Seminary education is designed to prepare individuals for leadership and service within religious communities, providing a deep and comprehensive understanding of foundational texts, theological doctrines, church history and contemporary social contexts. To achieve this, the use of archives and primary resources is invaluable. Archives provide direct access to the materials that shaped theological thought, allowing students to engage with the voices and perspectives of religious thinkings and leaders throughout history. By engaging with original documents, students are challenged to think critically and ask questions about authorship, context, and purpose. An understanding of historical and contemporary social issues, cultural diversity, and global perspectives is important to prepare students to engage with and address the needs of a diverse and ever-changing world. By providing a comprehensive and integrated approach to these areas, seminary education using archives can effectively prepare individuals for the diverse and dynamic roles they will play in their religious communities and beyond. In this presentation, we will explore the role of archival material in the theological education classroom, emphasizing its importance in developing historical awareness and critical thinking.
Learning Outcome
The audience will leave with a deeper understanding of how primary resources are essential tools for developing theological expertise, historical awareness, and critical thinking. They will be shown examples of archives in the classroom and the projects that are produced, and special attention will be paid to how to use primary sources in distance education, as increasingly theological students are partially or fully online.
Audience Engagement
The audience will be shown examples of primary sources and encouraged to reflect on the value of these documents in their own understanding of history and theology. The presentation will incorporate a case study(s) of archival documents used as part of a seminary course, showing how material was selected, how it was digitized and dispersed for distance learners, and examples of how students interacted with and interpreted the material. Examples of the syllabus, assignments, and work produced will be displayed.
