This paper considers online pedagogy in relation to Christian adult learning and asks how this might be interpreted by theological educators. The online community of inquiry is proposed as one recognized pedagogical approach and illustrated by reference to a continuing professional development programme for online adult learners across the church…

This article raises a number of theological reservations about one contemporary Christian approach to teaching and learning. For many years David Smith and Trevor Cooling have played a leading role in demonstrating how Christian beliefs and theological themes might be integrated into classroom practice across the curriculum. But despite the good…

In this rebuttal to Sean Whittle), Cooling and Smith opine that: 1) Whittle's key concern is with discerning the appropriate relationship between theology and education in the context of a Christian school, 2) Whittle's criticism of our work, is that it fails to achieve a proper relationship between theology and education, and 3) Whittle…

Although much done in the name of discipleship and theological education pronounces lofty goals, such as movement from orthodoxy to orthopraxy, in many cases mere doctrinal assent is assumed to reflect deep change. An analysis of discipleship, worldview theory, and certain cognitive approaches to education suggests that worldview-level…

A survey and analysis of four major research paradigms--positivism, postpositivism, critical theory and constructivism--reveal that all have been applied effectively in recent theological inquiry. Although these paradigms might resemble worldviews to some extent, they are not so all-encompassing. Rather, they are essentially matrices of deeply…

Most programmes of adult Christian learning today expect students to engage in theological reflection. The theoretical underpinning for this is often drawn from secular models of reflective practice, made "theological" by the subject matter for reflection. This article aims to establish an explicitly theological basis for the use of the metaphor…

Thomas Hebert and Matthew T. McBee's (2007) recent study of gifted university students examines how an honors program can function as a community for social, intellectual, and psychological growth. In particular, they find that honors programs offer advantageous support for gifted students in navigating social isolation, in questioning traditional…

This article presents Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as a humanizing ecclesial and educational practice. NVC is a four-step process of communication designed to facilitate empathy and honesty between individuals and groups. Through an interdisciplinary dialogue with Reformed theology, this article argues that NVC is one concrete means of living as…

Discussion about the integration of faith and learning has become a common theme among Christian colleges and universities. Although it has fostered a robust academic dialogue, I contend the language of "integration of faith and learning" needs to be discarded. My conclusion, however, stems not from recent critiques of the integration model.…

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,…