Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Eerdmans
Publish Date: February 20, 2025
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802883001
ISBN-13: 978-0802883001
Almost everything I’ve learned about pedagogy I’ve learned from David Smith. This book is another gem from a master teacher of teachers. Attuned to the gritty particularity of classroom experiences, Smith invites teachers into habits of reflection about what they do every day, so that they may become increasingly attentive to how faith is carried in concrete practices. In this book, you will recognize the most mundane moments of your teaching day but see them in a new light—filled with possibility for faith formation.
—James K. A. Smith
Professor of Philosophy, Calvin University
Discover how ordinary moments in the school year can become occasions for making profound connections between faith and pedagogy.
In this encouraging and practical book, education expert David I. Smith invites Christian educators on a journey through the school year that will deepen their capacity to make thoughtful connections between their faith and their pedagogy.
Mirroring the rhythms of an academic year, the book embraces and explores the mundane moments that all teachers experience every semester. Starting the course. Setting some norms for interaction. Choosing how to frame the material. Assigning tasks. Repeating things. Pausing. Bringing things to a close. The topics are deliberately ordinary because, as Smith demonstrates, the shape of one’s teaching is mainly built from the unspectacular choices and actions that gradually shape the texture of life in the classroom. If educators want to think well about Christian faith and teaching and act well in the classroom, they need to learn to reflect well on those ordinary steps in the journey.
Everyday Christian Teaching builds on Smith’s previous book On Christian Teaching: Practicing Faith in the Classroom, where he made a persuasive case for connecting faith and pedagogy. The new book aims to put this idea into practice, as Smith explains in the introduction: “Suppose we want to get better at thinking about faith and teaching together. What then? What does the road look like, and how do we walk it wisely? If we’d like to be a pilgrim, how do we make progress?” Taking up such questions with wisdom and empathy, Everyday Christian Teaching helps educators develop faith-informed insights and life-giving practices that can transform their teaching over the course of time.
Almost everything I’ve learned about pedagogy I’ve learned from David Smith. This book is another gem from a master teacher of teachers. Attuned to the gritty particularity of classroom experiences, Smith invites teachers into habits of reflection about what they do every day, so that they may become increasingly attentive to how faith is carried in concrete practices. In this book, you will recognize the most mundane moments of your teaching day but see them in a new light—filled with possibility for faith formation.
—James K. A. Smith
Professor of Philosophy, Calvin University
David I. Smith’s Everyday Christian Teaching is a welcome transformative resource for all educators. As a prominent voice in Christian education across the globe, Smith challenges educators to examine how their practices reflect their convictions as followers of Christ. Through engaging narratives and examples, Smith offers a journey for the reader that not only inspires but also equips through practical prompts. It is an invitation for educators to reflect—then act—on how the biblical story must shape teaching and learning. It is an invitation to consider deeply our ‘everyday’ being. Everyday Christian Teaching is an essential addition to any educator’s library, and a must read for all involved in Christian teacher formation.
—Fiona Partridge
Principal, National Institute for Christian Education, Australia
There is something both ‘everyday’ and ‘once in a lifetime’ about this tremendous invitation from David Smith to look for wisdom in all of your pedagogical habits and learning encounters. Whether you are a young or well-seasoned educator, walk with Smith and reflect intentionally on the way of wisdom in your classroom; you won’t regret taking those first steps.
—Beth Green
Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Tyndale University, Canada
Everyday Christian Teaching meets the desperate need to help Christians teach faithfully in pluralistic institutions by offering thoughtful, winsome, and practical reflections rooted deeply in the Christian tradition.
—Daniel G. Hummel
Director of the Lumen Center, Madison, Wisconsin
David Smith’s On Christian Teaching called us to examine the intersections between our faith commitments and our teaching practices. Now, in Everyday Christian Teaching, Smith invites us to look more deeply at our classroom liturgies—the rhythms, exchanges, pauses, and engagements that shape the daily dance of teaching and learning. Through compelling narrative, real-life examples, and practical exercises, this worthy sequel activates our imagination around what is possible in our own practice. When it comes to connecting our faith and teaching more fully, Smith uses the metaphor of pilgrimage; it is the wise teacher who counts Smith as a guide for the journey.
—Lynn Swaner
President, Cardus US
Practical, provocative, and profound, this wise book invites readers to attend to what it looks like to hold faith and teaching together. It has already shaped the way I teach.
—Ted A. Smith
Author, The End of Theological Education
Through reflective storytelling from his extensive experience, David Smith offers his readers profound insights into how Christian faith can be powerfully communicated through everyday teaching practices and habitual teacher behaviors. Every Christian teacher needs to read this book.
—Trevor Cooling
Emeritus Professor of Christian Education
Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
David Smith is America’s foremost authority on thinking Christianly about pedagogy. In characteristically clear and engaging prose, Everyday Christian Teaching extends Smith’s analysis to particular actions and tactical decisions that make up the daily craft of the Christian teacher. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to live and work faithfully as a Christian educator.
—Rick Ostrander,
Executive Director of the Michigan Christian Study Center
Ann Arbor, Michigan
