Parental Choices and the Prospect of Regret: An Alternative Account

Is the question ‘will you regret it if you do (not do) this?’ helpful when people face difficult life decisions, such as terminating a pregnancy if a disability is detected or deciding to become a parent? Despite the commonness of the question in daily life, several philosophers have argued lately against its usefulness. We reconstruct four arguments from recent literature on regret, transformative experience and the use of imagination in deliberation. After analysis of these arguments we conclude that the prospect of regret remains a useful deliberative heuristic, provided four conditions are fulfilled. If the prospect of (the absence of) regret is arrived at via reflection on one’s values, in a non-coercive context, when well-informed about factual circumstances, and in a process of self-commitment, the question of what one will regret is a helpful device to get in touch with one’s deepest concerns that give reasons to act in a particular way.     

Forum: Quilting as metaphor for theological education

How is quilt‐making both metaphor and pedagogy for early‐career faculty of theology and religion who seek to cultivate critical and creative imagination for teaching, and to probe the challenges and promises of complex identities and vocations within 21st‐century landscapes of theological education? This forum presents essays (with explanatory introduction) by five members of the 2016–2017 Workshop for Early Career Theological School Faculty, who were impelled to story their experience of being “handed over to themselves” by an “arts and craft” project which forced them to think with their hands, speak with found objects, and re‐present themselves in the form of 12 × 12‐inch quilt squares. In self‐reflexive prose, these scholar‐teachers offer through this medium a glimpse of their unexpected moments of revelatory learning, as each was pulled into deeper contemplation of their personhood, experience, know‐how, and practical wisdom, each uncovering valuable hidden sources for more expansive theological query, and each re‐thinking the possibilities for theological education and its pedagogies.     

Whose voice counts? Gender,power, and epistemologies in the seminary classroom

This article wrestles with the question “whose voice counts?” as an entrée into a discussion of the challenges students encounter in learning to value different epistemologies and that professors encounter in attempting to teach for inclusion of voices. The essay reflects on an experience teaching a graduate seminar on gender and epistemology in which students encounter challenges reflecting on readings that present theology in the form of personal narratives, rather than in a more abstract or theoretical form. Course content and genres of writing are both gendered and subject to power dynamics associated with the uneven treatment of different types of knowledge. The paper focuses primarily on the lens of gender but notes as well the intersectional nature of gender – and the ways in which the course dynamics are complicated by the race, sexuality, and even the class of the authors, students, and teacher. The paper makes two substantial arguments. First, it names a pedagogical meta‐question at the intersection of gender and pedagogy: Even when women are on the syllabus, how are educators ensuring that the epistemologies at work in their classrooms allow for equal authorial authority in the classroom? Second, the paper challenges educators to make changes in their classrooms to allow students time to engage and employ epistemologies they discuss and to see the importance of these practices for wider systemic change in institutions and society.     

Leo Tolstoy the spiritual educator

This paper considers the often overlooked religious and educational works of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). After outlining Tolstoy's life, religious and educational views, it is argued that Tolstoy has much to offer spiritual educators today. In particular, it suggests Tolstoy's insistence on the absolute and eternal nature of spiritual and moral truths, coupled with a free and heuristic pedagogy, are key ingredients of an authentic spiritual education.     

Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, andPedagogical Technique

Changes in the aims and methods of the philosophy of mind have occurred in recent decades. In particular, computer simulations have emerged as a means of constructing empirically and conceptually defensible theories of mind. This article explores pedagogical innovations that may be necessitated by these changes. One question raised is whether hands-on teaching of simulation methods should be a standard part of philosophy of mind courses. These courses, because of an increasing empirical orientation, are becoming more interdisciplinary, and certain consequences of this development are elaborated here.     

Psychological Aspects of Genetic Counseling. IX. Teaching and Counseling

The goals, philosophies, and procedures of the teaching and counseling approaches to genetic counseling are differentiated and compared. The teaching approach, inherited from academic practitioners earlier in this century, appears to remain the dominant form of contemporary practice. With the introduction of more nonphysician professionals, attempts are being made to combine a teaching model with counseling procedures. The goals of the two models are conspicuously different; one attempts to end up with an educated counselee whereas the other hopes to leave the latter psychologically more autonomous and functional. Both models have strengths and limitations. The teaching model is essentially a form of health education, not counseling, and, with some exceptions, tends to fulfill its goals. The strategy of teaching, however, tends to undermine the psychological self-directedness of counselees and thus interferes with the processes they need to draw on to make autonomous decisions. The strength of the counseling model is in helping counselees reach decisions and deal with the personal meaning of information. However, applying this model makes huge demands on the professional. Greater attention needs to be given by training programs to the pedagogical and counseling skills genetic counselors may need in their professional work.     

English teaching and the weight of theory

The division between theory and pedagogy is an example of the more traditional division between theory and practice. The paper deals with the artificiality inherent in the institutional separation of those scholars who study within a subject area and those who study the pedagogy of the subject. The paper discusses various theoretical accounts of the nature of English to make the case that theory is imbued with pedagogy. That is, theory is not neutral about teaching. How we teach is driven by our theoretical commitments to our subject.     

Relational Strategies for Teaching Multicultural Courses in Counselor Education

Multicultural courses pose several challenges for counselor educators. This article presents a rationale for using a relational approach to teaching multicultural courses and includes 3 classroom activities based in relational pedagogy and relational-cultural theory. By using a relational approach, counselor educators can encourage students to become more engaged, more self-motivated, and more willing to take risks in the pursuit of learning inclusive, competent, and culturally aware counseling practice. Los cursos multiculturales presentan varios retos para los educadores de consejeros. Este artículo presenta un razonamiento para el uso de un enfoque relacional en la enseñanza de cursos multiculturales e incluye 3 actividades para el aula basadas en la pedagogía relacional y la teoría relacional-cultural. Mediante el uso de un enfoque relacional, los educadores de consejeros pueden animar a sus estudiantes a estar más involucrados, motivados y dispuestos a asumir riesgos en su esfuerzo por aprender una práctica de la consejería que sea culturalmente inclusiva, competente y consciente.     

Teaching relationship science: Continuity and change in the craft

Relationship science is a dynamic, flourishing enterprise, with numerous discoveries and new lines of inquiry evident in recent changes in its textbooks and the teaching activities invented by its instructors. To survey changes and challenges in the teaching of courses that introduce students to relationship science—and to pursue “news instructors can use”—we surveyed 135 instructors of relationships courses regarding their teaching tactics and experiences. Guided by their responses and suggestions for further inquiry, we also examined the changes in textbooks on which they rely and reviewed teaching activities created to assist them with their teaching over the last 20 years. At present, some topics are nearly universal components of relationships courses but idiosyncrasy exists, particularly with regard to new topics—such as coverage of technology, intersectionality, or consensual nonmonogamy—that instructors plan to include in revisions of their courses. Suggestions for both new and experienced instructors are provided.     

Orthodoxy revisited: the postsecular classroom

As is the case with many new intellectual concepts, the definitional parameters of the term ‘postsecular’ are in flux and ultimately will shape its critical usefulness. This article represents an effort to participate in this discussion with a particular emphasis on the pedagogical importance of the tenets of religious orthodoxy when discussing spiritual matters in the university-level liberal arts classroom. The analysis is contextualized by reflection on the place of religion in the public sphere by various scholars, including Jürgen Habermas and Rowan Williams. This analysis establishes that the study of traditional religious positions in the university classroom can enrich the discourse of the liberal arts; however, neither proselytization nor an emotion-based spiritual paradigm bereft of intellectual rigor will serve these ends. I argue that the re-introduction of religion into analytical discourse in the humanities classroom will be successful if the discussion of religion is complemented by the recognition of the serious study of religious thought and scholarship. The argument is then developed through a pedagogical case study of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited that illustrates how the discussion of orthodox positions can enhance discussion of the novel in the postsecular classroom.