Encounter And/As Pedagogy For Catholic Higher Education In Our Time

Abstract

Pope Francis incarnates a praxis of encounter in an age of polarization. For Francis, encounter entails displacement, dialog, and discernment. Relational pedagogy illuminates the fecundity of relationships between the teacher and student at the heart of education. Nel Noddings, preeminent proponent of relational pedagogy, grounds an ethics of care in the mother–child relationship and Levinasian encounter. Noddings points toward the application of encounter in education. The hyper-individualized, commodified, and technocratic culture of Catholic higher education today is a formidable challenge to a pedagogy of encounter. However, indigenous ways of teaching and learning offer pedagogical practices for realizing encounter.