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This is a primer on doing integration in Christian education, employing a complementary model.
For Christian education professors and students, Christian Formation provides a composite view of human development and learning from integrated theory, theology, and educational practices in the church. By design, the book integrates these elements into a cohesive foundational piece for Christian education. Contributors include: • James Estep - “Christian Anthropology: Humanity as the Imago Dei,” “Developmental Theories: Foe, Friend or Folly?” “Moral Development and Christian Formation” • Jonathan Kim - “Intellectual Development and Christian Formation,” “Psychological Development and Christian Formation,” “Cultural Development and Christian Formation” • Timothy Jones and Michael Wilder - “Faith Development and Christian Formation” • Greg Carlson - “Adult Development and Christian Formation” • Mark Maddix - “Spiritual Formation and Christian Formation”
If only we could do a better job of helping students at "connecting the dots," theological educators commonly lament. Integration, often proposed as a solution to the woes of professional education for ministry, would help students integrate knowledge, skills, spirituality, and integrity. When these remain disconnected, incompetence ensues, and the cost runs high for churches, denominations, and ministers themselves. However, we fail in thinking that integrating work is for students alone. It is a multifaceted, constructive process of learning that is contextual, reflective, and dialogical. It aims toward important ends--competent leaders who can guide Christian communities today. It entails rhythms, not stages, and dynamic movement, including disintegration. Integrating work is learning in motion, across domains, and among and between persons. It is social and communal, born of a life of learning together for faculty, staff, administrators and students. It is work that bridges the long-standing gaps between school, ministry practice, and life. It's a verb, not a noun. Here a diverse group of theological educators, through descriptive case studies, theological reflection, and theory building, offer a distinctive contribution to understanding integrating work and how best to achieve it across three domains: in community, curriculums, and courses.
The phrase "integration of faith and learning" has come to describe the way many Christian colleges and universities understand how all learning falls under the lordship of Jesus Christ. With its origins in the philosophical and theological insights of the Reformed tradition, this phrase has expanded its influence to institutions nurtured by numerous Christian traditions. This volume draws together prominent scholars who reflect on Christian higher education as it may exist beyond the integration model.
Building on the work of Teilhard de Chardin, the New Cosmology integrates scientific facts and theories, including discoveries about the expanding universe and evolution, and proposes that creation is developing into greater complexity. But how are we to understand concepts like “original sin” and “redemption” if creation isn’t complete and humanity is still in process? How does one “retrofit” religious tradition and Scripture into this scenario? Is there room for the historical Jesus in the New Cosmology? While a ready concern for all Christians, this question has unique implications for women religious whose lives are centered on the person and mission of Jesus Christ. How is a Catholic sister to understand her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in light of a cosmology in which the need for redemption and the role of Jesus are significantly redefined? The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God probes these questions and offers possible answers. Beginning with the experiences of women religious and their encounter with the New Cosmology or Universe Story, this book seeks to mediate among the various perspectives and proposes how informed and reflective engagement with science, tradition, and theology can bridge the generational divides and foster a spirituality that is both emergent and incarnational.
This edited collection provides middle and high school classroom teachers of English language arts, social studies, and other disciplines the inspiration and insight necessary to utilize an arts integration approach in their teaching. Whether you want your students to create documentaries, maps, mixed media, songs, quilts, dances, masks, or a remix of multiple art forms, the point of school can and should be more about how students create their own meaning in powerful ways and harness their creativity for social good. Arts integration is one approach demonstrated to be invaluable in these terms, moving teachers and students into a mindset of ‘what can we create today?’, sure to inject energy into classrooms, learning, and lives. ENDORSEMENTS: "Arts-Integrated theory and practice create a beautiful dance, are quilted together, and even recite a theatrical monologue in this book that takes arts integration in multiple forms and puts it into terms that work for the busy classroom teacher. Written by classroom teachers, passion and professionalism are evident in each chapter as the strategies and stories about them unfold to provide a platform for teachers to grow in their practice and to create vibrant classrooms along the way." — Sean Layne, Focus 5, Inc. "For all of us working in the arts, arts integration is a term that gets thrown around with many competing definitions. The authors have taken all that and made it practical and useful for this generation of learners. This book has the special sauce for making arts integration relevant to student learning and encouraging creativity though practical examples that can and will inspire you to try them out. After reading this book you will want to sing, dance, draw, and make art in your classroom or museum." — Zev Slurzberg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.
A "how-to" manual for doing theology, and a handbook of etiquette for doctrinal discussions with other believers. Around a table sit men and women with distinct roles: The Interpreter, the Theologian, the Virtuous, the Philosopher, the Scientist, the Artist, the Minister, and the Historian. Each is ready to engage in a passionate discussion centered on God, his works, and his ways. Regardless of which role you play at the same table, you're invited. You simply need to pull up a chair and join the conversation. But how? What do you say when you take your seat? Where do you start? What are the "rules" of the dialogue? A Practical Primer on Theological Method will help you answer these questions. This primer is not only a "how-to" manual for doing theology, but a handbook of etiquette for doctrinal discussions with other believers. This popular-level introductory text presents the proper manner, mode, and means of engaging fruitfully in theology.
Congratulations to Luke Bretherton on winning the 2013 Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing for Christianity and Contemporary Politics! Relations between religious and political spheres continue to stir passionate debates on both sides of the Atlantic. Through a combination of theological reflection and empirical case studies, Bretherton succeeds in offering timely and invaluable insights into these crucial issues facing 21st century societies. Explores the relationship between Christianity and contemporary politics through case studies of faith-based organizations, Christian political activism and welfare provision in the West; these case studies assess initiatives including community organizing, fair trade, and the sanctuary movement Offers an insightful, informative account of how Christians can engage politically in a multi-faith, liberal democracy Integrates debates in political theology with inter-disciplinary analysis of policy and practice regarding religious social, political and economic engagement in the USA, UK, and continental Europe Reveals how Christians can help prevent the subversion of the church – and even of politics itself – by legal, bureaucratic, and market mechanisms, rather than advocating withdrawal or assimilation Engages with the intricacies of contemporary politics whilst integrating systematic and historical theological reflection on political and economic life
