Teaching for Faith: A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes

By Richard Robert Osmer

Book Overview

This useful, theologically informed guide prepares teachers in the church, whose purpose is to awaken, support, and challenge faith. Richard Osmer offers practical suggestions for preparing good lectures and leading lively discussions. He explores four important dimensions of faith--faith as belief, as commitment, as relationship, and as mystery--and describes different teaching approaches to address each of these dimensions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664252176
• ISBN13: 9780664252175
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Basic Theology of Christian Education and How to Teach Adults

Osmer's book is an attempt to do two things: 1) provide a basic theology of Christian Education for Adult Learners and 2) provide four different teaching methods (lecture, discussion, life story, and paradox) to transmit knowledge to adults. For someone who has no background in adult education and specifically adult Christian education, this is a good book to get one started. Osmer provides numerous examples and outlines on how to implement giving a lecture, leading a discussion, using life review, and paradox to teach and deepen faith. The book contains a chapter on how to use the book alone or to instruct and train a group of teachers. The suggested reading list at the end of the book provides the teacher with many more sources to explore as their capacity and ability to teach and transmit faith grows. The theological mode of a Faith Cube is helpful in understanding adult faith development and the role that good solid Christian Education plays in helping adults grow and mature in their faith. As a pastor with minimal Christian Education training I found this book education and helpful but it did tend to drag toward the end as the examples got detailed and numerous. Others may find that helpful and it did not detract from the usefulness of the book, just made it a bit `dry' to read. If you are looking for a basic book on Adult Christian Education and want to gain a solid theological understanding of its need and how to begin teaching adults, I would recommend starting with this book.