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This article proposes a pedagogy based upon congregational studies to further the contextualization of education in both seminary and congregational settings. Christian congregations and theological seminaries comprise two overlapping yet distinctive “communities of practice” in which teaching and learning the Bible constitutes a primary, even defining, activity. The article describes a seminary course that used congregational studies as its pedagogical framework. It then outlines eight features of a pedagogy based upon congregational studies, concluding with a brief assessment of the dangers and opportunities for a more contextual approach to education in seminary and congregational educational settings.     

THE UNIVERSITY PASTORATE MOVEMENT∗

Building on the author's experience in leadership development in Roman Catholic parishes and recent work in the field of congregational studies, this essay examines the religious educator's role as a catalyst in the transformation of the culture of the local church. As an alternative to an instructional/schooling approach to religious education, the paper proposes a model of congregational education directed specifically to the transformation of the corporate life of the faith community by its members working together to reshape concrete behaviors, structures, and roles in order to carry out the church's mission and ministry.

This argument is developed through a discussion of foundational assumptions about the significance of congregational life for the church's educational mission and a brief case study illustrating central dynamics in the process of congregational education. The paper concludes with observations about the range of skills required of congregational educators, especially their ability to understand and evaluate the complex dynamics of congregational life in a disciplined way.     

Meeting health,mental health,and housing needs of older adults: A case review of the congregational social work education initiative

This article presents results from an innovative social work field education program, which prepares BSW and MSW students to work in interdisciplinary teams with congregational nurses as they serve persons age 55+ or older. The Congregational Social Work Education Initiative is a field education project based on an applied interdisciplinary model, whereby social work students at the graduate and undergraduate level partner with congregational nurses to serve at-risk members of congregations and religious affiliated organizations (RAOs). Students and nurses provide free health, mental health, and wellness services to address individual, family, group, and community health, mental health, and housing issues. Funded by community health foundations, it trains BSW and MSW students for professional practice in congregational and community religious affiliated settings through interdisciplinary and collaborative methods. Information on the development of the model and case illustrations are provided so other social work educational programs and congregational nurse programs might duplicate its success.     

Instruments for Determining Reaction of Students,Parents, and Teachers to the Program of a Regional Hebrew High School

The rabbi-educator relationship is a major concern to the Jewish educator. The quality of the working relationship fluctuates from synagogue to synagogue. In some congregations it is excellent. However, in most synagogues the rabbi-educator working relationship is far from satisfactory. Many talented and creative educators have left congregational education in order to escape the tension and frustration associated with congregational school administration.     

Upending the Grammar of the Conventional Religious School

This article provides an overview and analysis of a relatively new phenomenon: congregational schools that have altered the conventional grammar of schooling, either through their structural arrangements or through their curricular approaches. Five pre-bar/bat mitzvah models are discussed: family schools, schools as communities, informal / experiential programs, afterschool/day care programs, and those that deconstruct and reconstruct the conventional model. In addition, three curricular innovations are examined: project based learning, learning organized around the interests and abilities of the students, and Hebrew Through Movement. Also considered are the factors that are necessary to the survival and proliferation of these new structures and curricular arrangements.     

Dialogical aspects of reflective learning in ministerial work

This article examines reflective and reflexive aspects of practice in the area of ministerial work. Through an analysis of the narrative accounts of four Reform and Conservative rabbis in Israel, the author focuses on how congregational rabbis acquire the skill of attentiveness in their daily professional lives. One of the salient themes to emerge in research conducted on models of rabbinic leadership was the theme of ‘careful listening’. Rabbis in non-Orthodox congregations in Israel achieve success through their ability to perceive the needs of individual congregants and learn the local culture of the communities in which they work, and by constantly assessing and reassessing the unmet needs of the broader community. The article concludes with a discussion of how a technical rationality model of learning has dominated modern rabbinical school curricula and suggests that by incorporating reflexive professional development courses, students could be better prepared for the ministry.     

College choice in the church-affiliated sector of higher education: The influence of congregational cultural orientation

The relationship between a Midwest church-affiliated institution and its supporting congregations provides an opportunity to investigate part of the sociological environment within which a college-choice decision is made for students of a strong denominational orientation. Applying the local-cosmopolitan dichotomy used by previous researchers, this study hypothesized that the cultural orientation of local congregational leaders reflects norms that are aligned to congregational enrollment support or nonsupport for the denominational university. The findings demonstrate that the concepts of cultural, social, and ecclesiological localism-cosmopolitanism are helpful in explaining an individual's support for the denominational university. Also, differing cultural orientations among congregational leaders are related to the degree to which the congregation supports the university with the enrollment of youth.     

THE COMMUNITY THEORY AND THE JEWISH SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Almost no literature in the academic field of Jewish education exists that studies congregational rabbis as teachers of adults. This article seeks to contribute to filling the gap in the extant literature base. Using portraiture, the study describes and analyzes the aims of rabbinic teaching of adults in a synagogue setting. The findings suggest that regularly facilitating learners' intellectual and religious development, democratically guiding their communities' evolution through an emphasis on learning, and collaboratively joining their congregants in shaping the construction of personal and communal Jewish narratives are central aims of congregational rabbinic teaching of adults.     

Let's lunch and learn: Professional knowledge sharing in teachers' lounges and other congregational spaces

Teachers' lounges are often thought as places that breed negativity. This two-year ethnography conducted in the United States explored teachers' interactions within teachers' lounges and congregational spaces. This article discusses that an important occurrence in these spaces, professional knowledge sharing, took place instead of perpetual negativity which is the common perception. I present suggestions for how teacher education programs can highlight the importance of congregational spaces, while providing a more complete account of them.     

Teacher Professional Development in Congregational Settings 1

This article describes the impact of sustained professional development programs in two Jewish congregational schools. This research suggests that contrary to common assumptions, part-time teachers in Jewish congregational schools will invest time in professional development when it is of high quality, interactive and engaging and based at their school. These programs have significantly affected teacher collegiality, knowledge of pedagogy and Jewish content, and reflection about teachers' own teaching practices and practice of Judaism. The role of the educational leader is a salient feature of the program success.     

KNOWING GOD: REVELATION AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

The author describes a public vision and task for religious education and Christian religious education. Using personal experience and the insights of ethnographic research and congregational studies, the author describes how religious education is grounded in a community, its story, and its practices. He illustrates how religious education often conflicts with the education that occurs in public life, and raises questions about how individuals negotiate the differences and build a religious education that nurtures public life and public conversation.     

Between science and common science. Nonformal education for village health workers in Kenya

To help the 50,000 people living in Saradidi improve their community, the Anglican Church of the Province of Kenya of originally organized a health project in 1979 as the cornerstone of an extensive rural development effort to reach people through parish and congregational committees. The Saradidi Health Program intended to reduce the high rates of infant and child mortality and morbidity by directly involving the community in the provision of its own health care and the improvement of its quality of life. Each village elected its own health and development commitee and later selected volunteers to work in the community. Training was given to those selected to organize teir communities for the health program--the Nyamrerwa or Village Health Helpers (VHHS). Their task was not simply to provide information about appropriate health practices, but the much more difficult 1 of spanning the 2 worlds of medical science and traditional beliefs and practices. Over the course of several years, the experience at Saradidi proved that these 2 worlds need not be in competition. They could be complementary provided that the VHHS were capable of integrating their newly-acquired knowledge with the common sense of centuries-old practice. An evaluation of the program has shown that the VHHS have now begun to accoomplish their task of influencing the practices and changing the attitudes of the people in Saradidi. The nonformal approach is effective because it involves the whole community in the process of promoting good health. The VHHS act as a catalyst, bringing together useful information and practices from the outside and making them part of the community's own information and practices.     

Laugh so you don't cry: teachers combating isolation in schools through humour and social support

The structure of the teaching profession leaves teachers professionally and personally isolated from other adults. This article will discuss the results of an ethnography focused on the rare informal social interaction that occurs among teachers in a United States’ school, with a particular focus on the lunch hour. Specifically, this article explores the reciprocal nature of support provided within self-generated congregational spaces. This study demonstrates the positive use of humour in combating stress in the teaching profession, and how these relationships support Hochschild's (1983) theory of emotional labour.     

THE LANDSCAPE OF JEWISH EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

I

The Conservative congregational school represents an attempt to fashion an educational program based on a particular understanding of the nature of Judaism and the meaning of Jewish experience and existence. The conceptual framework for the programs and purposes of these schools draws from three complementary matrices— the People of Israel, Torah and God—and their delicate interplay. The cognitive and behavioral concomitants of these central ideas form the foundations of curricular development for the schools of Conservative congregations.     

Teaching Through Personal Stories: Congregational Rabbis and Teaching Adults

As educators, synagogue rabbis frequently devote a great deal of time to teaching adults. Yet little empirical research exists about what they do. This study describes and analyzes the teaching of three congregational rabbis who have excellent reputations as teachers of adults. In particular, it focuses on how these rabbis incorporate personal stories into their teaching and examines the ways that sharing such stories is integral to their teaching approaches. Rabbis who use stories in their teaching potentially occupy a crucial place in the Jewish identity development of their adult learners. This study offers rabbinical seminaries recommendations for how to incorporate the results of the research into their curriculum.     

THE TEACHING OF JEWISH MUSIC

This article deals with a recurrent situation in congregational schools, in which parents lobby for a reduction in the number of days per week of instruction. Following two similar studies by Joseph Reimer, the article utilizes the theoretical construct of a “social drama” as a frame for the recounting and analysis of a recent occurrence of this conflict at Kehillat Lomdim. In contrast to the cases brought by Reimer, this congregation convened a task force to study the underlying educational issues related to Hebrew instruction; the task force arrived at a decision that was both educationally sound and satisfying to both sides of the debate.     

Deliberative Democratic Theological Education: A Proposal for Youth Ministry That Builds Peace

Abstract

Drawing on research in deliberative pedagogy, this paper will develop in depth one piece of a larger project that envisions peace education as an essential component of youth ministry. The paper proposes a sacred pedagogy that engages theological concepts through deliberative, democratic discussion, teaching young people skills in engaging across difference as well as habits of deliberative theological thinking for a lifetime of spiritual growth. The specific example of engaging the problem of how we image Jesus will serve as an illustration of the potential for a series of curricular materials for use in congregational youth settings.     

THE IMAGERY OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Communities of faith express in their worship the values and assumptions that shape their worldview. When those values and assumptions contradict or are in conflict with the values and assumptions of the surrounding culture, the act of worship can become an occasion for resistance against the hegemonic domination of that culture. Worship in the context of congregational life awakens peoples discontent, fosters skepticism toward prevailing assumptions, clarifies contradictions at the heart of the community's discontent, articulates ethical alternatives, and develops readiness for struggle and change. This research inquires into whether and how a congregation as a worshiping community functions as a community of resistance against the assumptions of modernity.     

Resilience in Community: Relational Learning in a Small Congregational School

ABSTRACT

This case study is an investigation of the teaching and learning of a teacher in the congregational school of which the author was the director, whose classroom practice was strongly reflective of relational learning theory. It explores the pathways through which this teacher was in turn supported in learning and teaching by relationships with peers, supervisors, and teen madrichim in the Relational Learning Community in which the faculty participated. Most significantly, this study examines how such support provided a source of resilience during a period of intense stress and disconnect, and explores the wider implications for teacher growth and retention.     

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

This article explores mentoring as a means of promoting spiritual growth for women in a congregational setting. The role and activities of a mentor are surveyed with special attention to utilization in business circles and in educational environments. The author proposes four likely components of a mentoring relationship. A change in the one mentored is the desired outcome of such a relationship. In women this change, or transformation, has more to do with finding one's true self than in achieving a new identity. Input from a psychoanalytic perspective offers another way to look at the process of transformation in mentoring. The author identifies ways she has experienced or observed mentoring in the church and imagines how it might look if used as an educational strategy.