Teaching for Faith: A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes

by Richard Robert Osmer

This useful, theologically informed guide prepares teachers in the church, whose purpose is to awaken, support, and challenge faith. Richard Osmer offers practical suggestions for preparing good lectures and leading lively discussions. He explores four important dimensions of faith--faith as belief, as commitment, as relationship, and as mystery--and describes different teaching approaches to address each of these dimensions.

244 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1992

About the author

Richard Robert Osmer is Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education and Director of the School of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he is the author of Confirmation: Presbyterian Practices in Ecumenical Perspective, Teaching for Faith, and A Teachable Spirit.

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Help for writing lesson plans for non-teachers

[Kristen Stieffel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about how to challenge my students by devising more thorough and thoughtful questions. Also has good methods for lesson structure and planning.

Loved the section on parabolic teaching. As a writer, I'm interested in how Story can be used in the classroom.

This book is starting to show its age, though. There's little mention of video resources and nothing about distance learning via the Internet. The author recommends quaint tricks like leaving extra space on the page when you're writing your outline so you can add more points later. C'mon, this book isn't that old. Even in 1990 I had a copy of MS Word.

The writing style is a bit stiff and academic in places, but overall this is a good resource for teachers of adults. It's overdue for an update.

[Nathan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was somewhat helpful but I didn't get a lot out of it and it will be hard to use as a resource.