In Mapping Christian Education: Approaches to Congregational Learning, Jack L. Seymour provides the most up-to-date insights about the various aspects of Christian education. Ecumenical in scope and unified in process, his work includes chapters on schooling, faith communications, human development, social transformation, and future agenda. Contributors include: Elizabeth Caldwell, Margaret Ann Crain, Maria Harris, Donald E. Miller, Gabriel Moran, Robert O'Gorman, Daniel Schipani, and Jack Seymour. By reading Mapping Christian Education: - Seminarians will learn the fundamentals of educational theory - Professors will discover a reliable textbook to be included in their curriculum - Directors of Christian Education will enjoy a refresher course in recent developments and advances in the field

This new book from top Christian education professionals integrates biblical foundations, educational theory, and practical insights into a new curriculum formation approach for the local church. Uniquely identifying curriculum as a means of ministry through the metaphor of mapmaking, it shows how believers are lost along the spiritual journey without a study plan, having no clear destination or reliable path to follow toward maturity. Detailing the theological, educational, and pastoral dimensions that make a curriculum Christian, the text is arranged into four sections: (1) rationale for curriculum, (2) curricular foundations, (3) curricular theory, and (4) the practice of curriculum. Covering areas from children’s ministry to adult education, contributors include editors James R. Estep, Karen L. Estep, and Roger White as well as Holly Allen, Mark H. Senter III, Michael S. Wilder, Timothy Paul Jones, and Brett Robbe.

This book was written to help congregational leaders, clergy, staff, and laypersons, plan and organize a Christian education ministry from the approach of Christian formation in a community of faith context. This book provides a model for organizing the Christian education leadership committee or team of the church, demonstrates how to use the church year as a framework for planning the Christian education ministry of the church, and gives a model for assessing the effectiveness of the educational ministry of the church and a process to help congregations move toward the Christian Education Formation approach.

The continued importance of Christian rhetorics in political, social, pedagogical, and civic affairs suggests that such rhetorics not only belong on the map of rhetorical studies, but are indeed essential to the geography of rhetorical studies in the twenty-first century. This collection argues that concerning ourselves with religious rhetorics in general and Christian rhetorics in particular tells us something about rhetoric itself—its boundaries, its characteristics, its functionings. In assembling original research on the intersections of rhetoric and Christianity from prominent and emerging scholars, Mapping Christian Rhetorics seeks to locate religion more centrally within the geography of rhetorical studies in the twenty-first century. It does so by acknowledging work on Christian rhetorics that has been overlooked or ignored; connecting domains of knowledge and research areas pertaining to Christian rhetorics that may remain disconnected or under connected; and charting new avenues of inquiry about Christian rhetorics that might invigorate theory-building, teaching, research, and civic engagement. In dividing the terrain of Christian rhetorics into four categories—theory, education, methodology, and civic engagement—Mapping Christian Rhetorics aims to foster connections among these areas of inquiry and spur future future collaboration between scholars of religious rhetoric in a range of research areas.

Adult Christian learning is central to the life of the Christian church, and is essential for its health, outreach and very survival. Leading Christian educators here apply the principles of Christian education to adult learning in the churches, and present the results and methods of empirical research relevant to the church's ministry of adult Christian education. This book will be of interest to all who are concerned for the ways in which adults learn to be Christian. The editor, Jeff Astley, is Director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education and Honorary Professorial Fellow in Practical Theology and Christian Education in the University of Durham.

Everyone believes something. But how and why do people believe? What counts as evidence? How much can be assumed or believed by faith alone? When it comes to religious faith, the questions become at once more difficult and more important. Over the centuries, Christians have offered different approaches to explaining or defending the Christian faith, a discipline known as apologetics. But it has not always been clear how different apologetic methods work, or what each approach has to offer. In this comprehensive survey, Brian Morley provides an overview of Christian apologetic approaches and how they differ. He explores the historical and philosophical underpinnings of key figures and major schools of thought, from the presuppositionalism of Cornelius Van Til to the evidentialism of Gary Habermas. Moving beyond theory, Morley also covers apologetic application, demonstrating how each view works out in practical terms. This guide covers the complexities of apologetics in a way that is accessible to the nonspecialist. Even-handed and respectful of each apologist and their contribution, this book provides the reader with a formidable array of defenses for the faith.

A top leadership theorist offers a compelling proposal for renovating the way religious education is practiced today. Christian colleges and seminaries have not been immune from the cultural influences shaping contemporary education. Challenging the conventional wisdom advanced by the educational debate during the last fifteen years, Robert Banks builds an innovative new model of theological education based on how ministry formation took place in biblical times. Banks takes full account of key issues raised by our current educational context and shows how a "missional model" of education is more holistic, inclusive, and practical than recent versions.