Humility, the keystone of the virtues in the Christian spiritual tradition, has been dismissed by modern philosophers, critiqued by feminist theologians, and overpowered by our industrial and technological culture. The incorporation of agricultural experience in Christian higher education presents the opportunity to cultivate anew the virtue of…

In the UK, inspectors are asked to judge how far schools support children's spiritual development. Church schools are subject to the differing expectations of a dual inspection system which introduces a tension between the Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) prioritization of control and performativity and the SIAMS (Statutory…

Teacher education has long been a major mission of Christian colleges. Many Christian as well as public universities have teacher education programs accredited by CAEP, a national organization. Self-study for improvement is important. CAEP promises high standards, but when examined more closely, the CAEP system works at cross-purposes with teacher…

Western (and Christian) education is an intellectualised, dualistic tradition which downplays the role of the body and emotions and thus the importance of practice in learning. Insights from neuroscience and James K. A. Smith's reflections on Christian college pedagogy introduce a consideration of the role of affectivity in learning, which…

Music offers to language teachers benefits in terms of language exposure, cultural information, and multisensory appeal. This article describes how the use of music videos offers potential for exploring spiritual and moral concerns, especially as the intersections between words, sounds, and images are explored. Exploring how (in this case)…

College is a time of exploration for students. College students who are Christian may also engage in exploration of God's call on their lives, a discernment of their vocation. One pedagogical technique that can help us help students explore vocation is service-learning. To better understand their vocation, students need to understand themselves…

Jesus's blessing of the "poor in spirit," who recognize their dependence on God, suggests that an awareness of human limitation is necessary for wise living. How can the Christian educator teach for spiritual poverty? Both Parker Palmer and Richard Kearney, from their different disciplinary and denominational perspectives, argue for the central…

Although widespread consensus exists that the integration of Christian worldview, faith and learning lies at the heart of effective Christian education, such an aspiration has not always resulted in the embodiment of worldview principles within Christian educational contexts. In response to this dissonance, an alternative approach to integration…

This article presents Smith's response to Elmer John Thiessen's review of his book "Desiring the Kingdom." Before attending to specific concerns, the author first begins with an affirmation that he shares with Thiessen: He, too, found "worldview thinking" to be revolutionary. He said he is a whole-hearted worldview convert, as it were. Smith…

Schools should lead students in learning to fulfil their many vocations in life. To do this, they must ask, what learning is of most value? The criteria employed to select this rather than that educational experience will reflect the answer given. But what is learned is inextricably linked with how it is learned. Though there are many differing…

Contemporary connotations of "teacher" don't do justice to Jesus' educating activity. "Worldview" understood as a comprehensive social environment helps us to perceive the scale of Jesus' struggle in his society and also Christian teachers' struggle in their settings. Jesus is Israel's teacher in a deeper way than we hear by the term "teacher."…

This article investigates the long-held assumption that Christian educators need their own curriculum orientation. Seminal documents published by Philip Jackson and Harro Van Brummelen in the nineties are analyzed against the background of a brief history of the field of curriculum theory. The author accepts Jackson's conclusion that curriculum…

This paper draws on John Fisher's formative definition of spiritual health as comprising good relationships within four domains (the personal, the communal, the environmental and the transcendental) and uses the operationalization of these constructs proposed by Francis and Robbins (2005). Comparisons are made between the responses of five groups…

This paper aims to offer a "liveable" theology for the Christian teacher; that is, it seeks to articulate a theology of teaching in contemporary contexts which can serve the spiritual and faith development of Christian teachers in their vocation. A first section gives some brief account of "teaching" in the Christian theological tradition,…

Desiring to fulfill heir institution's mission to integrate faith and learning, faculty members at Christian colleges and universities often face a special challenge. While they attempt to jettison the anti-intellectual label often associated with evangelicals through their scholarship, they are also pursuing excellence in their roles as spiritual…