Interreligious Learning and Teaching: A Christian Rationale for a Transformative Praxis
Overview
In view of our current multi-cultural setting—one which constantly exposes us to the beliefs and practices of others—this text advocates understanding other religious traditions in a way that promotes respect and engenders a deeper appreciation of one’s own faith. Speaking primarily to those in education, Kristin Johnston Largen analyzes why and how interreligious learning can be transformative for students. She not only lays the theological groundwork for interreligious study, but also offers advice on facilitating such study.
Largen’s synopsis of interreligious education and suggested action includes contributions by Mary E. Hess and Christy Lohr Sapp. Hess and Sapp provide practical commentary for implementing Largen’s approach. As a group, Largen, Hess, and Sapp create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways.
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- Lays the theological groundwork for the study of world religions
- Offers practical advice on interreligious learning and teaching
- Provides chapter responses and a number of “praxis points”
- Our Interreligious Life in the Twenty-First-Century North American Context
- A Christian Rationale for Interreligious Teaching and Learning
- Outcomes, Strategies, and Assessment for Interreligious Teaching and Learning
- Epilogue
As a liberal arts college professor who teaches Christian theology and ethics in a world religions department, I know firsthand that students benefit immensely from learning religious traditions that are not their own. Moreover, an interreligious society and world such as ours makes such study an ethical must for all citizens and members of all faith traditions. Largen’s timely contribution will assist teachers and administrators to make a compelling case for the inclusion of such study in higher education and seminary settings and provides teachers with practical guidance on how to effectively implement it.
—Kelly Denton-Borhaug, associate professor of religion, Moravian College
Largen, Hess, and Sapp have put their finger on the leading topic in faith formation in the twenty-first century. Not only are all communities, even households, affected by the increasingly interreligious landscape of multicultural America—we still need better tools for engaging the religious other in transformative ways. This text presents comparative theology and other paradigms for interreligious engagement in an engaging and accessible manner. It’s like joining a conversation already going on between Christians on how they have been learning to encounter interreligious contexts in ways that transform their own faith and the faith of those they encounter.
—Clint Schnekloth, lead pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, AR
Navigating religious diversity is one of the most pressing and transformative challenges of our time. Grounded in their rich experience of teaching and ministry, the authors reflect on the practical challenges and possibilities opened up by encounters with followers of other religious paths. This is a thoughtful and discerning guide for all Christians interested in exploring interreligious relationships in light of the best contemporary educational practices.
—Leo D. Lefebure, professor of theology, Georgetown University
In Interreligious Learning and Teaching, Kristin Johnston Largen, Mary E. Hess, and Christy Lohr Sapp recognize the urgent need for interreligious dialogue and have provided a suggestive text, which attends with care to the pluralistic world of religious ‘others’ in which we live. This work calls Christians to engage that world through creative reading of the Bible and the Christian tradition, which ‘walks the line between holy envy and misappropriation’ of another’s tradition. The text will challenge the reader to think in deeper ways about what she or he would appropriate or refuse to appropriate from the teachings and practices of the religious ‘others.’
—Winston D. Persaud, professor of systematic theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary
- Title: Interreligious Learning and Teaching: A Christian Rationale for a Transformative Praxis
- Authors: Kristin Johnston Largen, Mary E. Hess, Christy Lohr Sapp
- Series: Seminarium: The Elements of Great Teaching
- Publisher: Fortress Press
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Pages: 117
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Christianity and other religions › Study and teaching; Theology › Study and teaching
- ISBNs: 9781451488777, 9781451489699, 1451488777, 1451489692
- Resource ID: LLS:NTRRLGSLRNTCHNG
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:58:53Z
Kristin Johnston Largen is associate professor of systematic theology at Gettysburg Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She is also the author of Finding God among Our Neighbors: An Interfaith Systematic Theology and What Christians Can Learn from Buddhism: Rethinking Salvation. She is also the editor of Dialog.
About Mary E. Hess
Mary E. Hess is professor of educational leadership at Luther Seminary, where she has taught since 2000. Her most recent books include Teaching Reflectively in Theological Contexts: Promises and Contradictions and Engaging Technology in Theological Education, and she was a member of the first AAR/Luce cohort on comparative theologies and theologies of religious pluralism.
About Christy Lohr Sapp
Christy Lohr Sapp is the associate dean for religious life at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In addition to teaching at Duke, she sits on the board of scholars for the Journal of Interreligious Studies and serves as the co-president of the Education as Transformation Project. Lohr Sapp has worked in a variety of ecumenical and interfaith organizations, including the World Council of Churches and the North American Interfaith Network.