Relocating the “Field” in Theological Field Education

Abstract

Like higher education as a whole, theological education constitutes a dislocated form of learning, particularly for those who exist beyond the boundaries of euro-normative Christianity. For students who are preparing for religious leadership and ministry, theological field education can be a particularly fraught curricular requirement because it possesses the potential to further dislocate within formational processes. The purpose of this essay is to interrogate these dynamics toward an ethical relocating of the “field” as an embedded, or in situ, experience for students through an attentiveness to lo cotidiano and a practice of critical intersubjectivity.

Keywords:

• theological field education
• Christianity
• church
• lo cotidiano
• critical intersubjectivity

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Not applicable.

Notes

1 Throughout this article, I reference euro-normative, eurowesterners/eurowesternism, and eurocentric in the lowercase, a practice of one of my former seminary professors, Dr. Tink Tinker (wazhazhe/Osage Nation). According to Tinker, “It is important to my argumentation that people recognize the historical artificiality of modern regional and nation-state social constructions. For instance, who decides where the ‘continent’ of Europe ends and that of Asia begins?" (Tinker, 2017).

2 As of fall 2022, “MDiv enrollment projects to continue declining to about 28,000 students, which would represent a decline of about 4% from fall 2021 and a decline of 9% since fall 2018.MDiv enrollment remains a substantial proportion of enrollment in fall 2022 at about 35%, but this is a marked difference from even ten years ago when MDiv students represented 43% of total enrollment” (Meinzer, 2022, p. 1).

3 In this piece, I refer to theological field education (TFE) and, more broadly, contextual education as a discipline in its own right; yet others will situate this area as a subdiscipline, perhaps of practical theology or ministry studies. For a more nuanced articulation of this conversation, see Lizardy-Hajbi (2020).

4 Regarding increasing religious diversity, see Lizardy-Hajbi (2019). For other demographic changes, see Brown and Meinzer (2017), https://www.ats.edu/files/galleries/new-data-reveal-stable-enrollment.pdf.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristina I. Lizardy-Hajbi

Kristina I. Lizardy-Hajbi, Assistant Professor of Leadership and Formation, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO 80210, USA. [email protected]