Theology & Philosophy - Resources for Teachers

Educational Resources in this website,
for teachers of THEOLOGY or PHILOSOPHY

This page supplements the resources-and-tips you'll find in the
Sitemap for Whole-Person Education which says, "You want ideas
that will help you in general [these ideas are in the sitemap-page]
and also in a specific area you're teaching," as in this page and
in the analogous resource-pages for other areas.

How can our website be useful for you, as a teacher of theology and/or philosophy? First we'll look at a big idea, before moving on to educational resources for theology (plus ministry & missions) and philosophy.

Science, Theology, and Faith
The American Scientific Affiliation is a fellowship of scientists — and scholars (including theologians and philosophers) who find science interesting and sometimes think about it — who are Christians. Because members of ASA are scientists (or scholars who study science) and Christians, one of our main shared interests is the complex system of relationships between science and theology, between our views of nature (as studied in science) and our views of God, humans, and life (as studied in theology and, with slightly different perspectives and methods, in philosophy).

A study of science-and-theology can help students in two ways, when you ask:
1) "What are the relationships (historical, sociological, psychological, philosophical, theological) between science and Bible-based Christian religion?" and your goal is improved understanding, which is a goal of all education;
2) "What are the mutual interactions between a person's faith and their views of science/religion relationships?" and your goal is improved mentoring that will help students improve the quality of their spiritual life (*), which is a goal of Christian education. {* How? Christians must live by faith, by trusting God's character and promises. If our faith is affected by anything, including our views of science-and-Christianity, it will affect the way we live. If a Christian student thinks there is conflict between the claims of science and the Bible-based principles of Christianity, this perceived conflict — regarding creation questions, divine action in providence and miracles, or in other ways — can be a challenge to the quality of personal faith and Christian living. If you can help reduce students' perception of conflict, you can improve their faith and thus the quality of their Christian living. }
As scholarly disciplines, THEOLOGY and PHILOSOPHY focus on knowledge and understanding (Question #1) but #2 is also relevant because you influence each student as a person. In MINISTRY, the focus is Question #2 (building on the foundation of #1) and #2 is important in some pastoral situations. In MISSIONS you must think about how perceptions are affected by different cultures, so views about science and religion — and the personal effects of these views — may be different than in western cultures.
These two questions are examined in Science-and-Religion for Understanding & Personal Faith. Its beginning is similar to what you see above, because originally it was written for this page. But while I was writing resource-pages for other departments, I kept thinking that "they (and their students) could also benefit from what's in the page for theology & philosophy, so I should link to it." Then I decided that it should be in a separate page, recommended for teachers in all areas, and now it is.

In our website, we hope you'll find some new ideas, or familiar ideas expressed in ways you'll find useful for teaching. You're an expert in many aspects of science-and-religion topics (as described above and below) so if you can help us improve our website — for example, if you have suggestions to make it better, or you've discovered a great web-resource and you tell us about it so we can share it with others — your assistance will be greatly appreciated. How can you help?

Educational Resources for teachers of Theology & Philosophy
Although you'll find ideas about science-and-religion relationships throughout this website, because our goal is Whole-Person Education for Science and Faith, a good starting place may be Searching for Truth in the Two Books of God: interpreting Scripture & Nature in our Theology & Science.
For a narrower focus, you can look at Stories of Science in current events and during history — as in questions about a flat earth, moving earth, and evolution (involving Columbus, Galileo, and Darwin) — plus Debates about Science (what it is and what it means, how we should do it and view it) among scientists, philosophers, and other scholars.
Or, for a broader view, explore Worldviews in Apologetics, Proof, and Postmodernism & Worldview Education for Christian Living & Stewardship of Life as a Christian Worldview. Resources for Social Studies (and ideas from Interdisciplinary Studies) may be useful for those teaching missions and intercultural studies.

Also,
a SITEMAP will help you explore the website for Whole-Person Education (with resources for Effective Education and Science-Theology Interactions, using a Multiple-Views Approach) and other parts of the ASA Website, plus TIPS FOR TEACHERS.

	Science-and-Faith Education for the Whole Person
SITE MAP	Effective Teaching	School Options	Learning Skills	Thinking Skills	The Nature of Science	Creation Questions	World Views	about ASA