Books for Teachers

Francis Su, Mathematics for Human Flourishing (Yale University Press, 2020). This book is due to be published on January 7, 2020 but you can get a taste of what it is about on Francis Su’s blog here.

Christian Studies Program Primer: A Conceptual Exploration of Why We Learn, Live and Love God’s Big Story and Christian Studies Program Plan: A Guide for How to Form Students Who Learn, Love & Live in God’s Big Story, Christian Schools Australia and Association of Christian Schools International, 2019.

Ken Badley & Harro van Brummelen (eds), Metaphors We Teach By: How metaphors shape what we do in the classroom (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2012).

Doug Blomberg, Wisdom and Curriculum: Christian Schooling After Postmodernity (Sioux Center, IO: Dordt Press, 2007).

Trevor Cooling

 Trevor Cooling

Trevor Cooling, Christian Faith in English church schools: Research Conversations with Classroom Teachers (Oxford, Peter Lang, 2016). See my review of this great recent book. Also by the same author Trevor Cooling, A Christian Vision for State Education (London: SPCK, 1994), Trevor Cooling & Margaret Cooling, Distinctively Christian learning? (Cambridge, Grove Books, 2013), Trevor Cooling, Doing God in Education (London, Theos, 2010, available as a freely downloadable PDF) and Trevor Cooling, Supporting Christians in education (London. LICC, 2008).

Kieran Egan, Teaching as Story Telling: An Alternative Approach to Teaching and Curriculum in the Elementary School (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986).

Donovan Graham, Teaching Redemptively: Bringing Grace and Truth into Your Classroom (Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design, 2003).

Beth Green

 Beth Green

Elizabeth Green, Mapping the Field: A review of the current research evidence on the impact of schools with a Christian ethos (London: Theos, 2009, available as a freely downloadable PDF).

Brian V Hill, Faith at the Blackboard: Issues Facing the Christian Teacher (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982).

Harold Klassen, Visual Valet: Personal assistant for Christian teachers and thinkers (Amazon Kindle Edition, 2015, available as a freely downloadable PDF).

Pamela MacKenzie (with Alison Farnell, Ann Holt and David Smith), Entry Points for Christian Reflection within Education (London: Care for Education, 1997, available as a freely downloadable e-book).

Parker J Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998).  If you like this, you will also like Parker J Palmer, To Know As We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983). My review of The Courage to Teach.

Signe Sandsmark

    Signe             Sandsmark

Signe Sandsmark, Is World View Neutral Education Possible and Desirable? A Christian Response to Liberal Arguments (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2000). See here for a helpful review of this book.

David Smith

   David Smith

David I Smith & Barbara Carvill, The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality, and Foreign Language Teaching (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2000). Other great books by David Smith include David I Smith & James K A Smith (eds), Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2011), David I Smith & Susan M Felch, Teaching and Christian Imagination (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2015) and David I Smith & Pennylyn Dykstra-Pruim, Christians and Cultural Difference (Grand Rapids, Calvin College Press, 2016).

Elmer John Thiessen, In Defence of Religious Schools and Colleges (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001).

Harro Van Brummelen, Steppingstones to Curriculum: A Biblical Path (Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design, 2002). Also recommended is Harro Van Brummelen, Walking with God in the Classroom: Christian Approaches to Teaching and Learning (Alta Vista College Press, 1998).

John Van Dyk, The Craft of Christian Teaching: A Classroom Journey (Sioux Center, IO: Dordt Press, 2000).

Nick Wolterstorff

     Nick Wolterstorff

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning, ed. Gloria Goris Stronks and Clarence W Joldersma (Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Academic, 2002). If you like this, you will also like Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education, ed. Clarence W Joldersma and Gloria Goris Stronks (Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans, 2004). My reviews of both of these books.

Although not written specifically for teachers, you may also be interested in Mark Roques, The Spy, the Rat and the Bed of Nails: Creative Ways of Talking about Christian Faith – see review.

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