Christine J. Hong, PhD is Associate Professor of Educational Ministry and Lead Professor of the DEdMin Program at Columbia Theological Seminary. 

Tat-siong Benny Liew, Ph.D. is Professor, Class of 1956 Chair in New Testament Studies at Holy Cross College. 

In this rich and reflective conversation, Dr. Nancy Lynne Westfield and Dr. Tat-siong Benny Liew explore the complexities of mentoring within academic and theological contexts. They discuss mentoring as a relational, communal, and intergenerational practice rather than a top-down, ego-driven model. Emphasizing listening over advice-giving, they critique hierarchical approaches and advocate for mutual, organic relationships built on trust and care. Both speakers highlight the importance of multiple mentors across one’s career, including peer and reverse mentoring, and the vital role mentoring plays in sustaining intellectual and theological traditions. The episode concludes with reflections on mentoring as a form of invisible labor and collective responsibility to nurture future scholars.

Ryan Bonfiglio, PhD. is Associate Professor in the Practice of Old Testament at Candler School of Theology and Executive Director of The Candler Foundry.

Donald Quist is Assistant of English at the University of Missouri and Educational Design Manager at the Wabash Center. He is author of many articles, essays, and books including the literary tryptic To Those Bounded, For Other Ghosts, and Harbors. 

Jesse D. Mann is Theological Librarian with Drew University. 

Sophfronia Scott is Director of the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Alma College in Alma, MI and author a numerous books including Wild Beautiful and Free and The Seeker and the Monk.

Donald Quist is Assistant of English at the University of Missouri and Educational Design Manager at the Wabash Center. He is author of many articles, essays, and books including the literary tryptic To Those Bounded, For Other Ghosts, and Harbors. 

Since ideas change lives - what does it take to write so that ideas are clear and accessible? How do we get our curiosity on the page? What is the writing life when you are a faculty member? How does creativity make you a better scholarly writer? 

Eric Lewis Williams, Ph.D. is Director of the Office of Black Church Studies and Assistant Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School. 

Eric Lewis Williams, Ph.D. is Director of the Office of Black Church Studies and Assistant Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School. 

Williams quotes Zora Neale Hurston, "I was born with God in my house." Hear a scholar's story of having been raised in a Pentecostal household, mentored into the scholarship of religion with no contradiction, and working as a professor, museum curator, and higher education administrator. Williams' journey is one of curiosity, boldness, and creativity.

Adam Bond, PhD is Associate Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Baylor University. 

Adam Bond, PhD is Associate Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Baylor University. 

Teaching to unlock new abilities to see. Imagining new futures, building new worlds, seeing new possibilities can be incorporated into our classrooms if teachers can unshackle their own creativity. Bond reflects on a recent Wabash cohort experience which challenged participants to move past nostalgia and toward the challenge of shaping of new futures.

Sailaja V. Krishnamurti, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Gender Studies  at Queen's University.

Sailaja V. Krishnamurti, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Gender Studies  at Queen's University.

A sabbatical provides precious time but also points to exploitation, exhaustion, and rage. What is a generative sabbatical, especially when resisting dehumanizing patterns of productivity? What kinds of synergies are needed for a healthy work rhythm that resists burnout? How do sabbaticals assist with returning us to classrooms when we are feeling more rested, more centered, more ourselves? 

Sharon Higginbothan, PhD is the Founder and Principle of the Higginbothan and Associates LLC where they do coaching, group facilitation, and consultation. She is also Adjunct Professor of Liberation and Womanist Theology at Chatham University. 

For those who feel disillusioned by the professorate - even when having had accomplishments, for those who have invested in individualism over and against community, for those who cannot see the violences inherit in grind culture - this conversation is for you. The key is reconnection to community. 

Sarah Farmer and Rachelle Green are Associate Directors for the Wabash Center. 

If teaching is not about control, what approach is better? How do you create an environment for learning which takes into consideration the entire experience of the student? What is the prerequisite of learning for adult students? What does it mean to create an arc of learning across an entire semester? What kind of intentionality is needed to foster impactful learning experiences? 

Dr. Shatavia Wynn is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. 

Sharon Higginbothan, PhD is the Founder and Principle of the Higginbothan and Associates LLC where they do coaching, group facilitation, and consultation. She is also Adjunct Professor of Liberation and Womanist Theology at Chatham University. 

When we work until we are physically, mentally, and spiritually sick we are participating in being exploited by grind culture. When is enough enough? Sabbath (ceasing) might be a practice to lower fear, anxiety, and rage. What happens when you do not have the bandwidth to get through the day or the semester? What help is there for surviving grind culture? 

Dr. Shatavia Wynn is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. 

Our communities form us, but effort (to say nothing of time and distance) may be required to understand how. Wynn's folks taught through care, deep listening and storytelling. Wynn discusses the realization of just how formative those relationships are to current teaching approaches now and into the future.

Rev. Valerie Miles-Tribble, PhD DMin is Professor of Ministerial Leadership & Practical Theology at Berkeley School of Theology. 

Dr. Anne E. Streaty Wimberly is Professor Emerita of Christian Education at the Interdenominational Theological Center and Executive Director of the Youth Hope-Builders Academy, a youth theology program funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Sarah Farmer and Rachelle Green are Associate Directors for the Wabash Center. 

Pursuing one's curiosity, seeking adventure, being open to mystery and problem solving is the stuff of good teaching, even if structures of academia would disagree or discourage. Learning reminds us of our humanity. Students can be some of our best teachers. 

Rachelle R. Green is an Associate Director for the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion

Rolf R. Nolasco is the Rueben P. Job Professor of Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Theology and Director of the Rueben P. Job Institute for Spiritual Formation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. 

Since we are conditioned to believe that thinking is the best way of knowing, what would it mean to rethink what we consider to be knowledge? What if our students know more than we know, then how do we share our know-how? Teaching toward the cognitive, the social, the spiritual, the political, the cultural (etc.) demands a new understanding of meaning making for adult education. 

Yii-Jan Lin is Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School. 

Stephanie M. Crumpton is Associate Professor of Practical Theology and Director of the Trauma Healing Initiative at McCormick Theological Seminary. 

At what season in your career, if ever, did you make time for your own thoughts and curiosities? Who do we become over time and while teaching? What choices about our teaching are made easier with time? Whose permission do we need to be less productive and more creative? 

Eric C. Smith is Associate Professor of Early Christian Texts and Traditions and Co-Director of the Doctor in Ministry Program at Iliff School of Theology.