Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning

Over the past twenty years there has been a ferment of reflection on the integration of faith and learning -- yet relatively little notice has been paid to the integration of faith and teaching in the Christian university. In Teaching and Christian Practices twelve university professors describe and reflect on their efforts to allow historic Christian practices to reshape and redirect their pedagogical strategies. Whether using spiritually formative reading to enhance a literature course, table fellowship to reinforce concepts in a pre-nursing nutrition course, or Christian hermeneutics to interpret data in an economics course, the authors present a practice of teaching and learning rooted in the rich tradition of Christian practices -- one that reconceives classrooms and laboratories as vital arenas for faith and spiritual growth.

David I. Smith is director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, coordinator of the De Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development, and professor of education at Calvin University. In 2024, he won Calvin University’s Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching. He has published extensively on Christian education and the relationship between faith and pedagogy; his books include On Christian Teaching: Practicing Faith in the Classroom, Learning from the Stranger: Christian Faith and Cultural Diversity, and Everyday Christian Teaching: A Guide to Practicing Faith in the Classroom.

 

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University, where he also holds the Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. His previous books include How (Not) to Be Secular and You Are What You Love.

Dorothy C. Bass is senior fellow in the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and the Arts.

Craig Dykstra (1947–2025) was vice president of the Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis and a research professor of practical theology and senior fellow at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School. He authored several books about the Christian faith, including Growing in the Life of Faith: Education and Christian Practices and Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People.