Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for the Religious and Theological Higher Education Classroom
Lancaster Theological Seminary, 555 West James Street, Lancaster, PA 17603, USA
Religions 2020, 11(9), 449; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090449
Received: 12 August 2020
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Revised: 27 August 2020
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Accepted: 29 August 2020
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Published: 2 September 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reflecting on the Possibilities of Religious Education Research)
This article promotes a wider understanding of trauma-informed pedagogy for the higher education classroom, whether in-person or virtual, focusing on undergraduate and graduate teaching in religious studies and theological education. Trauma is not confined to individual experiences of single horrifying events—trauma can be collective (community-wide, e.g., COVID-19), epigenetic (inherited or intergenerational), social-cultural (e.g., racism), or vicarious. Drawing on religious education literature and recent insights from psychology, neuroscience, and public health studies, this article provides a shared basis for further development of trauma-informed pedagogy by religious and theological educators. A principle feature of this article is bibliographic, portraying the state of scholarship at the intersection of religious education and trauma and pointing to resources necessary for further development. It offers a brief survey of extant literature, presents a basic definition and description of trauma, introduces the features of a trauma-informed community approach, and discusses the core values guiding trauma-informed pedagogy. The article also explores religious aspects of trauma and discusses care for instructors, who deal with their own traumatic pasts as well as the secondary effects of encountering, teaching, and supporting traumatized individuals in the religious education classroom. This article concludes with a call for further research.
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Keywords:
psychic trauma; trauma-informed pedagogy; trauma-sensitive pedagogy; trauma-informed education; embodiment; secondary traumatization; vicarious trauma; higher education; religious education; theological education
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Stephens, D.W. Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for the Religious and Theological Higher Education Classroom. Religions 2020, 11, 449. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090449
AMA Style
Stephens DW. Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for the Religious and Theological Higher Education Classroom. Religions. 2020; 11(9):449. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090449
Chicago/Turabian StyleStephens, Darryl W. 2020. "Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for the Religious and Theological Higher Education Classroom" Religions 11, no. 9: 449. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090449
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