Teaching Through the Lenses of Orality and Literacy: One Professor’s Journey

Abstract

Teaching discipleship in a theological seminary, one is challenged by the diverse world that students serve. According to a 2004 study conducted for the United Nations by Princeton University (Office of Population Research), approximately 80% of the world's population operated as primarily oral communicators (3.74 billion). Only 2% of the world's population (123 million) was highly literate (e.g., students, staff, and professors at a theological seminary). Anthropologists and missionaries are addressing orality's impact on the teaching–learning process; surprisingly, educators are not. How do professional religious educators prepare students to engage oral cultures in their hometowns and around the world? This article describes the ongoing, transformational process of both a professor and her Western, highly literate classroom. Through the lens of orality, each now affirms and practices new ways of seeing, learning, and teaching.