Lectio Divina As Contemplative Pedagogy

Offering an original application of the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina to the humanities, this book demonstrates the need for further emphasis on deep reading, reflection, and contemplation in contemporary university classrooms. Each chapter provides readers with an historical overview of the four movements of this monastic method: lectio (reading), meditatio (interpreting), oratio (responding), and contemplatio (experiencing wisdom), and suggests ways to incorporate these practices in humanites courses. Keator demonstrates that the lectio divina method is a viable pedagogical tool to guide students slowly and methodically through literary texts and into a subjective experience of wisdom and meaning.

The Whole Person: Embodying Teaching and Learning through Lectio and Visio Divina offers readers a rich collection of voices from diverse settings that illustrates the ways in which lectio divina as a contemplative practice can transform teaching and learning.Growing from ancient roots, lectio divina as a contemplative practice and part of contemplative pedagogy, aligns with many efforts in the 21st century to investigate how whole persons can be engaged in learning and how they can develop into their best human selves.Lectio divina, a four-step process of deep reading and viewing, is aligned with the tenets of holistic education; it is an evolving tapestry of embodied learning, creating spaces that empower teachers and students to be rooted in their own meaning making and to develop as whole persons. Lectio divina holds power to help people develop agency and voice in troubling times, all the while understanding themselves as human beings in a hyper-complex world. Using lectio divina in the classroom educates the whole person evoking the mind, spirit and body in a transformative learning experience.

Offering an original application of the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina to the humanities, this book demonstrates the need for further emphasis on deep reading, reflection, and contemplation in contemporary university classrooms. Each chapter provides readers with an historical overview of the four movements of this monastic method: lectio (reading), meditatio (interpreting), oratio (responding), and contemplatio (experiencing wisdom), and suggests ways to incorporate these practices in humanites courses. Keator demonstrates that the lectio divina method is a viable pedagogical tool to guide students slowly and methodically through literary texts and into a subjective experience of wisdom and meaning.

A ground-breaking book on using meditation in education and how it can enhance teaching and learning.

The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research and Institutional Life for the Twenty-first Century contributes to an understanding of the importance and implications of a contemplative grounding for higher education. It is the sixth in a series entitled Advances in Workplace Spirituality: Theory, Research and Application, which is intended to be an authoritative and comprehensive series in the field. This volume consists of chapters written by noted scholars from both Eastern and Western traditions that shed light on the following questions: • What is an appropriate epistemological grounding for contemplative higher education? How dues the current dominant epistemology in higher education mitigate against contemplative teaching, learning, and research? What alternatives can be offered? • How can a contemplative culture be nurtured in the classroom? What difference does that culture make in teaching and learning? What is the role of individual and institutional leadership in creating and sustaining this culture? • What is contemplative research? How can the emerging field of contemplative studies fit into the twenty-first-century university? • What can faculty and students learn from contemplative practices about how to find peace of mind in a world of higher education characterized by increasing complexity, financial pressures, and conflicts? • What does a contemplative organizational structure look like in higher education? How can committees, faculty meetings, and administrative teams use contemplative practices to work more effectively together? • How can contemplative decision-making processes be used in higher education? Given hierarchies, turf wars, and academics’ propensity for using argument as a weapon, is it possible to introduce contemplative practices into decision-making situations in appropriate ways?

Contemplative pedagogy is a way for instructors to: empower students to integrate their own experience into the theoretical material they are being taught in order to deepen their understanding; help students to develop sophisticated problem-solving skills; support students’ sense of connection to and compassion for others; and engender inquiries into students’ most profound questions. Contemplative practices are used in just about every discipline—from physics to economics to history—and are found in every type of institution. Each year more and more faculty, education reformers, and leaders of teaching and learning centers seek out best practices in contemplative teaching, and now can find them here, brought to you by two of the foremost leaders and innovators on the subject. This book presents background information and ideas for the practical application of contemplative practices across the academic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanities and arts. Examples of contemplative techniques included in the book are mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep listening, contemplative reading and writing, and pilgrimage, including site visits and field trips.

In The Teaching Self: Contemplative Practices, Pedagogy, and Research in Education, a rich collection of voices from diverse settings illustrates the ways in which first-person experiences with contemplative practices lay a foundation for contemplative pedagogy and research in teacher education. Contemplative practice depends on cultivating an understanding of oneself, as well as one’s relationship and interdependence of others and the world, and it is this precept that guides the focus of these portraits of practice. The teaching self of the scholar benefits from reflective and authentic engagement and a commitment to equity and ethical action. Several authors examine the direct and indirect influence contemplative practices have on their students as future educators. All of the authors in this book share first-hand experiences with contemplative practices that honor, support, and deepen awareness of the teaching self by exploring the journey of identifying as a contemplative educator.

Contemplative pedagogy is a way for instructors to: empower students to integrate their own experience into the theoretical material they are being taught in order to deepen their understanding; help students to develop sophisticated problem-solving skills; support students’ sense of connection to and compassion for others; and engender inquiries into students’ most profound questions. Contemplative practices are used in just about every discipline—from physics to economics to history—and are found in every type of institution. Each year more and more faculty, education reformers, and leaders of teaching and learning centers seek out best practices in contemplative teaching, and now can find them here, brought to you by two of the foremost leaders and innovators on the subject. This book presents background information and ideas for the practical application of contemplative practices across the academic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanities and arts. Examples of contemplative techniques included in the book are mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep listening, contemplative reading and writing, and pilgrimage, including site visits and field trips.