I love teaching. Mostly, I think, because I love learning. I just came back from a week of teaching an intensive at Trinity Seminary (Capital University) in Ohio. We had a full week of thinking about and exploring educational ministries in a variety of contexts and with a variety of people.

I enjoyed it greatly! And this morning I was cleaning up a list of the resources that came up in conversation. These are randomly organized, but they might give you a sense of the rich conversation we were having, since these were not already in my course resource list but sprang to mind in the midst of our discussions:

My Grandmother’s hands A book by Resmaa Menakem on racialized trauma and healing.

Christine Sine’s breath prayer (which I use a lot in classes)

Collaborative learning techniques A book by Patricia Cross and colleagues, with lots of examples beyond the Stephen Brookfield ciq we used in class

Helping kids recognize emotion

From brain to mind A book by James Zull on neuroscience and learning

Humankind: A hopeful history A book by Rutger Bregman which blows up a lot of what we think we know, based on empirical research which challenges cultural myths

Learning to listen, learning to teach A book by Jane Vella — includes and explains the principles we talked about in class, using her vast experience from being in the Maryknoll community and then a seminary prof and consultant.

Teaching reflectively in theological contexts: Promises and contradictions A book I co-edited with Stephen Brookfield, with essays by Luther Seminary faculty

Mighty stories, dangerous rituals A book by Herbert Anderson and Ed Foley that considers many markers in a person’s life, and how to live in the dialectic between parable and myth

Unlocking leadership mindtraps A book by Jennifer Garvery Berger on complexity and leadership

Welcoming children A key book by Joyce Mercer. Makes the argument that we need children in church NOT because they are the future, but because they don’t know our stories (biblical and otherwise), and thus require us to tell them — which makes us remember them.

Braiding sweetgrass A book by Robin Kimmerer (remember I showed you her video on the “honorable harvest”)

Here comes everybody A book by Clay Shirky — written back in 2008, about the nature of the net, which is still powerful and important in the ways it talks about shifts which the net has catalyzed.

The power of ritual A book by Casper ter Kuile, which explores how we think about ritual particularly with “spiritual but not religious” persons

Tyranny of merit A book by Michael Sandel — I’m still in the middle of reading this one, so not sure I’ll agree with his conclusions, but it’s a powerful piece of political philosophy that explores why populism has arisen, and what we could do about it.

In memory of her A book by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza — the book that sent me off to seminary! It’s written by a prominent biblical scholar, and explores women in the bible through their fragmented presence

Scriptural reasoning A multi-faith practice in which people explore a topic using their key scriptures, in groups that hold different scriptures sacred.

Becoming a white anti-racist My most recent book, written with Stephen Brookfield. Important to note the title is “becoming” since we never fully arrive.

Melanie Harris A powerful womanist theologian working on ecology and food issues.

The practice of communicative theology A book by Matthias Scharer and Jochen Hilberath that explores a dialogical and deeply grounded process by which to do theological reflection in community.

My Hein fry lecture is published as “Learning the Bible in the 21st century: Lessons from Harry Potter and vampires,” in Teaching the Bible in the Parish (and Beyond), edited by Laurie Jungling. Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2011.

Black churches for digital equity An advocacy group which has recognized how important access to high speed broad band internet is for civil rights

Feautor.org The “frozen” archive of a site I created back in 2006 to support people sharing religious resources they created in their home contexts. http://www.feautor.org

Introducing theologies of religion A key book by Paul Knitter which lays out several approaches to the reality of multiple faiths, from a Christian perspective

Short stories by Jesus: The enigmatic parables of a controversial rabbi A powerful book by Amy Jill Levine, who is a Jewish scholar, considering Jesus’ parables

The national service learning clearing-house A website with links to zillions of useful resources:

Wade in the water A curriculum I mentioned that is about water resources, and developed in a public/private partnership

The samaritan’s dilemma A book by Deborah Stone, written back in 2008, which explores how ideological manipulation led to us believing that helping people was actually hurting them, by creating dependencies. I think of course humans want to help humans, so it takes a lot of work to make us believe otherwise.

Honoring our neighbor’s faith A book by Robert Farlee that explores multiple faiths from a Lutheran perspective