Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning - Softcover

Smith, David I.; Smith, James K.A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802866859 ISBN 13: 9780802866851

Verlag: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011

Inhaltsangabe

Over the past twenty years there has been a ferment of reflection on the integration of faith and learning -- yet relatively little notice has been paid to the integration of faith and teaching in the Christian university. In Teaching and Christian Practices twelve university professors describe and reflect on their efforts to allow historic Christian practices to reshape and redirect their pedagogical strategies. Whether using spiritually formative reading to enhance a literature course, table fellowship to reinforce concepts in a pre-nursing nutrition course, or Christian hermeneutics to interpret data in an economics course, the authors present a practice of teaching and learning rooted in the rich tradition of Christian practices -- one that reconceives classrooms and laboratories as vital arenas for faith and spiritual growth.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

David I. Smith is director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and Director of Graduate Studies in Education at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Teaching and Christian Practices

Reshaping Faith and LearningBy David I. Smith James K. A. Smith

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Copyright © 2011 Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6685-1

Contents

FOREWORD Craig Dykstra and Dorothy C. Bass.................................................................................................................viiACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................................................................xiINTRODUCTION: Practices, Faith, and Pedagogy David I. Smith and James K. A. Smith..........................................................................1Pedagogical Rhythms: Practices and Reflections on Practice Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung........................................................................24Reading Practices and Christian Pedagogy: Enacting Charity with Texts David I. Smith.......................................................................43The Rough Trail to Authentic Pedagogy: Incorporating Hospitality, Fellowship, and Testimony into the Classroom Carolyne Call................................61Eat This Class: Breaking Bread in the Undergraduate Classroom Julie A. P. Walton and Matthew Walters.......................................................80From Curiosity to Studiousness: Catechizing the Appetite for Learning Paul J. Griffiths....................................................................102From Tourists to Pilgrims: Christian Practices and the First-Year Experience Ashley Woodiwiss..............................................................123Keeping Time in the Social Sciences: An Experiment with Fixed-Hour Prayer and the Liturgical Calendar James K. A. Smith....................................140How Christian Practices Help to Engage Students Morally and Spiritually: Testimony from a Western Civilization Course Glenn E. Sanders.....................157Thrill Rides and Labyrinths: The Pedagogical Logic of Freedom and Constraint Matthew Walhout...............................................................177Christian Practices and Technical Courses: Making Integral Connections Kurt C. Schaefer....................................................................194Recruiting Students' Imaginations: Prospects and Pitfalls of Practices David I. Smith......................................................................211CONTRIBUTORS................................................................................................................................................224

Chapter One

Pedagogical Rhythms: Practices and Reflections on Practice

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

Some Reflections on Why Practices Are Needed

Imagine that you died today. In the days that follow, your friends and family gather together to mourn you and remember you. Imagine what they would say about you and about your life. There would be things to celebrate, things to regret, things they would miss about you, and no doubt a few things they wouldn't! If you were to listen in on those imaginary conversations and capture them on paper—in other words, to write an honest testimonial of the person you were and the life you lived—how would that speech read? For the sake of this exercise, an honest word is better than a good word, if you have to choose.

Now imagine a second version of the speech. This time, think of the speech you wish someone could honestly have given at your funeral—including all the good things you wish were true of you, the way the first speech you wrote would have read had you become all that you wanted to be.

Why this imaginative exercise? Funerals are one of the few places we still reflect on and talk about a person's character—not just one's achievements or quirks, but the person one was and the stories that best revealed this and the qualities that marked the character of one's life. It's also one of the few times we take the time to reflect on our lives as a whole—to set aside the tyranny of the daily and the urgent and to measure our life in terms of "big picture" concerns. A funeral is an occasion to try to view the whole package, to think about how the parts of your character and your life fit together—what they added up to and what your life said about the kind of person you were.

In short, this eulogy-writing exercise is a reflective moment of self-examination and a memento mori all wrapped up in one. To put it another way, it's one example of a practice of reflecting. It presses the questions that are at the heart of a liberal arts education and a Christian life of discipleship: "Who am I? Is this who I want to be? What goods and virtues are expressed in the way I'm living? What is the human good, the best way to live? And how does my life measure up to that ideal?" The first speech tells us who we are now. The second speech articulates the calling, the mission, the task that still lies ahead: "What sort of person do I hope yet to become? What picture of a good human life should inform my future choices and commitments?"

I teach a philosophy seminar on the medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas at Calvin College. In it, we study Aquinas's writings on the virtues and vices. When my students do this eulogy exercise in class, I have them add a second step. Based on the speeches they wrote, I have them write down three character traits that they would like to get rid of (from the first speech) and three character traits that they want to cultivate (from the second speech). My students tend to begin this assignment hesitantly and with furrowed brows. Their lists of virtues often include invented words such as "forgivingness" and "lovingness," descriptive phrases such as "being more positive about myself" and "laughing more" and "being a better friend," as well as items that they're not sure count as virtues, such as "leadership," "assertiveness," and "creativity." When they write "strength" on their list, I ask them what that means. Perseverance—remembering that you can also persevere in sin? Or the motivation to endure even when it's difficult? Or the guts to withstand physical pain or exertion? Or the ability to stand up boldly for their beliefs? Or is it some combination of these? When I ask them, quite often they're not exactly sure what they meant. Likewise, several students might list "being true to themselves" but then disagree about whether this means being sincere even if you are bad, whether there might be differences between merely telling the truth and being honest or sincere, and whether contemporary "authenticity" has anything to do with, say, a Christian idea of faithfulness or moral integrity. Stumbling through this listing exercise after writing their initial speeches thus helps them feel the need for an education about the concepts and vocabulary necessary to do the next step of articulation and analysis.

I had this experience myself in graduate school. Challenged by the demands of a competitive academic program, I struggled with the usual insecurities—finding and securing a place in a new pecking order, fearing the shame that came with offering a naïve or uninformed answer aloud in class, trying to impress erudite and imposing professors who would eventually be helping or hindering my job prospects. My inner emotional landscape was defensive and fearful; my strategy in public was to avoid detection, lest I be exposed for the incompetent fool that I felt I was. (I found out...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0802866859
• ISBN 13: 9780802866851
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 237
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GS1 Slovakia; https://www.gs1sk.org; ; Nantersk� 23; Žilina; 010 08; Slowakei