Co-Learners in the Process

I just finished reading Matthias Scharer and Bernd Jochen Hilberath's The practice of Communicative Theology:  an introduction to a new theological culture.  It is an interesting read.  And I will have a couple posts here about thoughts that are running through my head after reading it.

This first one, is actually fitting after an enlightening conversation I had with the some friends at seminary last night after dinner.  Regarding communicative theology, "It is much more a question of taking into account the fact that teachers are also learners and that learners provide the teachers with something to teach," and that for this theology "it is a matter of taking seriously the fact that people are involved in reciprocal relationships and have distinctive though not firmly fixed roles" (12).   

These quotes seem fitting today because in our talking last night, we made some interesting discoveries.  Collectively the group I had dinner with shared the insights that:

1) We are tired of seemingly being treated like "kids" or "highschoolers" while in class here at seminary/grad school.  We feel disrespected by some of our professors in the way they structure class and "speak at us."  We miss the days of undergrad, and other grad school studies where we were able to count on true seminar discussions of learning by profs from students and students from profs. 

Now, this class for whom the blog is a requirement for (Proactive Ministry in Media Culture) is not one of the classes where this has been a problem, let me make that clear!  In fact it has been quite the opposite to its credit, and to Dr. Hess' credit as well. But there have been a number of classes where we, the group of us friends, feel this way about.  Some professors we have seemingly believe that they know the "truth," and that our quest for inquiry or questions are pointless if we are "wrong," in their eyes.  Thus, if we disagree with them, we are seen as disrespectful, rather than as people who are here to try and learn and grow.  Where is the discovery in this?  It seems completely opposite of the spirit of what a school or place of study should be.  It also seems to go against any conception of vocation affirmation.  

2) The conversation we had last night was really fruitful too in the sense that we openly and freely wondered about our own sense of vocations and call, and how these could look in the future of this greatly evolving church of ours.  It was a conversation that left us wondering, why don't these sort of conversations occur more often in the classroom?  They were the sort of conversation that I had once in awhile not only in my undergraduate classes, but also within my graduate school classes last year.  They are conversations of "visioning" and "wondering," some thing we talk a lot about in the Reading the Audiences class, but ironically does not seem to get employed much in the curriculum at Luther when wondering about ourselves.   I wonder why this is?

These are just two big questions which I am wondering today out of last night's conversation, and I was reminded by the book about them.  What might the seminary look like if it was created in such a way that some of its structure was shifted to promote more "wondering" and "self-discovery."  I know that in a seminary context, those that are M.Div. students are supposed to get this opportunity through contextual education, CPE, and internships.  But I wonder, why can't this be more broadly integrated in the curriculum?  Or maybe this is just my MA bias coming through?  There are lots of questions running through my head, which I believe is a good thing for students to have and to ponder.