The last couple of weeks we have been completing the marking and grading of papers in preparation for the end of the session. Every time I do this I'm aware of the work and worry, the learning and writing, the thinking and re-thinking, that is part of that great humanising process we call education and to which our students commit themselves. Leaving all the usual quips aside, the truth is a theological paper is an attempt by one mind to grasp and understand, then to articulate and communicate, something they have come to know about God, their self or the world, and how to live and grow as the person they are. That's what is meant by learning that is informative, then formative and finally transformative.
For that reason, a theological essay is a statement of what one person believes and tries to argue. Their can be little point in simply writing what they think the marker wants to see, if at the same time they don't affirm the validity of what they write. Authentic learning is where we risk writing, saying, speaking out, what we believe to be the case - how much more then when dealing with those things we say matter to us as ultimate, primary, perennial concerns of our lives, and expressions of our deepest commitments.
So when I read an essay on the Triune relations of Father, Son and Spirit; or a Journal of personal discovery in ministry and responsiveness to others; or a review of a tough book that demands critical thought tempered by intellectual humility; or a sermon written out of a wrestling match with the text when like Jacob the preacher won't let the text go 'except you bless me'. That's when the academic discipline of marking is sanctified by the awareness that these assignments are about more than the grades - and to be sure the process of grading is rigorous, fair and open. But alongside the academic achievement, is a process of shaping and forming a mind, nourishing and nurturing a heart, encouraging the spirit to expansiveness, receptiveness and hospitality to new ideas and experiences.
So when people ask how the marking is going, there are two answers. One is about the process of confirming the achievements in learning; the other is being alert to that deeper process of growth and change towards maturity of theological understanding, enrichment of spiritual life, and development of gifts and skills which become the source and resource of the Church's mission and ministry in the world. That's what makes theological education crucial - and that's what makes being a theological educator a crucial ministry in the life of the Church.
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