Teaching and Learning -- Thoughts by Anthony Robinson

Anthony B. Robinson's book What's Theology Got to Do with It? (Alban, 2006) was named as one of the Academy of Parish Clergy's Ten Best Books published in 2006. In this week's Alban Weekly newsletter, a selection from that book is found.

Entitled "Pastor as Teacher, Congregation as Learning Community," this article lays out the importance of the teaching role of the pastor and the importance of the congregation being a learning community. This is especially true today, living as we do in a pluralistic culture, where we can no longer depend on the culture to inculcate the values and teachings of the faith.

Here is a snippet, but read the whole piece:

While pastors and congregations must make choices among the array of possible priorities before them, my argument is not so much that the pastoral role of teacher and theologian and the congregational one of a teaching and learning community are to be preferred to others. Rather, my argument is that such an understanding gives order and coherence to the many functions and activities of clergy and congregations. We are in the business, or so it seems to me, of teaching and embodying a way of life, a particular way of being human in relationship to God. In all that we do, both as religious leaders and as congregations, we teach. Sometimes the lessons we teach are not consistent with the faith and values we profess, but right or wrong, faithful or derelict, we teach, we model, we form, and we inform.