Showing How: The Act of Teaching

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This book is thoroughly original work on the meaning of teaching by one who has been widely credited with reshaping the field of religious education in the United States, and to have had a significant effect also in many other countries. Despite a steady flow of books that have "teaching" in the title, nearly all of them leave out most of the story. In Showing How, Gabriel Moran presents the full story of the act of teaching. Part 1 establishes a fundamental meaning for "to teach," examining why there exists a deep-seated fear that teaching is an immoral act. Professor Moran then grounds the meaning of "to teach in its most basic forms, moving from examples in the nonhuman world (what the mountain teaches the mountain climber) to communal and nonverbal forms of teaching among humans. Part 2 explores the languages of teaching and the diverse forms of speech appropriate to teaching; rhetorical forms, including storytelling and preaching; therapeutic languages; and religion'' preservation of these languages in ritualized settings, including confessing and mourning. Part 3 draws out the implications for education, the school, and the teaching of morality. Showing How addresses not only schoolteachers but parents, counselors, ministers, administrators, and everyone who can recognize teaching as a fundamental human act. By exposing the root meaning of teaching, the book represents a challenge to any proposals for educational reform. Gabriel Moran is Professor and Director of Religious Education in the Department of Culture and Communication, New York University. He is the author of sixteen books, including Uniqueness: Problem or Paradox in Jewish and Christian Traditions and A Grammar of Responsibility.

Reviews

"Showing How achieves Moran's hope of opening a conversation about teaching." --Readings * Blurb from reviewer *
"...a provocative, absorbing book...Moran's book is a gift to the imagination and to the knowledge of teachers in the pulpit, the classroom, the committee meeting, and the counseling session. The book is analogous to the water's way of teaching someone to swim; to be with Moran and in his thought is to know our bodies, minds, and spirits to be both challenged and supported as we try to be faithful to the holy calling of teaching." --The Princeton Seminary Bulletin -- Freda A. Gardner, Princeton Theological Seminary * Princeton Seminary Bulletin, The *
"A fascinating and challenging book, one that should be of interest to anyone who finds him- or herself teaching religion." --Peter C. Hodgson, reviewing for Religious Studies Review, October 1997 * Religious Studies Review *

Author Bio

Gabriel Moran is Professor and Director of Religious Education in the Department of Culture and Communication, New York University. He is the author of sixteen books, including Uniqueness: Problem or Paradox in Jewish and Christian Traditions and A Grammar of Responsibility.