Spirituality, Ethics, Religion, and Teaching: A Professor‘s Journey

Abstract

This book is a first-person, pedagogical reflection on what the author--an applied philosopher with an appointment in a professional school--has learned about being a teacher and a student, over a thirty-five-year career in a « public ivy university. This narrative candidly recounts a series of life-changing, intellectual, and emotional insights gleaned over three decades from students, colleagues, scholars, and mentors. The author's personal story traces the struggle to create a passionate spirituality of teaching, one that reframes traditional notions of religion and spirituality, as well as one that attempts to correct conventional misunderstandings of postmodernism. Nash's story is every educator's story--lived in unique ways at every level of teaching. « Robert J. Nash's 'Spirituality, Ethics, Religion, and Teaching: A Professor's Journey' tells the story of a common journey of all teachers in an uncommon language. When I was his student, he always encouraged me to respectfully learn the other's language and create my own bricolage. We continue our conversation about the teacher's journey, now as colleagues, and the journey continues to soften from the complexitites of our praxis into spiritual shades, hues, hills, and valleys. (Ernest Nalette, Ed.D., Associate Professor and Chair of Graduate Studies in Physical Therapy, Ithaca College, New York) « The work of the professor is, to most people, a mystery; the stereotype of the academic is characterized by a cold, hyper-rational person who lives a lonely, esoteric life of the mind. In 'Spirituality, Ethics, Religion, and Teaching: A Professor's Journey', Robert J. Nash shatters this image and provides a window intothe passionate world of teaching and learning in higher education. This highly personal and wonderfully inspiring scholarly work is both a portrait of the field of moral philosophy in education, and a more intimate 'letter of the spirit' by a postmodern, restless seeker of spiritual truths. When I walked into my first class with Robert J. Nash over ten years ago, I knew I was in the presence of a commanding intellect; what I now know, after reading this autobiographical narrative, is the depth of his passions for his students, for his evolving pedagogy, and for his own ongoing journey of faith. (Kathleen Knight Abowitz, Associate Professor, Miami University, Author of 'Building Community in an American High School') « A good teacher makes me think. A great teacher stire my emotions, touches the soul of my humanity, and inspires me to learn. Robert J. Nash has always been a great teacher and this memoir demonstrates why. With intelligent philosophy and bold reflections of a life lived in education and lessons learned through education, Robert J. Nash offers a portrait of more than just his life as a 'teacher.' In addition to offering critical insights about educational pedagogy, he calls upon the reader to join him in the storytelling journey of learning. (Ray Quirolgico, University of San Francisco, California)

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