Ben Witherington III, Is There a Doctor in the House? An Insider’s Story and Advice on Becoming a Bible Scholar (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 113:
[excerpt from ch. 9: “Honing Your Rhetoric: The Ability to Lecture and Teach”]
Learning Is Not Enough for Good Lecturing
Sadly, some Christian teachers ought not to be teachers, but because there are so few pure research professors in biblical studies or in any sort of Christian studies, these folks become teachers by default. Some of them can’t lecture their way out of a paper bag. I had a teacher like this in college. The running joke was that the difference between this teacher and the textbook was that the textbook didn’t mumble or stutter. As cruel as that joke may seem, it was an accurate assessment of this poor man’s attempt to teach. He couldn’t explain anything. He just kept quoting the textbook.
Tragically, too few Bible teachers or scholars have had any training in pedagogy, much less in Christian education. Furthermore, they have never even been taught the rudiments of good communication.
Saw this book a while back and it sounds like an interesting read. I can confirm this during my time at school.
Interesting. Appreciate Witherington putting into words what is sadly true.
This raises some interesting questions: “What place does the textbook have in the classroom? Is it an adjunct to the lecture or is the lecture an an adjunct to the textbook?” I’ve always presented material from my own research that supports and unpacks the content of the assigned reading, but is different from the reading. Occasional references to the text are made, but primarily the material I present comports with but is not the same as the text. When making assignments, tests, et al., I always draw from both the lectures and the text.
Of course, how well the material is presented in the classroom is quintessential to how it is learned.