Theological Education

Africanisation refers to a renewed focus on Africa, a reclaiming of what has been taken from Africa, and forms part of a post-colonialist and an anti-racist discourse. Africanising the curriculum involves developing scholarship and research established in African intellectual traditions. The idea is that this education will produce people who are not alienated from their communities and are sensitive to the challenges facing Africa. However, the idea of Africanisation is highly contested and may evoke a false or at least a superficial sense of ‘belonging,’ further marginalisation, or it may emphasise relevance. This article discusses the possibility of Africanisation and takes further the argument of Graham Duncan of how Africans can reclaim their voices in the space of theological education. It unpacks the idea of Africanisation within higher education in general, examining the rationale behind the calls for Africanisation, followed by a discussion on the implications of Africanisation for theological education.

For many reasons Christian higher education institutions struggle to embrace diversity. Diversity is a relationship of mutuality, where differences are engaged and respected. This study aimed to understand diversity management via the institutional culture to understand how these interactions of dealing with diversity form and prepare future religious leaders. These issues are highlighted through two case studies conducted in the main-line Protestant tradition. Diversity was represented in issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation, which have an interlocking nature. Findings suggest a colour-blind theology in one institution, perpetuating surface change, and a lack of structure, alignment and capacity in diversity in the other institution. In both institutions diversity was not linked positively to ministerial identity formation to make a significant difference. This study highlights the lack of consciousness of the way in which institutions are organised, which then holds direct consequences for students, identity and transformation.

The wide acceptance and maturation of the theology of missio Dei is the most important development in the theology of mission in recent times. It introduced a radically new understanding of mission and theology, and flowing from that a re-appropriation of ecclesiology. Mission studies are also characterised by a new appreciation of mission from the margins: liberation theology and the associated discourses on decoloniality, deep engagement in contextuality and the explosion of missional ecclesiology (missional church). This apostolic orientation of the church is of the utmost importance in the reflection on the future of theology.
This research attends to the postcolonial discourse as an important critique of colonialism and understands the emancipation of Africanised or decolonised theological education as an inevitable and positive development. Contextual sensitivity, attention to diverse power structures and a predisposition to appreciate diversity open imaginative possibilities for theological education. This leads to the argument that decolonial African theology must confront issues of biblical hermeneutics. The proposal of this research is that missional hermeneutic is an excellent starting point. It describes the contours of a missional hermeneutic, attending to mission as central to the Biblical story, the meaning of mission and the conviction that reading Scriptures constitutes an essential part of missional praxis. Missional hermeneutic is a centring vision and purpose for theological education. The argument is for a missional curriculum that defines a centre that unifies the various disciplines, one that places mission and missiology at the heart of theological education.

Second, I shall identify two generic styles of theological reflection papers, the pastoral reflection paper and the systematic reflection paper. Third, I shall follow a student writer's process of writing a pastoral reflection paper and constructing a theology as she writes. Finally, I shall propose a pedagogical bridge to help students move from writing pastoral reflection papers in a personal voice to writing systematic reflection papers in an academic voice, as well as offer some concluding reflections on teaching theological reflection by reflecting on writing as a theological practice.

The past decade has seen rapid and substantial changes in teaching and learning practices in Australian higher education institutions. Web-based technologies are increasingly used to offer flexible and online learning to both on-campus and distance students. These changes are also occurring in theological education institutions. There are however, concerns expressed in the theological education sector about the suitability and efficacy of distance or online learning for studying theology. These concerns tend to focus around the concept of "formation" which is generally considered to be an essential component of theological education. This article explores these concerns around distance and online learning and examines them in the context of a broader debate around the purpose and goals of theological education. It suggests that two broad approaches to developing formational distance and online theological education can be discerned in the literature. These focus on the importance of understanding the learning environment and understanding the learners and their contexts. It also considers whether theories and practices from the wider higher education sector might be relevant in the theological education context, and points to the need for further data collection and research in the area.

The world of the Old Testament is one many students see as a “strange land” (Rodd, 2001). For those who teach the Old Testament as scripture, this is a significant problem, for that land and its people are part of our faith story—something we need to identify with. The aim of this article, then, is to show how memory research might provide a way forward in helping students identify with scripture. Leveraging false memory research in particular, it is argued that by carefully embedding sensory features within storytelling we can facilitate a pseudo-experience, thereby helping students to “see” themselves in biblical events. This seeing, in turn, accomplishes meaningful and long-term identification, for it shifts students’ memory of biblical events from the perspective of an observer to that of a participant. The book of Deuteronomy is used to show how this can be put into practice.

The number of students from other religious traditions is increasing in Christian seminaries in the United States. However, seminaries have different motivations, visions, and rationales that determine whether and how they accept these students. The purpose of this article is to examine how seminaries approach this matter and what issues follow. The author suggests that the revised framework of Van der Ven and Ziebertz's models of religious education (the monoreligious, multireligious, and interreligious models) can be particularly helpful in theorizing the current context of seminaries that are becoming multireligious. This article then explores the challenges that each model encounters and finds that those challenges, or conundrums, are closely related to the tensions between values such as openness, educational justice, and institutional identity.

How do seminarians move from imagining ministry to embodying pastoral imagination?  Stories gathered from seminarians in their final year of study show the complexity of shifting from classroom work, which foregrounds theory and intellectual imagination, to a more embodied, relational and emotionally intense engagements of ministry.  Stories about learning ministry articulate a process we’re calling the birth of pastoral imagination. New ministers test their use of knowledge acquired in classroom and books within the limits of actual ministry situations. They become overwhelmed by multiple variables in situations where they must make choices and act. These moments of action are fraught with risk and responsibility for the outcomes. Articulation and theological reflection are formative for students learning the practice of ministry. Implications for theological education include making greater “use of knowledge” in ministry practice and “use of practice” in classrooms.  Points of crisis in the student stories raise additional questions about how some complications and interruptions to the “birth process” may present tragic consequences.

This paper claims that programs in prisons are challenging the very who, where, how, and what of theological education. The author draws on research from the fields of pedagogy and prison studies, nearly a decade of experience teaching master's level seminary‐style classes in prison, and the findings of a two‐year cohort of prison educators convened by the Association of Theological Schools for their Educational Models and Practices Project. Addressing displacement as a learning strategy, classroom diversity, the use of student experience, narrative grading strategies, and classroom ritual, the author shows how the teaching strategies emerging from prison classrooms provide vibrant models for the theological academy at large.

Theological education has traditionally required students to come together in 'real' (and often residential) communities and to learn in classroom settings with face-to-face teaching. Until recently, this model alone has been thought to provide the opportunity for the development of personal knowledge and the formation of character necessary for those engaged in professional ministry. This paper outlines a research project on the use of the web in theological education, using an introductory course in biblical studies, offered for the first time this year in an online environment through the University of Exeter. The course is designed to enable the creation of a virtual community where personal theological formation is fostered. This paper describes the design of the course, analyzing the complex competencies required in terms of goals and outcomes, and identifying issues for further research. It provides some preliminary results, with an eye to making recommendations for future curriculum development.

This paper is divided into two parts and is concerned with the need to revisit contemporary concepts of the Holy Spirit, particularly in African Caribbean theological discourse. Firstly, it explores the colonial context in which the Car- ibbean Church’s concept of the Holy Spirit was formalized. The argument advanced here is that within the context of colonial religio-cultural oppression and the intense “othering” of the African person, pneumatologically oriented African Caribbean religiosity (and spirituality), has simultaneously been a place for reformation in the context of a colonial Christianity and the driving force behind African Caribbean forms of resistance and self-affirmation. Secondly, it argues for a “hermeneutic of embrace” where theology within the African Caribbean religio-cultural milieu will explore the continuities between the elusive nature of the Holy Spirit within Scripture, Christian history, and the very African religiosity particularly expressed in African Caribbean religio-cul- tural productions. Such an exploration would combat a Western theological tendency, as it always has done, to dismiss what are, clearly, powerful resources for Christian pneumatology.

The period 2002-2012 saw remarkable developments in multifaith education at American theological schools. Looking ahead, multifaith education in theological schools is poised to enter a new phase of broad engagement and development. This essay focuses on three aspects of the practice of multifaith education in seminaries. It first presents a brief historical overview of the initiatives and institutions that pioneered multifaith education in theological schools. It then summarizes findings from surveys, reports, and collegial gatherings about the pedagogy of multifaith education. Finally, eight questions for practitioners of multifaith education seminaries to explore in the future are offered.

The article reflects on the challenges of theological education in the 21st century and in Africa. Reputation, impact, success and funding have become the driving forces of the modern university. However, we are living in the 21st century and in Africa with a subsequent frame of reference that is holistic and faith-based. The article therefore argues for a multi- and transdisciplinary approach towards the nature of a university and recognition of the unique contribution theological education can contribute. Due to the inherently cooperative nature of theological scholarship, theological education could be able to avoid the extremes of the Scylla and the Charybdis, that is, fideism and secularisation, and therefore be able to survive at an academic institution. Both sectarianism and scientism should be avoided. Theological education in Africa needed to travel the same difficult road of theological faculties in Europe in the previous century.

The aims of theological education include not only cognitive goals but also goals related to personal formation. These 'affective' goals are typically difficult to define, but a taxonomy developed by Barbara L. Martin and Charles M. Reigeluth provides categories that are appropriate and useful in the professional formation of adult learners. Understanding affective goals related specifically to the aims of theological education can help instructors design and teach these 'fuzzy' areas of the curriculum more intentionally; and students, who can tailor these outcomes to their individual circumstances, will find their personal formation less mystifying. This article explores the development of appropriate learning outcomes for the curriculum as a whole and for individual modules within a course of study, and it concludes by providing an example of instructional design for affective learning using a course in Film and Theology.

Words do not carry meanings. John Locke’s notion that people are blank slates is misleading. What is inside people engages actively with inputs from their environment. If African ‘slates’ are not blank but are different from those of their Western fellows, why are such differences not being catered for in theological education programmes for Pentecostal leaders in Africa? Is the traditional belief by some African ethnicities that God is a force who provides material prosperity being reinforced and perpetuated by contemporary practice of mission? After a consideration of these and other related questions, this author advocates that some western missionaries should minister in Africa using local resources and languages.

New Testament Church Structure – Paul and his Coworkers – An Alternativ Theological Education – A Critique of Catholic Canon Law

This volume contains the English translation of the chapter on the church structure from the author’s “Ethics” as well as essays on Catholic canon law, on the interaction of New Testament missionaries with one another and on theological education.

Zehavit Gross, Lynn Davies, Al-Khansaa Diab (eds.), 2013. Gender, Religion and Education in a Chaotic Postmodern World, Dordrecht: Springer. 392pp. Hbk. ISBN 978-94-007-5269-6. £117. Individual chapter download £19.95.

This collection of 24 chapters presents case studies of formal and informal education from 15 different countries. Its stated aim is “to enhance interdisciplinary discourse on the complex interrelations between gender, religion, and education in today’s world” (p. 1). The premise of the collection is that in what the editors’ term ‘chaotic postmodernity’, social processes including those related to gender, religion and education are fluid and subject to change in the absence of stability. At the same time, the authors investigate the ways in which education actively serves to preserve or change society and its gender regimes (p.3). Conversely, changes to religious and gendered definitions are examined as challenges to education (ibid.). Several case studies explore diaspora and resistance perspectives, and different religious groups within one locality, including Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity.

Why was the name of Seth Mokitimi chosen for the new Southern African Methodist ministerial training insitution? What was his connection and contribution to education in general and theological eduction in particular? Mokitimi is introduced, his significance is described, and his legacy is outlined.

Theological training is in a crisis worldwide. Although the role that Theological Seminaries have fulfilled is acknowledged, there is a growing concern about the ability of these institutions to serve the upcoming generations of Christian leaders. Some warn they may not be well tailored for our post-modern age. Many people feel that the Seminary as an institution is in danger of extinction due to irrelevancy. Seminaries, in general, are perceived as not connecting to the needs of today's church. The Auckland Park Theological Seminary (ATS), whose training is the subject of this research, is not excluded from this concern of the Church for relevant theological training. Many pastors of the AFM of SA are of the opinion that the training offered at the ATS does not effectively train pastors for the ministry. The purpose of this article is to investigate and describe how pastors who studied at the ATS experienced their theological training, as well as to offer guidelines to the Church and the ATS to develop a more effective model for theological training.

Some theologians have adopted ethnographic methods in their theological work. This innovation brings exciting possibilities to theological work for grasping local social situations and structures, although it also brings significant new challenges. As a sociologist who uses ethnographic methods and pays attention to theological orien-tations and their effects, I view the work of ethnography as a powerful methodology filled with both possibilities and perils. The newfound enthusiasm for ethnography among theologians may not yet adequately recognize the hazards involved in the use of qualitative research methods for generating valid empirical observations. Insights generated by participant observation are constantly at risk of imposition of personal presumptions and asserted " truths, " especially when researchers enter the field with strongly held convictions and compelling worldviews. In this paper, a distinction between " found theologies " and " imposed theologies " is offered as a heuristic for conversation in the hope of further substantiating a sound basis for future scholarship.

The question of methodology in theology is sometimes vexed. In this article I seek to offer a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology for theology, utilising the insights of recent French phenomenology. Such a methodology demands that we refrain from making judgments in advance about the kinds of phenomena it is possible to encounter. Not only does this enable us to re-frame questions about the distinctions between philosophy and theology, but it also frees theologians from the problematic requirement of assuming a methodological atheism, particularly as they undertake practical theological research.

Unter Rückgriff auf jüngere französische phänomenologische Arbeiten beschreibt der Beitrag eine hermeneutisch-phänomenologische Methodik für die Theologie. Eine solche Methodik fällt im Voraus kein Urteil darüber, welcher Art von Phänomenen grundsätzlich begegnet werden kann. Dies gestattet es, Fragen zum Verhältnis von Philosophie und Theologie neu zu bestimmen und erlaubt es insbesondere im Zusammenhang praktisch-theologischer Forschung, auf einen problematischen „methodischen Atheismus“ zu verzichten.

Many theological institutions have adopted online educational formats. Proponents of online formats in theological education have typically given pragmatic justifications for the use of online formats while the most vocal detractors of online formats base their objections on theological concerns. This thesis gives a greater theological foundation for the use of online formats in theological education by demonstrating that Paul believed that Christian formation could be effected from a distance via the epistle. Specifically, this thesis shows that Paul held beliefs about the capability of the epistle to act as a personal proxy. Paul therefore displays an educational strategy that utilizes the strengths of both face-to-face education and distance education via the epistle while compensating for weaknesses in each format. Paul's practice would suggest that theological institutions might have the opportunity to do the same: take stock of the strengths and weaknesses of both face-to-face and online formats, utilize the strengths of each, and compensate for the weaknesses of each.

The on-going processes of decline taking place in mainline churches all over the world in combination with developments in the direction of pluralism, consumerism and globalization pose many challenges to the teaching of leadership and administration at Faculties of Theology. Not only do we find much “crisis lan-guage” and even some unease with the use of leadership terminology in theological discourses, but we also see challenges to deeply-held convictions on the traditional understanding of the offices and ministry of the church.

Describes a seminary course on Buddhist and Christian contemplative practices and dialogue. The instructors, an Episcopal priest and a Zen priest, engaged graduate students from mostly Christian backgrounds in daily formal Soto Zen practice (zazen, bowing, chanting, zendo etiquette), and various Christian contemplative practices largely absent from mainline Protestant seminary formation: chanting, singing, the rosary, icons, an Ignatian Exercise, etc. We also discussed three anthologies of Buddhist-Christian dialogue on the topics of prayer, meditation, Jesus, Buddha, religious feminism, and environmentalism. These discussions were seminar-style, in a traditional classroom, and students wrote graded reflection papers on the texts, informed by their experiences of contemplative practice. The instructors describe pedagogical challenges and insights from the process of developing and delivering the course, and the uniquely valuable contributions that contemplative disciplines can make to theological education and ministerial formation.

Despite popular framings about skills for 21st-century jobs, there are few studies of how new media literacies unfold in workplaces, nor of how professional education programs can build on adult learners’ previous experiences to foster effective digital communication practices. We argue that seminaries and divinity schools are a particularly rich context in which to explore these questions. Not only do theological education students represent an unusually wide spectrum of ages compared to graduate programs across professional education, but ministry leadership also lends itself to a sociocultural understanding of digital literacy in which past work-related interpersonal skills are likely to be relevant. This paper revisits data from an interview-based study of theological educators that identified seven Digital Literacies for Ministry. In this new analysis, we use a demands-resources model from workplace psychology to explore and interpret how adult students across career stages engage with these literacies, identifying and illustrating from instructor interview data, and from our own interactions with students, strengths and challenges for each age group. The paper concludes with implications for theological education and other areas of media literacy education in professional schools.

Youth ministry in Kenya is evolving. In the Presbyterian churches in Kenya for instance, new positions for full time youth workers show the increasing emphasis on youth work. However, youth workers in many of the Kenyan churches have not been trained in youth work. If trained, the curriculum of the institutions of training reveals a lacuna in a practical theological approach to youth work. This article argues that effective youth work lies at the nexus of theory, reflection and praxis, hence higher educational institutions and seminaries, in particular, must reconsider youth ministry education curriculum to meet the current state and need of youth in Africa. Using a desk study, this paper reviewed relevant literature regarding youth ministry in Higher education. Although Africa is seen as a young continent, yet many educational institutions lack curriculum that is contextualized for youth ministry. The practical theological approach of Richard Osmer is utilized in this paper by looking at what is happening, that is, the lacuna in youth work curriculum; the literature reveals that even though some form of training is happening, there is a need to further standardize the curriculum to include key courses that are crucial in youth ministry; the interpretive paradigm of “why” considers western approaches in classical theology that entrench youth marginalization in Africa; the study observes that most of the literature in youth ministry is written from a western perspective with only a few African authors, the normative question, that is, “what ought to happen” considers a biblical-theology of youth work from various literature and some South African institutions and the pragmatic question, that is, “the how”, proposes Pan Africa Christian University as a model Kenyan institution that is transforming youth ministry education in Kenya through the various programs they offer in youth ministry.

"Perennial crisis is the normal state of affairs. This would be the dominant impression created if the history of all institutions of higher learning founded by the people called Baptists could be encompassed in one narrative. The casual reader of such a story might conclude that, since some of those institutions still exist in spite of such continual crises, the present crisis in Baptist Higher Education is simply another in the long series of emergencies which, somehow or other, will be resolved in the normal course of events. (c) Doak S. Campbell, Florida State University

This article explores notions of multiculturalism, and how the term is to be understood
practically within theological education, mission and ministry. By taking the author’s Indian heritage as a context, the article traces social and political usage of multiculturalism as an ideology and questions how multiculturalism should effectively be employed by public theologians, within theological seminary programmes in a western context.

Taking the theory and practice of contrastive rhetoric as a point of departure, this article identifies two rhetorical models that inform the teaching and writing of theology at two theological schools where the author directs a joint writing program. The models of correlation and liberation are drawn from the official documents and typical theological/rhetorical practices of each school, exemplified by representative student and faculty writing. In conclusion, the common ground encouraging comparative and cooperative models of writing theological culture(s) is intimated by four concluding motives that warrant wider disciplinary discussion of the rhetorics we have and those we need as religious scholars and theological educators at the beginning of the third millennium.

The initial sections of this paper will provide general information on the organization of the Romanian higher education system and the growth of theological higher education after 1989. I will then look in additional detail at several dimensions of academic theology in Romania which I consider essential to its current role in domestic religious affairs: organizational structure, the expansion of theological specializations, and its relation to religious studies.

The Association of Theological Schools is a membership organization of schools in the United States and Canada that conduct post-baccalaureate professional and academic degree programs to educate persons for the practice of ministry and advanced study of the theological disciplines. The Association's mission is to promote the improvement and enhancement of theological schools to the benefit of communities of faith and the broader public. The Commission on Accrediting of ATS accredits schools that are members of ATS and approves the degree programs they offer. .decades Aleshire briefly surveys the work of the Association and its member schools. related. to. race. and. ethnicity. since. the. middle. of. the. twentieth. century. and. calls. for. the. schools. to. take. a. distinctively. theological. approach. to. this work. After affirming the theological, educational, and regional virtues of.diversity,.Aleshire.calls.on.the.ecclesial.communities.represented.in.the.Association (mainline Protestant, evangelical Protestant, and Roman Catholic/ Orthodox).to.bring.their.distinctive.theological.insights.to.bear.on.the.challenges and benefits of diversity. Beginning with what has been.accomplished. during.the.past.decades,.theological.schools.should.provide.leadership.within.

This phenomenological study explored student value perceptions of religious participation among nontraditional South African distance learners who persisted in theological distance education. Nontraditional students were defined as age 25 or older. Thirteen current or prospective Anglican church leaders, whom identified themselves as Black South Africans, between 25 and 65 years old, working 20 hours or more, and enrolled in the Theological Education by Extension College of Southern Africa at the time of this study, were recruited through Institutional Review Board and site-approved student communications to complete a semi-structured telephone interview concerning their religion-based coping strategies in relation to the role conflict, role overload, and role contagion associated with attending school online while maintaining the responsibilities of their other roles as adults. Given that adult distance learners have a limited amount of time to manage their various roles, exploration led to the question of what resources the local church provided to help distance learners bear the burden of role strain.

Four basic types of churches emerged including the Equipping Church, the Empowering Church, the Engaging Church, and the Endangering Church. However, in examining religion-based coping strategies among South African distance learners, it was discovered that the four women interviewed experienced a deep sense of loneliness in their calling and had to rely almost exclusively on resources outside their local church. These women’s sense of being called alone is both inconsistent with the theoretical framework of role theory and the theological framework of the Anglican Church as expressed by the official Prayer Book. Unlike the student support staff of secular colleges and universities, a distinctly Christian ethic of care allows local churches to take an ecclesiological systems approach to pastoral care when supporting adult distance learners. Future research should pay much closer attention to the impact of gender roles and replication of this study is suggested in a North American context for comparison with female distance learners in the Global South.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for teaching and learning developed to give all students equal access to education and to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. The principles of UDL focus attention on flexible learning environments with multi-modal teaching styles that can accommodate individual learning abilities and strengths. While this model is often considered specifically in relation to the inclusion of students with disability and learning difficulties, the benefits of the UDL approach are wide-reaching. With a focus on atypical learning styles and different methods of feeding back learned information,  UDL is beneficial for all learners and not just those labelled as having a disability or learning difficulties. Despite the documented advantages to all learners of the UDL approach, higher education providers, including Christian institutions, have been slow to adopt the inclusive principles of UDL. This chapter will outline the current protocols for seeking accommodations for students with disability in higher education in Australia as directed in the Disability Standards for Education (DSE). After a summation of the limitations of the current approaches to including students with disability in tertiary education in Australia, this chapter will outline the aims and methodology of the principles of UDL and consider its application in Christian higher education. The final section will give a theological rationale for why the inclusion of students with disability should be a priority for theological education and provide practical examples of what UDL might look like in the theological classroom.

A good amount of theological education literature is being generated on the relationship between training and usefulness to the church. For instance, Tim Dearborn (1995) published a study to determine the characteristics that are important for pastors to have in order to be successful in ministry and based on that to develop a theological education programme that will assist in developing those traits. Jaison Thomas, (2008) also studied the situation in Kerala, India, sampling theological educators, church leaders and theological students to unravel their perspective on what theological education should focus upon in order to be more useful to the church. The present study is similar to these previous efforts in methodology but different in focus. The attempt here is to try and determine a set of characteristics that could describe a good church in Nigeria today and then to establish a set of characteristics that could describe the kind of pastors that are likely to produce such a church. This should then assist theological institutions in Nigeria to decide how to focus their programmes towards the development of such ministers. To achieve this, different sections of the church is surveyed in line with contemporary viewpoints which prioritize the input of the community in the determination of educational programmes and their objectives. To give the study a concrete footing, the ministerial training programme of one institution is selected for evaluation based on the findings of the study. After the introduction, the paper discusses concerns being raised on the issue of relevance of theological education programmes. The findings from the study are then reported and salient issues highlighted and discussed. The paper concludes with a few recommendations that could further enhance the usefulness and relevance of theological education programmes for contemporary ministerial realities.

This study focuses on the relevance of business ethics for contextual theological education in Asia particularly with the background of Protestant traditions. There are professional reasons why business ethics could be worth offering to students who are in preparation to become pastors and prospective church leaders as well as those who are already in those positions. With an area of theological study, such as biblical studies , systematic theology, practical theology, or contextual theology and religious studies, selected as entry point, business ethics learning could be fittingly placed in theological education. Ethical issues which have been widely discussed both in the theological forum and that of business studies are worth developing as key topics of theological business ethics.

What makes Baptist theological education Baptist? I start the article by asking what makes Baptist theology distinct among other theological approaches. After that I present two types of empirical data: the first was gathered in two conversations, which took place among Baptist theological educators in the summer of 2018-one at the workshop of the Consortium of European Baptist Theological Schools (CEBTS) and the other at the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Theological Education Committee. The second set of data comes from research into alumni feedback from Tartu Theological Seminary. In conclusion I suggest five possible characteristics of Baptist identity in regard to the method and content of theological education: • Baptist theological education is rooted in Baptist ecclesiology; • Personal faith and integrity are crucially important aims of theological studies; • Biblical hermeneutics and knowing one's tradition in context are two important areas of study; • Constant openness and search lead to even better understanding; • Baptist theological education is always missional.

This article draws from the insights of Andy Lord's Pentecostal network ecclesiology in order to explain the emergence of Bible institutes and the challenges in theological education. By examining the educational history of the Latin American Bible Institute (LABI), we find how the network paradigm enables us to understand why Bible institutes have fostered the success, growth, and education of Latinos/as. Lord's network paradigm is also applied to the problems of diversity and inclusion in theological education. This article aims to offer insights into how theological education can be renewed through ethnocultural networks and pedagogies of inclusion.

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is significant in many respects, not least in providing an opportunity to revisit Martin Luther's emphasis on the role of the laity. Yet his legacy of a positive and theologically robust understanding of vocation as located in the everyday world as well as the religious life has only sporadically informed the church's understanding of lay ministry, and has frequently been frustrated by clericalism and institutional inertia. By revisiting some modern theologies of the laity from the mid-twentieth century, and in dialogue with a recent Church of England report, this article will suggest some ways in which understandings of lay ministry and discipleship might be renewed. A focus on a learning church, education for discern-ment and a worldly, missional ecclesiology will help to direct the church to a vision of an empowered, confident and theologically literate laity.

This chapter makes some practical recommendations for theological college leaders and educators looking for ways to contribute to student formation in the changing context of Australian theological higher education. It recommends that as an intended holistic outcome of theological education, student formation requires a holistic response which includes the entire institution, the entire learning experience, and addresses the whole person. Drawing on educational research and good practice, the chapter proposes ways in which colleges can intentionally re-contextualize their formation strategies for the new learning contexts in which students are located, and suggests some ways of evaluating the impact of these strategies. It recommends some educational approaches, pedagogies and learning designs known to be particularly effective and beneficial for student formation. And it recommends colleges recognize the natural limits and boundaries of their contribution to student formation and engage in effective partnerships with others to further enhance and extend their impact.

A reflection on education as a theological good approached through a theological aesthetics approach.  Includes methodology for analyzing  urgent global issues gleaned from Pope Francisco's theological method in his Encyclical Laudato Si. Citation: Recommended Citation
González-Andrieu, C. (2016). A Latina Theological Reflection on Education, Faith, Love, and Beauty. Journal of Catholic Education, 19 (2).

This chapter outlines an emerging framework for designing learning to foster spiritual formation of students studying theology in non-campus based learning contexts. It draws on insights from learning theory which suggests that designing for technology-enhanced learning must consider three learning theory perspectives: associative, cognitive and situative. These are explored in the light of insights from theological educators about the nature of theological learning and used to identify kinds of learning that are desirable in theological education. The chapter then considers helpful pedagogical approaches for these kinds of learning, drawing on examples from Learning Design practice in other disciplines and on recommended pedagogies for formational learning in the professions. It concludes by describing how research in the field of Learning Design is being used to guide a design-based research project to develop and trial a framework for Learning Design for formational learning in fully online theological degree courses.