More Pastors Need PhDs

In light of my last post on how a certain uneducated pastor butchers the Bible every time he goes to preach, Brian's post today about the need for more people with PhDs in biblical studies or theology to serve churches instead of staying in academia seems all the more relevant. It makes sense that any religious community will be better served by well-educated leaders whether priests, pastors, or rabbis.

Teaching Method

Ken Schenk has posted more today about the creation of a seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. At first, I passed over the post unread, but now I'm glad I returned to give it a read. He has some very insightful observations about classroom pedagogy that those of us who intend to enter the teaching profession need to think about. Having had the experience this last semester of leading my own lecture course, I'm definitely thinking over how I could do things better next time. Most of the time I lectured, and I think Ken's right that it's one of the least effective methods. The best class I had was when I switched formats and we had a discussion integrating and evaluating different interpretations of Song of Songs.

Brooke (Anumma) also brought up the topic of teaching this week. I never knew there was a Teaching Carnival. Apparently, there's a whole branch of academia that is solely concerned with learning about how to teach more effectively . . . who knew? Isn't it ironic that a PhD is the main teaching credential for colleges and universities and you can get one without ever learning how to teach?