The Candler School of Theology at Emory University have been shaping their theological courses around context for decades, from a Supervised Ministry program initiated in 1969 through to their current Contextual Education curriculum. Written by 14 faculty from Candler, Contextualizing Theological Education explores the experiences for students, faculty and churches, and the affect on curriculum, classrooms and pedagogy, when contextual education is the primary framework for theological education.
The first five chapters consider broad issues of context and contextualization. A contextualized education will help students develop skills and practice of theological reflection; i.e., integrating personal experience with the study of Christian tradition and analysis of ecclesial and social contexts. This follows the tradition of pioneer contextual theologian Shoki Coe, who called for the global church to move beyond merely translating Western theology and attend to serious contextualization; to be incarnated in but not incarcerated by culture. When students work in community or church placements, they may feel that life, study, ministry and commuting can be fragmented and overextended. But the advantages for integrating ministry with study are invaluable, and it helps others in a course including teachers to stay grounded and relevant to contemporary ministry. Finally, there is a sharp analysis of black theology’s appeal for resisting white oppression while marginalizing their black sisters and mothers. It is a challenge to consider who is excluded in our teaching and scholarship.
The second section of six chapters reflects on specific implications in coursework. The writers invite us to look over their shoulders and evaluate the contextual learning they facilitated. We travel to Honduras and Mexico and hear students reflect on how significant it is to travel and learn out of their comfort zone. We see an Old Testament teacher bringing the world of pop culture and movies into the class. A biblical studies lecturer reflects on “exegesis as an ecclesial practice” and his commitment to prepare students for faithful hermeneutics with multiple assessment tasks, generous and speedy feedback, and empowerment to help students find their own voice and not rely on commentaries.
The most interesting forms of assessment were from “Images of Christ in World Christianity”, where students learned from non-Western theology and artistic expressions of Christ. They responded with either an essay or artistic assessment. One student’s sculpture of a black Christ with a mirror invited viewers to see Christ as both black and as themselves, or a “Christ chair” invited reflection on Christ embracing you and bending to help.
The best chapter evaluating the practice of teaching and its successes and difficulties was “Christian Practices and Feminist Theological Formation”. This course explored the doctrine of God with women writers – ancient and contemporary – and invited students to develop and teach Christian practices related to the weekly reading. Students led the class in prayer and lectio divina, friendship bracelets and a nature walk. When this was not always done well, the teachers realized they needed more scaffolding and support to meet the learning goals. It is helpful when teachers reflect honestly on teaching excellence as well as needed improvement.
The essence of contextual theological education is exploring where God and ministry fits in community, cultural and global context. It invites students to reflect on what theology means for them personally, but also appropriate mission responses to needy neighbourhoods and ecological crisis. It is not about sacrificing the intellectual rigor of the academy, but letting messy ecclesial contexts and public/political issues inform and shape theological study. Contextualizing Theological Education appeals not for individual playful experiments with individual courses, but for contextual education to permeate the whole curriculum.
I appreciated the prompting to develop my teaching of a Congregational Transformation class. The book gave me ideas about how to move beyond the academic class with congregational excursions, to teach skills of social analysis and evaluating case studies, to work carefully on team teaching, and to join my students in an authentic journey of learning.
Contextualizing Theological Education is a useful text for theological schools and faculty wanting to sharpen their contextual focus, or for anyone considering the future of theological education in context, community and mission.
This review was originally published in Journal of Adult Theological Education 10:2 (2013)
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