Category / Crosscultural Education

by daviddawson462742281

The Need for Qualitative Missions Research

I was privileged to receive my foundational missionary and theological training in the U.S. in the 1990s. My initial training was in Youth With a Mission, and then I went to study at Life Pacific Bible College, although I didn’t complete my studies there. I also sat under the teaching ministry of several excellent churches of the denominations Foursquare, Assemblies of God, and Calvary Chapel. In these contexts, I received much invaluable head and heart knowledge, mostly of Biblical studies, Theology, and church / missions history. While thankful for this, looking back today I perceive a lack of social science training in the models of ministry education I received. 

The social sciences include fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and political science. As a missionary today, I feel that someone with this vocation could do very well to invest in these fields as a core aspect of cross-cultural Christian service. Interestingly, both the fields of anthropology and missiology have suffered in recent decades due to questions of the validity of outsider interference in indigenous cultures. Missionaries have consistently argued that such outsider interference in indigenous societies is inevitable. Whether religiously motivated or not, social science professionals can help the interaction of cultures to produce fruitful results versus harmful ones. 

When most people think of research, they likely conceptualize quantitative research, which is focused on measuring quantifiable data such as numbers, statistics, and trends. Much vital quantitative research has been done by missionaries to determine areas of need and opportunity in contexts varying from urban metropolises to remote villages. Less understood by most is qualitative research, which seeks to understand meaning through translation, description, and thematic analysis (Tisdell et al., 2025, p. 19). In quantitative research the primary instruments are non-human technological ones that do mathematical and statistical analysis. But in qualitative research the researcher is the primary instrument. The qualitative researcher’s focus is on participants of some social phenomena (Tisdell et al., p. 20-21). The goal is to discover and understand a human cultural phenomenon such as experiences and perspectives (Ellis & Hart, 2023, p. 1760). Qualitative research seeks to produce detailed descriptions of individuals’ experiences as they understand them, articulated in their own words (Chenail et al., 2011; Daniel 2019). 

In the 2010’s I began doing social science research in Brazil using data from local academic journals and scholarly publications. This was when I was doing my MA in Global Leadership at Fuller Seminary. But my approach to research at that time still focused entirely on texts rather than interactions with real people. During my doctoral studies which began three years ago, I have developed a passion for qualitative research. As a missionary, I have access to so many people with important experiences and perspectives that could benefit the church and missions efforts. People are often wary of sharing their experiences in fear of being exposed or misinterpreted in harmful ways. Most anthropologists extended field work consists of several months to a few years. But missionaries can develop rapport with communities through decades of engagement. In this way, missionaries can gain access to data unavailable to secular sociologists and anthropologists. 

Description is not the only way qualitative research can be used, it can also aim to prove theory or to give voice to marginalized communities. Qualitative research can be used to promote justice and denounce inequality. We live in a time where many missions organizations face a crisis of purpose due to pluralism and cultural relativism. Engaging in the social sciences is a way that Christian doing cross-cultural service can make significant contributions. Missionaries can raise awareness of the needs of underserved communities by investigating their experiences and perspectives. In a time where missions work is seen as a holdover from Western colonial exploitation, qualitative research is a way for Christians to demonstrate our love and respect for human cultures. Just as Jesus’ incarnation demonstrates God’s open attitude towards human culture, of all people missionaries should have the greatest intercultural curiosity. And just as Scripture commands us to love the Lord with all our minds, surely there are those who will be called to contribute significantly to social science research. If a missions culture emerges that values such endeavors, perhaps we will see a generation arise such as that of Daniel. I pray that servants of God will show themselves to increasingly be of exceptional excellence in intercultural research. Would that this be done to the glory of the Creator from whom all cultural creativity and value flows. 

References

Chenail, R. J., Duffy, M., St. George, S., & Wulff, D. (2011). Facilitating coherence across

qualitative research papers. The Qualitative Report, 16(1), 263. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2011.1052

Daniel, B. K. (2019). Using the TACT framework to learn the principles of rigour in qualitative

research. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 17(3), 118

Ellis, J. L., & Hart, D. L. (2023). Strengthening the Choice for a Generic Qualitative Research Design. The Qualitative Repor, 28(6), 1760

Tisdell, E.J., Merriam, S.B. & Stuckey-Peyrot, H.L. (2025). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (5th ed.). Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-1394266456.

by daviddawson462742281

How Protestant Missions Contributed to Democracy and Education in Africa 

A constructive response to critiques of Colonial Era Missions

Missiologist Robert Woodberry (2004) lists the emergence of religious pluralism, democratic theory, civil society, mass education, the public sphere, economic development, and reduction of corruption as mechanisms that explain Protestantism’s tendency to promote democracy over time (p. 48). These phenomena derive from the foundations in Luther that Protestants are independent from the episcopal ecclesiastical structures of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the doctrine that a believer receives saving faith through individual appropriation of Scripture, and a tendency towards independence from political authorities (Woodberry, 2004, p. 48). The lack of a method for resolving doctrinal divergencies in Protestantism resulted in a pluralism that fostered the mutual independence of church and state which is essential to democracy (p. 50). Since there can only be one state church, Protestant denominations without political privilege had to struggle to obtain and preserve their rights and encourage voluntarism and giving among the congregants (p. 52). Education flourished under Protestant missions because all believers needed to read the Bible in their native languages (p. 53).

This is still reflected in the educational development of non-Western nations that received Protestant missions (p. 54). In comparison to Catholic missions that were connected to colonial powers, Protestants could more effectively fight for social justice, even if specifically motivated primarily for creating openness to evangelism (p. 56). Newer Protestant groups today are lay supported that tend to “develop and promote organizations, skills, and resources among non-elite citizens” which promotes civil society and leads to “stable democratic government” (p. 59).

Woodberry (2006) also argues politically independent missionaries moderated the harmful effects of colonialism. And positively, their work in the 19th and early-20th centuries still bears positive fruit in “levels of educational enrollment, infant mortality, and political democracy in societies” (p. 3). Although missionaries of the 18th and 19th century reflected to pervasive attitude of Western civilizational superiority, their critique of other societies was “cultural, not racial” (p. 4). They believed that the cultures they went to could be transformed the same way pre-Christian barbarian peoples were (p. 4). In education, missionaries “wrote and translated books, built buildings, and trained teachers, which made future educational expansions easier” having long-term effects (p. 6). Evangelical missionaries fought for religious liberty which ended up being extend to anti-missionary groups who developed “identifiable leaders, newspapers, extensive memberships, and cross-regional networks” which led to indigenous nationalism (p. 6).

It was not Enlightenment intellectuals that reformed colonialism, but field missionaries who had personal knowledge, vested interest, and a broad non-state power base (p. 10). It can effectively be argued that the negative effects of colonialism would have been much greater without the presence and activity of non-state missionaries (p. 11).

Comparisons of British and French colonies in Africa show that the former provided a basis for stable democracies while the latter’s legacy was authoritarian governments and internal strife (Palplant, 2014, p. 36). Extensive statistical analysis has demonstrated that missionaries were central to the development of key aspects of democracy such as inclusive education, printing, and grassroots nationalist mobilization (p. 38). A key indicator of a missionary legacy in postcolonial African nations is the level of involvement in nongovernmental organizations, which is much higher where Protestant missionary activity occurred (p. 39). The Protestant doctrine of the priesthood of all believers motivated literacy projects that brought old hierarchies down and fostered democracy (p. 41). Most of the early African independence movement leaders had been educated in Protestant mission schools (p. 41).

Impact of current research postcolonial critique of Christian Missions

Church history scholar Derek Cooper (2016) analyses the development of the church in Asia and Africa before Western colonialism. Cooper’s research motivates me to spread awareness of Christianity’s Eastern roots. At the same time, the demise of the churches of the East is a cautionary tale against the subtle dangers of political affiliation and the overt dangers of severe persecution. The Western church’s centuries of political privilege over a vast empire caused it to focus on catechization and hierarchy. The Orthodox churches of Europe and the East also affiliated with political powers but eventually in an extremely fragmented way.

Philip Jenkins (2008) effectively argues against a history of Christianity focused on Europe and the Mediterranean, recommending a return to the medieval maps of a Christian world as “three continents as lobes joined together in Jerusalem (…) the center of the world, the natural site for Christ’s act of self-sacrifice and redemption” (p. 13). And … sadly describes the degradation of Christian habitus which was not adopted by Constantine at his conversion. We can only imagine what Western Christianity could have been if he had done so (p. 266).

These observations make me open to new conceptions of Christian mission that display the glory and the shame of its legacy. However, I still believe in the missionary nature of the Christian faith and am hopeful that a motif of intercultural reconciliation can provide a more attractive vision in the 21st century.

References

Cooper, D. (2016). Introduction to World Christian History. IVP Academic.

Jenkins, Philip. (2008). The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—And How It Died. Harper Collins.

Palplant D., Andrea (2014). The World the Missionaries Made. Christianity Today.

Woodberry & Shaw (2004). Christianity and Democracy: The Pioneering Protestants. Journal of Democracy, Volume 15, Number 2

Woodberry, Robert D. (2006) RECLAIMING THE M-WORD: THE LEGACY OF MISSIONS IN NONWESTERN SOCIETIES, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 4:1, 3-12, DOI: 10.1080/15570274.2006.9523232

by daviddawson462742281

Learning Through Problem Solving

Introduction

Problem bases learning (PBL) often begins with a case study that groups work through, trying to solve a problem. The case study can be contextualized for the audience, such as a problem they might face in their setting. This involves discussion, being willing to share ideas with others, being willing to question and explore ideas, and coming to conclusions. My study begins with a brief overview of PBL, extracting some of its fruitful and complex aspects for intercultural application. As a missionary in Portugal, I share some general findings regarding PBL’s reception here where its main application has been higher education. 

My area of service in Portugal is ecumenical post-supersessionist (PS) advocacy. The Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology describes PS as “a family of theological perspectives that affirms God’s irrevocable covenant with the Jewish people as a central and coherent part of ecclesial teaching” (Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations, n.d.). PS advocacy is described as seeking “to overcome understandings of the New Covenant that entail the abrogation or obsolescence of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, of the Torah as a demarcator of Jewish communal identity, or of the Jewish people themselves” (Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations, n.d.). 

I conclude with insights and recommendations concerning the use of PBL in my work in Portugal. I consider the most daunting obstacle to PS advocacy in this context is the almost complete lack of awareness of the need. I find little evidence that Catholic leadership and laity in Portugal see supersessionism as a major problem causing consequences today. However, articulating PS advocacy in terms of problems to solve could be highly persuasive in this context. The predominantly Catholic population, and particularly its leadership, have many motives for desiring the outcomes PS advocacy purports to achieve. Most significantly, PS advocacy offers to restore the identity of the church as a community of intergroup reconciliation versus its caricature as an institution of bigotry and repression. 

            PBL offers an outsider such as me the opportunity to deal with problems in a foreign context as a facilitator of discussion, not an accuser. Its emphasis on practical real-life situations helps generate interest and is useful for teaching heterogeneous groups work together. The facilitator must explain that learning is demonstrated in the ability to participate constructively in dialogue, not in showing how much you know. In addressing the problem of supersessionism, PBL requires participants to learn understand and communicate within the paradigms of other cultural worldviews. Most significant in this case are the following interlocutors: Portuguese Catholics, Jews, and Messianic jews. The latter are the most natural dialogue partners, present as a potential dialogue partner only since the emergence of the Messianic Jewish movement in the mid 20th century. The need to engage emotional involvement in PBL participants in Portugal with PS related problems is most effectively met by a compelling telling of the consequences of supersessionism as experienced by the Jews. 

            PBL meets with cultural compatibility in Portugal in its egalitarian nature but must respect conservative values in the sphere of education. The Academy in this nation stills sees a liberal arts education as involving the ethical and epistemological formation of students. Relegating the teacher to merely an arbiter of the manifestation of students’ latent wisdom and creativity will not be accepted. 

What is Problem Based Learning

         Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical model that is learner centered and provides occasions for participating in goal-directed inquiry (Nguyen, 2018). The basis for PBL is the notion that “when we solve the many problems we face every day, learning occurs” (Barros & Tamblyn, 1980). Initially applied to medical education in the 1950s, PBL has since been use in diverse fields, primarily teacher education (de Chambeau & Ramlo, 2017). 

Generally, PBL begins by raising a bona fide problem with students, with learning occurring as they attempt to discover solutions (Nguyen, 2018; Hung et al, 2008). Of key importance is situating the learning experience in a genuine context (Barrows, 1994). The syllabus is organized around the framework of problems instead of topics or fields of study (Maggi, 2003, p. 2). Teachers thus perform the function of facilitators instead of dispensers of knowledge, guiding students in their collaborative inquiry and reflection (Wilkerson & Gijselaers, 1996). Students develop the ability to learn independently and assume responsibility for their own investigation (Bell, 2012).

Some General Drawbacks to PBL

            The liabilities of PBL lie mostly in defining the role of teachers, sometimes termed tutors or facilitators as mentioned above. Teachers have less reign over content, they are placed in a more vulnerable position, and their workload is increased (Ribeiro, 2011). Students are likely to complain if the problems they are asked to engage with are so extensive and indefinite that establishing focus and learning goals is impossible within the limits of the course (Hung, Mehl, and Holen, 2013). Research indicates that the more practical the problem cases are, the more motivated the students will be to engage in learning. In cases where students perceive the problem cases as related to real situations they might face, they are more attentive (Nguyen, 2018). 

Research also indicates that if too much detailed instruction is given in a problem-solving exercise, students’ creativity may be stifled (Nguyen, 2018). The teacher should avoid prescribing tasks related to problem cases. Further instruction can be offered by the teacher, but ideally after students have first sought information on their own. The priority is to avoid doing anything that stifles students’ creativity (Nguyen, 2018)

Some Benefits of Applying PBL Across Cultures

Although students tend to prefer working in groups of their own choice and with people like themselves, learning to cooperate with people of diverse profiles helps prepare them for real world situations (Nguyen, 2018). In culturally mixed groups, students are challenged to develop their skills of persuasion, presentation, negotiation, and group work skills (Nguyen, 2018). PBL students who interacted with persons the normally wouldn’t had higher levels of collegial learning because of differences in language and academic preparedness (Singaram et al., 2011). PBL with heterogeneous groups can accelerates a sense of “familiarity and togetherness” that fosters intergroup relations (Singaram et al., 2011). The interaction and social cohesion in PBL develop students’ ability to “adjust and comply with team members in diverse resource constraint environments” Singaram et al., 2011). Students who are used to greater access to resources can learn to comprehend colleagues from contexts where scarcity is a challenge. In general, PBL provides an opportunity for students to learn the need for unity in diversity and the ability to “define their roles and responsibilities” as they navigate intercultural contexts (Singaram et al., 2011).

Some Drawbacks of Applying PBL Across Cultures

Heterogeneous Groups

         Research has indicated some potential cultural pitfalls when using PBL. Participants feel uncomfortable with each other when sufficient ground rules are not laid down (Singaram et al., 2011). Some students resist being placed in heterogeneous groups. “Psychological divisions and past prejudices” often motivate students to segregate themselves into groups of the same culture, which decreases class morale (Singaram et al., 2011). The same can happen along lines of socioeconomic diversity leading to “unequal social status in the group”, leading to “unbalanced discussions, quiet students, withdrawing” (Singaram, et al., 2011). In mixed groups, PBL requires management of dynamics “across culture, languages, race, social class and academic background” (Singaram et al., 2011). It isn’t inappropriate for facilitators to take an active role in forming groups that reflect the right mix of diversity. Criteria for such diversity include race, gender, and academic strength (Singaram et al., 2011). Giving participants learning activities that require them to explore subjects through the eyes of the cultural “other” mitigates against the tendency to self-segregate into same-culture groups (Sweeney et al., 2008).

         Another cultural impediment to successful application of PBL occurs in cultures where speaking is privileged above listening (Remedios et al., 2012). Across cultures, a general tendency of the loss of attention to the role of listening in collaborative learning has been observed. This has been attributed to the global predominance of unidirectional learning through discourse (Remedios et al., 2012). 

Western Versus Non-Western

         International literature on PBL has tended to ignore varying effects on students of different cultural backgrounds (Remedios et al, 2012). In the West where PBL was first developed, the methodology emerged as intensely interactive and requiring substantial group dialogue (Barrows, 1986; Colby, 1986; Nash et al., 1991). PBL generally takes place in small group learning events where participants’ progress is recognized by their disposition to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar and to share their comprehension of complex theory (Remedios et al., 2012). 

         In many non-Western cultures, students are primarily rewarded for the level of knowledge they can demonstrate, not their ability to engage in critical thinking and dialogue. PBL’s dialogical nature has proven to be an impediment to implementation in some Asian cultures (Khoo, 2003; Dixon et al., 1997). Research also indicates that PBL places demands on students to perform cultural speech functions like:

demonstrating the capacity to effectively analyze clinical and theoretical data; performing smooth turn-taking; accepting creative silence; supporting views by reference to existing (even if limited) knowledge; identifying topics where personal/group knowledge may be weak or inadequate (Hawthorne et al., 2004). 

The difficulty of using these skills in PBL exercises is exacerbated for students who are learning in a second language (Remedios et al., 2012). 

         Bakhtin emphasizes the complex nature of dialogue as collaborative and ‘double-voiced’, i.e., negotiating meaning with others (Morson & Emerson, 1990; Schuster, 1985). According to Bakhtin, dialogue involves the gradual appropriation of other’s language, interpreting it through significance found in one’s own personal narrative, motivations, and morality (Morson & Emerson, 1990; Schuster, 1985). This indicates that in cross-cultural PBL applications, students must develop some level of appreciation for linguistic and cultural context to be able to express meanings and cooperate with others (Remedios et al, 2012). But due to the significance of historical, geographical, and linguistic context, the limited understanding of vocabulary and meaning will always be a challenge for cultural outsiders (Remedios et al., 2012). 

         PBL presupposes that individual students be open to learn from and teach fellow students, an ‘egalitarian’ approach where all members are deemed to have valuable contributions to make (Remedios et al., 2012). This assumes that no privilege is to be given to any participant due to age, ability, experience, position, or knowledge (Remedios et al., 2012). This egalitarian approach is more easily applied in Western contexts than in more hierarchical, power-distant cultures (Ott, 2021). Research indicates that participants in PBL whose cultural values impede them from learning from their peers (or some they deem of inferior status) will not receive the full potential benefit (Remedios et al., 2012). Therefore, it is imperative that tutors explain the need to develop cultural literacy skills, such as the ability to perceive the rules of a particular context and navigate accordingly (Schirato & Yell, 2000). 

         Research on PBL in China found that participants tended to value group solidarity and harmony over maximizing results according to the problem being addressed (Walker, 1996). Some participants were found to be reluctant to assert their own opinions of possible solutions as superior to those of others. Most of these Chinese participants spent most of time “deconstructing and clarifying the problem”, working busily on “ordering and making sense of the problem, and relating it to the readings” (Walker, 1996). According to Western standards, the Chinese PBL groups seemed overly polite, ordered, and unemotive. Walker (1996) concludes: 

Current thought in the West, for example, strongly promotes teacher involvement in school decision making, the promotion of constructive conflict and dissolution of hierarchical boundaries. Although such moves may fit evolving norms of practice in Western education systems, their utility may be impeded in Chinese settings by ingrained cultural norms which guide behavior in different directions.

Some General Findings on PBL in Portuguese Context

Shared Protagonism of Teachers and Students       

         The use of PBL in higher education in Portugal has yielded positive results relevant to possible application for my work in PS advocacy. In a study of college students developing grade-school curriculum, participants who were allowed to find “individual paths and possible solutions in a creative, critical and pondered way” progressively showed less concern with the application of “preconceived formulas” (Fragata et al., 2020). Portuguese college students responded positively to becoming active participants in the process of solving “non-routine problems” instead of adopting a passive stance or applying previously used methods (Fragata et al., 2020). 

         My study of Portuguese scholarship on PBL revealed a prevalent perspective that students’ pedagogical protagonism must be balanced with the teachers’ role (Trindade, 2014, p. 47). The general thinking is that university students still need

  1.  to learn to adhere to formal systems of knowledge, 
  2.  to learn new concepts and conventions, 
  3.  and to learn their application before facing the challenge of a new profession. (Trindade, 2014, p. 47). 

An internal debate to Portuguese academics is the point to which teaching contexts where epistemological conflicts arise between students preconceived ideas and culturally validated ideas be left up to students to resolve (Trindade, 2014, p. 48). Portuguese research on PBL also points the potential incoherence related to its goal of stimulating student participation and creativity. This lies in the fact that many students are uncomfortable with PBL, particularly the required dialogue and collaboration. Forcing students to engage in this form of learning seems to contradict the goal of promoting students’ autonomy. This study concluded with the position that a professor is not someone who only removes obstacles and provides resources, facilitating learning and promoting cooperation among students. The professor must also take responsibility for “orienting, challenging, and diagnosing” at the level of planning as well as execution. The study is critical of approaches to teaching that take away all the resources and tools that support “the instructive intensions of professors” (Trindade, 2014). 

         This, however, should not undermine the need for learning projects to be designed for students’ learning, instead of to sustain the teachers’ instructive activity (Trindade, 2014). At the end of the article comes the strongest statement, that PBL rightly argues for students’ learning being universities’ focus, not the preservation of teachers’ vocation. However, students’ learning is “a phenomenon whose cultural dimension cannot be neglected” (Trindade, 2014), and higher education should contribute to both personal and social development. Such growth depends on more than students’ ability to appropriate new information and learn new procedures. Higher education should also “establish epistemological ruptures that, corresponding to other forms of constructing and using knowledge, are a necessary condition for that appropriation to happen (Trindade, 2014). In other words, universities should preserve the initial goal of a liberal arts education: not just preparation for a vocation, but the formation of an able citizen (Currie, 2021). 

Types of Problems and Questions

         Another study was done using PBL with Portuguese high school students and teachers related to solving climate change, an intentionally complex problem. It was found that students formulate and teachers anticipate mainly the same two types of questions: “encyclopedic and meaning-oriented” (Loureiro, 2008). Both students and teachers formulated large numbers of meaning-oriented questions, that can be described as “high-level”. But the other type of high-level questions – relational, value-oriented, and solution-oriented – were rare or non-existent (Loureiro, 2008). Hence, a teacher’s ability to “anticipate students’ most frequent questions as well as the specific contents they focus on” may facilitate their application of PBL. 

         In general, PBL was found to help students “develop skills that are required to both understand and solve everyday problems and carry out lifelong learning” (Loureiro, 2008). The kind of problem selected appeared not to influence the predominant types of questions formulated by students. But the amount of information available related to the problem did affect the number of questions raised (Loureiro, 2008). Portuguese participants in PBL thrived when they had access to quality, relevant information for their individual and collective research. 

         However, this study also concluded that some subjects involve too much information to be engaged in certain classroom settings. However, complex subjects are appropriate because they tend to provoke emotional involvement and stimulate discussion (Loureiro, 2008). The contrast between extensive information and complexity related to problems seems to indicate that the former causes learner fatigue and bogs down research. Complexity, on the other hand, generates engagement and lively debate. Lastly, the study was optimistic about teachers’ ability to choose problem subjects that lead to questions that center learning on students while fulfilling the course curriculum (Loureiro, 2008). 

Insights and Recommendations for use of PBL in PS Advocacy in Portugal

Consideration of Portuguese History and Place of an Evangelical Missionary

At the outset, PBL’s application to PS advocacy is clear in that the latter addresses a problem it intends to mitigate against. In my practice of PS advocacy, the goals of solving this problem include 

  1. seeing the universal Christian church in all its diverse expressions repent of this sin,
  2. being healed of its consequences (most notably its own internal divisions), 
  3. seeing the healing of its relationship to the Jewish people, and
  4. seeing the restoration of its call to be a community of reconciliation (Eph. 2:14-18; II Cor. 5:20-21). 

In majority Roman Catholic Portugal, I believe that all four of these matters can be shown as important to church leadership as well as the laity. The biblical idea that sin curses “the land” of a nation but repentance brings healing (II Chron. 7:14) should touch the hearts of many Portuguese Catholics. The desire of Portuguese Catholics to be reconciled with the rest of the Christian churches is perhaps less distinct, and therefore will require an argument for its necessity and benefits. The healing of the Portuguese nation in relation to its Jewish population and the Jewish people worldwide is an uncomfortable subject that will require care and prayer. I consider the restoration of the Catholic church’s identity as a community of reconciliation to be the most potentially fruitful aspect of my PS advocacy. As is the case with other churches in the West, the Catholic church has been largely characterized as a throwback to colonial exploitation, oppression, bigotry, and injustice. I believe that the motif of church as intergroup reconciler should be a welcome re-imagination of its identity and vocation in our pluralistic, globalized world. 

In my research, the most helpful resources on PBL were from the field of education. My brief search for references on PBL in Christian ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and reconciliation studies, yielded no specific cases. Nevertheless, I find several points of application of PBL in my work. 

            In my work, PS advocacy generally involves meetings of mid-level to senior leaders representing diverse Christian traditions. Looking over the minutes of a recent European PS conference, I extracted the following key problems: 

  1. Overcoming the difficulty of recruiting new participants because of complete lack of interest, or insufficient interest considering other priorities.
  2. Overcoming the doctrinal differences and resultant controversies that slow the work down. 
  3. Deep distrust between Messianic Jews and the Catholic Church.
  4. The Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East.
  5. Division in Orthodox church caused by Ukraine war.
  6. The resurgence of Antisemitism. 
  7. Passing the vision on to a new generation to continue the work. 
  8. Resolving the rift between Christian churches and Judaism when the former seeks reconciliation with Messianic Jews whom the latter overwhelmingly reject.
  9. The movement still largely Western, need for more participation from churches of the Global South. 
  10. The need to create training for PS advocacy.

European PS advocacy has flourished, mostly in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and several nations of Eastern Europe. Portugal is part of the country cluster intercultural researchers have named “Latin Europe”, which includes Italy, Spain, and perhaps surprisingly, Israel (Jackson, 2020). This is the part of Europe where PS advocacy has made least progress. Austria is an outlier as a nation with a majority Catholic Christian tradition where PS advocacy has flourished. This illustrates the challenge of PS advocacy in the Catholic world, of which Portugal is part. Therefore, in Portugal the most relevant problems listed above are those acutely related to the Catholic church. 

In my experience, the first problem is most urgent in Portugal: Overcoming the difficulty of recruiting new participants because of complete lack of interest, or insufficient interest considering other priorities. There have been initiatives in the Catholic church recognizing the need for repentance over antisemitism, pogroms, and the Inquisition (Marujo, 2000). Much native research has been done in Portugal related to post-colonialism and Catholic antisemitism (Tavim, 2023), as well as foreign research on the connection between Iberian Imperialism and supersessionism (Jennings, 2010). 

Hypothetical Application of PBL

PBL could be effectively applied in a context of ecumenical meetings in majority Catholic Portugal. Most ecumenical gatherings in Portugal are led by a Catholic leaders with participants from Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, and Orthodox churches are also present. As a foreign evangelical participant, I would need to be careful about suggesting the use of PBL in relation to pasts sins and theological errors in Portuguese Christianity such as supersessionism. Therefore, my first step would be to explain PBL’s usefulness to teaching heterogeneous groups to work together (Nguyen, 2018), which lies at the heart of EC’s vision as an ecumenical project. 

PBL offers an outsider like me an opportunity to assume a more neutral role. I could meet privately with some ecumenical leaders to present my proposition for using PBL to broach the subject of supersessionism. If I receive a favorable response, I can ask if one of the leaders could be the dialogue facilitator, with me as a behind-the-scenes support. According to Nguyen’s (2018), the key to an effective application of PBL to this context is to demonstrate its relevance to real life situations faced by the churches in Portugal. 

I can coach the facilitator regarding the danger of PBL participants segregating into homogeneous groups, i.e., Catholics and Protestants (Singaram et al., 2011). I can suggest that the facilitator form the groups so that the right mix of diversity is present (Singaram et al., 2011). Portugal’s Western learning culture fits the ideal for PBL described by Remedios et al. (2012), privileging not only discursive teaching but listening. The facilitator in our hypothetical context will need to explain that PBL contrasts with learning approaches that reward participants for demonstrating their knowledge (Khoo, 2003; Dixon et al., 1997). In PBL, participation is evaluated positively by their ability to think critically, give others a chance to speak, and to voice criticism (Hawthorne et al., 2004). 

We have seen that productive dialogue requires participants to gradually appropriate the language of the cultural “other”, seeking to interpret it within that distinct worldview (Morson & Emerson, 1990; Schuster, 1985). In the case of PS advocacy at an ecumenical meeting, this presents the challenge that there are likely no Jewish participants. I can suggest that a first step in countering supersessionism would be to reach out to Messianic Jews in Portugal. There is a nascent Messianic Jewish community in Lisbon whose leaders could be invited to help existing ecumenical groups to begin the process of learning the worldview of these most important interlocutors as far as PS is concerned. 

The recommendation that PBL participants be open to learning from each other in an egalitarian sense (Remedios et al., 2012) does not seem to be a problem in Portuguese culture. And in the ecumenical meetings I have participated in Portugal, the leaders don’t demonstrate a tendency to privilege some participants over others. The danger cited by Walker (1996) related to over-commitment to group solidarity and harmony over the task outcome could perhaps be present in our hypothetical intervention. Contrary to the Chinese example (Walker, 1996), the Portuguese are less careful to prioritize group harmony in general, but predictably would in an ecumenical context. Also, in contrast to the Chinese case study, Portuguese would probably not be overly polite, ordered, and unemotive (Walker, 1996). 

For our hypothetical application of PBL, it is encouraging that Portuguese participants reacted positively to solving problems versus adopting previously used methods (Fragata et al., 2020). At the same time, my general impression from the literature related to PBL in Portugal is that it meets with a conservative undercurrent regarding the role of teacher as “pedagogical protagonist” (Trindade, 2014). The Portuguese educational culture still values the classic view of a liberal arts education as more than a means to achieving a vocation. The idea that the teacher is someone that actively forms the ethical and epistemological bearings of their students is still a strong theme in Portuguese higher education (Trindade, 2014). 

Lastly, it is significant that research indicates Portuguese participants in PBL tended to ask mainly “high-level” encyclopedic and meaning-oriented questions while largely omitting “low-level” relational, value, and solution-oriented questions (Loureiro, 2008). Loureiro’s (2008) recommendation is pertinent that PBL facilitators should seek to conduct participants towards problems in a way that stimulates not only a search for information but emotional involvement. As it relates to our hypothetical PS intervention with EC leadership, again perhaps the secret lies in connecting participants with the narrative of Jewish experience as it relates to Christianity. After all, this is the context of the negative consequences of supersessionism this PBL exercise intends to address. And as PS advocates have concluded worldwide, the role Messianic Judaism is key (Hocken & Schönborn, 2016; Hocken, 2009).

Conclusion

Although PBL was not developed with ecumenism and intergroup reconciliation advocacy in mind, several aspects of it make it a promising tool. I am an Evangelical missionary dealing with issues of historical injustice and hermeneutical error in church history. My PS advocacy extends beyond my local context in Portugal, but it is here where I live that my work faces most daunting barriers. As a member of a minority Christian tradition in a bastion of Catholicism, I am at a disadvantage to raise awareness of the sins and doctrinal errors of the church my Evangelical/Protestant forebears so contentiously rejected. 

            The lack of awareness of the error and consequences of supersessionism in Portuguese Christianity is an obstacle I must engage with patience. However, I contend that PS advocacy offers to restore the identity of the Portuguese church as a community of intergroup reconciliation. This is a welcome re-imagination of a Catholicism that is largely viewed as an archaic vestige of a legacy of imperial oppression and cultural repression. 

            In PBL, I find a resource full of potential for dealing with problems related to PS as a dialogue coach. The first step is convincing the gatekeepers of Christian faith in Portugal – mostly Catholic – of the real-life implications of PS. If by the power of the Spirit I see this happen, then the door is open to use PBL to help those who must take a priestly role in relation to the sins of the church in Portugal. It is not my place to confess the sins of the Portuguese church and repent for its supersessionist doctrine and practice. Portugal is one of the oldest nations in Europe, and as a missionary I must have a patient and persevering resolve. Some could see PBL as a short-cut to colonizing a foreign culture through the subterfuge of dialogue and students as the source of learning. One could manipulate the students at the ground level using PBL to undermine the academic power structures. 

            PBL is a method that can be used according to Christian principles of humility and sincerity or repeating the same imperialist tropes that malign the testimony of our faith. But I believe in PBL’s central paradigm that learning occurs as students collectively seek solutions to real-life cases. And the accelerating factor of heterogeneous groups practicing PBL makes it a useful tool missionary service. Besides the barrier of my Evangelical origin is the relative invisibility of the Jews in Portuguese consciousness. Since their expulsion in the 15th century during the pogroms of the Inquisition, a significant Jewish presence has never returned to the Iberian Peninsula. Despite this, a large portion of the Iberian population is likely of Jewish descent due to forced conversions. What motivates my PS advocacy in this ancient land is the hope that it is part of God’s key to unlocking healing and restoration. There are deep wells of devotion to Christ in the pleasant land of Portugal. I believe the Portuguese church possesses ancient treasures which the kingdom of darkness has kept repressed. Satan’s authority is only based on the curse of sin and the distortion of truth. My prayer is that this curse and deception are being removed through renewal in the Catholic church and unprecedented ecumenical reconciliation. Most surprising of all would be the participation of the Jewish people in such a miracle.

References

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deChambeau, A., Ramlo, S.E. (2017). STEM high school teachers’ views of implementing PBL: An investigation using anecdote circles. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 11(1). 

Dixon, A., Lam, C., Lam, T., & Ho, R. (1997). Hong Kong students cope with small-group problem-based learning. In J. Conway, R. Fisher, L. Sheridan-Burns, & G. Ryan (Eds.), Research and development in problem-based learning. Sydney: The Australian Problem-Based Learning Network.

Fragata, N., Amaral, T., Freire, C., Mangas, C., Fragata, N., Amaral, T., Freire, C., & Mangas, C. (2020). Critical thinking to build creative solutions: Prolearn4all project contributions. Millenium – Journal of Education, Technologies, and Health, 11, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.29352/mill0211.01.00255

Hawthorne, L., Minas, H., & Singh, B. (2004). A case study in the globalization of medical education: Assisting overseas-born students at the University of Melbourne. Medical Teacher, 26(2), 150–159.

Hocken, P. (2009). The challenges of the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Messianic Jewish movements: The tensions of the spirit. Ashgate. 

Hocken, P., & Schönborn, C. (2016). Azusa, Rome, and Zion: Pentecostal Faith, Catholic Reform, and Jewish Roots.Wipf and Stock Publishers. 

Hung, W., Jonassen, D. H., & Liu, R. (2008). Problem-based learning. In J. M. Spector, J. G. van Merrienboer, M. D., Merrill, & M. Driscoll (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.), 485-506. New York, NY: Erlbaum, 486

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Loureiro, Isménia M.G. (2008). A aprendizagem baseada na resolução de problemas e a formulação de questões a partir de contextos problemáticos: Um estudo com professores e alunos de física e química. Retrieved July 28, 2024, from https://core.ac.uk/reader/55609060, vii, vii, vii, 97, 98, 98, vii, 98

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by daviddawson462742281

Finding Hope in Narrative Learning 

Giving our Life Stories Structure and Coherence

According to Goodson et al. (2010), stories can either give our lives “structure, coherence and meaning” or inversely they can provide “the backdrop against which we experience our lives as complex, fragmented or without meaning” (p. 1). These stories don’t just help us understand ourselves, they constitute who we are(Goodson, 2010, p. 1). We create these stories, finding in them meaning, direction, and support for dealing with circumstances and our identities in them (Goodson, 2010, p. 2). Rather than consisting in learning fromthe stories of our lives and selves, narrative learning happens “in and through the narration” (Goodson, 2010, p. 2). 

We can deliberately engage in constructing narrative through autobiographical work (Goodson, 2010, p. 2). Bateson’s (1994) model for narrative learning involves “recognition of experience, reflection, and reconstruction, which are interrelated as a spiral”. Spiral learning consists of navigating complexity “with partial understanding, allowing for later returns” (Bateson, 1994, p.243). Learning as we move forward, we reflect on experiences and reconstruct them during our lives (Liu, 2015, p. 21). 

Stage theory is a common approach to understanding an individual’s life. But Cohler (1982) states that narrative “may offer a better understanding of the life course than stage theory because it closely parallels the storying process that people use in making meaning of their own lives”. This frees the exercise from constricting models of life progression, as if individual’s lives would always follow one of a set of predictable patterns. 

According to Polkinghorne (1995), narrative discourse “draws together diverse events, happenings, and actions of human lives into thematically unified goal directed purposes” (p. 5). We use narratives to “inform our decisions by constructing imaginative ‘what if’ scenarios” hopefully coming to see that what we have received outweighs what we have lost (Polkinghorne, 1998, p. 14).

Helping Explain Why Our Lives Deviate from “the Norm”

Bruner (1990) describes the function of narratives as specifically “to find an intentional state that mitigates or at least makes comprehensible a deviation from canonical cultural patterns” (p. 49-50). Narrative forms are both “socially patterned” and “personally inscribed”, meaning that understanding the social involves taking personal stories seriously “in their own terms and not just as the expression of something underlying or overarching” (Goodson, 2010, p. 126-7). And as a collaborative creative activity, narrative learning consists in both the way we tell a story and how the receiver interprets it (Liu, 2015, p. 4; Czanniawska, 1997). 

We establish coherence in our narratives by finding connections between the variety of experiences that bombard us with daily (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 62). This coherence is often found in specific cultural narratives, which if identified can be critiqued and countered with alternative narratives (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 62). Indeed, all narratives are situated in culture and tied to it (Clark, 2010, p. 3). However, there is also individual agency in creating narratives, as the speaker connects events into a sequence in order to act on them later and impress meaning upon their listeners (Reissman, 2008, p. 3). Events perceived by the speaker are selected, organized, connected, and evaluated as meaningful for a particular audience” (p. 3). Important to notice is that narrative is always social, i.e. “there is always an audience (real or imagined, the other or even the self) and that fact shapes the structure and determines the purpose of the narrative” (Clark, 2010, p. 4). 

Sarbin (1993) describes our world as “story-shaped” (p. 63), full of “folklore, myth, popular culture (carried by modalities such as movies, television, YouTube, music, and the like), social scripts, religious traditions and parables, political discourses, history, literature”, and so on (Clark, 2010, p. 4). All these forms embody cultural values providing “libraries of plots. . .[that] help us interpret our own and other people’s experience” (Sarbin, 1993, p. 59). These narratives “establish what constitutes normalcy by defining reasonable causality and plausibility” (Linde, 1993). 

Personal Narrative Exercises

Some educators have used imaginative role-playing to help learners encounter a tangible experience, by pretending they were someone else in a different context (Marunda-Piki, 2018, p. 109). Research indicates the effectiveness of narrative exercises where adult learners tell stories “using plenty of gestures, facial expressions, and a degree of dramatization using tone of voice and mime (Sawyer, 1965; Colwell, 1980; Grainger, 1997). 

Christian educators have used narrative learning to help students understand the stories they believed about themselves considering Christ’s work on the cross” (Foote, 2015, p. 118). The call to a new life of faith is seen as “a call for Christians to rethink their thinking”, citing Scripture attesting to how the world has blinded the unbeliever from the light of the gospel (II Cor. 4:4). Emphasis is placed on the believer’s new life in Christ (II Cor. 5:17), and their call to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2) (Foote, 2015, p. 118). 

Asking adult learners to write narrative essays about their lives is a means of “connecting what they have learned from current experiences to those in the past as well to possible future situations” (Foote, 2015, p. 120). According to Kolb’s experiential learning model, “concrete experiences can lead to personal reflection on the experience. This reflection then leads to abstract conceptualization, which might manifest itself in a set of conclusions or rules of thumb derived from the experience as well as insight into applicable theories or other concepts” (Colvin, 2012, p. 94). Since adults form their identities through their experiences, by critically reflecting upon prior learning through written narratives students can “reshape and renew their identities” (Foote, 2015, p. 121). 

Psychologists use therapeutic interventions that involve “the co-construction of healing narratives in the face of personal, moral, and social adversity” (Lieblich, McAdams, and Josselson , 2004). In White and Epston’s (1990) narrative therapy process clients are helped to re-story their lives, editing the plot to better serve them. This helps the client distinguish different stories to the problem narrative that led them into therapy. Frank (1995) identifies three types of illness narratives: “restitution narrative centers around the (hoped for) return of good health; the chaos narrative has no center—it is disturbingly lacking in coherence and therefore in sense making; and the quest narrative seeks to use the illness to gain something of value”. 

Clark and Rossiter (2008) argue that the nature of experience is always prelinguistic, “it is ‘languaged’ after the fact, and the process of narrating it is how learners give meaning to the experience” (p. 64). Therefore, it is via the construction of narrative that experience becomes accessible, and the way it is constructed determines the meaning it will have for the individual or group. (Clark and Rossiter, 2008, p. 64).

Clark and Rossiter (2008) developed three modes of narrative learning. In the learning journalassignment, participants articulate what they are learning “in a sustained, regular way” by journaling (p. 67). Participants enter a conversation between themselves and the learning material in focus, connecting prior experiences with new ones, comparing prior assumptions with new ideas. In concept-focused autobiographical writing, students write a paper with their life story as the subject, to “construct a narrative of their life experience, which must cohere in terms of a given concept and illuminate that concept” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68). In instructional case studies, a problem is presented that must be solved or an issue to be addressed, “and this is the location of the learning because the problem or issue is complex, reflecting real-world practice” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68). The point is less finding the solution to the problem than discovering “how to decide what to do” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68). They are “learning to think like practitioners, which involves putting theoretical concepts in conversation with prior experience to come up with new insights and interpretations” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68).

Conclusion

            The most compelling idea in my study of narrative learning is that people either see their lives as coherent and meaningful or chaotic and absurd. What a tragedy for people who find themselves in a story whose beginning, middle, and end don’t make any sese or have purpose. The Bible states that everyone was created for a purpose (Eph. 2:10; Ps. 139:14-16), a simple message but one that so many distraught and alienated people need to know. 

            Unfortunately, the Bible is full of stories of people who knew God whose stories began so promisingly but ended up in tragedy. These were the followers of God, the heroes of the faith. If we can learn to see our lives in the perspective of the God who shapes and forms, forgives and redeems, we should always be able to find hope. 

References

Bateson, M.C. (1994). Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way. New York: Harper Collins. 

Bruner, Jerome S. (1990) Acts of Meaning (the Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures) , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Clark, M. C., & Rossiter, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 2008(119), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.306 

Clark, M. C. (2010). Narrative Learning: Its Contours and Its Possibilities. Part of a Special Issue: Narrative Perspectives on Adult Education, (126), 3–11. https:// doi.org/10.1002/ace.367 

Cohler, B. J. “Personal Narrative and the Life Course.” In P. B. Baltes and O. G. Brim, Jr. (eds.), Life-span Development and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, 1982. 

Colwell, E. (1980) Storytelling (London, The Bodley Head).

Colvin, J. (2012). Earn college credit for what you know (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: Kendall Hunt.

Czanniawska, B (1997). Narrating the Organization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

Foote, L. S. (2015). Re-Storying Life as a Means of Critical Reflection: The Power of Narrative Learning. Christian Higher Education, 14(3), 116–126. Academic Search Premier.

Frank, A. W. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. Chicago: University of 

Chicago Press, 1995.

Goodson, I. F., Biesta, Gert., Tedder, M., & Adair, N. (2010). Narrative Learning. Taylor & Francis Group. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/biola-ebooks/detail.action?docID=487967

Grainger, T. (1997) Traditional storytelling in the primary classroom (Leamington Spa, Scholastic. 

Lieblich, A., McAdams, D. P., and Josselson, R. (eds.). Healing Plots: The Narrative Basis of Psychotherapy. Washington, D.C.: APA, 2004.

Linde, C. Life Stories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Liu, X. (2015). Narrative Generates a Learning Spiral in Education: Recognition, Reflection, and Reconstruction. International Journal for Leadership in Learning, 1(3). ERIC. 

Polkinghorne, D. (1995) ‘Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis’, in J. A. Hatch and R. Wisniewski (eds) Life History and Narrative , London: Falmer.

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Reno, Nev.: Context Press, 1993.

Sawyer, R. (1965) The way of the storyteller (New York, The Viking Press); original work published 1942. 

White, M., and Epston, D. Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. New York: Norton, 

1990.

 [DD1]Considering how personal narratives explain deviations from cultural patterns. In their personal narratives, participants could explore how they explain their involvement in Jewish-Christian reconciliation initiatives. (ONM)

 [DD2]Important albeit obvious point: our personal narratives are the result of the interaction of our own experiences and thoughts about them and the mutuality of these experiences and reflections within our cultures. 

 [DD3]Participants can be asked who are the most important “receivers” to their self narrative and narrative of Jewish-Christian relations (ONM), as well as as how this audience affects the narrative?