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FACULTY ABSW's mission finds expression in the diverse company of scholars and preachers that make up the school's faculty. ABSW professors are committed men and women who love the church, teaching, and their academic disciplines.
Peter Yuichi Clark When I was ordained to the Christian ministry, I was charged to serve as chaplain and as a teacher. I take seriously--and rejoice in--this dual sense of calling, and I feel blessed to interact with ABSW students as a seminary teacher, as a clinical pastoral supervisor, and as a colleague and co-learner in ministry with people in crisis. I envision the primary task of pastoral care as the nurturing and sustaining of hope. The capacity for hope is crucial for human thriving, and so I seek to help students understand how they can encourage people to connect with their sense of hope, or even "bear hope" for others while they regain their strength in stressful situations. Like any art, pastoral care requires that we bring our full humanity into our work. Obviously, this means practicing the skills of caring for individuals, families and groups. Yet, it also means cultivating an awareness of ourselves: our gifts and abilities as well as our limitations, motivations, assumptions and convictions. Only by exploring our self-awareness and enhancing our pastoral skills can we mature into resilient "earthen vessels" who can convey God's love to a hurting world. I find that our students are eager to grow into compassionate and competent ministers; and, like a good seedbed should ("seminary" comes from Latin word for "seed"), ABSW yields rich soil for that learning to take root and blossom.
LeAnn Snow Flesher The seminary classroom is a laboratory where students and faculty come together to explore theological ideas, biblical interpretations as well as practical strategies for ministry. At ABSW the classroom is not confined by four walls, but necessitates first-hand experience in a diversity of settings. Learning is enhanced through the critical engagement of personal experience, academic enterprise and practical applications. Most important to the learning endeavor is the spirit of God at work within us, through us and in spite of us as we labor our way through multifaceted depictions of theological thought in an increasingly more complex socio-cultural environment.
Nancy Hall My favorite type of teaching is the seminar style. Students coming to ABSW bring a wealth of background, experience, and sensitivity to a wide variety of issues concerning Christian ministry and worship. Because I learn best when given the opportunity to take part in discussion and to "think out loud," I like to create an atmosphere for this in my classes. The stretching of minds and spirits is exciting for all of us. I enjoy and treasure the diversity of our students and of our faculty; it is a privilege both to teach and to work with them. I learn so much from our ABSW family because I can share in the richness of educational backgrounds, of ethnic backgrounds, and of faith journeys that are different from mine. Yet, we all profess a common love in God through Jesus Christ and are dedicated to a spirit of inclusivity. I also celebrate the wealth of sacred and secular resources we have available through the GTU and the wider Bay Area. Christ has called us to "new visions," to affirm each other as worthy and beloved in God's sight, to break down the walls that separate, and to welcome everyone at the table.
Margaret McManus My philosophy of teaching is fairly simple. I believe that teachers and students have a great deal to learn from one another. I also believe, with bells hooks, in "education as the practice of freedom," a practice that is demanding, complicated, and joyful. As I design courses, I approach U.S. religious history from a multicultural, interdisciplinary perspective that is attentive to issues of gender, race, and class. In the classroom I do my best to facilitate the development of a learning community that is genuinely open and intellectually challenging.
Sangyil "Sam" Park I believe that seminary class is a lab in which our faith and scholarly work come together on equal levels; any lecture or debate not emerging from one’s faith makes it hollow, and any endeavor to keep one’s doctrinal or dogmatic stance not allowing a critical evaluation makes it irrelevant to today’s multifaceted world. Today’s world asks us more desperately than any time before to have open minds, love, and tolerance toward those who are different from our own in culture and faith tradition. Seminary education is an opportunity in which we learn together to grow both in faith and academic discipline to meet the needs of such a desperate world.
Marian Ronan
The basic assumption of my teaching is that to be effective either in ministry or in advanced graduate studies, students need to develop critical thinking skills. My classes thus emphasize reading, analyzing, writing about and discussing texts critically. Required weekly or bi-weekly one- to two-page papers enable students to determine their own critical perspective on assigned readings. Classroom discussions of these readings enable students to share these perspectives with one another and with me. Final papers give the opportunity to rethink and rewrite these perspectives in light of shared analysis and further reading. One-on-one consultations between student and professor throughout the semester are likewise encouraged as needed.
Keith A. Russell I seek to engage students as co-learners seeking the liberating Good News of the reign of God. I seek to teach in a way that assumes the context of ministry as the goal of our learning and to teach in a way that is collegial, radicalizing, and joyful. I am committed to racial and cultural differences as a primary focus for teaching and learning within both an evangelical and ecumenical context. I assume a prophetic stance regardless of what I am teaching.
Judy Yates Siker The opportunity to teach is a privilege that carries with it a number of responsibilities. My teaching style varies according to the subject matter and level of the course, but my primary concerns remain constant: to engage my students in the topic at hand; to establish a “safe” environment for the free exchange of ideas; to invite critical thinking and discussion; and to help students develop the ability to relate what they are learning in the classroom with life outside these walls. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to teach at ABSW and the GTU because it means being a part of a lively theological dialogue involving students and faculty from a broad range of backgrounds. It is my hope that together we might create an atmosphere of learning that embraces this pluralism of race and ethnicity while working to find the unity that is ours in Christ.
J. Alfred Smith Sr. I believe that a student is not a vessel to be filled, but a flame to be kindled. However, the student must possess pertinent historical information, so as to become well acquainted with the subject that is taught. To provide the student merely with information is to assume that the student will remember all of the facts presented in a lecture and will be able to apply them in one's field of endeavor. It is very important that, in addition to presenting the student with information, the teacher becomes an intellectual midwife who will motivate the student to exercise perspiration, since learning does not come easily. Lastly, as a teacher, I endeavor to move the student from information and perspiration to inspiration, so that the student will become a lifelong learner.
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© 2001 American Baptist Seminary
of the West
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