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Summary
Summary
Judith Berling articulates a learning process by which Christians learn to understand and establish relationships with persons of other religions. She helps readers learn an experiential process that will help them evaluate and improve current approaches to understanding other religious traditions in both the classroom and churches. The book is built on the critical difference between learning facts about other religions and understanding them and their followers in a wholistic manner. More importantly, she argues that in the contemporary age, whether one's theology is conservative or liberal, incorporating the religious other as a conversation partner integral to one's own Christian identity is not optional but integral to living an authentic Christian life. Addressed primarily to Christian theological educators, but it will also be of serious interest to students preparing for life as ministers and teachers. A woman who has spent many years seeking understand Chinese religious life as a living reality to Westerners, Berling has bumped up against the limits of presenting facts to students and the idea that adding a history of religions or comparative religions course to the seminary curriculum can do the job. Her book is an excellent summary of recent discussions on the nature of theological learning. It moves from insights on the habitus of theological learning to show how the reality of worthy others needs to become part of every Christian's identity.
Author Notes
Judith A. Berling is Professor of Chinese and Comparative Religions, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.
Table of Contents
Preface | p. vii |
Historical Context | p. vii |
The Seeds of This Book | p. vii |
Nature and Audience of the Book | p. ix |
Acknowledgments | p. xi |
Introduction: Why Make the Effort to Learn Other Religions | p. 3 |
1. Christians and Religious Diversity | p. 5 |
The Color-coded Map | p. 5 |
How Did Religious Diversity Overtake the Color-coded Map? | p. 7 |
A New Religious America | p. 9 |
A Challenge for Christians | p. 11 |
Beyond Exclusivism? | p. 15 |
2. Thinking about Learning | p. 18 |
The Classrooms for Which Teachers Were Not Prepared | p. 18 |
Diverse Ways of Learning | p. 20 |
Learning for Empowerment of Voice and Agency | p. 22 |
Entering Other Worlds: Learning and Imagination | p. 26 |
Reacculturation: Learning as Collaborative Conversation across Lines of Difference | p. 29 |
Conclusion | p. 33 |
3. Learning Religions | p. 34 |
Beyond "Science": Religious Context and Particularity | p. 35 |
Beyond Empathy: The Importance of Difference | p. 38 |
Beyond the Religious Mind: What Aspects of Religion Can Be Studied? | p. 41 |
Beyond the Posts: Power and Human Relationships in the Study of Religions | p. 42 |
Practical Implications for Learning Religions | p. 45 |
Learning Religions and Learning Theory | p. 47 |
4. Theological Learning | p. 49 |
Historical Context: Forces That Have Shaped Theological Learning | p. 49 |
Rethinking the Nature and Goals of Theological Education | p. 51 |
Theological Learning and Other Religions | p. 54 |
Theological Learning and Learning Religions | p. 61 |
5. Unraveling the Threads: The Process of Learning Another Religion | p. 64 |
Threads of the Learning Process | p. 65 |
6. Classroom Learning: Improving Traditional Approaches | p. 81 |
Reassessing the Ways Other Religions Have Been Taught | p. 82 |
How Might We Learn Other Religions Differently? | p. 103 |
Where Do We Go from Here? | p. 108 |
7. Beyond the Classroom: Learning Other Religions in the Churches | p. 110 |
Church-based Programs for Learning Other Religions | p. 111 |
A Balancing Act | p. 113 |
Engaging Difference | p. 113 |
Initially Responding from One's Own Location | p. 116 |
Conversation with the Voices of the Other Religion and among Christians | p. 117 |
Living Out What Is Learned | p. 120 |
Internalizing the Learning Process | p. 124 |
Encouragement for Parishes | p. 124 |
Appendix A Selected Annotated Bibliography: Some Resources for Teaching Other Religions | p. 127 |
Developing Syllabi, Locating Resources, and Filling In Gaps in Knowledge | p. 127 |
Journals | p. 129 |
Textbooks | p. 131 |
Further Readings in Theological Teaching and Learning | p. 133 |
Appendix B Practical Guidelines for Parish Learning Experiences | p. 135 |
Engaging Difference | p. 135 |
Responding from One's Own Location | p. 135 |
Conversation | p. 136 |
Living Out New Relationships | p. 136 |
Internalizing the Process | p. 136 |
Selected Bibliography | p. 137 |
Index | p. 141 |