Texts

As I’ve noted elsewhere on this site, I’ve chosen the following required texts very carefully, seeking to provide the best and most pertinent content in the most engaging and concise form. As you will note from the class schedule, I’ve also spread the reading of these books out during our time together. The dates on the schedule are the deadline by which you must have read/watched these texts. Keep in mind, however, that there is much in these texts that will be helpful to you from the beginning. If you have the opportunity, you might want to read all of them early in the term and get the book reading quizzes out of the way.

Required texts

To Know as We are Known, Parker Palmer

Opening the Book of Faith, Diane Jacobson, et. al. [Please note: this book is being given to Luther students free of charge by Augsburg Fortress, check with the bookstore if you do not already own a copy]

A Time for Burning (DVD), (no, that’s not a typo, this is the main focus situation for our last week, and can be purchased from Amazon.com, rented through NetFlix, or watched on library reserve)

Grilled Cheesus (an episode of the television series Glee, from their second season) [available via Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon DVD, and other places]

Nurturing Faith (available via e-reserve at MyLutherNet)

Choice books

Then choose one of the following as your foundational text book for the class:

Fashion Me a People, Maria Harris

The Church as Learning Community, Norma Cook Everist

Teaching the Faith: Forming the Faithful, Parrett, Kang and Packer

Teaching cross culturally: An incarnational model for learning and teaching, Lingenfelter and Lingenfelter

Teaching as a sacramental act, Mary Elizabeth Moore

Soul Stories, Anne Wimberly

And choose one of the following as your core spirituality text for the class:

Practicing Our Faith, Dorothy Bass, ed.

Greenhouses of Hope, Dori Baker, ed.

Finding God in the Graffiti, Frank Rogers

The Spirit’s Tether, Malcolm Warford

Book Quizzes

Over time I’ve found that by using simple book quizzes I can ensure that students dig more deeply into texts than they would otherwise. These quizzes are aimed at highlighting for you some of the central concepts in two of the books we’ll read this semester, and helping you to integrate across the various books and ideas of the course. You can take the quizzes with the book in front of you, and you can spend as much time as you like on a given quiz, as long as you complete it by the final deadline (these are listed on MyLutherNet).