Scholarship on Teaching

Taking seriously the implications of post-colonial theory, the authors revisit the introductory course (normally "World Religions") as a course on the plurality of religions in contemporary U.S. culture. They explain the structure of the course, and discuss practical and ethical issues around student field visits to learn about other religions.

The author uses a contemporary functional document (a campus map) to design an imaginative exercise which teaches students the limits of map (or text) as a guide to reliable information. Through the exercise, students learn about gaps in information and the limits of what any text reveals, even one which is ostensibly designed as a reliable guide for navigating a campus.

Three scholars present narrative descriptions of their syllabi for the first year course in theology. David Goatley discusses the challenges of teaching theology amid the many kinds of diversity characteristic of Memphis Theological Seminary and emphasizes the importance of teaching students how to think theologically. Amy Plantinga Pauw describes the strengths and ongoing problems of an introductory course at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary which combines theology and church history. Linda Woodhead's account of teaching Christian theology in a religious studies context at Lancaster University focuses on the embodiedness of theology as key to teaching students for whom it really is a foreign language. Surveying the other essays, William Placher notes positive news about the place of Christian theology within a religious studies department and the ongoing challenges faced in many seminaries of teaching theology in less time to less well prepared students.

The author describes what has been entailed in a shift from a teacher-centered approach — one which relied on her expertise in Chinese studies — to a more student-centered approach in which the teacher creates a learning environment and seeks to "get out of the way" of student learning. She describes concrete strategies for de-centering herself and empowering students, and discusses the roles and responsibilities of the teacher in this alternative model.

This article presents a methodology for a feminist theology of education based on reflection of women's educational experience in light of historical and contemporary theological works, especially the writing of Julian of Norwich. It argues for hospitality as a metaphor for theological education and suggests an understanding of the student, teacher, and environment of education that can create hospitality in the classroom.

This article presents a methodology for a feminist theology of education based on reflection of women's educational experience in light of historical and contemporary theological works, especially the writing of Julian of Norwich. It argues for hospitality as a metaphor for theological education and suggests an understanding of the student, teacher, and environment of education that can create hospitality in the classroom.

Joachim Wach's classic 1924 treatment of two types of teaching and learning relationships is summarized by Professor Denny and commented on from three contemporary perspectives by three teaching scholars who raise the basic question, "Are Wach's models of student and disciple adequate for the nineties?" Following an introduction by Frederick M. Denny, the contributions presented are: I. Are Wach's Models of Student and disciple Adequate for the Nineties?, by Margaret R. Miles, II. Response to Joachim Wach's "Master and Disciple: Two Religio-Sociological Studies": Buddhism, by Charles Hallisey and III. Wach and the Double Truth, by Earle H. Waugh.