New Fields Deserve New Pedagogies: Using Drama in the Basic Course on Media and Religion

This essay discusses drama or how a play is used to teach fundamental concepts of the media-religion interface. Drama, as a participative learning technique is similar to the case study method, but has additional benefits. Using the play, Ghosts of Galileo, the author describes actual experiences with students as they learn from a story, and deal with dilemmas by projecting themselves into the roles of characters in the narrative. While students are often ambivalent about discussing sensitive issues related to religion in the conventional classroom format, they are more comfortable doing so in the context of a story. How to use the play as a readers' theater or fully staged play is explained.