Place-Based New Testament Instruction

Abstract

This article gives an account of one introductory New Testament class taught in the fall of 2019; although answering to the historical interests commonplace to biblical studies instruction, it also experimented with a place-based pedagogy for spiritual growth. The article provides intellectual backgrounds, especially drawing from Willie James Jennings’s work, describes the class in terms of its course objectives and guiding epigrams, and details three “discernment projects”: the Forest Kinship Project; the Passion Project; and the Exorcism Project, each of which paired study of Scripture (Mark 1:12–13; Luke 22–23; and Synoptic accounts of exorcisms, respectively) with a place-specific experience.