Davide's Notes

Benjamin Myers (Faith and Theology) is right to the point in his post Why is Theology Boring? The problem, as I see it, is a general one.

I like teaching and giving presentations. My professional field is mostly computer science, and my theology skills are amateurish at best; but regardless of the field, I try to regard myself as a continuing student. One thing I learned from experience (as teacher and student), is that knowledge is in itself always mediated through other knowledge and interpretation. There is no such thing as an arid subject, but there may well be an arid teacher (or student). The boredness comes in when you are not able to communicate (for example, as a speaker) or see (for example, as a hearer) the beauty, perhaps hidden, of the subject.

Read this: The art of Teaching straight from the Heart. It is a presentation given at a scientific conference, and as such it was mostly conceived for a technical audience. But it seems to me that many of the things that are said there are applicable to, say, theology as well. Actually, as I wrote already in the past, I believe that, as Aquinas said, manifestum est, secundum omnem modum, [sacram doctrinam] digniorem esse aliis [scientiis]; because of this, I think that the following statement, taken from the presentation referenced above, should be maximally true for theology:

[Students] must develop a hunger and thirst for more knowledge, straight from their heart. Their eyes must be watchful and a mirror of their soul. Their mouths must speak of the subject in words of benefit, interest and beauty, and finally, their mimics, their gestures and the whole rest of their bodies must reflect that they feel challenged and yet at ease with the subject.