Tactical Teaching: Part 1—What are We Teaching When and How are We Teaching It? Posted on May 5, 2014 by David RhoadsCollege and graduate school teachers have an advanced degree in a specialized field, but they may not have had a course on teaching and only limited opportunities to be teaching assistants. Historically, the assumption of most graduate programs has been that they will teach you the subject matter but it will up to you to learn how to teach it on your own….
Sustainable Theological Education: Part 3—Tending the Soil and its Natural Assets Posted on April 21, 2014 by Jennifer ShepherdIn this three-part series of posts, I have used Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower, seed, and soil to suggest a two-stage model for pedagogical “soil” analysis in our classrooms so that we create sustainable theological education. When we help students recognize and discover the makeup of their personal interpretive soils we create sustainability by equipping students with the skills to continually reuse what they have learned to analyze, confirm, support, and uphold what they believe….
Sustainable Theological Education: Part 2—Stages Toward Pedagogical “Soil” Analysis Posted on March 31, 2014 by Jennifer ShepherdOver 500 years ago, Leonardo DaVinci quipped, “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.” Amazingly, it is still true today that we know less about the living ecosystem under our feet – the soil – than we do about the far side of the moon. Yet, every plant and animal on our planet depends on these living systems that provide many of the most fundamental functions needed for life. It is also true that people know very little about the foundations of their beliefs and ways of thinking.
Sustainable Theological Education: Part 1—Consider the Soil, a Living, Complex, Natural Resource Posted on March 5, 2014 by Jennifer ShepherdSustainable theological education considers the soil – thinks carefully about, bears in mind, pays attention to, and reflects upon the makeup of the soil so that the audience can recognize where the seed had landed, acknowledge how they have received the seed, and understand how the seed will respond to the soil in their life….
The Problem/Mystery of Preaching: Part 3—Postmodernism, Secularism, and Pluralism Posted on February 20, 2014 by David LoseThere are three dominant ways of describing the changes that have shaped and continue to influence our culture and world over the last half century: postmodernism, secularism, and pluralism. My guess is that we all have at least a passing familiarity with these terms and wouldn’t dispute that they are central elements of our current culture and world. But getting a handle on the challenges they present is another matter altogether. It’s one thing to say we live in a postmodern world, but it’s another to allow that knowledge to shape our preaching so as to respond to that world.