“Students Speaking Their Truth: Cultivating Critical Testimony in an Undergraduate Intro to Theology Class”John Falcone (Union Theological Seminary and Fordham University)Research Interest Group. [
Paper] This article-length, introductory reading for an undergraduate core Theology course seeks to meet students where they are at. It situates faith, reason, inquiry, science and critical thinking in a framework of testimony and authenticity that is pluralist, democratic, realist, and interpersonally-based. It builds on the commitments of the Classical Pragmatism to create a ‘pedagogy of difference’ which is recognizably contemporary and recognizably (North/South) American. And it offers teachers multiple ways into the faith, life, metacognitive experience of early college aged students.
Let’s Live Together in a Sweet HomeHuong Nguyen (Fordham University)Research Interest Group. [
Paper] It is sad to admit that people are divided because of colors, races, and spiritual differences. There is an urgent need to build a world where people can truly feel at home. I believe that religious educators are called to assist our brothers and sisters to walk and to live together in our universal home. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminds us that the diversity is what institutes our humanity. Therefore, it is important to shape and reshape our religious curriculum since it covers all aspects of life. Let's hope and imagine that in the near future we will live together in love and harmony.
Keywords: creativity, critical thinking, curriculum, differences, dignity, experience, faith, pragmatism, prophetic imagination, semiotic realism.