ABSTRACT
I am pleased to see such a robust and open dialogue surrounding the elements of Christian language teaching, both within and beyond missionary application. I wish a similar debate would erupt in my own US “foreign” language discipline (see, e.g., Osborn, 2005, 2006; Smith & Osborn, 2006). I must also confess that I’m disappointed as to how we, as language educators, have failed to progress in our understanding of the contexts of language education involving those educated in the United States, both within and beyond the Christian settings. I suspect that, in large part, we scholars are also victims of understanding teaching as a technicist endeavor, one of merely following curricula and engineering outcomes. We are left with little by way of ability to conceptualize moral and ethical dimensions of teaching and, in an attempt to “Christianize” our endeavors, we default to merely adding a spiritual veneer on the seemingly “neutral” act of teaching languages. The better route, I would contend, is to confront the dehumanizing models of teaching within the Western world and interrupt the onslaught of the capitalist and neoliberal forces swallowing up the peoples of the world in a conquest for new markets. I want to draw on a famous parable taught by Jesus, both because it is so widely known outside of Christian circles, and because I think it serves as a powerful reminder of approaches within those circles. The parable is recorded in Luke 10:30-37 as follows:
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law
replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
