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Sabbatical position- Anabaptist Lecturer in Religious Studies

All MCC workers are expected to exhibit a commitment to: a personal Christian faith and discipleship; active church membership; and nonviolent peacemaking.

MCC is an equal opportunity employer, committed to employment equity. MCC values diversity and invites all qualified candidates to apply.

Sabbatical position- Anabaptist Lecturer in Religious Studies in Jogjakarta, Indonesia

Term: 
3 weeks to 3 months
Date Opened: 
August 9, 2011
Date Required: 
Available Now

 

Synopsis: 
A sabbatical position for an Anabaptist professor of religious studies, anthropology or related field to teach and learn in the masters program in the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), an Indonesian government university (http://www.ugm.ac.id/en/).

 

Qualifications: 
  • PhD degree and teaching experience in religious studies or related field such as anthropology of religion or sociology of religion
  • Demonstrated ability to teach from an Anabaptist perspective - classes will be taught using English
  • Ability to teach and theorize from a comparative religious studies standpoint
  • Openness to a Cross-cultural experience in a religiously plural culture or in an Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist context
  • Personal qualities of creativity, flexibility, patience, openness, and humility to work as a guest in a new cultural environment

 

Assignment Description: 
Mennonite Central Committee focuses on education, inter-faith bridgebuilding, and peacebuilding in Indonesia. The goal of this assignment is to encourage understanding between people of different convictions and traditions, not only through dialogue, but also through meaningful cooperation between different groups to engage shared problems.

MCC Indonesian maintains active partnerships with Indonesian universities. This assignment allows Mennonite Central Committee broaden our connections with strategic Indonesian universities in priority areas of interest for both MCC and many Indonesian partners.

The CRCS program is the only academic program in Indonesia focusing on religion and culture in a non-religiously affiliated university. In Indonesia, all students are required to study religion from elementary school through university. Each group studies its own religion with teachers from their own religion. CRCS offers a Masters degree in which students representing all the major faith traditions of Indonesia study and learn about each other side by side, in the same classroom, with teachers coming from different religious backgrounds. The program is both religious and cross-cultural, because religious and ethnic identities are often inseparable and pose challenges as well as opportunities.

The program accepts approximately 25 students in each cohort. Besides lecturers from Gadjah Mada, the lecturers also come from various Islamic, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian universities. The courses are offered in English. All students must have a minimum TOFEL score of 475.

CRCS would be particularly interested in a sabbatical MCCer teaching courses exploring Anabaptist belief, opportunities for ecumenical and interfaith cooperation, gender issues, and peacebuilding from an Anabaptist perspective.

 

Duties: 
Support and/or speak at CRCS public events, lectures, conferences as well as conferences across Indonesia

Possible Courses to teach/co-teach
World Religions
Theories of Religion and society
Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding
Inter-religious Dialogue (co-teach)
Religion and Gender
Indigenous Religions
Hermeneutics and Comparative Scripture
Religious Education
Comparative Scripture

Optional : a topic related to the instructors’ interests within the broad titles of “Religious Thoughts and Action” or “Contemporary Religious Issues”

 

Location Description: 
This sabbatical position would be funded personally by the MCC workers through arrangement with their university. The expenses to the short term worker would include international and domestic transportation, medical coverage, and food and household needs. Mennonite Central Committee would provide all logistical support and make all arrangements. Gadjah Mada University will supply housing for the MCC worker. This would either be in housing owned or rented by UGM. The house would be at a standard level with other UGM professors. This is an important value in the university setting- it allows the worker to entertain students and university guests and fulfill social responsibilities at an appropriate level for cultural expectations.

Jogjakarta is the cultural heart of Java, lying between Mt. Merapi and the South Sea. Jogja is also an academic center with important universities and academies. It is a city of around 500,000 people. Jogjakarta is a crowded and busy city, but beyond the main streets are the slower, sidewalk-width streets of Javanese neighborhoods. Jogjakarta has both modern amenities and traditional values and philosophies. The famous Borobodour temple (Buddhist) and Prambanan temple(Hindu) are located very near to Jogjakarta. Other areas of interest include the sultan’s palace and various craft industries including batik, silver, and pottery.

Good quality medical care is available in Jogjakarta. Shopping options range from traditional markets to malls and air-conditioned grocery stores.

A Muria Mennonite church is located in Jogjakarta, as well as an International Congregation in Jogjakarta that worships in English on Sunday afternoons. This group includes a large number of Indonesian students wanting to improve their English. MCCers have often been involved in some way with both congregations.

The MCC offices and other MCC workers are located in Salatiga, two hours by road from Jogjakarta.

 

Challenges: 
MCC wants people to have a sense of the adjustments that workers typically need to make in this location . Listed below are some of those challenges as well as ways workers typically adjust , and even thrive in this new environment

Even though UGM is a premier Indonesian university, there will be many cultural challenges. The level of student’s English may not allow for complete understanding of difficult concepts. The MCCer may be informed of course expectations will little time to prepare. There may be little direction or sharing of expectations for course content. MCCers in other Indonesian university settings have coped with these challenges by considering their department as their community and by taking time to listen and learn and by asking many questions of their colleagues.