Resources

This modified "note from the classroom" is a dialogue between two scholars about African American study of the Bible. Bellis introduces the subject by advocating the primacy of social location and the African American student's religious experience in the method that she uses in her classes. (Her sample bibliography, syllabus and course outline for teaching about the Bible in African American perspectives can be found on the Wabash Center web page: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu.) Brown's response takes a different stance with regard to the relative importance for exegesis of historical-critical method and the reader's social location. While Bellis and Brown agree on the appeal that the King James Version holds for many African Americans (but for different reasons), their differing assessments of translations, the distinctiveness of African American interpretations, and the ethnicity of Biblical characters models a lively discussion of issues in teaching and learning.

Using a representative anecdote, insights from Jürgen Habermas, Jacques Ellul, and Ivan Illich, and in the form of a collage, this paper advocates a pedagogy of questioning and explores some of the conflicts and consequences of adopting such a pedagogy in a technocratic culture, especially as related to conventional expectations for education framed by efficiency, practicality, and functionality.

Of what significance to theological education is critical reflection? Representing an influential perspective, Charles Wood seems to ascribe to critical reflection the highest priority by defining theology as "critical reflection upon the validity of the Christian witness." This article argues that such a perspective devalues participatory modes of knowing. In contrast, the scientific epistemology of Michael Polanyi better illumines the pedagogical nature and theological orientation of theological education. Specifically, his notion of "indwelling" serves as a point of integration by which participative knowing is extended and intensified by the clarificatory power of critical reflection.

This paper explores the relationship between assessment and ethical value. It starts by reflecting on the traditional assessment convention that distinguishes strongly between process (the ways in which a student constructs a piece of work) and conclusion. The paper then examines three case studies from Holocaust studies, feminist theology, and Providence. The argument of the paper is that these three case studies illustrate that imparting certain values is part of the teaching process, and therefore it should not be excluded from assessment.

AAR Teaching Religious Studies Series (Oxford University Press) Teachers are often tempted to present early Confucianism as an abstract ethical philosophy whose wisdom stands outside of time and space. Nevertheless, this kind of rarefied treatment makes it difficult for students to understand. Instead, one should try to make Confucianism more tangible by firmly placing it in its historical and intellectual context. This can be done in the following ways: Use indigenous nomenclature for words like "Confucius" and "Confucianism." Closely examine the history and character of the Confucian community. Draw attention to the overwhelming importance of ritual in Confucian doctrine. Underline the all-encompassing nature of Confucian religiosity. Show the popular stories and images by which Confucians transmitted their teachings. Although these methods focus on the otherness of early Confucianism and thereby might make it less appealing to modern tastes, they will provide students with a lively and vivid image of the early tradition and its advocates.

In "Private Irony and Liberal Hope," Richard Rorty points out that redescribing people often humiliates them. Yet unless religious studies courses suppress the importance of the questions they raise, it seems that they directly or indirectly redescribe the students who take them. Hence the dilemma: do we eschew redescription at the price of a weak treatment of our subject, or do we practice redescription at the risk of humiliating our students? This paper reviews five strategies that do not solve the dilemma, then offers a sixth that does – by developing the distinction between proposing descriptions and imposing them.

This article re-examines so-called "experiential approaches" to theology and religious studies. In affirming the need of the educator to attend to both cognitive and affective aspects within teaching and learning, and in using many concrete examples from classroom practice, the article critically engages with Latin American liberation theology and post-liberalism in an attempt to clarify what "experience" is being referenced when "experiential methods" are used. The importance of the concrete worlds of individual students, the responsibility of educators to be conscious of their own power in shaping the educational experience, and the desirability of attending to issues surrounding economic disadvantage within theology and religious studies feature prominently in the study. We conclude that, though no experience is neutral, educational contexts in theology and religious studies can offer exemplary settings for profound self-discovery, exploration, and personal development through the "hermeneutical friction" created by critical examination of the narrative worlds within which we live.

This essay explores and challenges the two primary ethical arguments for assessment, accountability, and professional responsibility, by demonstrating their strengths and exposing their weaknesses, which are rooted in their limited notions of community, contract, and guild respectively. In contrast, I argue for assessment on the basis of an ethic of covenantal obligation which incorporates both accountability and responsibility but grounds them on a broader view of community, a view of the teaching-learning environment as a covenant community replete with mutual obligations and responsibilities, one of which is assessment. While the notion of covenant community has deep roots in American society, its theological underpinnings make the ethic of assessment as covenant obligation most relevant to church-related institutions of higher education, the context in which I teach and learn. I conclude the paper by delineating some principles for ethical assessment practice which follow from a covenantal perspective.

This essay begins with diverse arguments for modifying history of Christianity courses to include the experiences of Asian Christianity. After discussing fundamental assumptions, several problems are articulated. The major portion of the essay describes three different strategies for integrating new materials into current curricular offerings. By conceptualizing the relationships between Asian Christianity and the history of Christianity in terms of (1) parallels, (2) supplements, and (3) challenges, material from theformer can be more readily incorporated into the teaching of the latter. Such strategies can be utilized in different teaching contexts, depending on the needs of students and instructors.

Information technology is bringing change to theological education. Computer-mediated instruction has been employed for teaching basic factual materials and for providing study resources. Information technology has been helpful as an instructional aid using the drill and practice format, but how can it promote learning in more complex areas of knowledge acquisition such as analysis, synthesis, and creative judgment? Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, N.C. developed an online course to teach Hebrew exegesis. A theory-driven pedagogy was employed that used a Web-based instructional design to promote asynchronous learning, collaborative projects, and peer review. This article presents the rationale and design for the class, a narrative of the class experience, and an evaluation of results. Outcomes of the class experience and suggestions for application of technology to other subject areas are included.