At-homeness, placemaking, and holy anticipation: Christian hospitality in educational practice
Amid global and local crises of extremism and polarization, how might Christian educators cultivate learning environments that facilitate open inquiry and promote authentic engagement across difference? In this integrative, interdisciplinary article, I propose that New Testament hospitality—with its...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
International Academy of Practical Theology
2023
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| In: |
Crisis, fear and hope
Year: 2023, Volume: 3, Pages: 63-70 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Amid global and local crises of extremism and polarization, how might Christian educators cultivate learning environments that facilitate open inquiry and promote authentic engagement across difference? In this integrative, interdisciplinary article, I propose that New Testament hospitality—with its universal and unconditional welcome, humbling and dignifying dynamic, and anticipation of divine presence and blessing—lays the theological groundwork for Christians to receive those unlike themselves with humility and generosity. Focusing on the role of teachers, I explain how themes from Christian hospitality—of at-homeness, placemaking, and holy anticipation of sacred encounter—might be realized through proven educational practices and mindsets. First, I insist that before Christian educators can extend and model welcome in the classroom, they must learn to be "at home" with themselves before God. Drawing from interpersonal neurobiology and culturally responsive pedagogy, I explain how teachers might explore and embrace their own "situatedness" within their own bodies and minds, and within the formative cultures, histories, and contexts that shape their educational approaches. Next, I examine how teachers can make space for learners to actively contribute to the educational exchange by exercising diverse gifts and expressing divergent views. I show how Marshall Rosenberg’s nonviolent communication theory offers a common language for understanding and responding to the life-giving needs and values that underlie conflicting perspectives. Finally, I demonstrate how Carol Dweck’s growth mindset helps teachers to experience even difficult classroom interactions as sacred encounters in which God is present and at work. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Crisis, fear and hope
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.25785/iapt.cs.v3i1.803 |