CHRISTIAN FAITH FORMATION: PEDAGOGIES & PRACTICES (ED-2225)

SPRING 2024

This course provides a practically minded orientation to Christian faith formation, paying close attention to a diversity of pedagogies and a variety of practices that can encourage growth in faith and Christian living for all ages.  We concentrate upon:
• significant contexts and theological themes for Christian education,
• pedagogical theories and practical strategies for teaching, learning and fostering lifelong faith formation effectively,
• mutually correlative relationships between faith formation in community and a daily life of discipleship.
We consider questions like:  Why does the church value faith formation as vital to its understanding of mission?"  Who is faith formation "for,” primarily?  What should the "contents" of a program of faith formation be?  What can neuroscience teach us about faith formation?  What challenges and insights are presented to pedagogies and practices of faith formation by differences in age, culture, and social location?  What gets in the way of faith formation?  What makes for an effective teaching/facilitating?  How can participation in a program of faith formation impact the ways we understand discipleship – both our own and that of a Christian community?  This course is offered as a seven-week intensive for the first half of the semester. Meets Mondays from 12:40 - 3:55 pm. [30 Max Enrollment]

FALL 2024

This course provides a practically minded orientation to Christian faith formation, paying close attention to a diversity of pedagogies and a variety of practices that can encourage growth in faith and Christian living for all ages.  We concentrate upon:
• significant contexts and theological themes for Christian education,
• pedagogical theories and practical strategies for teaching, learning and fostering lifelong faith formation effectively,
• mutually correlative relationships between faith formation in community and a daily life of discipleship.
We consider questions like:  Why does the church value faith formation as vital to its understanding of mission?"  Who is faith formation "for,” primarily?  What should the "contents" of a program of faith formation be?  What can neuroscience teach us about faith formation?  What challenges and insights are presented to pedagogies and practices of faith formation by differences in age, culture, and social location?  What gets in the way of faith formation?  What makes for an effective teaching/facilitating?  How can participation in a program of faith formation impact the ways we understand discipleship – both our own and that of a Christian community? Meets Mondays from 2:10 - 5:00 pm. [30 Max Enrollment]