Proleptic Pedagogy

Could we have imagined how much theological education would change in the new millennium? Shifting needs of students, classrooms, and churches have demanded constant revisions of the curriculum, course design, classroom technology, and pedagogical strategies.

Saint Paul School of Theology felt the tide of change within our own walls and designed a project called "Proleptic Pedagogy" to address three distinct pedagogical challenges for the future of theological education. First, instead of fitting new technologies into old pedagogies, how are teaching and learning transformed by shifting needs of students who are "digital natives," "digital immigrants," or distance learners? Second, instead of reactive strategies, what pedagogy proactively eliminates "accommodations" because courses are designed with flexibility and openness to diverse learning styles, disabilities, and needs? Third, instead of engaging student diversity with the tools of the 1960s, what new teaching and learning strategies anticipate future student racial and ethnic demographics and interracial educational experiences?

This volume of essays narrates our classroom stories, teases out pedagogical issues, examines pedagogical literature, reflects on theology of pedagogy, and constructs pedagogical proposals--with an open invitation for other theological educators to join our conversation about the future of theological education.


"This book is an excellent example of the scholarship of teaching and learning, written by an astute and collaborative theological faculty. Their vivid descriptions of pedagogical challenges evoke experiences that are common throughout the theological landscape. Their responses are deeply thoughtful, profoundly hopeful, and thoroughly engaging. Give yourself the gift of learning with them!"
--Mary Hess, Luther Seminary

"Proleptic Pedagogy is an important book for faculty and administrators of theological seminaries and departments of theological teaching. Readers are invited into a faculty conversation as members from St. Paul School of Theology reflect on their teaching and how it contributes to the educational goals of the seminary. The format of each chapter is itself an exercise in practical theology, moving from specific classroom stories . . . to theological reflection and implications for practice. . . . This book will stimulate faculty conversation about theological teaching and learning goals."
--Jack Seymour, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary



Sondra Higgins Matthaei is Professor of Christian Religious Education at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. She is author of Formation in Faith: The Congregational Ministry of Making Disciples (2008), Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesleyan Tradition (2000), and Faith Matters: Faith-Mentoring in the Faith Community (1996).

Nancy R. Howell is Professor of Theology and Philosophy of Religion at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. She is author ...