Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning

by David I. Smith (editor), James K.A. Smith (Editor), Dorothy Bass (Foreword)

In Teaching and Christian Practices several university professors describe and reflect on their efforts to allow historic Christian practices to reshape and redirect their pedagogical strategies. Whether allowing spiritually formative reading to enhance a literature course, employing table fellowship and shared meals to reinforce concepts in a pre-nursing nutrition course, or using Christian hermeneutical practices to interpret data in an economics course, these teacher-authors envision ways of teaching and learning that are rooted in the rich tradition of Christian practices, as together they reconceive classrooms and laboratories as vital arenas for faith and spiritual growth.

Genres: Education, Theology, Teaching, Religion, Christian, Faith, Nonfiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2011

About the author

I started out as a secondary school foreign language teacher in England. I quickly became intrigued by the ways in which implicit beliefs and values shaped the materials and ways of teaching that I experienced in classrooms. That theme has become my career-long research project. Most of my books have something to do with how faith gets expressed in classrooms. I now direct a research institute focused on how Christian faith relates to education as well as being involved in teacher education at Calvin College as an education professor. I serve as senior editor of the International Journal of Christianity and Education, and travel widely to work with schools and universities on faculty development. I have also been involved in shaping some online curriculum projects at http://www.whatiflearning.com and http://www.teachfastly.com.

Reviews

[Nicholas Abraham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Regrettably, several of these essays are too obtuse to be helpful. There are a few that actually achieve productive thought about applying Christian practices to classrooms, but not many.

[Cameron Barham]

“If Christian higher education is going to take seriously its responsibility for education in virtue, then it also needs to attend to matters of practice and formation. On the other hand, we are convinced that implicit in the inherited practice of the Christian tradition is a kind of pedagogical wisdom on which we can draw for Christian teaching more broadly.”, p. 16-17

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most often, the integration of faith and learning in my experience has taken the form of a cognitive exercise asking how Christian doctrine relates to the questions and practices of a particular field of inquiry.

This volume, reflecting research funded by the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, pursues the question of whether it is possible to weave into educational pedagogy Christian practices congruent with course material that form in the participants virtues and outlooks reflecting a Christian perspective on the discipline in question. The faculty contributing to this volume spanned the spectrum from nutrition to physics to philosophy to economics. Practices included such things as sharing meals together (nutrition), using the labyrinth as a backdrop for the progression of topics in physics, to charitable reading in literature to biblical interpretive practices as a lens for the interpretation of econometric data.

One of the assumptions in all this is that we become what we practice. One challenge in this particular setting was creating sufficient opportunities for practice where the disciplines could work deeply into a person's life. When a form of examen was used in personal journalling, this can work. When mid-day prayers are incorporated into a class that only meets twice a week--this had less impact.

One of the striking results was that the practices changed the teachers as well as the students. Equally, there were numerous instances of students making connections between practices and course material--as well as many failures to draw the connection. One factor that bears more study is the influence of prior experience--how deeply embedded are these practices and an understanding of their significance in the lives of students?

I was reading this book while also reflecting on the significance of personal and communal disciplines of attentiveness to God and their shaping influence on the academic as well as spiritual formational experience of graduate students. Attentiveness to and humility before the biblical text, for example, seems connected to a similar attentiveness and humility before the object of one's study. All of this reinforced a deep and long-standing conviction that the love of God and the love of learning are deeply intertwined.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Paul Griffiths's essay "From Curiosity to Studiousness: Catechizing the Appetite for Learning" (pp. 102-22) as part of the Conyers Scholars group at Baylor University. We were scheduled to have dinner with Dr. Griffiths on Nov. 2, 2013, but I had to go to a funeral in South Carolina.

On Feb. 6, 2014, I read the Introduction ("Practices, Faith, and Pedagogy") by David I. Smith and James K.A. Smith, and David I. Smith's chapter titled "Reading Practices and Christian Pedagogy: Enacting Charity with Texts." Our Conyers group discussed these chapters at dinner.

I missed our March 6 meeting because of a conference, but we were assigned the essays by Rebecca DeYoung ("Pedagogical Rhythms: Practices and Reflections on Practice") and Carolyne Call ("The Rough Trail to Authentic Pedagogy: Incorporating Hospitality, Fellowship, and Testimony into the Classroom").

26-27:
39-40: singing old hymns

[Matthew Richey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent. It's difficult accessing books with multiple authors, not every chapter is of equal value or quality, but almost every chapter was thoughtful, helpful, insightful and inspiring. The chapters by David Smith, James K.A. Smith, Kurt Schaefer, and most of all Rebecca DeYoung were the highlights. The night I began reading this book I had an awful bout of insomnia as my imagination went into overdrive on how I can be a more "Christian" and "whole-personed" teacher. I was struck with a feeling of how far I fall short of what I can be, but empowered to imagine the potential richness of a Christian education. This book is, in a sense, not a finished project, but the beginning of an experiment and a conversation about what Christian conversation should look like. I will be returning to this over the summer as I think about the 2016-17 schoolyear with the intention to enter this project, and hopefully the conversation.

[Erin Oeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides some practical examples of ways to integrate faith into pedagogy. Instead of focusing on content, it looks at ways faculty live out their faith and use their faith in structuring their courses. It spurred interesting conversation and new brainstorming about my courses - how can I encourage reading with charity, how can I demonstrate hospitality to my students, how does my faith influence the way I go about teaching and about building relationships with students.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly philosophical read, geared for teachers at a post-secondary level. It deals with integrating Christian practices and rhythms into classroom activities. It encourages a focus on spirituality and faith and moral character formation rather than strict pedagogy and content.

[Kelly Sauskojus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super helpful, as I'm thinking about teaching next year. Particularly appreciated James K. A. Smith's intro, and David I Smith's chapter on teaching for re-reading thoughtfully.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a “book study” at work. I really enjoyed most of the essays presented and there are some great ideas for integrating Christian practices into teaching.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful approaches to Christian pedagogical methods. Naturally in an edited volume some chapters are stronger than others and that's certainly true here but each chapter has something useful in it. There is some repetition which becomes a little frustrating after a while but all in it's a very stimulating volume.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

David I. Smith and James K. A. Smith are two of my favorite Christian authors. Their work has encouraged and challenged me greatly in my practice and understanding of Christian education and engagement with culture.

[Anita Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful exploration of learning experience that is attuned to what really matters in a classroom. The authors call for congruence between aspiration and action. They are honest about the rigors that entails, and still invite us to imagine places of meaningful formation.

[Amy Bessin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many books with chapters written by different individuals, I enjoyed some parts of this book more than others. Definitely provided good food for thought for curriculum design.

[sch]

Aug 2021. Was given the chapter "Reading Practices and Christian Pedagogy" by a colleague. Finished, took me a while with the start of the year. This article is heavy on social-science jargon, but offers an intriguing alternative to literature class as usual (in this class a postwar German fiction and poetry survey). The instructor had a few clever ideas about fostering more attentive reading (rereading, journal entries, different lighting and furniture arrangement, etc.). Sounds like a memorable class.