In the past 4 weeks, Barb and I have taken two long road trips for funerals. Back “home.” To family roots in northeastern Mississippi and west central Indiana. What we found in those visits was quite comforting.
Christ the same, Christians Differ
Student Blessing 4
Christian and Anne Kartawijaya came to Southwestern from Indonesia where they administer a Christian School. Christian was in my spiritual formation class last fall, and Principles of Teaching this spring. Anne was in my Research and Statistics class last fall, and now is engaged in our PhD program. They are serious students, and see their education as part of their devotion to the Lord. I received an email from them recently that greatly blessed me. Read More
The Bible and Learning Theory
“It’s only a theory.”
How much weight can it have?
What real value does it possess?
How soon will it be replaced by yet another?
The following paper was published in 1998 for a conference in Yalta, Ukraine. The conference was a meeting of Christians and intellectuals, both American/Canadian and Russian/Ukrainian, in which speakers from both sides addressed issues of education and cultural transformation. I presented a brief overview of psychological learning theory and the Bible less than a decade after the fall of Communism and its manipulative programming of Soviet citizens through education. Today, Baptist pastors freely enter the public schools all over Ukraine and teach “morality lessons” from the Bible because administrators recognize the tangible good that comes from Bible study. Such religious freedom is no longer found in the public schools of the United States, despite our Constitution which champions it. I was blessed by the way these ideas were received by the 150 participants of the conference. Perhaps you will find this overview helpful as well.
……………………………….
The world can doubtless never be well known by theory:
practice is absolutely necessary;
but surely it is of great use to a young man,
before he sets out for that country, full of mazes, windings, and turnings,
to have at least a general map of it, made by some experienced traveller.
Lord Chesterfield [1]
Learning Theory for Christian Teachers
William R. Yount
Mention “theory” in a conversation, and expect a yawned response. Most of us want action, not theory. One of my favorite cartoons shows . . . Read More
Out of the Darkness -17-
The secular celebration was especially hard on Dad in 1956, because this was his first Christian Christmas.
17 – “Tinsel and Trappings”
The rest of the “trip home” at Christmas 1956 is mostly a blur. The Shalley tradition always followed the same pattern. A large evergreen tree, usually cut in the woods east of the farmhouse, graced one corner of the dining room. It was trimmed with brightly colored glass ornaments and tinsel and Grandma’s fire-hazard favorite: bubble lights. There were no presents under the tree, because these were brought out after the kids went to bed and placed in the living room where there was more space. The house was saturated with the smells of roasting and baking. Filled too with family, gathered on Christmas Eve for the big . . . Read More
Student Blessing 3
A dozen students hung back after our final exam session while students filed out of the classroom. Several had questions, others comments. Then Aaron looked at me and said, “Dr. Yount, we would like to pray with you and for you. Would that be alright?” Absolutely! What a blessing! They gathered around, placing a hand on my shoulders. Aaron began to pray, and right in the middle of his prayer, a phrase caused a blinding thought to explode in my head. Read More
