CCS Glossary – Circle
Every organization or movement uses language in its own unique way, and the Centre for Christian Studies is no different.
Today’s CCS Glossary word is CIRCLE.
You’re familiar with a circle. It’s that round shape that doesn’t have any corners.
Around CCS, if you hear someone talking about “circle” they’re probably referring to a “learning circle.” Learning circle is what we call a course, like you might take at a university, college, or seminary. Circle refers to the content of the course (“I’m taking a spiritual care circle on grief and loss.”). It also refers to the actual event of gathering together for a course (“I’m trying to get all my readings done before I get to circle.”).
We call it circle because when we gather for a course at CCS we spend a good chunk of our time sitting in, well, a circle. (Compared to, say, sitting in rows in a lecture hall with everyone facing the professor at the front of the class.) Occasionally we break into smaller groups or pairs, or get up for some sort of activity, so “circle” can also refer to the main plenary gathering of students (“When you’re done in your readings discussion groups, please return to the circle.”)
So, what does the word “circle” get us that “course” doesn’t?
Etymologically, the word “course” (and its cousin “curriculum”) refer to flow, as in the current of a river or the coursing of blood through our veins. The focus is on the content; one concept or idea or skill flows into the next concept, idea, or skill, sequentially. Imagine the teacher piloting a boat through the current, and the students are along for the ride. If all goes well, the individual students will stay onboard and get where the course wants to take them. That’s education.
“Circle” shifts the focus from the content to the learners as a group. Circles famously don’t have a top or a bottom. (See King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; a gathering of equals.) Program Staff are in the circle with students, as co-learners, learning in community. (I guess Program Staff, co-learners, and learning-in-community will have to be terms for future CCS Glossary entries.) CCS teachers bring wisdom to the circle and have some responsibility for what happens in circle, but so does everyone else. Everyone in the circle is responsible for their own learning, but also for the learning of the group. Often in discussions we’ll go around the circle, making sure that everyone’s voice has a chance to be heard.
Our friends at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre also have learning circles, grounded in Indigenous pedagogical and cultural traditions. Circles at CCS have something of a parallel evolution, arising from feminist practices and liberation practices in the 20th century that sought to model non-hierarchical, non-oppressive ways of being together. Learning in a circle steers us toward justice, not by magic, but through the ongoing and occasionally tedious process of trying to learn together – being authentic, navigating difference, managing conflict, sharing wisdom, accepting help, challenging and being challenged. That’s education.
Circle learning is also just good learning; learning that honours the whole person. A lot of us grew up educated in an individualistic system. If you helped someone, or someone helped you, you ran the risk of being called out for cheating. Group work was …well, everyone has group work horror stories. Because the system didn’t really support the idea of collaboration. At the end of the day, everyone got their own grade and every other student was competition. For a lot of CCS students, learning how to “be in circle” is their first challenge.
So, in CCS parlance, “circle” is an individual course. It’s the content of the course, but it is also the gathering of students and teachers for the course. And it’s what those people are to each other, which is where much of the learning happens. And broadly speaking it is a commitment to learning in community.
Because that’s what you need from your ministers and faith leaders – the ability to build and maintain community.
