Theological Education in a New Key

This book begins with the story of Huckleberry Finn trying to decide whether he should turn in his friend, Jim, the runaway slave. He believes that if he doesn't obey the god of slavery and turn Jim in he will go to hell. It's a crisis that reveals the power of the culture of slavery on the inner textbook of this White boy. Huck's dilemma points to the many ways this White professor explores his teaching career and his efforts to liberate theological education from the transmission of information--banking education--to opening the inner textbooks of students and their teachers. Richard Hester uses the metaphor of "inner textbook" to describe what we carry within ourselves that tells us who we are, what we seek, where we're vulnerable, and what we value. He contends that effective theological education opens these inner textbooks to be read along with the prescribed texts for the course. Hester gives attention to his own inner textbook, the Whiteness of it, and what he's learning about the Black experience. Theological Education in a New Key aims to help students and their teachers open their inner textbooks to the story of God's dream of belonging and diversity.