252 Chapter 7 together normative, operant and espoused theology, the conversational community learned not to consider truth in its Western, rationalistic sense of a system but as a person—Jesus Christ—and that Christian teachers need to practice humbleness, being truth seekers on a daily basis rather than truth holders. Trainee teachers need to learn that exuding being a truth holder keeps others away from the Biblical truth more than that it generates an interest in it. In the third place, they need to learn that it is good to arm the teacher training curriculum with elements that incite students to practice listening without judging, in combination with the conviction that this creates space to be oneself as a Christian. At the same time, there is always more to be done. A theology of mission that accords with critical faithfulness and a theology of respect that goes hand in hand with critical openness must both endorse a theology of humbleness that is able to learn from others and distinguish between when sincere listening to others should be applied and when the core of the Christian faith should be actively defended. Such a theology of humbleness should inform pedagogical action in the classroom that is able to delay, where necessary, to connect with each other. Together, all of this underlines the need for a far more relational epistemology than is common in Western society and churches, as Beech (2021) proposed.
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