Teaching

Trust extends to accessibility and honesty as well. In all of my teaching, availability within limits has been my goal. For introductory church history and New Testament courses at Duke Divinity School, I have found that having office hours during the week allowed students to discuss the hard texts privately, to work together on their writing, and to process the link between the material, their own religious beliefs, and their communities. This established time gives anxious first-year students space and connection within a transitional time in their studies; this was especially the case when instruction went online during the pandemic. Often, students come with questions that get to the root of theological education, and we wrestle together over these questions. Students should understand that even as teachers, we do not have all of the answers and are continuing in our own seeking of knowledge and understanding. As a preceptor of an introductory Greek course at Princeton Theological Seminary, I taught a group of eleven students twice a week for the whole academic year, going through their homework together, clearing up misunderstandings and confusions, and administering and grading all assessments. My own willingness to make mistakes and acknowledge them helped the class trust that I would not shame them for their own mistakes. Students then were more willing to participate in answering questions in front of the class and volunteer translations between Greek and English. 

Thoughtful and productive engagement with views outside of their own is a twofold task in the classroom. Reading ancient historical texts is, in itself, a cross-cultural enterprise, but it is important to choose texts from a variety of cultures and traditions, depending on the subject matter. In New Testament classes, the diversity of sources appears in the secondary literature and readings of the biblical text. In other courses, this also appears in the choice of historical texts. This is often quite natural for me, a white American Protestant Christian who primarily studies texts from other traditions, including Greek and Syriac sources. I have also brought art into the classroom as a way to think about and meditate on theological concepts, and that provides students the space to connect the textual learning with sensory experiences from across the world. In an introductory course for theological education at Duke Divinity School called Cultivating Christian Imagination, I begin the weekly class session with a piece of art that both relates to the themes of the week and takes many students outside of their own culture and tradition. Many of the students are adult learners who have full-time work in the medical field or other professions, and they have greatly appreciated the incorporation of art and beauty. Examples have included the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, a painting by the Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and a poetic prayer by Pseudo-Dionysius. The diversity of source material broadens and nuances an understanding of Christianity.

The diversity of source material is complemented with the activities and environment of the classroom itself. At the beginning of a course, I have found it helpful to come up with community-building ice breaker questions that are fun, interest-based, and connected to the theme of the day. Carefully selected, they can set the tone of the classroom as one of conversation, collaboration, and acknowledgement that each of us are whole people. This also extends to the emphasis in the course on hermeneutical lenses that each bring with them to a text and the use of small group discussions around interpretative questions and skills during class time. After small group conversations, students often must report on something that they most appreciated learning from another classmate. I have found that this practice creates a more collegial atmosphere and lifts up students who may not typically feel led to speak. In conversations around religion, hearing from one another and learning from another perspective is invaluable. Culture today seems to be losing this ability, and the classroom should not become yet another echo chamber.