This article promotes a wider understanding of trauma-informed pedagogy for the higher education classroom, whether in-person or virtual, focusing on undergraduate and graduate teaching in religious studies and theological education. Trauma is not confined to individual experiences of single horrifying events—trauma can be collective (community-wide, e.g., COVID-19), epigenetic (inherited or intergenerational), social-cultural (e.g., racism), or vicarious. Drawing on religious education literature and recent insights from psychology, neuroscience, and public health studies, this article provides a shared basis for further development of trauma-informed pedagogy by religious and theological educators. A principle feature of this article is bibliographic, portraying the state of scholarship at the intersection of religious education and trauma and pointing to resources necessary for further development. It offers a brief survey of extant literature, presents a basic definition and description of trauma, introduces the features of a trauma-informed community approach, and discusses the core values guiding trauma-informed pedagogy. The article also explores religious aspects of trauma and discusses care for instructors, who deal with their own traumatic pasts as well as the secondary effects of encountering, teaching, and supporting traumatized individuals in the religious education classroom. This article concludes with a call for further research.

Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this gap, through a year-long collaboration, a group of professors and instructors with expertise and experience teaching sexuality and religion in a variety of disciplines and diverse institutional and religious contexts developed, tested, and refined classroom teaching strategies to shift from a content-based "subject matter"to an embodied learning experience, resulting in perspective transformation as a primary student-learning outcome. Findings in the form of "guiding questions," encourage instructors to attend to contextual, experiential, and performative aspects of the classroom environment. shame, guilt, power, and freedom. Sexuality has been at the heart of the U.S. culture wars for nearly half a century. Public debate about sexuality has reached a fever pitch in U.S. legal discourse, and divisions over sexuality are reshaping the religious landscape. Cross-cultural comparisons reveal a wide array of morals and practices, and rates of childhood and adult sexual abuse are staggering.2 Yet, open dialogue about sexuality is conspicuously silenced in many religious and theological contexts. How do we overcome this aversion in order to teach effectively, responsibly, and openly about sexuality and religion?As sexuality increasingly becomes an expected part of the explicit curriculum in religious and theological studies, classroom instructors need the knowledge and skills to handle this topic effectively -regardless of their specific research expertise. Faculty in both religious studies and theological school contexts need additional training and resources. Instructors need heightened awareness, tried and tested pedagogical strategies, and collegial support to help navigate institutional constraints, respond to student needs, model reflective awareness of sexuality and embodiment, and create space for the learner's personal and contextual discernment. For sexuality and embodiment to become an intentional part of the student's classroom learning experience in religious studies and theological education rather than a conspicuous silence, we need to integrate classroom instruction more effectively with everyday realities (Ott, 2012, 13;Stephens & Jung, 2015). Even in classrooms with a more descriptive orientation, the embodied nature of religious thought and practice are ignored at the risk of distorting the subject matter. Sexuality is no longer an optional curriculum in religious studies and theological education.This article begins with theoretical reflections on embodied learning designed to promote self-awareness and increased levels...

Classroom instructors implementing pedagogical strategies for embodied learning about sexuality and religion need institutional support and assistance from colleagues and mentors to be successful. One means of providing institutional and peer support for classroom instructors is to host and lead a pedagogy workshop. Building on the work of Ott and Stephens on embodied learning and other articles and teaching tactics found throughout this issue of Teaching Theology and Religion, this article presents a sample design for a twohour workshop with faculty and/or graduate teaching assistants on the topic of teaching sexuality and religion. Non-expert facilitators can lead this workshop and it is intended to start a conversation about pedagogy rather than to provide definitive answers to end the discussion. The goals are to demystify a taboo topic and to provide concrete strategies for teaching that will promote responsible engagement and a better-integrated learning experience for students.

The context: This exercise works best at the beginning of a class session in a large course (thirty or more). I have used it when teaching professional sexual ethics for ministerial leaders, both in a seminary context and in continuing education workshops (boundaries trainings).The pedagogical purpose: Jump-start conversation about sexuality with a shot of realism by getting a sense of the room. What beliefs, attitudes, and experiences do students bring to the classroom?The strategy: Prepare eight statements relating to the lesson on sexuality. I tailor mine based on the audience, context, and lesson content. For a seminary class on sexuality and ministry, I might use, "(1) I personally know a survivor (could be self) of child sexual abuse," and "(2) I believe it is morally okay for a single pastor to date his/her parishioner," and so forth. Give each student a blank index card to number one through eight. Explain that they should not write their name or any identifying mark on the card. The cards will be collected and the results should be anonymous. Ask students to write Yes/True or No/False in response to each numbered statement. Then, collect, shuffle, and hand back the cards, one to each student. Repeat each statement, this time asking for a show of hands.Students should represent the answer on the cards they hold (not their own responses). As everyone looks around, offer a ballpark estimate of the total response, such as, "It appears that 20 percent of you responded affirmatively to that statement."Why it is effective: I have seen variations of this basic exercise used in diverse educational contexts over the past two decades; it works for me because I have tailored it to fit my educational context. Statistics can be boring and definitions can be abstract -unless students are prompted to face the immediacy of the issues already present in the room. Hearing the statistic that "approximately one in six boys and one in four girls are sexually abused before the age of eighteen" (U.S. Dept. of Justice NSOPW) may not succeed in engaging student attention. However, seeing twenty hands go up in a group of a hundred students is a conversation stopper -or starter, if you are prepared to facilitate it. With effective prompts, this exercise piques student interest in the material and opens up honest discussion immediately. If you teach inductively, the lesson is already underway. This exercise can also be done electronically through various forms of social media, but I find the embodied form of response (a show of hands) adds to the immediacy of the conversation.

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