INTEGRATION

PHILOSOPHY OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Christian education is unique in that it is the extension of the Church and her practices. As such, the Christian academic institution cannot understand herself or her mission divorced from the Church. The Church informs the aims, the means, and the telos ("end") of Christian education. In this way, the university is one avenue by which the Church participates in God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The Christian university, then, is an intentional community who pays attention and calls attention to God's presence both in the world at large but also in the practice of learning to love God and neighbor with our whole being, including our minds (Luke 10:27).

Unfortunately, Christian education is often construed as the place where students can either retreat from "worldly" education or as the place where students receive a "Christian worldview." As philosopher James K. A. Smith writes in Desiring the Kingdom, the role of a Christian university is not to "provide a 'safe' place for the dissemination of information that one can get at the public or state school down the street. Nor is it merely to provide a 'Christian perspective' on what the world thinks counts as knowledge in order to become successful and productive citizens of a disordered society. Rather, the Christian college’s mission is more radical than that: in some significant way, it involves the formation of disciples. In short, the Christian college is a formative institution that constitutes parts of the teaching mission of the church.” (34)

This "formation of disciples" includes much more than the presentation of "Christian" ideas and principles. We as humans are not just thinking creatures; we are embodied creatures. Following Jesus involves training our minds as well as our bodies and hearts. As a result, the goal of Christian education is not to learn how to think the "right things"; the goal of Christian education is formation into the likeness of Christ. This aligns with Wesleyan thought, which emphasizes the "experience" of faith (i.e., Christian practices) as a means by which we are shaped as disciples.

Knowledge in Christian education, then, is stewarded for the goal of acquiring wisdom. As Daniel O. Aleshire writes in Beyond Profession: The Next Future of Theological Education, "the goal of theological education should be the development of a wisdom of God and the ways of God, fashioned from intellectual, affective, and behavioral understanding and evidenced by spiritual and moral maturity, relational integrity, knowledge of the Scripture and tradition" (82). Personally, my study of the Old Testament has completely reframed the ways in which I now regard wisdom. I have come to understand the entire Old Testament as a wisdom book -- not just the books we categorize as part of the "wisdom tradition." When we understand that the Torah, for example, is based upon Israel's ancient Near Eastern understanding of non-legislative, communal discernment, the teachings in the Old Testament become an invitation for God's people to discern what God's character looks like in our cultural moment. The Old Testament is Israel's disciplined moral imagination, and as stewards of this tradition, we are invited to consider, ponder, and imagine alongside the Israelites.

Discerning wisdom, of course, is much more of a slower and challenging process than simply learning information. In our culture where information is expected to be immediate, skills are valued for their practicality, and distraction foils the slow practice of discernment, acquiring wisdom becomes a counter-cultural practice. Teaching wisdom invites students beyond their safe, binary thinking into the risky world of uncertainty. For this reason, Christian universities must be the context in which students can explore new ideas, be given permission to try and fail, and learn how to communicate and relate with others who have different convictions. This posture is what Shirley Mullen calls "ambassadors of the middle" in Claiming the Courageous Middle (65). She writes, "Ambassadors of the middle must be creative as well as courageous in knowing how to helpfully, winsomely, and compellingly invite individuals from both sides of any spectrum of opinion to confront their limitations of capacity and their bent hearts and to listen to each other and to learn from each other” (65). This middle position should not be confused as a posture of weakness or fearful compromise. In his idea of what he called the "via media," John Wesley advised his followers to thoughtfully engage with those who believed differently. He invited them to "hold fast that which you believe is most acceptable to God" while at the same time extending warm, Christian hospitality (see his sermon entitled “Catholic Spirit”).

FAITH CONTEXTUALIZATION

• All of my workshops invite laity to consider ways in which we can interpret and apply Scripture for our modern contexts. See Scholarship section, as well as this artifact.

• My chapter ("Psalm 13") in The Old Testament in 12 Verses closes with a lament prayer exercise for readers.

• Each section in my commentary (Genesis 12-50) includes a "From the Text" section, in which I applied the pericope from a Wesleyan perspective to our modern context.

• My preaching at Redemption Church and MNU involves teaching the congregation about a passage but also considering the ways in which God may be still speaking to us today. Here is one of my most recent teachings, in which I invited the congregation to reflect on the book of Job.

CURRICULAR CONTRIBUTIONS: FAITH INTEGRATION

Discovering the Old Testament

• • Small group discussion - includes questions not only about the content but also invites students to self-reflect and apply to their own lives

  • Personal Project - the final assignment asks students to develop a project that reflects their own thoughts and interests about the Old Testament. Students are tasked with presenting an Old Testament concept, story, or theological idea as an art piece, musical piece, discipline-specific paper, personal reflection, etc. I also give students the opportunity to propose an original idea outside of the suggestions I provide. See pictures below for examples.

  • I try to the best of my ability to create an environment where students of all faith traditions (or no faith traditions) are welcome. This is reflected in my syllabus statement (see statement in "Educational Philosophy" in Scholarship section) and the language I use. For example, I use the phrase "those who consider themselves followers of Christ" instead of "we" language that assumes we believe the same. I also use this phrase because it is sensitive that students may be on the journey of following Christ but do not know it yet (Wesley's "prevenient grace").

  • Since students are exploring and trying to determine how to interpret Scripture, I allow students to express a wide range of ideas. Ironically, the following student feedback was intended to be critique, but I have personally found it to be indicative that I might be on the right track in creating an inclusive environment:

"The teahing [sic] was very inclusive, but I feel like it was too inclusive. She broadend [sic] up the Bible allowing for more open thought than necessary and let people have their own outlandish opinions on what the Bible meant which i felt like twisted the meaning."

Upper-division Old Testament classes

• • Small group discussion - asks students to consider introspective questions about the content

  • Interpretive exercises - give students time to consider how the text might be speaking to our own contexts today

  • In Prophetic Literature, I begin each class inviting students to contemplate the words/art of a modern "prophetic voice" (see sample lesson below). We also use case studies (that I craft) from current news articles; students are invited to consider prophetic responses to current events.

  • In Pentateuch, I have a class session called "Leviticus For Today," where students design spiritual practices inspired by the temple rituals and guide the class through the formational experiences.

  • In Poetic and Wisdom Literature, I use a Psalm-centric liturgy from A New Liturgy to guide the students through a sample Psalm "service."

  • In several of my upper-division classes, I have invited local pastors to discuss with the students how they have been formed by the Old Testament and how they preach/teach from it.

Hebrew 

• • I occasionally discuss the theological thought concerning certain vocabulary words (For example, the Hebrew word "shema" means both "to hear" and "to obey." What does this tell us about how the Israelite people understood the connection between actually listening and obeying? How might we consider the connection in our own lives today?)

  • When we translate Genesis 22 from Hebrew, we also spend time discussing different ways to interpret the passage and how the translation of certain words can have an outcome theologically

Cohort

• • Each week, we practice spiritual formational exercises together. In particular, when I first introduce the practice of lectio divina, I invite students to place an academic reading of Scripture aside so as to listen to the Holy Spirit via the text.

  • Assignments for the class include weekly examens and monthly reflection papers. These practices invite students to consider the ways in which God is present through their everyday moments.

  • At the beginning of the semester, students create their own "rules of life" to structure sustainable rhythms. I developed a guide for this practice (below) and we revisit this practice and evaluate our rules throughout the semester.

Christian Theology and Worldview

• • I have chosen to use Tish Harrison Warren's book Liturgy of the Ordinary to emphasize the importance of practicing our theological belief. I also spend a class session discussing the importance of spiritual practices (see lesson below).

  • One assignment students submit regularly is a "Lived Theology" reflection (see artifact below). Students choose one practice to do 5 minutes a day from the list and then submit biweekly reflections on the practice and Warren's book.

  • On certain assignments, I've carefully considered the language so that it includes students who may not consider themselves part of the Christian faith. For example, a paper prompts students to "write what you consider to be Christianity’s most important theological ideas/beliefs." The "lived theology" assignments also uses inclusive language: "How is God present and how is he shaping you? OR How is this practice shaping you?"

Introduction to Ministry

• • While one of the functions of this class is to help students understand and discern their callings, the main emphasis of this class is how to be fully formed by the Spirit. God calls us primarily to God's self, and our role as ministers is to pay attention to God's presence in the world and participate in it. Because of this, we practice spiritual formation exercises together before each class session.

  • One of our sessions is a "Spiritual formation lab," in which I introduce students to several practices (silence, lectio divina, daily examens) that we do together.

PERSONAL PROJECTS FROM DISCOVERING THE OLD TESTAMENT

CURRICULAR CONTRIBUTIONS: INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT

• In fall 2024, I recommended several resources on different ways to understand how a biblical Adam and Eve can co-exist with evolution to Dr. Jill Speicher for her Engaging with Science class.

• In spring 2023, I partnered with Dr. Platter to co-lead a special topics class entitled, "Theology of Place." While we may be in the same department, theological studies and biblical studies are two different disciplines with different methodologies.

• In spring 2023, I advised two psychology students in my Historical Books class on how to adapt the final research paper so that it paired biblical studies with psychological studies.

• In April 2023, I was an online panel participant for the Celebration of Scholarship, “Identity Development Through Story.” This was an interdisciplinary panel, in which we explored how stories contribute to personal and communal identity development, especially in a spiritual/faith development context. I participated with three writers and/or literature professors.

• Upper-Division Old Testament classes

  • In Poetic and Wisdom Literature, we discuss how psychological studies inform interpretive approaches for the psalms of lament

  • In Prophetic Literature, we discuss how trauma theory in psychological studies can help our understanding of prophetic texts. For example, one theory is that the book of Jeremiah is arranged the way it is as a trauma response to the Babylonian exile.

• Discovering the Old Testament

  • I frequently utilize popular culture to illustrate certain concepts. For example, I use music videos from the rapper NF to illustrate the editorial process of the Old Testament.

  • When discussing Genesis 1-2, I explain the cosmological thought of ancient Near Eastern people. I explain that Genesis 1-2 reflects an ancient Near Eastern worldview and does not function as a scientific textbook. I then invite students to consider ways we can dialogue with science from a theological perspective.

• Christian Theology and Worldview (fall 2024)

  • I integrate several scientific concepts into Christian Theology and Worldview to help us in our discussions about God. Specifically, I inform the class that only 5% of the universe has been discovered and that much of the known universe (such as quantum physics) is mysterious and unpredictable. I also introduce "string theory" and explain that scientists know of at least 11 dimensions in the universe. If there is so much we do not know about the universe, how much more is there to discover about God? In another class session, I also briefly present on Einstein's theory of time relativity as a way by which to discuss God's experience of time as an "eternal now."

  • I frequently reference popular culture as a demonstration of "public theology." For example, I shared quotes that referenced God from Olympic 2024 athletes. I also created a game where students had guess whether a quote was said by Taylor Swift or C.S. Lewis.