HALO 3 Pedagogy and Christian Ministry: A Curriculum and Context Relationship for Preservice Teachers

Abstract

"When that day comes and I have to stand in front of Jeebus (sic) and tell him what I've done, I will point to all the video games that I beat. Then he will give me a thumbs up, a high five, and let me pass. Then we will pay some FPS1 together and call each other a hacker when one of us does too well for too long. It'll be great. Hear that Jesus? I challenge you" (KillerTofu, Techdirt.com, October 9, 2007). At the University of New England in the rural town of Armidale, Australia, preservice teachers undertake courses in contextual studies in education, introducing the idea that context frames the curriculum. Some students, however, struggle to appreciate the relationship between curriculum and context, principally because socioeconomic dynamics and social theory are not easily viewed in the classroom. Aiming to enable students to more easily engage with the context and curriculum relationship, this article explores the online response to the use of the video game Halo 3 (Bungie 2007) by Christian church groups as a pedagogical tactic to attract young males; a tactic that became the subject of social critique in the United States, powerfully revealing the extent to which the curriculum is indeed related to the context. But more than just highlight the sites of contest around the use of Halo 3, this article is concerned to understand two things: (1) why Christian churches decided to use Halo 3 and (2) why the popular response was so vocal and divided.