Creating contemplative studies in the Southwest: theory and practice
November 21, 2016 DOI: 10.1186/s40613-016-0039-3 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Contemplative pedagogy, which adds direct personal experience to traditional objective study, addresses central concerns of liberal arts education by enhancing insight into and critical reflection about self and others in their social and historical location. This approach gives a more accurate, lived understanding of worldviews and practices. Students themselves want contemplative methods in the classroom. Religion professors should introduce historical and cultural context of worldviews alongside firsthand experience of exercises from various traditions. The article raises questions about appropriation, decontextualization, and commodification of contemplative traditions.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Contemplative pedagogy adds first-person direct experience to traditional third-person objective study, providing a more accurate and lived understanding of worldviews and practices. |
Abstract
In this article, I offer a brief history of the Contemplative Studies initiative at Texas Christian University, then discuss some of the theoretical underpinning for our program, indicating the value of contemplative pedagogy in academia and Religious Studies in particular. I argue that such pedagogy addresses central concerns of liberal arts education, that is, enhancing insight into and critical reflection about both self and others in their social and historical location. Contemplative learning adds “first person” direct experience to traditional “third person” objective study which gives a more accurate (and “lived”) understanding of both one’s own and others’ worldviews and practices. I will also discuss how and why students themselves want contemplative methods in the classroom. Religion professors in particular should introduce students to the importance of understanding the historical and cultural context of these (and our own) worldviews, enhancing these understandings with appropriate first-hand experience of basic exercises in various traditions (religious and modern secular) that have specialized in “first person” inquiry. I will close by raising questions about how scholars should address the high degree of appropriation, decontextualization, and commodification of most contemplative traditions today.