Teaching Critical Thinking and Praxis as Critical Inquiry ...... ii Theological Paul E. Capetz, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities Reenacting Ancient Pedagogy in the Classroom ...... iii Marjorie Lehman, Jewish Education Theological Seminary Forming a Critical Imagination .... iv Published by the American Academy of Religion Karen-Marie Yust, Union March 2008 Vol. 2, No. 1 Theological Seminary and www.aarweb.org Presbyterian School of Christian Education Critical Thinking and Prophetic Witness, Historically- Teaching Critical Thinking and Praxis Theologically Based ...... v Glen H. Stassen, Fuller Lawrence Golemon, The Alban Institute Theological Seminary Editor Social Theory as a Critical Resource ...... vi From the Editor’s Desk Paul Lakeland, Fairfield University Ethnography as Critical critical thinking in theological education. framework that he calls “incarnational trini - Theological Resource ...... vi First, critical thinking is done in relation to tarianism.” a horizon of interpretation (religious tradi - Mary McClintock Fulkerson, The next four essays explore how theological tion, sacred , or practice –context) that Duke Divinity School studies adapt discipline –based definitions of remains porous, changing, and adaptable. Contextualizing Womanist/ critical thinking. Lakeland explains how Second, critical thinking reframes linear social and critical theory reshape theology as Feminist Critical Thought views of time to bring past, present, and a reflection on praxis in a given context. and Praxis ...... vii future into new patterns of creativity. Third, Fulkerson discusses how the teaching of Rosetta E. Ross, Spelman College critical skepticism is accompanied by pas - ethnography reorients theological reflection sionate engagement with a tradition. In Critical Perspective in Biblical toward the contextual, local, and practical. other words, critical thinking is an essential Studies ...... viii Ross relates how womanist and feminist cri - component of a broader interpretive and Robert Coote, San Francisco tique helps deconstruct, broaden, and rein - ethical agenda in theological education. No Theological Seminary and the terpret existing theological practices and longer the “queen” of the sciences, theology Graduate Theological Union assumptions. And Coote employs communi - Larry Golemon is a Research Associate for has adapted to various roles in the academy: cations theory to describe “biblical criticism” Liturgical Theory as Critical the Alban Institute in Washington, D.C., from that of handmaiden to the transforma - as a public argument about its ambiguities Practice ...... ix and serves as coordinator for the Ecumenical tive potential in other disciplines, to that of and provisional meanings. Bruce T. Morrill, Boston College Project at Virginia Theological Seminary. a leader in the formation of personal and The Parish Context: A Critical He is a co-author of the Carnegie professional identity and ethics, to that of a The final four essays explore how critical Foundation’s study Educating , and siren who lures other discourses toward their thinking issues form and helps fund reli - Horizon for Teaching and is working on a cultural history of clergy inherent crisis, in the hope of metanoia. gious and professional practice. Morrill Learning Ethics ...... ix education in Catholic, Protestant, and addresses the normative, pastoral, and ethi - Cheryl J. Sanders, Howard Jewish traditions in the United States for In this second issue of Spotlight on cal implications of a performative approach University School of Divinity Oxford University Press. Contact: Theological Education , scholars from a range to teaching liturgical theology. Sanders talks [email protected] . of institutions and traditions share their own Critical Reflection and Praxis in about congregational life as a resource for frameworks and teaching strategies for fos - Developing Ministerial Leaders ...... x ministers to learn ethical reflection and dis - tering critical thinking. The authors repre - Emily Click, Harvard Divinity USED TO TEACH a course in critical cernment. Click discusses how theory and sent Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish tradi - School thinking at Dominican University in practice enter a mutually critical and recon - tions, and they teach in free-standing semi - northern California, where my students structive relationship through effective field New Wine in Old Vessels: I naries, rabbinical schools, university divinity were introduced to the basic tenets of logic education. Finally, Cohen explains how Enabling Students to Enter schools, and undergraduate departments. and rhetoric. I assumed that learning to map sacred texts must be engaged critically an Age-Old Conversation ...... xi Because theology is an advocacy –based, various truth claims, identify false argu - around their original context and their his - Norman J. Cohen, Hebrew Union practice –oriented discipline — much like ments, and marshal persuasive ones would tory of interpretation in order to be “recon - College-Jewish Institute gender or culture studies — and because it apply to any field of study or profession textualized” for one’s spiritual and profes - of Religion is often taught in professional contexts of these students entered. While I continue to sional life. forming religious leaders, we have invited believe that, in time I realized that most these authors to reflect on the use of critical I hope theological educators will find new The AAR Theological Education fields of study follow their own disciplinary thinking and praxis in their own teaching. conversation partners here around the shape Steering Committee (John J. logic of what constitutes “critical thinking.” and importance of critical thinking in their Thatamanil, Chair) sponsors Literary critics in the English department The first four essays explore critical thinking . scholarship of teaching, and I hope others in Spotlight on Theological Education had their own criteria, religious studies pro - as an interpretive practice aimed at recon - It appears in Religious Studies News the academy will come to appreciate the fessors in the humanities had another, and structing existing theological traditions. Each and focuses on issues of concern to diverse and complex role that critical think - practice –oriented fields like nursing still author argues that existing traditions must be theological education. ing takes on in theological studies. another. While many of these definitions analyzed and reconstructed against a horizon Editor converge around developing what Stephen of interpretation that is both vital and inte - Bibliography Lawrence Golemon Brookfield (1987) calls “reflective skepticism” grative. Capetz discusses the importance of The Alban Institute about inherited knowledge, how a discipline subjecting one’s own beliefs to a Socratic Brookfield, S. Developing Critical uses the critical –reflective moment varies examination in relation to the long history of Thinkers: Challenging Adults to Explore Spotlight on Theological Education is published by the widely. Is critique the scalpel for a thorough theological interpretation. Lehman examines Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting. American Academy of Religion deconstruction of inherited texts? Is it the how Talmudic dialectics generate a dialogical San Francisco: Jossey –Bass, 1987. prerequisite for a fresh reinterpretation and pedagogy around the social construction of 825 Houston Mill Road Foster, Charles, Lisa Dahill, Lawrence engagement with a tradition? Or, is it the knowledge. Yust describes the role of critical Suite 300 Golemon, and Barbara Wang Tolentino. Atlanta, GA 30329 basis of an informed intervention around an thinking in the formation of religious imagi - Educating Clergy: Teaching Practices and Visit www.aarweb.org ethical or practice situation? nation and engagement. And Stassen builds Pastoral Imagination . San Francisco: historical and ethical criteria into a theological In the Carnegie Foundation study Educating Jossey –Bass, 2006. Clergy (2006) , we identified several marks of Religious Studies News

Theology as Critical Inquiry

Paul E. Capetz, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities

point lies in the interpretation of a received than exegesis of texts and the endeavor to explain what Thomas Aquinas says about tradition, not in a purely rational effort to appreciate multiple perspectives. Students grace and merit. He makes many distinc - understand the nature of being. also have to learn how to analyze the tions that can easily baffle the uninitiated. Theologians thus spend a great deal of cogency of theological arguments. Some of When, however, the scholastic form of his their energies in the exegesis of and com - these arguments, of course, are strictly argument is clarified, and students learn mentary upon classical texts, beginning exegetical. If a theologian has defended an how to read an article of the Summa with the Bible and moving from there to argument by appealing to a particular exe - Theologiae , his ideas become really quite the various kinds of literature that consti - gesis of a biblical text, to what extent does simple to comprehend. So a lot of my tute the theological traditions of the this argument stand or fall upon the cor - teaching involves the attempt to show my . In one sense, then, introducing rectness of that exegesis? But there are other students that, in the final analysis, they, students to the study of theology requires arguments that are not so directly tied to too, can become good theologians if they that they learn not only the tools of proper exegesis. If a given theologian makes a are willing to put their minds to the task of exegesis but also how to reflect self – philosophical argument for the existence of thinking deeply about their own experi - critically upon what is involved in the (e.g., Anselm, Aquinas, Hartshorne), ences with the realities to which the words interpretation of any text (hermeneutics). how strong is this argument when mea - “grace” and “merit” point. Paul E. Capetz is Associate Professor of sured according to its own stated criteria of Consequently, there is a body of historical What encourages me the most in my teach - Historical Theology at United Theological reason and human experience? The fact knowledge that has to be mastered before ing is to observe students as they begin to Seminary of the Twin Cities. He was edu - that theologians have made claims about all one can truly be a theologian. For students realize not only how brilliant the great the - cated at U.C.L.A., Yale Divinity School, sorts of matters that can in principle be to immerse themselves in this history ologians of the past were but also how pro - and the University of Chicago Divinity tested by those who do not share the means that they must be willing to enter found and illuminating their ideas remain School. He has authored two books, Christian faith is an important thing to Christian Faith as Religion: A Study in into the debates about crucial issues of for interpreting human life. Some of my learn about theology. the of Calvin and Christian faith that are represented by students in this progressive seminary come Schleiermacher (University Press of major figures such as Athanasius and Arius, to their study of theology with a bias America) and God: A Brief History Cyril and Nestorius, Augustine and against the traditions of the church on (Fortress Press). He has also recently Pelagius, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaven- account of their patriarchal and homopho - co-edited a volume of essays by James M. ture, Luther and Erasmus, Calvin and bic character. This is understandable, but it Gustafson and is now working on a Servetus, as well as others who could be The subject matter is important to get students to see past translation of essays by Ernst Troeltsch. named. Many of these debates had to do these blind spots in the theological tradi - Contact: [email protected] . of theology concerns with alternative ways to understand the ordinary human life tions for the sake of grasping what makes Bible. Gerhard Ebeling was surely right to “ them worth studying even today. Two quo - observe that “the history of the church is and experience in the tations are given at the top of my syllabus the history of its interpretation of scrip - for the introductory course I teach in the STUDENT OF Friedrich ture.” But it is also true that the history of world, including history of theology. The first is from Schleiermacher, the pivotal figure the interpretation of scripture has been the Jaroslav Pelikan: “Tradition is the living in the development of liberal how persons evaluate A major source of conflict in Christian theol - faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead Protestantism in the nineteenth century, ogy. and make sense of faith of the living.” This apt characteriza - once characterized his teacher’s pedagogical their lives. tion indicates that I don’t consider the tra - style by invoking the memory of the great In order for students to appreciate the full dition to be the property of traditionalists dialectician who gave to the Western tradi - range of these conflicts of interpretation, whose only desire is a repristination of the tion of philosophy its decisive impetus: they have to be willing to set aside their past. The other quotation, from my “Schleiermacher taught theology the way own preconceived notions for the sake of favorite theologian John Calvin, clearly Socrates would have done it had he been a trying to understand how persons who points to the revisionary nature of a serious Christian.” This sentence captures what is lived in very different times and places for - theological grappling with the past: “Our involved in both good teaching and good mulated and answered the major questions ” Augustine’s interpretations of human constant endeavor, day and night, is not theology. Like philosophy, theology is a of theology. To facilitate such learning I, nature, for example, including his insis - just to transmit the tradition faithfully, but critical inquiry that demands of students too, have to be willing to teach whatever tence that both reason and will are deter - also to put it in the form we think will conceptual precision in the formulation of texts and figures we are studying with as mined by what the heart loves, are subject prove best.” In every generation, responsi - questions and answers, as well as the will - much impartiality and objectivity as possi - to testing by other disciplines such as biol - ble theology is engaged in a critical sifting ingness to have one’s questions and answers ble. I do my best, therefore, to present each ogy and psychology. The fact that of what has been received from the past for challenged by the rigors of conversation figure or idea with as much enthusiasm Augustine can appeal to some relatively the sake of the present and the future. and debate. and passion as I can, which can initially common observations about human behav - give students the misleading impression I love teaching. I love theology. I love Not all seminarians are pleased to learn this ior indicates that theology is about more that I agree with the viewpoint I happen to teaching theology because it is important about theology upon entering my class - than simply exegesis and hermeneutics. It be interpreting on that occasion. At the and, believe it or not, it is also fun. room. For some of them, theology is solely also brings into play convictions about the end of a two-semester introduction to the an exercise in what one already believes to nature of the human person as well as the entire history of Christian theology, one be true. “Faith,” according to this view, nature of the world in which human per - student came up to me and explained, precludes the possibility of genuine critical sons exercise their capacities and confront “During the first semester I thought you questioning since such challenges to the their limitations. This becomes even more were teaching us the theology you person - church’s doctrines signal a lack of faith and, apparent when theologians address ethical ally believe in because you presented each hence, are destructive of faith. I remember questions. theologian’s ideas with such enthusiasm one angry student upbraiding me, “This is and respect, but as the year progressed I Students are sometimes intimidated, initial - supposed to be a theology course, not a realized that you can’t possibly agree with ly at least, by the technical vocabulary of philosophy course.” For others, religious everyone we read since they disagreed with theology, including the many terms and commitments cannot be intellectually one another.” In response to her comment, phrases that come from foreign languages. I debated since they express the subjective I said, “You correctly understood the pur - am of the opinion that theology is not an “spiritual journey” of individuals. Respect pose of the course.” Critical thinking arcane discipline, requiring highly special - for persons in their individuality requires requires the ability to see things from ized expertise such as one would need in tolerance, not debate. Another student another person’s perspective and a willing - order to study physics. This is because the once sincerely told me, “You are trying to ness to entertain all the possible sides of an subject matter of theology concerns ordi - teach us how to argue, but I’m a peacemak - argument. For this reason, I only rarely dis - nary human life and experience in the er, not a fighter.” The two postures I’ve close my own theological commitments world, including how persons evaluate and identified come from opposite ends of the when teaching theology so as not to make make sense of their lives. I try to make as theological spectrum, but they share a disciples of students. I want to teach stu - many connections between theological con - common anti –intellectualism that has to be dents how to think theologically, not what cepts and personal examples from my expe - overcome if students are really to learn to think. rience or those of others so as to illuminate what theology is. what it is that the theologians are talking Understanding texts and figures from the To be sure, there are some differences about in their technical language. As I past, however, is just the beginning of the between theology and philosophy that can - write these words, the task of next week’s theological enterprise. Theology is more not be overlooked. Theology’s starting lecture is weighing on my mind: how to ii • March 2008 RSN SPOTLIGHT ON THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

Reenacting Ancient Pedagogy in the Classroom Marjorie Lehman, Jewish Theological Seminary could remember studying that was similar to gathers around a subject in a complex and dia - teach coheres with the culture in which I teach it. They recognized that its unusual character logical manner. Sociocognitive psychologists, it at the Jewish Theological Seminary. But this was born from the distinct style of dialogue including Lev Vygotsky and Irving Sigel, have type of Talmudic pedagogy has also forced me utilized by its redactors to weave together an noted that while knowledge is developed indi - to look beyond the idea that teaching is about array of disparate sources from different time vidually, most of what we learn is achieved the construction of a neat cognitive scaffolding. periods. These redactors created a text in communally, within patterns of relationships. Without sacrificing rigor in the name of “class - which voices of different generations were pre - Knowledge is not merely transmitted from one room conversation” I have come to realize that sented as communicating with one another. individual to another, that is, from teacher to there is a redeeming value in the confusion that The students also acknowledged that in the student. Rather, it emerges from a shared inter - ensues when a group of students try to help Bavli positions were challenged and under - personal engagement around jointly under - one another make sense of an idea. The joint mined on a consistent basis; strings of attacks stood problems. Cognitive development effort required transforms them into an active and counterattacks were the building blocks of depends upon interactive processes (Hausfather community of learners where I become part of each Talmudic passage and they a great 1996: Kozulin 1998; Sigel 1993; Sigel and the circle that they helped me to construct. Marjorie Lehman is Assistant Professor of deal of instability to the individual points of Kelly 1988; Wertsch 1985). The semioticians They confirm the benefits of an ancient peda - Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish view proposed throughout its pages. Yu. M. Lotman and Mikhail Bakhtin, who gogy that, because of its interactive nature, has Theological Seminary. Her scholarly interests Moreover, beyond the sheer dialogical nature posit that every text possesses a “dialogic func - the ability to take me and them by surprise at are focused on the Ein Yaakov , an early six - of the Bavli they also noted how common it tion,” treat all texts as contributions to a dia - any moment with an array of existential appli - teenth-century collection of Talmudic was to find within its argumentative frame - logue that continuously invites further response cations and interpretive illuminations. Aggadah, and she is presently engaged in work ambiguous, tangential, and elliptical and, therefore, as “members” (so to speak) of completing a book about the contributions of statements that disrupted the linear develop - the learning community (Lotman 1988; Katz Bibliography its anthologizer, Jacob ibn Habib. Lehman is ment they expected to see. Students then 2006; Kress and Lehman 2003; Wertsch and Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks. “Art, Argument, known for continuous self –reflection and noted how surprising it was for a seminal reli - Smolka 1993). In other words, the text and the and Ambiguity in the Talmud: Conflicting writing about pedagogy. Her article “For the gious text to exhibit such volatility instead of a individual are seen by them as existing in a Conceptions of the Evil Impulse in bSuk Love of Talmud: Reflections on the Study of well –defined religious vision. Indeed, their relationship with the same cognitive develop - 51b –52a.” Hebrew Union College Annual 73 Bava Metzia, Perek 2 ” appeared in the frustrations began with the text itself. ment sequelae as those of relationships among (2002): 97 –132. Journal of Jewish Education (2002). “The people. No doubt, the observations of these What I wanted my students to recognize was Babylonian Talmud in Cognitive Perspective: scholars only heighten the significance of the Dewey, John. Philosophy of Education . that the Bavli proposed a type of pedagogy Reflections on the Nature of the Bavli and Its contributions made by the redactors of the Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, 1971. within its passages that demanded analytic Pedagogical Implications” appeared in the Talmud over fifteen hundred years ago to our thought at a most intense and “laser –sharp” Foster, Charles, Lisa Dahill, Lawrence Journal of Jewish Education (2003). sense of what qualifies as good teaching and pitch. There was a consistent attempt on the Golemon, and Barbara Wang Tolentino. Lehman has also done research on the study what good teaching accomplishes. Once the part of the redactors of the Bavli not only to Educating Clergy: Teaching Practices and of women and festival observance in the attainment of knowledge becomes a social pro - model a type of questioning that would con - Pastoral Imagination . San Francisco: Jossey- Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim. A cess, as the rabbis initially proposed, it never sume and deconstruct the objects of its discus - Bass, 2006. preliminary article appeared in Studies in becomes something absolute or universal sions, but that would also provoke continuous Jewish Civilization 14: Women and (Foster, et. al., 2006, 78). Rather, it evolves Hausfather, Samuel J. “Vygotsky and questioning amongst those who studied its Judaism (Creighton University Press, 2003) over time in a continuous and multidirectional Schooling: Creating a Social Context for contents. Just as the Bavli continuously talked and is titled “Women and Passover fashion. Learning.” Action in Teacher Education 18 back to itself, its readers were expected to do Observance: Reconsidering Gender in the (1996): 1 –10. the same. They were to be in dialogue with a It is also the case that a dialogical style of teach - Study of Rabbinic Texts.” A second article, text that was already in dialogue with itself ing invites diversity, creates conflict, promotes Katz, Claire Elise. “‘The Presence of Other Is “The Gendered Rhetoric of the Sukkah,” and engage each other regarding its meaning disorder, and embraces ambiguity within the a Presence that Teaches’: Levinas Pragmatism, appeared in Jewish Quarterly Review both inside the classroom as well as outside classroom setting. A teacher can be contradict - and Pedagogy.” Journal of Jewish Thought and (Summer 2006). An examination of the the classroom walls when they each prepared ed, multiple interpretations can co –exist, and Philosophy 14 (2006): 95. use of gender theory as a pedagogical tool in in a traditional study pair called a havruta . I there can, at times, be more confusion than the classroom, titled “Rediscovering ‘Women’ Kozulin, Alex. Psychological Tools: A reminded the students that the Bavli has set in clarity, just as my student felt during the first in the Talmudic Corpus: The Impact of Sociocultural Approach to Education. motion an ideology of hermeneutic debate few weeks of our class. However, the reality is Gender Studies on the Teaching of Talmudic Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998. that has organized and informed the daily life far different. Students eventually learn that the Literature,” appeared in the Journal of of the Jewish community for centuries (Steiner subject of our discussion is not confined by Kress, Jeffrey, and Marjorie Lehman. “The Jewish Education (2006). Contact: 1985). Therefore, I asked my students, “Why what the teacher has to say about it (Palmer Babylonian Talmud in Cognitive Perspective: [email protected] . shouldn’t this type of analytical thought, 2007, 120). Within this context they develop Reflections on the Nature of the Bavli and Its revolving as it does around the model of com - the confidence to assert their own opinions. Pedagogical Implications.” Journal of Jewish munal debate, also inform your preparation They learn to listen and to accept the ideas of Education 69, vol. II (2003): 58 –79. FIRST –YEAR rabbinical student at and our classroom framework? If a dialogic others because they have watched their teacher the Jewish Theological Seminary once Lotman, Yu M. “Text within a Text.” Soviet interpretive practice is historically at the heart reframe her own observations based on their approached me in order to critique Psychology 26 (1988b): 32 –51. A of Jewish identity, why not swim with the tide input. The notion of an expert and an amateur my teaching methods. He wanted to know rather than against it by adopting pedagogical sitting across from one another disintegrates. Palmer, Parker J. The Courage to Teach . San why I allowed the reactions of the students to practices that are consonant with what it rep - Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. predominate in class discussions. He preferred But more important is the fact that ambigu - resents? Why shouldn’t teacher and student to hear my reactions to the text as the teach - ous texts and diverse interpretations, while dis - Sigel, Irving E. “The Centrality of a Distancing enter such a dialogue as participants in a pro - er/expert and not those of his amateur class - orienting, sharpen the interpretive sensibilities Model for the Development of cess that is as ancient as the Talmud itself?” mates. “We could be moving faster through of the students. Elizabeth Shanks Alexander Representational Competence.” In The the material,” he argued, “if only you lectured My decision to inscribe Talmudic dialectic into (2002) has argued in her comments on bSuk Development and Meaning of Psychological more.” It became clear to me that listening to my pedagogic practice has been driven by 51b –52a that the ambiguity characteristic of Distance , edited by Rodney R. Cocking and K. his classmates engaged in a debate about a more than a desire for students to find a way to the literary art of the Bavli intentionally cre - Ann Renninger. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1993. text’s meaning thwarted his ability to emerge integrate what they have learned with their ates dramatic tension on the part of its readers Sigel, Irving E., and Todd D. Kelly. “A with the interpretation at the end of a class own identities as Jews within the framework of heightening their curiosity and prompting Cognitive Developmental Approach to session and made him struggle too much in their seminary education. To be sure, my own them to engage the text more deeply. The Questioning.” In Questioning and Discussion: his search for clarity. No doubt, our classroom successes in the classroom support the observa - same occurs in the classroom when one stu - A Multidisciplinary Study , edited by J. T. dialogues left him frustrated. In response to tions of a host of contemporary educational dent’s question complicates rather than clari - Dillon. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1988. his question I asked him to think about the theorists, sociocognitive psychologists, philoso - fies an observation made by another. Such dis - nature of the texts that he was required to pre - phers, and semioticians who have argued that crepancies provoke more questions and more Steiner, George. “Our Homeland, the Text.” pare each week from the Babylonian Talmud there is a strong relationship between the social discussion. And whether some conclusion is Salmagundi 66 (1985): 7. (Bavli ). I then informed him that I would aspect of education and the production of actually reached or several acceptable answers Wertsch, James A., Vygotsky and the Social address his concerns within the classroom as I knowledge. For example, John Dewey (1971) are put forth by the students the twists and Formation of the Mind . Cambridge: Harvard assumed he was not the only entering student underscored that what makes education intrin - turns in the discussion reflect the difficulty we University Press, 1985. uncomfortable with my pedagogical approach. sically moral is its social dimension. For all face in trying to conceptualize vast ideas Dewey, the classroom was a community of that are often at the root of theological study. Wertsch, James A., and Ana Luiza B. When I opened up conversation in class the inquiry; the social interactions that were natu - Smolka. “Continuing the Dialogue: next day on the character of the Bavli, my stu - Indeed, the Bavli ’s text is uniquely structured ral to the school environment were necessary Vygotsky, Bakhtin, and Lotman.” In dents articulated their impression of it as a in a way that reflects a commitment to the to the educational process. Parker Palmer Charting the Agenda: Educational Activity unique document unlike any literary work interpersonal construction of knowledge. Its (2007) has argued that our knowledge of the after Vygotsky , edited by Harry Daniels. produced during its time or thereafter. pedagogy makes me the fortunate recipient of world requires an interactive community that London: Routledge, 1993. Certainly, there was no document the students a teaching task where the nature of what I

March 2008 RSN • iii Religious Studies News

Forming a Critical Imagination Karen-Marie Yust, Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education

between their work in the classroom and their and their spiritual lives precisely because they What does it mean to speak of theological ministries in congregations and communities. equate work in an academic program almost education as a spiritual discipline? They con - What theological education needs is a con - exclusively with critical thinking and personal clude their discussion and the lectio process cept and practice of “critical imagination” that spirituality with religious imagination. Even with prayer for one another as they seek to draws the primary approaches of the system - those practical theology courses that the live hospitably in a period of life dedicated to atic and practical arenas into conversation. academy equates more closely with religious study and preparation for religious leadership. Without such conversation, theological edu - imagination may appear to students as pri - I wish I could report that every student who cators and students will continue to struggle marily theoretical disciplines when contrasted spends this time pondering theological educa - with the best construction of relationships with the presumed freedom and creativity of tion as a spiritual discipline becomes eager to between biblical exegesis and sermon illustra - personal prayer. continue the process of forming a critical tions, cultural criticism and educational In my own teaching, I have decided to imagination, but the fruits of this work are events, eschatology and pastoral visitation, address this false division directly as a subject mixed. For some students, the idea and prac - and historic creeds and liturgical practices. for student exploration. A required course in tice of interweaving critical thinking and reli - Karen-Marie Yust teaches Christian John Eusden and John Westerhoff, in Sensing Christian spirituality challenges students to gious imagination offer an opportunity to education at Union Theological Beauty: Aesthetics, the Human Spirit, and the explore the idea and experience of theological pull disparate aspects of their lives together Seminary/PSCE in Richmond, Virginia. Church (1998) , write: education as a spiritual practice, rather than as more effectively than they have in the past. Yust’s work focuses on the spiritual the antithesis of spirituality. Students read an They begin to dwell in seminary classrooms All learning depends on the ability to image, formation of persons across the life span essay on Reformed spirituality, which highly with their eyes and ears more open to the to picture both accurately and imaginatively. and in a variety of settings. Her major commends the spiritual practice of study. interplay between analytic theological exercis - We can deceive ourselves if we do not image publications include Attentive to God , They also read two essays related to the prac - es and playful theological experimentation. If accurately the way things appear, but we also which proposes an alternative strategy for tice of hospitality, in which themes of “prepa - they find few opportunities in their formal adult faith formation and leadership need to be able to perceive what is not visible ration” and “openness to the stranger” are coursework for such dialogue, often they development; Real Kids, Real Faith , which — to vision, to see, to picture with the imag - prominent. Throughout the week of our develop study and prayer habits that compen - opens a dialogue with parents about ination. All learning and growth depend on exploration, they engage in intentional acts of sate for the missing elements. They may insti - spirituality in the home; and an edited vol - the combination of these abilities. . . . (83) ume, Nurturing Child and Adolescent hospitality to a variety of “others,” including tute a regular practice of lectio with texts the strangers who author their textbooks and assigned for biblical exegesis or sing and pray Spirituality: Perspectives from the Obtaining an accurate picture of a tradition whose ideas they may fear. During a plenary their way through elements of a as World’s Religions , which invites interreli - and the cultural contexts in which it has been session, we practice lectio divina (holy read - they design an assigned service. They gious discourse on faith formation from and continues to be lived out is a prime task ing) with a set of critical texts: a comment by may wrestle cognitively with a class lecture on birth to age 20. Her latest book, Taught by for critical thinking. Learning to perceive that T. Hartley Hall on learning as a means of the doctrine of revelation and then sit in God (with Ron Anderson), explores the which is as yet a dim reflection in the mirror responsible discipleship; a reflection by silence before God with mind empty and relationship between transformational of faith is an obvious task for religious imagi - learning theories and classical spiritual Simone Weil on the usefulness of school exer - open to revelation. Each of these approaches nation. But what if we approached both of practices. She is ordained with dual stand - cises for cultivating attentiveness in prayer; an cultivates a critical imagination through tan - these exercises with a pair of theological bifo - ing in the UCC and Disciples traditions. observation by Douglas Steere on the signifi - dem attention to critical thinking and reli - cals on, engaging in a critical reading of both Contact: [email protected] . cance of sustained attention; and a well- gious imagination. traditional texts and visionary images and also known excerpt from Karl Barth’s Evangelical casting our eyes upward to catch a glimpse of For other students, the disparity they perceive Theology (1983) , in which he declares, the undocumented aspects of history, the pas - between the affective and intellectual aspects HE LANGUAGES of critical think - “Prayer without study would be empty. Study sion of a revered theologian, or the ambiguity of academic study and of spiritual experience ing and religious imagination run without prayer would be blind” (171). of a familiar sacred text? That would be the is so great that the idea of theological educa - through various literatures of theo - T work of critical imagination. tion as a spiritual discipline is at best an unre - logical education. Often, critical thinking alistic ideal and at worst an attempt to hood - is associated with fields traditionally iden - The authors of Educating Clergy (Foster, et. wink them into appreciating the very activi - tified with theoretical analysis: biblical al., 2006) took several steps in this direction Seminarians frequently ties that threaten their faith. As one student studies, systematic theology, ethics, and when they identified four pedagogies (inter - remarked, “It sounds good in theory, but history. We view the tasks of exegesis, the - pretation, formation, contextualization, and struggle to discern a that’s not my experience of seminary!” Some ological debate, cultural critique, values assess - performance) involved in the theological edu - meaningful connection “ skeptics can imagine limited interplay ment, and historical interpretation as primari - cation of religious leaders. One might be between critical thinking and religious imagi - ly rational operations, a parsing of concepts tempted, based on colloquial definitions, to between their nation in ministry classes, but they would and their logical implications for religious categorize the pedagogies of interpretation theological studies and prefer that instructors spend more time on communities. We presuppose that certain and contextualization as essentially critical spiritual nurture and ministry skills and less intellectual traits, such as an ability to clearly thinking approaches and those of formation their spiritual lives time on analysis of arguments and ideas. and precisely define and defend one’s posi - and performance as prime venues for religious precisely because they These are the students who most need envi - tion, underlie work in these areas. Critical imagination. However, the case studies identi - equate work in an ronments with strong orientations toward thinking is a guard against a religious life and fied by the authors defy neat categories. The forming a critical imagination, for they can - leadership based on unfounded, untested, and practices of a biblical scholar as well as two academic program not create such spaces alone. As theological blatantly biased ideas. It requires seminarians practical theologians exemplify pedagogies of almost exclusively educators rethink traditional divisions of ped - to pause, analyze, and evaluate their tradition formation. A homiletics professor stands agogy and academic identity, we redefine the - and its claims. beside professors of Talmudic studies and with critical thinking ological education for students suspicious of moral theology in the discussion of pedago - The language of religious imagination appears and personal critical thinking and reinforce the efforts of gies of interpretation. A church historian and most frequently within the disciplines associ - students engaged in theological education as a a liturgist provide cases for reflection on peda - spirituality ated with practical theology. The experiential spiritual discipline, cultivating both hearts gogies of performance. The examples related orientation of coursework in homiletics, pas - with religious and minds for religious leadership. to pedagogies of contextualization fall only on toral care, religious education, and liturgical one side of the theoretical –practical divide, imagination. studies often encourages creativity, intuitive Bibliography and two of those three cases come from the connections, and effective engagement in the field of ethics, which frequently crosses over Barth, Karl. Evangelical Theology: An practice of ministry. We presume that these from theory into practice. The cases explored Introduction . Translated by Grover Foley. tasks require an unbridled mind that bypasses In addition to listening for the text that in Educating Clergy (Foster, et. al., 2006) , Eerdmans, William B. Publishing analytic categories in order to attune the heart piques their imagination in the first move - then, strongly suggest the possibility of teach - Company, 1983. to the needs of those one serves. The fruits of ments of lectio , students reflect communally ing practices in all theological disciplines that ” religious imagination are “vision” and “inspi - on four questions in relation to the particular Eusden, John Dykstra, and John transgress the stereotypical boundaries of criti - ration,” which serve as guards against a reduc - text that chose them and some other mem - Westerhoff. Sensing Beauty: Aesthetics, the cal thinking and religious imagination. tion of religious life and leadership to confor - bers of the class: 1) What does prayer have to Human Spirit, and the Church. Pilgrim mity with historic ideals and patterns. However, an instructor’s decision to cultivate do with our intellectual life? 2) How might Press, 1998. critical imagination by strategies that integrate the character of attention given to studies Critical thinking and religious imagination Foster, Charles, Lisa Dahill, Lawrence critical thinking skills and imaginative exercis - relate to the character of attention to God in both belong in theological education. Yet our Golemon, and Barbara Wang Tolentino. es still leaves the matter of students’ openness prayer? 3) How might your reading of class bifurcated assignment of them to particular Educating Clergy: Teaching Practices and to this approach undetermined. Seminarians texts in theology, Bible, history, and/or ethics areas of study deepens the gulf between the Pastoral Imagination . San Francisco: frequently struggle to discern a meaningful invite you to pose new questions to God or so –called systematic and practical fields and Jossey –Bass, 2006. connection between their theological studies move in sympathetic response to God? 4) exacerbates the gap seminarians experience iv • March 2008 RSN SPOTLIGHT ON THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION Critical Thinking and Prophetic Witness, Historically – Theologically Based Glen H. Stassen, Fuller Theological Seminary Southern Baptist Clarence Jordan, and more recently John By contrast, the German churches that succumbed to Hitler’s Perkins (2005). pressures had previously rejected human rights and the democra - cy of the Weimar Republic as in a sphere outside Christian con - Glen Stassen is Lewis Johannes Hamel, Albrecht Schönherr, and others came through cern, and had adopted a pseudo –Lutheran two –realm dualism. B. Smedes Professor of during the Revolution of the Candles that toppled East German Similarly, during slavery times many of my fellow Baptists, Christian Ethics at dictator Eric Honecker, and the Wall, completely nonviolently. whose tradition had been Calvinism with Anabaptist influence, Fuller Theological The leaders of that movement were disciples of Bonhoeffer and with the sovereignty of God over all of life, adopted a pseudo- Seminary in Pasadena, Barth. Similarly, Dorothy Day, Muriel Lester, Ronald Sider, and Lutheran dualism, declaring that Galatians 3:28 (“There is no where he won the All Jim Wallis have passed the test in the face of ideologies that sup - longer slave or free, but all are one in Christ”) deals only with Seminary Council port economic injustice. Faculty Award for spiritual issues, and does not apply to slavery. Outstanding I am struck that those who passed these historical tests had the The emphasis on a holistic ethic in which the Lordship of Christ Community Service to three themes in their faith that I call “incarnational trinitarian - applies to all of life runs through those who stood the historical Students. He is author ism” (Stassen, Yeager, and Yoder 1996). of numerous publications, including Living the Sermon test. For example, Martin Luther King’s faith grew from a per - on the Mount (Jossey –Bass, 2006) and Kingdom Ethics: Three caveats: ception of a passive, individualistic to Jesus’s way in nonvio - lent direct action, as can be seen with King’s stance on economic Following Jesus in Contemporary Context , with David 1) “ Incarnational trinitarianism” is not merely an affirmation of justice, and illustrated in his Riverside Church sermon opposing Gushee (InterVarsity, 2003), which won the the doctrine of the . Many affirm that doctrine, but fail the Vietnam War. Today Award for Best Book of 2004 in Theology or Ethics. the test of history. Contact: [email protected] . Jeff Stout and Cornel West accept the argument of Stanley 2) H. Richard Niebuhr experienced a major problem in his the - Hauerwas and Alasdair MacIntyre that we need to work in a tra - ology in the 1950s; his writing then lacked a crucial dimension dition, but argue for a democratic tradition — with contribu - N OUR TIME of pluralistic encounter with multiple ideolo - of incarnational trinitarianism, and his prophetic edge weakened tions from philosophical pragmatism or Socratic self-questioning. gies and , people search for what Bonhoeffer called strikingly — but temporarily (Stassen, Yeager, and Yoder 1996). I stand with West as he adds African –American tradition and the ground to stand on. Fearing we are losing our grounding leads I 3) In Righteous Gentiles , Gushee concludes that social influences contribution of the Free –church Puritans to democratic tradi - some to reactionary authoritarianism, with its militarism and and personal propensities are not a sufficient explanation; we tion. These fit the Barmen –like tradition that has proved itself in nationalism, that my ancestors left pre –fascist Germany to get need attention to the theological-ethical content of their faith to the laboratory of history. In my courses, I diagram incarnational away from, and that we see now in the religious right, and in al understand how these heroes of the faith came through. My own trinitarianism (not all of which I can explain in this short space): Qaeda. We need to help students find ground to stand on with study of the other test periods leads me to concur. normative richness, but without being authoritarian. Holistic sovereignty of God throughout all of life, Though I was influenced from the start by H. Richard Niebuhr’s Incarnational Trinitarianism correcting Platonic –idealistic private –public dualisms. wrestle with historical relativism and so was a postmodernist Churches as multilingual witness –mission. before the term was invented, criticizing the Enlightenment’s In my course on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theological ethics, we “universalistic” rationalism from my dissertation on, my identifi - contrast Martin Doblemeier’s film, Dietrich Bonhoeffer , with cation with Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church Struggle “Theologians under Hitler,” (available from Steven D. Martin at gives me the willies when I see some doing their ethics in pure [email protected] ). Then students perform a readers’ the - reaction against the Enlightenment — as pre –fascist philoso - ater I wrote, asking “Why did Bonhoeffer stand up, when others Incarnational phers in Germany did (Stern 1974). In reaction they threw out ducked their responsibility?” Trinitarianism contributions of free –church Puritanism — the right to religious The Incarnate Jesus Concretely Interpreted : Bonhoeffer had liberty, human rights, and democracy — because the strong and specific norms from the incarnate Jesus in the early Enlightenment later affirmed them. They lusted for homoge - days when he made the crucial decision to oppose Hitler. He Independence of the Holy Spirit, God Revealed neous community — which requires authoritarianism to from all powers & authorities. incarnationally, thickly, said the converted him from being mere - maintain. Christlike transforming power. historically –realistically, ly a theologian to being a Christian, and is the only ground Holistic doctrine of sin; in Jesus of Nazareth. Though my loyalties and experiences make me an opponent of strong enough to stand on against Hitler. In Discipleship , he Checks & balances The reign of God fulfills authoritarianism and racism deep, deep down, I do not want interprets the Sermon on the Mount with a concrete hermeneu - against all concentrated power. Isaiah’s prophecy. Churches regularly repenting from Incarnational theory students to do their ethics so in reaction against authority that tics yielding a thick ethic with specific guidance. As John rationalizing ideologies. of atonement. they dissolve faith into privatistic normlessness, situationism, Howard Yoder has written, the Trinity teaches that the real God Churches with practices freedom as individualistic autonomy, avant –gardism, or inward is revealed concretely in the way of the incarnate Jesus (2002). faithful to Jesus Christ. emigration out of covenant responsibility for the common good. Barth, Bonhoeffer, Trocmé, Day, Lester, Wallis, and Sider all I share with many feminists a criticism of Enlightenment ratio - have a concrete hermeneutic of Jesus’s way (Gushee and Stassen). nalism, but also a need for transcultural norms of justice with The Holy Spirit and Continuous Repentance : Bonhoeffer which to criticize power structures and status –quo ideologies. Bibliography involved himself in an African –American Baptist church in But how shall we ground an ethic that is neither authoritarian Harlem, in dialogues with French pacifist Jean Lassere, and in Gushee, David. Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust . Fortress nor merely subjective? In our time, when students are aware that the world church. He learned to distinguish Christian loyalty Press, 1994. we are all shaped by our history, “where we are coming from,” sharply from nationalism, as does the Barmen Confession. All Gushee, David, and Glen Stassen. Kingdom Ethics: validation works best by historical testing. We cannot claim a the “saints of the faith” who came through are clear that God is Following Jesus in Contemporary Context . InterVarsity, 2003. universal location above history, but we can assess the historical independent from, and calls us to repentance for, our captivity to fruits of ethics people have lived by. I adopt H. Richard the assumptions of our society and the powers and authorities of Parushev, Parush. Walking in the Dawn of the Light . Fuller Niebuhr’s advocacy of “history as the laboratory in which our our nation. Theological Seminary, 2006. faith is tested.” In Kingdom of God in America , Niebuhr looked The Barmen Confession connects God’s call for repentance with Marsh, Charles. Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes for times of prophetic lava flow when American churches didn’t the Holy Spirit. Similarly, at Pentecost, Peter called on people to Social Justice . Basic Books, 2005. merely accommodate to social forces, but were authentically “repent and be baptized, every one of you , in the name of Jesus transformationist: early Puritanism before it cooled into defen - Niebuhr, Richard. The Kingdom of God in America . Christ for the forgiveness of your sins . And you will receive the gift siveness, the Great Awakenings, and the social gospel. Wesleyan University Press, 1988. of the Holy Spirit: The promise is for you and your children and We can carry his method further by examining times of testing for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord will call.” The Stassen, Glen H., D. M. Yeager, and John Howard Yoder. when most all agree who passed the historical test. The Third Book of Acts is the narrative of the Holy Spirit’s calling the early Authentic Transformation: A New Vision of Christ and Culture. Reich is one such time. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, and church to repent for a narrow and nationalistic faith and to rec - Abingdon, 1996. André Trocmé came through. In Righteous Gentiles of the ognize the Spirit’s presence to all who are far off — Samaritans, Stern, Fritz R. The Politics of Cultural Despair : A Study in the Holocaust , David Gushee studied those who rescued Jews while an Ethiopian eunuch, and even Gentiles ignorant of the faith of Rise of Germanic Ideology. University of California Press, others were bystanders or Hitler –supporters. Parush Parushev’s Israel, so the gospel would be unhindered by narrow loyalties. 1974. dissertation studies the faith of those who led Bulgaria to rescue The Sovereignty of God or Lordship of Christ through All of all their Jews (2005). Stout, Jeffrey. Democracy and Tradition . Princeton Life: Bonhoeffer worked out a new political ethic: Christ is Lord University Press, 2004. Another such time of testing is the U.S. civil rights movement. over public life as well as over private life. The powers and In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. chal - authorities were created in and through Christ (Colossians 1:15) West, Cornel. Democracy Matters . Penguin, 2004. lenges those white church leaders who sat on the sidelines. Even and have their mandate to rule under Christ. As the Barmen Yoder, John Howard. to Theology: Christology and some black church leaders had an otherworldly faith, or were too Confession says: “We reject the false doctrine, as though there Theological Method. Brazos, 2002. beholden to the power structures to support the movement. In were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus his Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice , Charles Christ, but to other Lords. . . .” Marsh shows King and others coming through, and also white

March 2008 RSN • v Religious Studies News

Social Theory as a Critical Resource Paul Lakeland, Fairfield University

EACHING RELIGIOUS studies to process to observe, and a challenging and even because much if not all of my teaching is a undergraduates who are not majors troubling posture to attempt. It is not in the reflection of my preference for liberation the - T— something I do some of the time end clarified either as a social phenomenon or ologies. Even if I were not a fellow –traveler — would be unimaginable without the as a personal commitment through knowing with real liberation theologians, I hope I use of social theory. Studying religion as a the history of theology or being able to read would have the sense to see that the social force or a cultural movement is all Greek or Hebrew. On the other hand, its curi - “hermeneutical circle” approach first but impossible without some organized critical ously “productive noncontemporaneity” (a employed in the work of the Uruguayan the - purchase on what has shaped and is shaping phrase of J. B. Metz) is put into much sharper ologian Juan Luis Segundo is a perfect tool our society and our world. In the end, religious relief to the degree that we and our students for making the link between life, social theo - studies is more or less a social science, and have exercised the utmost sophistication in the ry, and theological reflection, particularly naive realism in the social sciences is or should analysis and critique of the society in which we when tempered by Gustavo Gutierrez’s classic be disappearing over the intellectual horizon. or the object of our inquiry actually live. And put –down, “theology comes after.” For Social theory in my religious studies classroom here is where a sound grasp of critical social Segundo, the starting point (always merely of 25 or so traditional –age and overwhelming - theory is revealed as the postmodern handmaid epistemological in any circular process, of Paul Lakeland is Aloysius P. Kelley, S. J. ly Catholic students is not an issue. It’s part of of theology. course) is daily life in its unexamined com - Professor of Catholic Studies at Fairfield any social science discipline. plexity, but nothing of moment happens One cannot, of course, just launch into “doing University, where students chose him as without the immediate introduction of “criti - But theology, with which I spend the other theology.” The required obliqueness of good Teacher of the Year for 2005. He recently cal reflection on praxis” (again, Gutierrez’s half of my classroom time, is a different ani - theological reflection in the undergraduate served a six-year term as chair of the AAR’s definition of theology) that requires the adop - Theology and Religious Reflection Section, mal, maybe even a whole zoo! What can social classroom arises from the fact that most if not tion of critical social theory. In the base and is a member of the Catholic theory possibly have to do with this presum - all the students have no background skills in Christian community, this social theory is Theological Society of America. He is a ably intrareligious “discipline,” if that’s the philosophy and social theory when they come surely mostly unthematized as the faithful but member of the editorial board of Cross word, that lives and breathes the heady air of to the study for the first time. In terms of tech - often unschooled people uncover the depth- Currents , co-editor of the Fortress Press divine revelation? Here lies the initially remedi - nique this usually means that the instructor structures of Marxist theory in a Freirean series Guides to Theological Inquiry , al work of theological education. The under - must somehow back into the narrowly theo - awareness of their structural oppression. In and co-convener of the Workgroup for graduate beginner may know full well that phi - logical topics. Certainly, this is what I try to do other words, though this would certainly be Constructive Theology. He has written losophy or astrophysics is a discipline about myself, beginning — as they say — where the unacceptable to the Vatican and Cardinal numerous books, including Theology and which s/he knows nothing. The difference students are and moving on from there. Ratzinger in 1984, liberation theology didn’t Critical Theory (Abingdon, 1990), with beginning theology is that most everyone Nature and grace, justification, predestination, so much teach Marxism as it simply con - Postmodernity (Fortress, 1997), and thinks s/he knows what religion is, and knows salvation by faith and/or works, all such topics Catholicism at the Crossroads firmed the truth of Marxist analysis. that theology is “thinking about religion.” are just a latter –day Slough of Despond when (Continuum, 2007). Lakeland received his PhD in religion from Vanderbilt Dispelling these illusions is propaedeutic to approached directly with the average 19 –year The implicit critical social theories of the base University, a Licentiate in philosophy from theology. In fact, “theology” itself, that which is old. Inviting them to talk about themselves, Christian communities have to become con - Heythrop Pontifical Athenaeum, a Master to be taught, is the skill of reflecting on the life their peers, and their world, however, is a far scious objects of exploration in the theology of Arts degree from Oxford University in and act of faith. In itself, this does not require easier task and one that leads directly into classroom. This is obviously easier to do English language and literature, and a any in –depth knowledge of the history or the social analysis. From this point it is not far to a where the subject can uncover oppressive Bachelor of Divinity from the University taxonomy of the academic study of religion. genuine social theory. social structures in his or her own communi - The life of faith and the act of faith, however ty. Affluent young Catholics in the Northeast of London. Contact: PFLakeland@ The critical social theories I mostly employ broadly construed, are the focus of the under - cannot immediately do this in ways that poor mail.fairfield.edu . myself are those of Hegel and Marx, with a graduate theology classroom. The performance good dose of the Frankfurt School (especially of a life of faith is a mysterious and humbling See LAKELAND p.viii the later, liberated Habermas), perhaps Ethnography as Critical Theological Resource Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Duke Divinity School

HE COMMON STRUCTURE of actual shape of context by offering a thick accounts of human society, twentieth –century theological education implies that one description of popular religion. ethnographic approaches came to require partic - learns “real theology” by studying clas - ipatory research and first –hand observation. In T Thus the need to better understand how sic texts, then figures out how to “apply” these order to identify the distinguishing characteris - Christian traditions are actually performed in the truths in some practical course. Theology tics of a culture, one must spend considerable lives of different populations has pushed me becomes a kind of language with an inherently time engaging its people. Methodological beyond the usual tools of theology. More than correct grammar. Like linguistic structuralism, approaches came to include involvement in the systematics and liberation analysis are needed if which ignores the social conditions of language activities and practices of a community, inter - we are to perceive how discourses are “received” formation, such a view implies that theology’s viewing of individuals and groups, along with as well as produced. And it is interest in this purpose is the regulation of faithful living study of documents and material resources. At “more” that has directed me to the rich research (speaking) by reproducing a preexistent doctri - least since the 1980s, issues of the authority and strategies of ethnography. nal (linguistic) system. I think here of a recent constructed character of the ethnographer’s divinity student who, when asked to interpret account of a culture have been topics of ongoing her field education assignment theologically, and fascinating debate. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian complained that the Christology of this local The interpretive categories provided by ethnog - Church (U.S.A.), Mary McClintock church was “inadequately Chalcedonian.” That Ethnographic raphy do not, of course, allow for causal or Fulkerson is Professor of Theology at Duke many churches would be “heretical” by such a attention to the explanatory claims, such as those sought by University Divinity School, where she has litmus test is one indication of the limitations of quantitative procedures. Indeed, one of its limi - taught since getting her PhD at Vanderbilt theology so understood; never mind the ques - densities of faith University. She also teaches in the Duke tations from a social science perspective is that tion about why repeating the past is a good way “involves potential Women’s Studies Program, and directs the the learnings from an ethnographically designed to respond to the contemporary situation. Gender, Theology and Ministry Certificate challenges for case study are not generalizable in the way quan - Program. Her first book, Changing the There are alternatives to such a “structuralist” normative titative procedures might provide. However, Subject: Women’s Discourses and view of theology. Liberation theologies, for ethnography is appropriate to theological con - Feminist Theology , examined the example, pay attention to the oppressive and theology. cerns precisely because qualitative research pro - liberating practices of nonfeminist church potentially liberative function of Christian tradi - vides access to the self –understandings and women and feminist academics through tion within specific social contexts. They explore worldviews of living subjects. How a group the lens of poststructuralism and Marxist/ the ways “the tradition” is plural, inflected with shaped by so –called “normative” teachings about Primarily associated with cultural and social feminist literary criticism. Her recent power, and marked by social location. However, Christology, for example, might reframe such Places of anthropology, ethnography has been appropriat - ethnographically based book is even liberationist theologies are capable of offer - themes in tandem with other cultural, gender, Redemption: Theology for a Worldly ed by a number of other disciplines as well, e.g., ing monolithic accounts of the function of tra - ” and racialized discourses is an exploration made Church with Oxford University Press. sociology, cultural studies, and psychology, to dition. Even as liberation theologies correct sys - possible by ethnographic work. Ethnography Contact: [email protected] . name a few. With roots in nineteenth –century tematics by making “contextual” a feature of provides an important contextualization of “armchair” anthropologists’ use of missionary theological discourse, only the occasional libera - and travel documentation to create comparative See FULKERSON p.xii tionist has attended to the complexities and vi • March 2008 RSN SPOTLIGHT ON THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION Contextualizing Womanist/Feminist Critical Thought and Praxis Rosetta E. Ross, Spelman College

Over the 126 years since Spelman’s founding, as well as ideal realms, and to relate both with require students to analyze the meanings of its curriculum has developed into a diversified regard to women’s experiences across the materials in which black Christian identity is liberal studies program. In most respects the broad range of global contexts and religious represented. Students sometimes are given an curricular changes at Spelman are similar to traditions. Discerning how to meet the chal - assignment to identify and analyze apparent curricular evolutions of other private, lenge of making this global reality meaningful contradictions evident in stories of persons once –Christian denominationally affiliated col - in the local context of local classrooms where like churchwoman and civil rights activist leges and universities. However, in view of the religions are studied is the point at which new Septima Clark who said of her once-enslaved legacy at Spelman of seeing education as a womanist and feminist pedagogies emerge father “they had Christianized him.” While vehicle for Christianizing blacks for acceptance and is one place where critical thinking and reading texts such as Albert Raboteau’s Slave and citizenship, contextualizing curricular praxis connect in the academy. Religion and Eugene Genovese’s Roll, Jordan, changes related to the study of religions also meant engaging Christianity’s colonial legacy.

Rosetta Ross is Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, Global By deconstructing, reinterpreting, and sometimes Religion at Spelman College. She recently Diversity, and Religious radically departing from conventional scholarly completed a term as chair of Spelman’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies traditions, womanist and feminist scholars develop Studies and led a comprehensive curricu - Notwithstanding its colonial heritage, “ new pedagogies and epistemologies through which lum revision of the department’s religious Spelman College also has a legacy that inter - studies program. She completed her PhD in sects with the global women’s movement. formerly marginalized persons become noncommodified religion from Emory University. An Spelman helped birth twentieth-century subjects of mainstream knowledge production. ordained elder in the South Carolina movements that effected academic diversity Conference of the United Methodist through faculty and student leadership in, as Church, she is author of Witnessing and well as support of, the U.S. Civil Rights Roll , students pinpoint connections of colo - Testifying: Black Women, Religion, and Movement, through the 1981 establishment Connecting the Global and nial practices like “subordination” and Civil Rights (Fortress Press). Contact: of a women’s center and comparative women’s the Local in Womanist and “humiliation” to activities of persons related [email protected] . studies program, and through faculty and stu - to Christianity, or explain the somet”imes dent activism for its first black woman presi - Feminist Pedagogies ambiguous agency of persons presented in the dent, Johnnetta B. Cole, appointed in 1987. EACHING RELIGIOUS studies at At the level of the general religious studies texts. The study of womanist and feminist historically black Spelman women’s The emergence of a global women’s move - curriculum at Spelman, using womanist and “theology” integrates the challenge through Tcollege presents an opportunity to ment and critical inquiry into the global feminist pedagogies has meant overcoming interdisciplinary, cross –cultural, and religious - interrogate the meaning of theological reality of women’s lower social status precipi - the view that the study of Christianity consti - ly diverse readings. In this course, as students education from the perspective of woman - tated increased awareness of the ways tradi - tuted the study of religions and instituting a write an ethnographic narrative about women ist and feminist studies. Founded in 1881, tions of scholarship help maintain women’s curriculum that engages the comparative in their lives, they connect theoretical dimen - Spelman is part of both the Emancipation – subordination. Womanist and feminist study of religions. This includes the regular sions of reading materials to their prior Reconstruction narratives of blacks in the scholars have the challengingly creative task study of various religions, including African- knowledge and experiences, and they engage United States and North/South colonization of discerning how to engage, translate, derived traditions, Islam, Eastern religious tra - in the critical analysis of women’s lives and projects of the late nineteenth century. retrieve, and disseminate knowledge about ditions, Christianity, and Judaism, while con - the diversifying task of validating women’s Spelman’s origin was as one of the institutions women while determining new academic sidering diverse ways globalization brings new experiences, both of which are important to founded by “home” missionaries sent to the practices that help overcome exclusionary challenges to various notions of . In womanist and feminist studies. Students also southern United States to help secure the sta - epistemologies, scholarship, and pedagogies. specific courses, students complete the study begin to deconstruct Christian hegemony as tus of formerly enslaved persons after the By deconstructing, reinterpreting, and some - of a range of religious traditions as well as an they read about women’s activities in diverse Civil War. Originally named Atlanta Baptist times radically departing from conventional examination of diverse historic and contem - social and religious contexts. Female Seminary, Spelman College began in scholarly traditions, womanist and feminist porary expressions and practices within these the basement of Friendship Baptist Church as scholars develop new pedagogies and episte - traditions. Para –curricular colloquiums and Conclusion a school for “freed women.” mologies through which formerly marginal - other programs include student engagement ized persons become noncommodified sub - with scholars of religion representing Contributions of womanist and feminist Unlike practical and classical study prevalent jects of mainstream knowledge production. Native –American feminist, Latina, Asian, and scholarship and pedagogies to the wider in majority women’s institutions of the era, an Sometimes this work focuses primarily on other cultural and religious contexts. academy and to the study of religions are important element of Spelman’s early curricu - the history, roles, and experiences of women; unfolding still. As women’s studies and related lum and global missionary activities was to Perhaps most important in the challenge other times it entails diverse research and scholarly discourses continue to permeate the Christianize persons missionaries encoun - womanist and feminist pedagogies bring to study that strengthens the broad range of academy, the cycle of knowledge production tered. Spelman founders Sophia B. Packard the study of religions at Spelman College is scholarship through the embrace of critical, known as praxis may be more fully realized. and Harriet E. Giles wrote in 1883 to the the necessity to address the colonial legacy of inclusive scholarly practices. Ideally, this can help bridge the gap between American Baptist Home Mission Society: “It Christianity particularly within the academy and social life in ways that is very essential that these colored people shall On the one hand, emphases on diversity African –American communities. This increasingly connect changes in the scholarly be Christianized as well as educated. . . . emerging from women’s studies — with includes interrogating the irony that the reli - community to changes in the broader society Hence the importance of schools where the which womanist and feminist scholarship gious tradition widely seen in the colonial era and vice versa. Bible is taught daily, and constant attention is intersects — relates directly to the legacy of as a means of helping to subordinate black paid to morality, truthfulness, and honesty.” excluding women’s thought and experience persons persists not only as the tradition in The emphasis on morality at a black women’s from academic discourse. Women of color which the overwhelming majority of U.S. college carried the additional baggage of ques - scholars, lesbian scholars, and scholars from blacks who identify themselves as religious Bibliography: tioning black women’s “decency” within a working –class backgrounds have helped participate, but also as a principal means of Niebuhr, H. Richard. The Meaning of larger discourse labeling African Americans as ensure that women’s studies itself reflects the informing black identity. In view of the racial - Revelation . New York: MacMillan, 1964. lascivious. Notwithstanding the benefit black diversity of women’s thought and experience. ized colonial discourse embedded in narra - persons derived from “home” missionary On the other hand, the women’s movement tives of Christianity in the colonial imagina - Ross, Rosetta E. Witnessing and Testifying: efforts, scholarship on late nineteenth – and other social movements that broaden aca - tion, as Andrea Smith has observed, to be Black Women, Religion and Civil Rights . century “freed” people in the United States demic discourse are effecting review of the Christian is to be white. Consequently, the Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. delineates the ideology that, in a context of content and methodologies used across aca - study of Christian traditions at Spelman Smith, Andrea. Conquest: Sexual Violence doubts about the capacity of formerly demic disciplines. The once almost –exclusive College explores the colonial legacy of and American Indian Genocide . Cambridge: enslaved persons to become citizens, emphasis on mastery of “classical” texts as the Christianity among Africans enslaved in the South End, 2005. Christianizing blacks became intertwined whole meaning of higher education is giving United States. with a deeply racialized discourse about black way to broadening the canon of classical texts Watson, Yolanda L., and Sheila T. In my teaching of Christian studies, the chal - acceptability and respectability. Many and to integrating praxis into pedagogical Gregory. Daring to Educate: The Legacy of lenging and deconstructionist impulses of European Americans as well as African strategies. In the study of religions, the influ - the Early Spelman College Presidents . womanist and feminist thought inform the Americans perpetuated this view through ence of womanist and feminist thought Sterling, Virginia: Stylus, 2005. content and teaching methodologies of my educational institutions established during expands traditional perspectives about the courses. Critical thinking about Christian tra - this era. academic field of inquiry to include material ditions is structured through assignments that

March 2008 RSN • vii Religious Studies News Critical Perspective in Biblical Studies Robert Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union

than to prove. And to understand the Bible crit - understand, and in different times, places, and idiom, poetic form, pronominal references, and ically we have to look at not only the Bible’s past languages, interpreting the Bible always involves more. Much is known, and perhaps our under - but also our own present. significant uncertainty. Increasingly in my teach - standing grows by increments, but much is still ing, I have stressed cultural differences between inconclusive, uncertain, or obscure. Intense In order to take the Bible seriously on its own the biblical world and ours, and consequently study of the biblical text leaves one frustrated by terms, critical reason is essential because of the the sheer uncertainty of understanding the its indeterminacy and, at the same time, by the nature of the Bible as a vast and composite Bible. As the truism has it, the more we know glibness of the church’s everyday use of the ancient text. Reading it involves many complex - the less we know. The interpreter who gradually Bible, where there is not too much critical ities and ambiguities. Three years ago, when her understands why this is true of the Bible, and thought but too little. book, The Trouble with Islam, came out in the who nevertheless wants to take into account United States, Muslim author Irshad Manji was For years, I regarded the purpose of my teaching what can be known about the Bible, not only asked by detractors how she could understand as that of modeling critical reasoning as a way to welcomes a critical perspective but insists on it. the Koran since she was expelled from the add to our understanding of the Bible in the madrasa at age 14. “I got kicked out for asking During my most recent sabbatical I devoted face of our inevitable ignorance. I still try to do questions,” she replied, “which is a very scholarly months to rereading Third Isaiah (Isaiah that. But I have backed up a step. My syllabus Robert Coote is the Nathaniel Gray Professor thing to do. And I spent the next 20 years 56 –66). I hoped to reach uncharted waters now states that the main purpose of an intro - of Hebrew Exegesis and Old Testament at studying Islam on my own. I acknowledge that sooner rather than later, and in this I was not duction to the Old Testament is to foster inquis - San Francisco Theological Seminary and the the Koran is difficult and complicated. I cele - disappointed. I expected to notice things about itiveness. To study the Bible critically does Graduate Theological Union. He has writ - ten over a dozen books, including Elijah and brate that.” the text I had not noticed before, but not in require knowing things as much as acknowledg - such quantity. The journal of observations and ing there is always something more to know, Elisha in Socioliterary Perspective The same is true of any body of scripture, insights I kept expanded quickly. My eyes were and our further answers are never any better (Scholars, 1992); Is the Bible True? including the Bible. Because most areas of theo - opened anew to the opulence of verbal and the - than our further questions. What students take Making Sense of the Bible Today (Orbis, logical inquiry involve complexity, ambiguity, matic connections within Third Isaiah and away from my course is not so much the con - 1994); and most recently, a commentary on and uncertainty, they must be approached criti - between it and the larger book of Isaiah. tent, or even particular methods, but a style or Joshua for the New Interpreter’s Bible . His cally. For no theological subject is this truer than Commentators frequently mention and make manner of exploration that can assess the critical current investigations include “Third” Isaiah for the Bible. Noticing contradictions, for exam - lists of such connections, but these are no substi - value of innumerable questions that arise when (Isa 56 –66) and the use of the Hebrew ple, is a long –established and effective way to tute for seeing for oneself where they lie and reading the Bible. scriptures in the Gospel of Mark. Contact: introduce complexity and ambiguity in the [email protected] . what weight they bear. The richness and com - Bible. Contradictions are fairly inescapable in Criticism involves not just the intellect, but also plexity of Isaiah were reconfirmed, and the the textual evidence, so it is easy to understand character. I begin my introductory class with a coherence of Third Isaiah again impressed me, N NEARLY 40 YEARS of teaching, I that deciding upon the text of a passage or a prayer for virtues, or qualities of character, that and I was exhilarated. have gone through many ways of regard - book — or the , for that matter contribute to critical learning. These include Iing criticism. Lately I have used commu - — is a basic critical (and confusing) task. Once openness, honesty, courage, patience, humility, nication theorist David Zarefsky’s account presented with what is usually new information, and sense of humor. I endeavor both to model of argumentation to define it. For Zarefsky, most students begin to grasp the ambiguities these qualities and to encourage them in to be critical is to make provisional judgments entailed by questions like “What exactly is the The clearest demand students. before an audience about matters that are signif - text of this passage or book?” or “Which books of biblical study upon The clearest demand of biblical study upon icant but uncertain, by use of evidence and rea - make up the Bible?” Beyond textual and canon - character comes from its uncertainty. Unless stu - soning, in the common pursuit of truth or good ical questions, the historical contingencies that character comes from “ dents encounter uncertainty, they have no rea - decision, with a willingness to run the risk of produced the Bible may be conceptually more its uncertainty. Unless son to reason. So I start by encouraging students being wrong. challenging, and certainly less tangible, but again to ask questions. “While reading the Bible in students usually appreciate, more or less, the students encounter Criticism is not all –sufficient, it is not translation, make a continuous but brief written implications of a question like the perennial and autonomous, and it is not absolute. With reason uncertainty, they log of the following: items that seem to be par - momentous “Who wrote the Bible?” on the defensive in theological education, these have no reason ticularly important for the larger story; items obvious qualifications must be clearly stated at Such entrees into biblical criticism make educa - that are particularly interesting or intriguing; the outset. I have posted the following quote on tional sense because of the nature of the Bible, to reason. items that are extraordinarily odd, strange, or the corkboard next to my office door for several with its complexities, ambiguities, and uncer - surprising; items that I find weird, outrageous, years: Qui rationem in omnibus quaerunt tainties. Eventually students come to realize that or offensive; and items that I simply don’t rationem subvertunt , “to seek reason in all things the Bible itself presents views and positions that understand.” For the first several weeks of the is to subvert reason.” The object of reason is lim - appear to — and often do — contradict each course, students share their findings with one At the same time I was exasperated. The ited. The reasoning subject — you and I — is other. The Bible is long, not because it is a another. I treat this exercise as a paradigm of dis - Hebrew text of Third Isaiah is often impossible no less limited, by enculturation, experience, shaggy –dog story leading up to a simple clear ” covery and detection not to be left behind with to understand. I had been reading the Bible for and feeling. However criticism is not solipsistic, point, but because it is the product of more increasing knowledge of the Bible, but to be 36 years in Hebrew, including all of Isaiah sever - unlike many of today’s “Bible studies.” The pub - than a thousand years of polemical faith in the embraced as a lifelong practice. al times. I was nevertheless reminded how vex - lic and cooperative aspects of argumentation put context of ever –changing circumstances. ingly uncertain our understanding of the Bible is the limitations of our individual views in per - Because the Bible was written through a process in so many of its parts. Time and again I was spective. With respect to method, criticism is unlike our own and which we do not well faced with uncertainties of text, vocabulary, See COOTE p.xii inherently rhetorical, serving to persuade rather

LAKELAND , from p.vi The reference to Hell is just a joke, of course. of theological reflection (As a Catholic Christian differently about the world in which our stu - But the nervousness is critically important as a I suppose I can be both forgiven and dents will have to live, and the literary imagina - peasants might manage, and for this reason catalyst for looking at the world with fresh eyes. pigeon –holed for insisting on the theological tion is a fine way to help this to happen. But by social theory is sometimes employed strategical - priority of the doctrines of creation and incarna - the same token, critical awareness of society is To try to make all this a little more concrete, let ly in order to, in more obvious contexts, raise tion). In the end, because this world is where equally indispensable, and employing sophisti - me say that teaching theology is teaching the art awareness of the shape and strength of alienat - we begin and end, critical social theory is an cated social theory is the way towards it. In my of reflecting theologically, not teaching about ing social forces. The hope is, of course, that indispensable moment in the process of theo - own school we like to talk about the two funda - theology. At least this is true for the undergrad - this knowledge is then transferable to the sub - logical reflection. For Segundo and Gutierrez, it mental aims of undergraduate education as uate, and the less likely it is that the student will ject’s own much –more subtly constructed social is the immediate partner to unthematized leading the student into the most critically go further in theological studies, the more relations. When we study structural oppression awareness of our lives and our world, at least sophisticated possible understanding of the important it is to do theological reflection than among obviously and cruelly disadvantaged epistemologically preliminary to hearing the complex world in which s/he lives, and bringing to learn about its history or to explore the quaes - groups, women in general, racial minorities, and word of God and reflecting on praxis. Scripture, the student to the point where s/he will con - tiones disputatae . Once again, liberation gays and lesbians in our classroom mostly get after all, is only really freed to speak in the voice sciously choose their own most productive place methodology lights the way. Theological reflec - the point. So do those with some environmen - of God when the world in all its complexity, in that world. So long as we live in a sinful tion is a process of thinking about the relation - tal concerns, and which young person doesn’t at rather than some simplistic version of it, is the world, it is appropriate to talk of “education for ships between faithful conviction, the substan - least have some anxieties about the future of our place in which we hear it. Good preaching social transformation.” Theology as a word tive claims that the texts of the tradition make world? Straight white males on a fast career depends upon this truth. about God is destined to know that it does not upon one, and the action that must follow if track are the hardest sell, but metanoia is know, which is fine and dandy. But theology as human flourishing in the world we call our Working with undergraduates, I use far more expressly on the table. The laughter is always a word about faithful belonging in the world home is to be maintained and enriched. It is all works of fiction than I do theological writings, tinged with just a little nervousness when I tell needs all the social theory and all the critical these things because the human person in even those books on religion I have penned them that if they don’t make the preferential reflection that it can muster. human society within a world that is a place we myself. I do this in the conviction that good option for the poor, they are all going to Hell. share with other created beings is the first object teaching needs to unlock the capacity to think viii • March 2008 RSN SPOTLIGHT ON THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

Liturgical Theology as Critical Practice Bruce T. Morrill, Boston College

places liturgical theology in the age –old prob - sionate desire, as a scholar and believer, to at various pairs of churches lem of the relationship between theory and study and theorize about actual practice has (one Roman Catholic, one another Christian practice. required methodological experimentation. denomination) whose specific practices of litur - Here I shall briefly describe two approaches gy, social, ethnic, and economic contexts, and Given the faith perspective within which litur - I have taken as a professor, one with under - architectural spaces promise plenty for compar - gical theology operates, theory has a normative graduates and the other in pastoral ministry ison and contrast. I contact staff at all the dimension and practice, a pastoral character, courses. and an ecclesial nature. This, at times, makes for a volatile mix of ingredients. In attempting to move beyond the study of texts to the actual performance of rites in contexts, the liturgical The liturgical theologian does not theologian does not approach the ritual prac - tices of the faithful as an external observer – approach the ritual practices of the faithful analyst but, rather, as very much a member – as an external observer –analyst but, rather, as Jesuit Father Bruce Morrill (PhD, Emory participant. The liturgical theologian’s scholarly University) is Associate Professor and “ work includes a faith commitment to the very much a member –participant. Graduate Program Director in the observed tradition being analyzed, a vocation Theology Department at Boston College. to promoting the tradition of the church’s His most recent books are the co-edited sacramental worship. Practicing Catholic: Ritual, Body, and For “Exploring Catholicism,” a two –semester churches, informing them that some of my Contestation in Catholic Faith (Palgrave To teach and write in this way in the con - course meeting a core requirement for under - students plan on joining their services on cer - Macmillan, 2006) and the forthcoming temporary academy poses unavoidable ques - graduates at Boston College (a Jesuit – tain dates. All have consistent”ly responded : Revelation of the Humanity tions: What are the ethical boundaries of sponsored, Catholic university), I have always warmly. Staff members or greeters are often of God (Liturgical Press, June 2008). this type of academic endeavor, given the structured the second semester in terms of watching out for the students to welcome Contact: [email protected] . pastoral situation of the actual subject mat - liturgy and ethics. Starting from a study of the them on those mornings, and in some places ter? What responsibility does the theologian Catholic notion of sacramentality, human congregants take the students right into their have to orthodoxy, given the normative experience interpreted in terms of the person pews with them. ITH THE PRACTICE of reli - dimension of the theoretical pursuit? How and mission of Jesus the Christ, we turn to a The overarching theological principle govern - gious rites as its primary sub - can and does the liturgical theologian’s work close examination of the — its current ing the fieldwork and subsequent term paper is ject matter, liturgical theology include a constructive dimension, an effort ritual texts, cultural contexts, and historical tra - W the Second Vatican Council’s teaching that in has long been on a methodological quest to make the tradition a living reality by dition — as the paradigmatic practice framing the liturgy Christ is present in the assembled to do theology as an argument not only drawing on resources from history to meet such a Roman Catholic interpretation of life. concerning ideas but also drawn from the his - the pastoral needs of today? No mere quest This opens into a sizable term paper project, in See MORRILL p.xii torically situated praxis of Christian faith. This for relevance, the liturgical theologian’s pas - which I assign groups of students to attend The Parish Context: A Critical Horizon for Teaching and Learning Ethics Cheryl J. Sanders, Howard University School of Divinity

ECAUSE I AM an ethics professor that “we train leaders.” For pastors and reli - Sunday School class. Yet her teacher came pre - who pastors a church, I do not sub - gious leaders, almost everything we do in the pared every week to teach the lesson, and gave Bscribe to the strict pecking order of realm of parish ministry has ethical meaning my child her undivided attention without ever theological inquiry and curricula where the and produces potential learning outcomes. complaining that it was a waste of her time to “practical” and “applied” things that happen in Whether our preaching is based upon scrip - make all that effort for just one kid. churches are deemed to have less significance ture, classical or contemporary literature, or Consequently, that one kid learned a lot about than biblical studies, history, and theology. everyday experience, some moral insight or caring, commitment, and faithfulness week Instead, it is my view that the parish is the pre - burden is manifested in the message. In my after week from a teacher whose actions under - mier social context for moral formation and own holiness faith tradition, the Church of scored these and other moral lessons illustrated ethical reflection. I find that key questions and God (Anderson, Indiana), we preach for deci - in the Bible stories. issues that arise in the day –to –day lives of sion, and responses to our preaching entail The ethical practices of Christian churches can parishioners generate the topics which are of moral deliberation and commitment. In the be observed in a host of activities beyond greatest interest to students who are being black church context where the preacher “tells preaching and teaching. Pastoral counseling, equipped for leadership and participation in the story,” some significant moral lesson is for example, is enriched by thoughtful atten - Cheryl J. Sanders has been Professor of faith communities. being taught for those in the listening audience tiveness to its moral context, especially if the Christian Ethics at the Howard University who have an ear to hear. This is not to say that In other words, the parish is not only the arena goal of counseling includes empowering the School of Divinity since 1984, and Senior preaching has to be preachy or judgmental; Pastor of the Third Street Church of God of applying ethical ideas; it is also a vital source parishioner to make critical decisions and not rather, it is to suggest that a sermon that in Washington, D.C., since 1997. She has of these ideas. Frequently, I report to my just to receive and implement the pastor’s good requires no moral reflection is not really worth published more than 100 articles and is parishioners something my students have said advice. The role of the pastor in conducting preaching or being heard. Preaching offers a the author of several books, including in class, and I readily use examples from my weddings and funerals invokes serious testing great opportunity to elevate awareness of ethi - Ministry at the Margins (1997); Saints church as illustrations in the classroom. Since of the ethics of truth telling. Does the pastor cal questions and concerns, and sometimes in Exile: The Holiness-Pentecostal the days when I was a pastor in Boston and a disclose or conceal misgivings concerning the even to point people toward answers, especially Experience in African American Religion doctoral student at Harvard Divinity School, I potential incompatibility of a couple present - those who are poised to listen for cues to a bet - and Culture (1996); Empowerment have viewed the parish as a laboratory for test - ing themselves for premarital counseling? ter existence for themselves and others. Ethics for a Liberated People (1995); ing ideas first conceived in the library and the Regarding funerals, to be sure, one ought never and Living the Intersection (1995). For classroom. But for me it works both ways; the Ethics is also an indispensable element of reli - to speak ill of the dead. But when we preach at several years she has been a contributing classroom functions as a gauge for detecting gious education. The notion of “Sunday funeral services, must our obligation to tell the guest editor for Leadership , a journal for the strength and vitality of the lifeblood of the School morality” may evoke laughter or con - truth divest our eulogies of charity and exag - pastors. She was a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for the academic year churches, most notably, the commitment to tempt in some circles, but there is something geration? care enough to discern right from wrong. The to be said for the positive outcomes of children 2000 –2001, an award conferred by the In the social context of church and communi - specific challenge I face as an ethicist, then, is and young adults whose moral and spiritual Association of Theological Schools. At ty, our mission activities most readily reveal our to introduce my students to a moral language formation has been influenced by frequent Howard she teaches courses in Christian ethics. Do we really have to love the poor in for evaluating the ethical perspectives of com - exhortations to live in the light of what they ethics, pastoral ethics, and order to serve them well? Is the intention of munities and individuals who bring the basic are learning about the Bible. Even if the quality African –American spirituality, and her key our outreach ministries to invite others to convictions of Christian faith to bear upon of instruction seems boring or irrelevant, the areas of research and writing are reflect ethically upon their own life, or is it their worldly existence. Sunday School teacher can convey some mean - African –American religious studies, rather to make ourselves feel good about the ingful moral lessons just by showing up every bioethics, pastoral leadership, and womanist At the Howard University School of Divinity, good we have done whether or not it actually studies. Contact: [email protected] . Sunday to teach the class. I will never forget where I have been teaching full-time since the years when my daughter was six or seven 1984, we proclaim our key mission by saying See SANDERS p.xi years old and she was often the only one in her March 2008 RSN • ix Religious Studies News

Critical Reflection and Praxis in Developing Ministerial Leaders Emily Click, Harvard Divinity School

skilled in engaging ministerial practices with ever, taken care to construct the course in iar. Last summer, for example, we sent critical theories. Field educators therefore not such a way as to embody the impulse of students to Rwanda, Kashmir, Guatemala, only place students as administrators; they praxis. We alternate lectures by one of us on and Costa Rica. They engaged in ministry train mentors to lead reflection in the field, key theological doctrines with class discus - in those diverse locations. However, we and they teach critical thinking about experi - sions of cases. Recently, for example, we had saw the learning value enhanced by the ence in the classroom setting. a class lecture on the doctrines of sin. The ways we also took care to build in multi - next class session, we examined the case of a ple opportunities for them to reflect on Theological field educators have led an overall woman locked in a lifetime marriage char - their experiences. For example, I went and trend within theological education toward acterized by physical abuse. The ministry visited three of the students in Guatemala, more extensive integrations of theory and incident we discussed was the occasion of and engaged in critically reflective conver - practice. There has been widespread recogni - the pastor’s visit to the widow on the death sations in the field. Next summer I plan tion of the inadequacy of the old pedagogical of the abusing husband, and his subsequent to visit at least two different settings with model which called for building mastery of musing over what to say at the memorial two other faculty persons. We recognize theoretical concepts prior to and separate Emily Click is an ordained minister in the about the until –then invisible abuse. This that we, as faculty persons, will teach cru - from engaging those concepts with real life United Church of Christ. After serving a enabled us to explore the ways various doc - cial reflective skills to students by engag - ministry situations and problems. My recent decade in congregational ministry, she trines of sin helped illuminate the tragic ing in such visits. However, we also will survey of theological field education in North joined the faculty at Claremont School of dimensions of the woman’s situation. find our own teaching styles and assump - America showed that field educators lead Theology and began teaching in the area of Students also explored the ways they might tions challenged by these visits. The goal such changes by employing a range of strate - preparation for ministerial leadership. Two actually talk with the woman about her of these international placements is not gies designed to bridge the stubborn gaps years ago she moved to Cambridge to take situation. just for students to do ministry, but also between theories of Christian ethics, theology, on the position of Assistant Dean for for them to learn better ways to engage in and history, and the practical realities of min - We are learning that teaching with a praxis Ministry Studies and Lecturer on Ministry, caring relationships that are not as bound - isterial leadership. model is messy. Students find their own life and Director of Field Education at ed by cultural assumptions and experi - stories are stirred by disturbing cases. In a Harvard Divinity School. Her areas of In brief, these changes come in three primary ences. We hope that students will be class of sixty students from multiple faith tra - scholarly interest include leadership studies, forms. First, there is the shift toward engaging changed and challenged by such opportu - ditions, no one perspective is necessarily administration, and the development of field education experiences throughout the nities, and also that Harvard Divinity upheld as the right doctrine or even one pedagogies of praxis. She currently co-teach - curriculum, in order to integrate the whole School will grow responsively due to these approach as correct. But we are convinced es the course “Introduction to the Histories, curriculum, and also as a way to bring prac - wider engagements in the world. that such pedagogy is more likely to produce Theologies and Practices of Christianity” tice into more immediate contact with the reflective practitioners, and will also be more In conclusion, exciting things are happen - with Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, also of dynamics of constructing theory. Second, likely to lead to the construction of better ing within theological education generally, Harvard Divinity School. Contact: there is a shift away from the old model, of theologies. and also within theological field educa - [email protected] . learning theory for several years before engag - tion. We are learning how to build more ing students within ministry settings, toward effectively integrated learning experiences. earlier and more extensive practice that is We are developing new ways to construct IELD EDUCATION prepares min - concurrent with the study of theoretical con - theory that take actual ministry situations isterial leaders by blending actual cepts. Finally, there is a movement toward into account. And we are educating lead - ministerial experiences with more tra - engaging students in situations that are unlike F Field education is ers who will be reflective practitioners in ditional learning about theoretical con - their familiar settings, so that they can recog - emerging ministerial realities. cepts. This suggests field educators will have nize their cultural biases and assumptions in a often named as the resources and insights about how to develop way that better prepares them for ministry in crucial tool for integrative educational strategies throughout emerging realities. “ theological education. Many theological accomplishing a wider The first shift is toward more robust integra - schools’ curricula are still based on an older tion throughout the theological school cur - goal of integrating the model for education that separates the devel - riculum. In the traditional model, students opment of ministry skills from the learning of curriculum. study highly theoretical expositions of scrip - IN THE NEXT theory. This model sees field education as the tural, historical, theological, and ethical ideas administrative work of placing students in sit - before they try to preach, teach, or counsel uations to develop practical ministry skills. ISSUE OF parishioners. The old model respected exper - However, new developments in education tise within each realm, so that theological Another evolving strategy is to engage stu - point to the ways that professionals need to educators did not claim to know how to dents in ministerial practice earlier in their learn a particular type of reasoning in the ” apply theory, nor did actual practitioners usu - studies. At Harvard Divinity School, students field. This calls for pedagogical strategies for ally build theory. There were notable excep - are encouraged to enter into field education connecting the development of skills for prac - tions to this rule in individual cases, but in during their first semester. This is our con - tice with reasoning about theory. general the two realms of theory and practice crete way of declaring that learning in the Theological In a recent New York Times article about were held separate so as to uphold the distinc - ministry situation is an integrated piece of the changes in law school curricula, for example, tive value of each. Furthermore, each disci - overall program — the impulse of connecting Education William Sullivan, a senior scholar with the pline within theological education was taught real –life ministry experiences with classroom Carnegie Foundation, is quoted as saying, distinctly from other disciplines, so that theo - learning begins at the initiation of the MDiv “There is a mode of practical reasoning, of logical studies were rarely combined with his - and potentially continues throughout the full reasoning in situations, that requires that torical studies or ethics. This atomized model three –year program. Students at Harvard knowledge be constructed and reconstructed of teaching various aspects of the traditional Divinity School are enrolled concurrently in a to deal with the situation at hand.” He adds, theological curriculum is widely recognized as reflection course that teaches how to engage The Transition “And that’s the kind of reasoning that good outmoded. However, there is no singular, in critical reflection on actual experience. practitioners develop, and it’s something that obvious route to integrate studies that have Additionally at Harvard Divinity School, we we know can be taught, but we know it’s not traditionally been kept separate. Field educa - regularly offer case study reflection confer - from Graduate taught very much” ( New York Times , October tion is often named as the crucial tool for ences for the entire faculty, field education 31, 2007). Field education leads theological accomplishing a wider goal of integrating the supervisors, and the student body. These con - Doctoral education in developing strategies to do just curriculum. ferences are opportunities to study actual that: teach the habits of reasoning in situa - cases that are written and presented by a stu - At Harvard Divinity School, we also are tions that prepare ministerial leaders. dent, then commented upon by a supervisor, Programs to developing new ways to engage traditional and then by a faculty person. This enhances In other words, field education is an ideal disciplines in the classroom setting. For the visibility to the whole community of what location for praxis, the dynamic combination example, this year I am co –teaching a Theological students engaged in ministry settings are actu - of theory and practice brought into educa - required introductory course on the histo - ally facing. It also models the ways that theo - tional consciousness by the writings of Paulo ries, theologies and practices of Christianity ret ical disciplines can shed light upon Schools Friere. The praxis model sets up multiple with a classical theologian, Francis Shüssler actual ministry situations. occasions in which a student can be men - Fiorenza. The simple act of pairing an tored for critical thinking. Mentoring in the ordained congregational pastor whose lec - Finally, at Harvard Divinity School we field is usually regarded as just one piece of turer status is based in ministry studies with offer increasing opportunities for students teaching reflective practice. Students also need a classical, world –renowned theologian is a to enter into settings that are vastly differ - coaching in a classroom setting by a teacher bold statement in itself. We have also, how - ent from those with which they are famil - x • March 2008 RSN SPOTLIGHT ON THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION New Wine in Old Vessels: Enabling Students to Enter an Age –Old Conversation Norman J. Cohen, Hebrew Union College –Jewish Institute of Religion

lytic skills — linguistic, literary, source –critical, faces. Thus, for example, with every biblical morning and set out on the road before Sarah historical — to understand what the biblical narrative we study, we can learn not only about could change her mind. writers meant in their day by any particular the text, the characters, and the narrative line, In a later Midrashic work, the rabbis extend the verse or narrative. However, the search for the but also about ourselves. In creating our own earlier Midrashic material in a very florid man - original meaning is not the end –all and be –all interpretations, we respond to our own ques - ner. Abraham stresses to Sarah that the time has of our immersion into the sacred stories of our tions and dilemmas, and we bring to the fore come for them to provide Isaac with a thor - past, and the dominant reading is not the only elements of our own being of which we may ough religious education and suggests that he possible way to interpret any given piece of text. not always be conscious. take him to the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever. Even the rabbis of old recognized that there Entering this age –old conversation is com - Sarah agrees, but insists that he not remain were “70 faces to the Torah,” only the first of plex. After reading and studying the biblical there too long, since her soul is bound up with which was the original. text closely, paying attention to every lexical his. Isaac then stays with his mother a long time Although the biblical text may be finite, its element, choice of syntax, narrative structure, that night and she holds him and embraces recreation, mediated by the process of interpre - the repetition of motifs as well as to the obvi - him till dawn. In the morning, Sarah dresses Norman Cohen is Provost of Hebrew tation, is infinite. Multiple meanings may be ous lacunae, and then seeing how the cumu - Isaac, placing a turban on his head, and accom - Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, heard resonating within each word when the lative tradition interprets any given text, we panies Abraham and Isaac to the road to see where he is also Professor of Midrash. reader opens him/herself to it in a significant must wrestle with the sacred stories of Torah. them off. At the moment of separation, amidst Renowned for his expertise in Torah study way. The text comes alive and operative when If we are anchored in the traditions of the many tears, Sarah grabs hold of Isaac and says and midrash (finding contemporary mean - the reader and the text become one. The pro - past, then our modern readings will be built to him, “Who knows if I will ever see you after ing from ancient biblical texts), he lectures cess of recreating the text through interpretation upon a firm foundation, enabling them to be this day, my son.” frequently to audiences of many faiths. has been compared to the birthing of a child — a new link in a chain of interpretation extend - These biblical extensions, written between Cohen was a participant in Bill Moyers’s once the umbilical cord that ties the biblical text ing back to Sinai. approximately 700 and 1,200 years ago, speak Genesis: A Living Conversation series on to a particular time, place, and set of redactors is There is no more challenging story in the directly to each and every one of us. We know PBS. His books include Self, Struggle & severed and the text’s existence becomes a fact, entire Bible than the binding of Isaac this difficult moment of separation of parents Change: Family Conflict Stories in it has a life of its own. It grows, expands, and (Genesis 22). For each of us, whether we are from their children. As parents or as children, Genesis and Their Healing Insights for changes due to the interaction with it by readers blessed to be parents or as children of parents, we have lived through similar scenes in our Our Lives ; Voices from Genesis: Guiding in every age. Postmodern scholars describe this this story poses the most difficult theological own families. We can easily recreate this biblical Us through the Stages of Life ; The Way process as the “recontextualizing of the text.” into Torah; Hineini in Our Lives ; and and human questions. Unfortunately, the nar - moment by drawing not only upon the earlier Moses and the Journey to Leadership: Yet the attempt to find contemporary meaning rative is so terse that it provides little informa - Rabbinic texts, but also upon our own life Timeless Lessons of Effective in the tradition, if it is to have any authenticity, tion to help us in our struggle. From the very experiences. Management from the Bible and Today’s must be grounded in the tradition itself, in this outset of the story we would like to know When I shared an extension of the Isaac story Leadership , all published by Jewish Lights. case the Bible. The starting point, then, in the more. We are only told that, after receiving in an adult education class some years ago, a Contact: [email protected] . search for personal meaning is a close critical God’s command to bring Isaac to one of the woman raised her hand and said, “My son is 5 study. By using all the knowledge we possess of mountains in the land of Moriah, Abraham years old and he started school this year. On the the biblical text (philological, literary, historical, rose early the next morning, saddled his ass, HE CORE RABBINIC curriculum first day of class in September, I walked him archeological, theological), we can approximate took his two servants, and started out on the of the Hebrew Union College – down to the corner to catch the school bus. We what the writers intended in any given passage. road (Genesis 22:3). We know little of their Jewish Institute of Religion embodies walked slowly and I could not help but squeeze T Our task at the outset is to utilize critical schol - departure, and we are especially aware of a holistic approach that integrates text his small hand as we walked together. When arship to open up the meaning and power of Sarah’s silence. Abraham never speaks to her, study with professional development and per - the bus pulled up, the doors opened and he the text, which only enhances our appreciation and we have no idea whether she is aware of sonal spiritual growth. Our role is to ensure that climbed the three stairs with difficulty, walked of its beauty and applicability. what is about to take place. But how can each student has a critical understanding of the down the middle aisle and found a seat. I saw Abraham take the son of her old age away texts of our tradition and has the skills to apply Since each generation and each reader can draw him press his face against the windowpane, and from her, the child she had struggled to con - them to the challenges of life in a spiritual/reli - different meanings from the text, the second tears formed at the corner of his eyes. I started ceive and birth, without a word? It is to this gious context. However, the challenge in our task is to filter our sacred stories through the to cry and thought to myself, ‘He’s never com - poignant human question that the rabbis seminaries to create a learning environment that prism of millennia of interpreters so that we ing home. ’” respond in a number of powerful achieves the integration of academic rigor, the might benefit from their readings. The sages of interpretations. When we confront and immerse ourselves in honing of professional skills, and the cultivation the past viewed our traditional texts through the texts of the past, we not only learn about of personal spiritual meaning is huge. the lens of the political, religious, and sociocul - In an eighth –century Midrashic text we read of the text, but about ourselves. It allows us to tural conditions under which they lived. Their Abraham’s realization that he has to tell Sarah Most Jews (and perhaps most human beings), come in touch with who we are and who we interpretations contained responses to the exi - something before he can separate Isaac from including theological students and religious can become. What we discover is that the text is gencies of their own life situations, many of her. Over a meal that Sarah had prepared to leaders, have not internalized that need to inte - a mirror which reflects back to us the nature of which inform our current struggles. enable them to rejoice in finally having Isaac in grate the critical analysis of the texts of our tra - our character and our relationships, and their lives, Abraham suggests that Isaac should ditions with the search for personal meaning. The third and ultimate challenge is to find con - demands we reach for our highest selves. In already be receiving a religious education (the Many of us, even the most committed, view temporary meaning in the text. Reading a joining the dialogue about the texts of our past, rabbis impose their model of Torah study on the reading of our traditional texts, including sacred text forces self –involvement and we channel the voices of our traditions through the biblical text). He then mentions a place to the Bible in particular, as a dispassionate, objec - self –reflection, and it is through our own the fabric of our own lives and, as a result, we which he would like to take him. With her tive exercise. Our sole intent is to use our ana - immersion into the text that new meaning sur - are transformed. agreement, Abraham arose very early the next

SANDERS , from p.ix When I first offered my pastoral ethics course at interesting and motivating, especially since, based ported by thoughtful arguments that are clearly Howard University several years ago, only one upon my experience, the study of ethics can be communicated. I encourage them to submit does anybody else any good? Through hard student signed up for it. Thankfully, that student boring. The key is to focus on the quality of the their exam essays to the newspaper to be consid - questions like these, pastors must negotiate was the pastor of one of the largest and most learning experience so that students feel empow - ered for publication as letters to the editor. through murky waters of self –scrutiny and influential Pentecostal congregations in the city ered to think more clearly in ethical terms, and My overall pedagogical objective is neither to doubt on the journey toward moral clarity in and a leading bishop in his denomination, so I to make reasoned decisions about how to act. give students ethical “answers,” nor is it my liturgical and social practice. learned as much from our directed study as he Virtually all of my midterm and final examina - intent to reinforce or to negate whatever did. Because this course is not required, however, tions are clipped from the daily newspapers, I am impressed by the fact that ethics curricula answers they may have already constructed to the class size remains relatively small, which is a from which I take a current news item and abound in almost every profession except the address the difficult moral dilemmas of our good thing for teaching. In lieu of a final research frame a question for the students to consider. ministry. Much of this interest in ethics is moti - times. I simply want to challenge them to hear paper, I require students to submit either a case Included in the examination packet is an article vated by the proliferation of ethical abuses that and to formulate compelling ethical questions study based upon their own parish experience, or and/or editorial that presents enough informa - bring forth bad publicity and lawsuits, to the as they cultivate the grace of listening deeply to a code of professional ethics applicable to their tion about the case for them to write an essay point that schools and corporations are protect - points of view divergent from their own. In my context of ministry. All of our graduate degree without having to do further research. There are ing themselves by orienting students to ethical courses I want them to learn how to read intel - programs at Howard University require at least no right or wrong answers, as I advise my stu - standards of professional practice and account - ligently about moral issues, to engage others one basic course in ethics, so not all of my stu - dents that their grades are not based upon the ability. By contrast, it puzzles me to observe that through purposeful exchange of ideas, informa - dents are practicing or preparing themselves for extent of their compliance with my point of divinity schools appear not to be nearly as con - tion, and experiences, and to broaden their pastoral ministry. It is my experience, however, view. I am testing their ability to use the tools scientious about these matters as medical or busi - awareness of the social context of ethical analy - that many students have no idea what to expect they are acquiring through class readings and lec - ness schools, notwithstanding the horrific scan - sis and action. to learn in an ethics course. My goal is to make it tures to process a “real life” ethical inquiry, sup - dals involving clergy sexual abuse in recent years. March 2008 RSN • xi Religious Studies News

FULKERSON , from p.vi ed “white.” This is because such discourses recognize deeply embedded bodily practices pre –understandings and commitments with were linked with other associations that over - that are constitutive of a society’s identity. If we the issue, fleshing out the way their social loca - belief. How do different beliefs converge, and in rode or “shifted” their original function. I stress are as shaped by markers of cultural “othering” tion frames and limits their engagement. Part which situations? What resonances do they have terms like “linked” and “shifted” to indicate as by inscribed memory, constructs of tradition two requires an interview with someone else for differently classed, racialized, and gendered that meaning circulates in more complex ways require attention to bodies and affect in more who is engaged with the issue from a distinctly groups? Such questions inevitably nudge one than suggested by the hackneyed image of a substantive ways. different point of view than their own. Here, toward normative issues. Are there better ways unidirectional theology that, as “theory,” causes students must employ interview techniques To teach theology in a way that takes lived to frame the circulation of relevant biblical and practice. In relation to racialized cultures of and pay critical attention to social context. A faith more seriously is quite a challenge. I teach theological themes than the unidirectional “black” and “white” there seemed to be no third requires them to place their own pre – a course on prophetic ministry that tries to do preaching and teaching that is typical of “nor - neutral theological language that did not do understandings and practices with respect to this. Subtitled “Creating Communities of mative” theological discourse? What about the racialized work, even when only implicit. the issue into critical dialogue with those of the Justice,” the course requires students to partici - powerful function of music for people without interview subject, identifying the different Ethnographic attention to the densities of faith pate in a setting that can be characterized as a symbolizing abilities? insights that are surfaced. The final part of the involves potential challenges for normative the - site for prophetic ministry. Although minimal assignment involves identifying a position on In order to better understand the way ology. First is the obvious challenge that theol - training is provided in ethnographic method, the issue in light of the intersection of different Christian faith might intersect with racism in ogy may not be limited to expert, rarified dis - the assignment requires students to interview views, as well as communicating their position the contemporary South, I did a theological course or the language used by believers only participants in these settings with the aim of in a relevant way to their dialogue partner. The study of an interracial Methodist church. when they refer to God. Constructively this discerning the community’s self –understanding assignment is enormously helpful in revealing Ethnography’s tools provided me with a way to point entails the discernment already made by and its implicit “moral languages.” Any and all the fluidity of theological discourse and its con - approach this fascinatingly diverse communal congregational studies scholars, e.g., whether practices are to be considered pertinent to such nection to social location and power, as it faith as a lived subject matter. Engaging in two marked as such or not, much of the activity of ministry. Since some of the settings are not plunges students into the thickness of lived and one –half years of participant observation Christians is “theological.” In my study not explicitly religious, this forces students to hear faith and surfaces with critical attention to the in this small church, I did interviews, collected only was the “secular” language of color – ordinary languages in a new way and take role of existential concern in the doing of documents, and took part in worship and blindness important to trace, but many of the them seriously. They also begin to understand theology. other church activities to get a sense of how nonreligious practices of the community that “theological” and “church” refer to much members understood their call to diversity. became more important than explicitly reli - broader and messier social realities than the In conclusion I should say that this pull toward gious activities for bridging racial differences. familiar “church vs. world” paradigm would ethnographic work in theology was preceded The self –understandings that emerged from Ethnographic research surfaces both the suggest. by an important development in religious my study connected languages pertaining to hybridity of language and the crucial theologi - studies. The insight that the study of Western racism with the languages of Christian faith, as I include a more complex assignment in a cal function of many behaviors that are not religions has too long been focused on the they intersected with the other social worlds of course on practical theology, a field with con - marked as ecclesiastical. A second challenge to study of texts led to the study of “lived reli - participants. While biblical and classical theo - siderable support for ethnographic work. Here the adequacy of “talk” emerged as I observed gion” by a number of religious studies scholars. logical themes were often invoked to authorize the aim is to enhance students’ understanding forms of discomfort and visceral reaction that As I see this interest well developed in such the church’s diversity, they were rarely used of the interplay of theology and practice along did not completely surface in their narratives, places, and as I weigh its deep impact on my without a linkage to modern terms like inclu - several lines: the generation of theological dis - e.g., white members’ complaints that the own thinking, I can only hope that ethnogra - siveness and color-blindness. Combinations of course, the social location of the interpreter church was “too black.” Such reactions imply phy will increasingly resource the world of sys - color –blindness with explicit theological and the situation under scrutiny, and how such that bodily enculturations and interactions tematics. themes, for example, had very different out - realities matter for theology’s strategic response matter as much as discourse. This raises the comes, depending upon whether employed by to a situation. The students must first choose question of how a notion of “tradition” might African –American members or those designat - an issue of vital importance, articulate their

MORRILL , from p.ix students not wanting to do the fieldwork for the anointed, or bereaved family of the deceased). COOTE , from p.viii project, and in no case has a student mentioned They stage the given ritual completely with people, the presiding minister, the proclaimed the actual participation in religious worship to music, , preaching, requisite liturgical In a course on preaching from the Bible word, and the sacramental elements. The stu - be the problem (except for getting up before equipment and decoration, usually doing all of that I have taught for many years, together dents are to participate in the two different noon on Sunday morning!). I believe that the this in one of the chapels on the campus. The with a church pastor and a homiletics pro - Sunday worship services, observing how they do clarity of their roles, as well as the extensive rest of the class members take the role of the fessor, the first exercise requires students to or do not find that fourfold presence of Christ preparation, make the assignment not only worshiping assembly. All enter into the event as choose a brief passage from a gospel and, to be evident in the performances of the rituals. viable but rewarding. if it were an actual pastoral occurrence. Indeed, after studying it for a few minutes, to stand Having written field notes in the wake of each students often report that in the enactment they The other ethical consideration I always revisit before the class, read it out loud, and com - visit, the students draw upon the history, con - have what for them are genuine faith experi - in this project is the status of the worshiping plete the sentence “What this passage temporary theology, and ritual theory we have ences, moments of deepened awareness of the communities as subjects for study. I consider it makes me wonder is. . . .” That is all. studied in the course in order to analyze theo - importance of scriptures and tradition in rela - important to inform the staffs that my students Students are not expected to provide an logically the two services they describe in their tion to their lives in the doing of the rites. Such will be observing and participating in one of answer or solution or resolution for their papers. I provide extensive preparatory guide - performative work in class, I believe, makes all their public worship services. I share with the query, but to value the discovery of what is lines for both their trips and the subsequent the difference between students struggling to ministers the theological framework of the study not known. When preaching from the writing of the formal papers. A class session is grasp the histories, theologies, and ritual forms and the guidelines for participant –observation, Bible, there is no reason to pretend to devoted to students sharing their observations of the rites, as studied through books and lec - and these, I have found, met the concern of the greater certainty than when studying the and initial attempts at analysis. tures, and their being grasped by the power and one pastor who said he had in the past been Bible. Critical study can produce answers to pastoral promise of the rites in action. I make it clear that I do not presume what levels leery of people coming to study his parish’s litur - questions; but certainty is not what criti - or types of faith commitments the students pos - gy. Over the years, his community and several Such a performative approach to the academic cism is about. sess but, nonetheless, am asking them to be par - others have expressed delight in the appearance study of liturgy is not unlike the classroom work Critical study assumes the ability to rea - ticipant –observers (a concept we explore in of another group of Boston College theology of the late Victor Turner, who had graduate stu - son, which cannot be taken for granted detail). Students regularly describe themselves as students. dents in his courses at the University of Chicago in theological education today. It is not a never having attended a church other than their and the University of Virginia assume roles in Graduate courses in pastoral ministry entail dif - skill that is different for biblical studies own and how the comparative experience brings rituals so that the class members might acquire a ferent questions of what the teacher can expect than for other theological disciplines. not only a heightened knowledge of liturgy but certain type of knowledge of the rituals — their from the students. The students are committed Criticism starts by doubting that I under - also a deeper awareness and, often, critical evalu - cognitive and affective impact on various partici - to the practice of the faith and moreover in a stand. Students may find such doubt ation of their own religious assumptions and pants and on the social group as a whole; the public way, insofar as they are preparing to regarding the Bible uncomfortable for convictions. In course evaluations, students reg - mutual influence of ritual performance and its become or already are public ministers or reli - their faith, or even immoral. I don’t deny ularly note the project as the highlight of the wider environment; the ritual experience of time gious educators in the church. They are not skit - the perceived dilemma. To suggest other - course. I believe it is a type of knowledge that and memory; the necessity of narrative in the tish about their religious commitment or identi - wise, though, I quote Annie Lamott: can only be garnered through engagement with doing and recounting of ritual, etc. — that ty, nor are they embarrassed to explore these “The opposite of faith is not doubt. It is actual performance. could not be obtained by means of words about openly in class, as can sometimes be the case certainty, and madness.” them. Turner laid out a methodological ratio - In conceiving and then refining that with undergraduates. In my masters –level litur - nale for such performance –activity within practice –oriented project over the years, I have gical theology courses, then, I am able to pursue anthropology courses, arriving at a theory of kept in mind ethical questions about teaching a different method for studying Roman concentric frames delimiting the social field of and learning, including the awareness that the Catholicism’s rite of Christian initiation of the performance practiced, one of which articu - students possess a range of levels of religious adults, order of Christian funerals, rite of lates the action being undertaken as play. The commitment (Roman Catholic or otherwise). penance, or pastoral care of the sick as funda - latter, far from being a pejorative term indicating The students know from the outset of the mentally ritual –performance events. a lack of seriousness or academic rigor, establish - course (with its syllabus) that they will be asked I form the students into subgroups that are es the agreed upon boundaries in which the to undertake this theological project. It is up to responsible, with my mentoring, for enacting exercise takes place, affording the possibility for them to decide the extent to which they want specific rites with and for the class. These stu - insight into the ritual to emerge freely. I consider their own faith commitment to function in the dents take on the various ministerial roles, as my own goals for performing rites within my writing of the paper. I have found over several well as those who are the key subjects of the rit - liturgical theology courses to be similar. years only rare instances (two or three, total) of ual action (e.g., neophytes, or a sick person to be xii • March 2008 RSN