Based on the pre-con survey, we have identified the following six discussion topics that revolve around (1) teaching, (2) research, (3) AI/Technology, and (4) Leadership/Institutional Change.
During our plenary panel/roundtable paper session (and the 7 papers you will read prior to showing up on Nov. 18), we may add to or edit our discussion topics. We want to go with the flow of the conversation while maintaining the integrity of the pre-con theme. So, on the actual day we may have more or less than six discussion topics . . . and that’s okay. Whatever is best for the community. Remember that you can stay with your initial discussion group, move to another, or start your own as the flow dictates. The goal is that we identify and pursue robust conversations, wherever that takes us. A group is technically more than two people so please find at least two others who want to dive into something of interest with you at any given time.
Each of the six official discussion topics will have an assigned discussion leader who will help facilitate conversation.
Discussion Topic No. 1: Embodied Practices and Pedagogies: Liturgies That Form Learners and Teachers
Focus: How Christian education forms hearts, desires, and habits—not just minds—through embodied practices, habits, and spiritual disciplines.
Covers:
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- ✅ Teaching: Classroom habits, formative pedagogy, attention, stillness
- ◯ Research: Formative practices of scholars
- ◯ AI/Tech: Tech as a competing liturgy of distraction (from #4)
- ❌ Leadership
Discussion Topic No. 2. From Worldview to Worship: Rethinking Christian Scholarship and Discipleship
Focus: A critical reassessment of worldview-based education in light of Smith’s affective/liturgical framework—exploring its implications for both teaching and research.
Covers:
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- ✅ Teaching: Moving from information-hoarding to formation-seeking
- ✅ Research: Reframing Christian scholarship as affective and imaginative
- ❌ AI/Tech
- ✅ Leadership: Implications for institutional mission and identity
Discussion Topic No. 3. Faithful Teaching in a Fragmented Age: Formation, Freedom, and Civil Discourse
Focus: Reclaiming ethos and pathos in Christian communication and pedagogy to cultivate civil discourse, moral formation, and freedom of expression.
Covers:
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- ✅ Teaching: Ethos/pathos in classroom practice, persuasion, and moral formation
- ✅ Research: Reimagining rhetorical theory and public scholarship
- ❌ AI/Tech
- ✅ Leadership: Shaping campus culture and civil discourse
Discussion Topic No. 4. Christian Scholarship as Vocation: Research Practices in Light of Formation
Focus: How Smith’s affective theology reshapes the purpose, method, and ethos of research—inviting scholars into practices that align with faith and desire.
Covers:
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- ❌ Teaching
- ✅ Research: Research as formation, scholar identity, imagination
- ✅ AI/Tech: The role of tech in research practice and epistemology
- ✅ Leadership: Implications for scholarly culture and faculty development
Discussion Topic No. 5. AI, Attention, and the Formation of the Digital Self
Focus: How emerging technologies like AI shape student identity, desire, attention, and spirituality—and how Christian educators and scholars can respond.
Covers:
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- ✅ Teaching: Tech in the classroom; helping students discern desires
- ✅ Research: Investigating the spiritual and psychological effects of AI
- ✅ AI/Tech: Central focus
- ◯ Leadership: Institutional response to tech challenges
Discussion Topic No. 6. The Future of Christian Higher Education: Institutional Challenges and Possibilities
Focus: How Christian institutions respond to polarization, enrollment cliffs, and secularization with liturgical and imaginative vision.
Covers:
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- ✅ Teaching: Rethinking the goals and structure of education
- ✅ Research: Reimagining the mission and vocation of scholars
- ◯ AI/Tech: Institutional response to digital disruption
- ✅ Leadership: Central focus