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Learning and Loves Envisaged Through the Lens of James K. A. Smith: Reimagining Christian Education Today

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Reimagining Christian Education

Abstract

This chapter introduces the reader to the notion of learning and loves in relation to Christian education. In particular, it draws from Smith’s (CHC Higher Education Research Symposium 2016a) keynote address at the 2016 research symposium ‘Learning and Loves: Reimagining Christian Education’ and sketches a range of contemporary perspectives on the nature and purpose of Christian education today. Critical to this discussion is the educator’s understanding of what it means to be human and Smith’s (CHC Higher Education Research Symposium 2016a) presupposition that ‘every pedagogy implicitly assumes an anthropology’. Given that Christian education has been shown to be concerned with the making of ‘whole’ persons (Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College 1987; Ream and Glanzer, The Idea of a Christian College: A Re-Examination for Today’s University 2013), holistic approaches that are both theoretically grounded and practically beneficial are critical to and for such a transformative endeavour. This discourse also introduces the content and organisation of the book Reimagining Christian Education: Cultivating Transformative Approaches, which focuses on some of the manifold facets, expressions and experiences of Christian education encountered in innovative contemporary research and practice today. The book is organised into five thematic sections and includes the introduction of both theoretical perspectives and pedagogical methods and tools, which are field-tested and practice-approved: (1) Conceptual Perspectives; (2) Pedagogical Implications; (3) Inclusive Education and Hospitality; (4) Trends in Learning, Business and Technology; (5) Promoting Reconciliation and Social Justice. By looking at Christian education through the lens of James K. A. Smith, this chapter offers fresh perspectives on (re)imagining education as the passionate pursuit of learning and teaching by lovers of God.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version (2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bethlehem Tertiary Institute, Tauranga, 3112, New Zealand

    Beverley Norsworthy

  2. School of Teacher Education and Early Childhood, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield, QLD, 4300, Australia

    Tony Dowden

  3. CHC Higher Education, Carindale, QLD, 4152, Australia

    Johannes M. Luetz

  4. University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia

    Johannes M. Luetz

Authors
  1. Beverley Norsworthy
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  2. Tony Dowden
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  3. Johannes M. Luetz
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Correspondence to Beverley Norsworthy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CHC Higher Education, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Johannes M. Luetz

  2. University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, Queensland, Australia

    Tony Dowden

  3. Bethlehem Tertiary Institute, Tauranga, New Zealand

    Beverley Norsworthy

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Norsworthy, B., Dowden, T., Luetz, J.M. (2018). Learning and Loves Envisaged Through the Lens of James K. A. Smith: Reimagining Christian Education Today. In: Luetz, J., Dowden, T., Norsworthy, B. (eds) Reimagining Christian Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0851-2_1

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