Mark D. Jordan is the R. R. Niebuhr Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of ten books, including Telling Truths in Church: Scandal, Flesh, and Christian Speech. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright- Hays Fellowship, and a Luce Fellowship in Theology.
Praise for the TEBT series: "At once visionary and realistic, the
books in this series offer fresh, short, and very different answers
to the question, 'What is theological education for?' Studies of
that question have appeared every couple of decades and seem to
assume that 'one-size-fits-all' answers are possible. What's new
and groundbreaking here is that a group of theological educators
from a broad array of very different religious traditions address
the question in conversation with one another and in light of the
changing place of faith communities in contemporary culture."
-- David H. Kelsey
Yale Divinity School "The authors of this series invite us into an
exercise of the imagination--to let loose of the theological school
models we know so well and instead craft ways that we teach and
learn as if we are living in the new Jerusalem. This is daring
work. Will we have the will to grasp it? I encourage you to read
and see."
-- Emilie M. Townes
Vanderbilt University Divinity School "I would be hard-pressed to
name any other resource that even approaches this series in its
visionary outlook and wide perspective on the challenges and
opportunities currently facing theological education. The authors
represent an unparalleled selection of leaders in theological
education whose views and experiences point to different paths into
the future, all leading to true excellence and relevance in
theological education."
-- Justo L. González
author of The History of Theological Education "At a time of
massive changes in churches and theological schools, as well as in
society generally, the twelve-book series Theological Education
between the Times presents an indispensable resource. Many people,
especially younger generations, question as never before the
necessity of religious practice or even belonging to a
congregation. In this new context, the repercussions for
theological education are many: What adjustments must leaders make
to maintain support? How can faculty modify programs to meet the
demands of modern times? What message will attract prospective
students? Astute theological educators from diverse backgrounds
prayed together and engaged in conversations that contributed to
the authorship of this lucid and compelling series intended for
anyone concerned about the fate of religion in society."
-- Katarina Schuth, OSF
Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity "It may be hard to imagine a
beautiful book about pedagogy. But Mark Jordan has given us one.
More than a primer on great books or their consoling lessons in
this age of existential panic about higher education, he shows how
they teach. Evocative, disruptive, and learned, Transforming Fire
is recommended not only for those interested in theological
education, but all those who care about genuine learning."
-- Eric Gregory
Princeton University "Teaching takes center stage in these
wonderfully compelling recommendations for reinvigorating
theological education today. Breaking through the narrow confines
of academic norms, Jordan demonstrates in his own beautifully
crafted and deeply affecting prose how theological instruction
might regain the persuasive power to transform embodied lives."
-- Kathryn Tanner
Yale Divinity School "Mark Jordan's enactment of texts as 'scenes
of instruction' is a thoroughly welcome, indeed crucial,
intervention in the vexed world of curricula for ministry. Via the
juxtaposition of texts at once staunchly 'traditional' and
willfully 'extra-canonical, ' his book enacts a series of
reflective engagements--both of specific texts and of their
comparison--that model generosity of spirit and an unmistakable,
carefully calibrated critical sensibility. The book is a brief for
the vitality of tradition and--what Jordan shows to be the same
thing--the simple, perduring fact that all teachers are students,
and all students teachers. To read closely is nothing less than to
make the word flesh."
-- Richard A. Rosengarten
The University of Chicago Divinity School "Anyone who worries that
reforming theological education means leaving books behind will
have their suspicions disabused by this volume. Through a deft
review of a range of classic texts, Mark Jordan defends the
importance of books for Christian teaching by reminding us that the
value of words lies not simply--or even primarily--in conveying
information, but in their power to shape bodies, imaginations, and
desires for life in the world. In so doing he provides a sterling
example of what he himself calls for: not so much a book about
teaching, but a book that teaches."
-- Ian A. McFarland
Candler School of Theology, Emory University
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