SUBJECT: Theology and Education, Buber, Dialogue and MetanoiaAlverson, J., Crossen, M. (2002). A Passion for the Impossible: How Theology Provides Insights into Education in General. Proceedings [of the] National Conference on Alternative and External Curriculum for Adults, (pp. 44-59). Pittsburgh: ERIC. The complete conference proceedings can be found at this website: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/30/55.pdfArticle Summary and SynthesisThis Conference The Proceedings chapter offers additional and different questions about theological impact on the classroom and student where theology is concerned with the direct subject of God and the discipline of the impossible/unknown (Alverson, Crossen, 2002 ). Human experience related to theology is about itself. with a reflection on how "a person as the experiencer" or the self-aware person as the learner learns where most other disciplines reflect human experience as object by studying the experiences that human beings live. Here a connection with the Senge description of dialogue and metanoia is established. A more subjective personal and changing experience rather than an objective advocacy-based discussion. Here, the distinction between dialogue as communication suspending positional advocacy and discussion as the application or argumentation of positional advocacy is essential. The authors explain that Denis Edwards, author of Human Experiences of God, describes two dynamics of human experience, encounter and interpretation. Encounters are routine and meaningless until they are interpreted and it is these interpretations that enable human experience. Experiential learning then requires reflection on our patterns of interpretation and, as such, suggests that we are responsible for our experiences. Depending on the interpretive schemas we use to interpret the encounter, we can shape our experience and choose emotions that enhance the experience, assuming that we desire a positive and enriching experience. Once we become more aware of our interpretive biases, we can choose and improve our experiences in work, learning, and relationships. These systems of interpretation and “meaning-making” are known philosophically as hermeneutics. While early hermeneutics were limited to textual interpretations, their more contemporary applications have expanded to include the interpretation of the author's existential experience. Consistent with the arguments made here by Alverson and Crossen, hermeneutics has evolved to include an empathetic connection between people, things, and their social environments; Max Weber was a key thinker of this school. Interestingly, some critical theorists have criticized traditional hermeneutics as being an obstacle to critique and social change. However, modern critical social theory includes hermeneutics as a key philosophy. We are questioners in the existential sense..