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Servant Teaching: Practices for Renewing Christian Higher Education
In this wonderfully practical and deeply inspiring book, Christian college master teacher Quentin Schultze offers 30 short readings that reveal the heart of effective Christian higher education—what he calls "servant teaching" with faith, skill, and virtue. Each chapter provides a key to motivating students to learn with excellence, compassion, and delight. The book also serves as a journal for identifying your own teaching strengths and highlighting effective instructional practices which you can begin immediately.
132 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 24, 2023
The cover of this disarmingly simple little book belies the depth of wisdom contain in its pages. After telling the story of how no one would read the long chapters in his early draft (Schultze settled on 30 what I would call “power chapters”, numbering around three pages each), he makes a powerful case for the importance of teaching as a servant and fellow learner with his students. He notes how we can renew Christian higher education through the three themes presented throughout his book - faith, skill, and virtue. “We teach through faith. We teach by skill, We teach by virtue” (p. 21).
It’s difficult to select the best chapters, as they are all rich with insights, tempered with the genuine humility of a master teacher who is clearly still learning himself! His posture as a servant and a co-student with those under his tutelage is present on every page - sharing successes, failures, insights, and questions. Each chapter closes with an insightful question to drive the reader into taking the topic into the classroom. In addition, there is a myriad of quotes from diverse sources to drive home his points, including Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Bernard of Clairfaux, Soren Kierkegaard, St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, and the Apostle Paul, among others.
I am tempted to list all 30 chapters, but I will simply provide a small sample. Even the titles enable the reader to recognize the rich resource in this small, God-honoring tome.
Chapter 1 - Fill Your Heart with Gratitude
Chapter 5 - Respect Learners
Chapter 12 - Create Covenantal Syllabi
Chapter 17 - Laugh with Learners
Chapter 20 - Nurture Student Growth
Chapter 25 - Cultivate Civil Discourse
Chapter 30 - Conclude Doxologically
Schultze closes this extraordinary resource with a Sample Precourse Questionnaire that he employs to forge connection with his students even before the first day of class.
The essence of his teaching philosophy is offered at the end of Chapter 30 - “The last thing I say to my students is this: ‘I have loved teaching you. Each of you is a gift. Thank you’” (p. 147).
It’s difficult to select the best chapters, as they are all rich with insights, tempered with the genuine humility of a master teacher who is clearly still learning himself! His posture as a servant and a co-student with those under his tutelage is present on every page - sharing successes, failures, insights, and questions. Each chapter closes with an insightful question to drive the reader into taking the topic into the classroom. In addition, there is a myriad of quotes from diverse sources to drive home his points, including Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Bernard of Clairfaux, Soren Kierkegaard, St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, and the Apostle Paul, among others.
I am tempted to list all 30 chapters, but I will simply provide a small sample. Even the titles enable the reader to recognize the rich resource in this small, God-honoring tome.
Chapter 1 - Fill Your Heart with Gratitude
Chapter 5 - Respect Learners
Chapter 12 - Create Covenantal Syllabi
Chapter 17 - Laugh with Learners
Chapter 20 - Nurture Student Growth
Chapter 25 - Cultivate Civil Discourse
Chapter 30 - Conclude Doxologically
Schultze closes this extraordinary resource with a Sample Precourse Questionnaire that he employs to forge connection with his students even before the first day of class.
The essence of his teaching philosophy is offered at the end of Chapter 30 - “The last thing I say to my students is this: ‘I have loved teaching you. Each of you is a gift. Thank you’” (p. 147).
February 11, 2023
Servant Teaching--Christian Education
Servant Teaching captures the essence of the humanness of the soul for teachers who are not perfect but take the role of teaching and learning to heart to help make better students and disciples seeking to grow and in return give back to society everything they learned in the classroom. The chapters spoke directly to the heart which makes this a great read.
Servant Teaching captures the essence of the humanness of the soul for teachers who are not perfect but take the role of teaching and learning to heart to help make better students and disciples seeking to grow and in return give back to society everything they learned in the classroom. The chapters spoke directly to the heart which makes this a great read.
July 1, 2025
This book is actually a collection of short articles about ways the author has treated his job as a college teacher as a calling, and his classes as his congregation. It is inspiring and I am excited to incorporate/adapt some of his ideas in my classes beginning next month.
March 8, 2023
Fast reading. Very practical. Well-worth a faculty member’s time. It affirmed a lot of what I already do, gave me ideas of things to try, and gave me food for thought.
September 30, 2023
A simple reminder of how to teach with a servant heart.
December 9, 2023
Bite-sized encouragements based on Schultze's years of teaching. A terrific book to discuss as faculty.
February 27, 2024
A little uneven in quality, but many helpful portions. And they're all bite-sized.
April 16, 2024
Some chapters really helpful. Some not so much.
But I read it in a book group with colleagues, and it engendered really good conversations about pedagogy in our own context.
But I read it in a book group with colleagues, and it engendered really good conversations about pedagogy in our own context.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews