential. Four models of writing instruction are discussed and examples are given of the best use of each. The article concludes with lessons learned from the experience and tips for other seminaries.

The author describes a positive turnaround that occurred in working with both the Prophets unit of her Hebrew Bible course and the Paul unit in her New Testament course. She initiated this turnaround by challenging the students to take over the teaching of those units through small group presentations. The emphasis on length and creativity in these presentations prompted some exemplary work on the part of students. And students now identify these units as both the most memorable of the course and where their most effective learning takes place.

After laying a theoretical basis for an active learning orientation in the classroom, the co-authors describe methods they developed to evaluate active learning in two different settings of introductory courses in biblical studies. They argue that honoring diverse learning and communication styles among students does not need to compromise academic rigor. The authors show how portfolio-based assessment of student learning allows students a range of ways to demonstrate their mastery of the material. Examples are provided of components of student portfolios from their undergraduate classes.

One of the difficulties in teaching religious studies in Asia is that many religious theories and case studies are closely related to Western countries and therefore the knowledge and teaching material have a strong Western cultural bias. The cultural differences make teaching rather difficult and, most importantly, lower students' motivation to learn. To deal with the problem, this researcher attempted to introduce material on indigenous religions in various subjects in order to test whether such material would enhance student motivation. The material included newspaper articles, articles in books and journals, television programs, and documentary films. This paper is the result of an experiment in education and personal reflection on the use of indigenous religious materials in teaching religious studies in the Asian context.

This note from the classroom suggests that multicolor highlighting is a useful study technique for religious studies students. The note first reviews the literature regarding the effectiveness of traditional highlighting, then discusses advantages of the modified technique. Monochrome highlighting works only if readers select text through a discriminating reading process. Reading in colors fosters this sort of active reading. It prompts readers to ask how and why a given term, phrase or passage is important. This technique can help students grasp the basic categories and concepts of the discipline and it can embody course requirements or learning outcomes. The note concludes with practical suggestions for using the technique in the classroom.

This classroom exercise developed out of an effort to make the methodology and practical techniques of our field come alive for students of New Testament at a variety of undergraduate levels. Adapting the controversial "voting" technique of the Westar Institute's "Jesus Seminar," students vote with colored beads on the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in Matthew's Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12). The point of the exercise is not to judge or dismiss Biblical text, but to work actively and thoughtfully with the critical tools and methods of New Testament scholarship, to ponder the implications of academic assessments of "authenticity" when it comes to Biblical text, and to stimulate discussion concerning how we, as professional scholars of the Bible, approach the Gospels.

This article reflects critically on the introduction of a form of problem-based learning into a first-year Hebrew course. It begins by outlining the problems inherent in the way this course had previously been taught, and proceeds to consider the factors that needed to be taken into account in developing a solution. In particular, the need to develop a course that promotes deep rather than surface learning is emphasized. A description is then given of problem-based learning and the advantages it offers. An account of problem-based learning in the context of the Hebrew course is given, followed by critical reflections based on comments put forward by students involved with the course and the teacher's reflective partners. Without ignoring the problems presented by problem-based learning, this article defends this educative strategy on the basis that it stimulates student motivation and promotes deep learning on a number of levels.

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 essay explores how one might use the "problem" of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart as a learning opportunity in the classroom. The author identifies two pedagogical aims: (1) cultivating more sophisticated, critical readers of the Bible; and (2) helping students reflect on the contextual nature of interpretation. The essay discusses in some detail various ways of teaching the text, including an exercise in close reading, examination of sources, and a selective study of the history of interpretation. It also explores various lessons to be learned from these exercises, and addresses applicability of the approaches to other teaching contexts. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the "Problem Texts" group of the consultation "Teaching the Bible in the 21st Century," held at the Wabash Center in Crawfordsville, Indiana.