CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN — "Take at least one Placher class, even if you're not a religion or philosophy major. He's amazing."
Upperclassmen at Wabash have counseled their classmates with that maxim for 25 years. Now the American Academy of Religion seconds the motion.
The 9,000-member Academy announced at it's Board of Director's meeting that Wabash College's LaFollette Distinguished Professor of the Humanities William Placher ’70 has been named the recipient of the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2002.
Described by his students and colleagues as an "imaginative and creative teacher," "a superb lecturer with an interactive lecture style," and a "man who knows how to raise the level of any conversation he is in," Placher was chair of the College's philosophy and religion department for six years. He also is the author of critically acclaimed books, including The Domestication of Transcendence, The History of Christian Thought and, most recently, Jesus The Savior: The Meaning of Jesus Christ for Christian Faith.
"For Bill, teaching is really the art of creating good conversations, and creating good conversations depends on asking the right questions," says Steve Webb ’83, who was Placher's student as an undergrad and is now associate professor of philosophy and religion at Wabash. "Bill knows how to ask the right questions."
"Bill presents complex theological matters with a clarity that does not oversimplify or cause students to skim the surface, but equips students to probe more deeply on their own," says Raymond Williams, faculty colleague and director of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. "People sometimes ask, 'Why is the Center for Teaching and Learning at Wabash College?' One good answer is that Bill Placher is here. He was influential in founding the Center and has been its most important advisor since day one. We study good teaching at the Wabash Center, and though I can't determine all of the attributes that make Bill so special, when I was a department chair I tried to duplicate these virtues in people I hired."
"Bill has a genius for communicating complex ideas in persuasive ways without sacrificing the challenging nature of theological and philosophical ideas," adds Webb. "And he extends that ability beyond the classroom in his writing."
Author and Columbia Theological Seminary professor Walter Brueggemann agrees. In his review of Placher's Jesus the Savior, Brueggmann writes that Placher's writing "communicates in wondrous ways that will instruct and empower the serious reader. "
"Bill is one of the few scholars I know who teaches like he writes and writes like he teaches," says Webb. "For Bill, all scholarship is about teaching. And teaching should achieve the same kind of clarity and integrity as the best scholarship. When you read one of his books, you hear the same voice that he uses in the classroom, and in today's highly specialized academia, this integrated vision of pedagogy is rare indeed."
Placher's contribution to teachers around him is also a mark of his tenure at Wabash.
"Bill's door is always open for conversation about teaching," says Wabash Associate Professor of Philosophy Cheryl Hughes. "Early in my career, I would often stop by after class to talk about a particularly frustrating lecture or a student who seemed to be having difficulty with the material. Bill always listened, but he also offered stories of his own experience to reassure me and help me think through new ways to approach difficult material or work effectively with students." And Placher's concern for students extends beyond their four years at Wabash.
"As I reflect back on my experience of Bill as a teacher and mentor, one instance seems particularly revealing," recalls Derek Nelson ’99, currently at Yale Divinity School. "I spent a week in 2000 trying to solve a perplexing riddle in Barth's theology on time and eternity for a research paper at Yale. Frustrated with my progress, I e-mailed Bill late on a Saturday afternoon. I received an extensive reply in less than 10 minutes, complete with a summary of his own position on the matter, germane passages in Barth, secondary sources pro and con, and suggestions for how to pursue the topic further. I was stunned at first, thinking a man as busy as Bill couldn't possibly have time for such a response. But I realized my shock was unfounded, given the kind of teacher Bill is."
Formal presentation of the award to Placher will take place at Toronto during the Academy's Annual Meeting in November. Placher is the second Wabash College professor in as many years to be named the outstanding teacher in his field.
Placher joins Wabash history professor Peter Frederick, who was named the 2001 Outstanding Teacher by the American Historical Association.
Contact Bill Placher by email at (placherw@wabash.edu) or Jim Amidon in the public affairs office at Wabash College (765-361-6364).