Rethinking the Christian Studies Classroom: Reflections on the Dynamics of Teaching Religion in Southern Public Universities

Abstract

An extended set of conversations conducted by three religious studies faculty teaching at large public universities in the Southern United States spurred these reflections on how their institutional locations inflected issues such as the cultural expectations students bring to the classroom, how these expectations interact with the evolving priorities of religious studies departments, and how these factors affect the balance among the various subfields of religious studies and theology that make up such departments.What cultural expectations do students from particular places bring to religious studies classrooms in public universities? How do these expectations interact with the evolving priorities of religious studies departments? How should these factors affect the balance among the various subfields of religious studies and theology that make up such departments? Surely these are questions that many kinds of teachers can benefit from pondering, and we do not claim to address them in any comprehensive or authoritative way in this article. Nor do we recommend approaching the practical challenges these questions pose with any one-size-fits-all formula. Nevertheless we believe we can contribute useful insights to discussions of these interlocking issues. Through a series of structured conversations we came to pose the above questions in sharp relief and deepen our reflections about them -starting from our shared teaching experiences in public universities in the Southern United States. The purpose of this article is to share some of the insights we gained.In the summer of 2005, the Wabash Center for Teaching Theology and Religion convened its first Colloquy for Mid-Career Faculty Teaching Religion at Colleges and Universities. Among the twenty participants and staff, the three of us (Sandie Gravett of Appalachian State University, Mark Hulsether of the University of Tennessee, and Carolyn Medine of the University of Georgia), found ourselves telling similar stories in discussions on teaching despite our significant differences in training and scholarly specializations. The common link appeared obvious. We all worked in large public universities in the Southeast. During the course of many meetings over a three year period -both in the original colloquy and a follow-up project in which the three of us worked with colleagues from our home institutions -we discovered that our teaching landscape shaped our experience as instructors in ways that were distinctive, IN THE CLASSROOM Conversation

Exploring the Christian Teachings on Immigration in the Social Studies Classroom

“…In regard to the teaching of Christianity specifically, Gravett, Hulsether, & Medine, (2011) discuss the realities of teaching about Christianity in the southern public university and describe the way that the Christian faith has specifically shaped the lives and societies of many of their students in that setting. They highlight the importance for educators to ensure that in teaching about Christianity that they do not make the concepts so obtuse to not relate back to the students' own lives and experiences.…”

Through Literacy to Fluency: Reading in the Religious Studies Classroom

“…Whatever they mean by it becomes invested with the authority of the students' own conceptions and then gets reinforced by their larger social networks. ()…”

(Inadvertently) Instructing Missionaries in (Public University) World Religions Courses: Examining a Pedagogical Dilemma, its Dimensions, and a Course Section Solution

“…Much has been written about how scholars ought to appropriately teach world religions courses (Ramey ; Ramey ; Southard and Payne ; Locklin, Tiemeier, and Vento ; Patton, Robbins, and Newby ; and many others). Much has also been written about the best ways to approach students from conservative, evangelical backgrounds (Simmons ; Trelstad ; Smith ; and Gravett, Hulsether, and Medine ). However, the literature is quiet on this particular dilemma: the question of how to teach students who enroll in public university world religions courses as part of their personal missionary‐training programs.…”