When I was invited to edit a special issue of "Education Sciences" on the theme of "Moral education and identity", I saw an opportunity both to gain a better understanding of how scholars across a range of disciplines construed the task of moral education in terms of identity and--I can now confess--to defend the claim that…

Drawing on the methodological framework of conversational analysis, this paper explores aspects of multilogical participation in pedagogically safe spaces with regard to religious respect and hospitality as life skill. I argue that these spaces should be conceived of as pedagogically justifiable and educationally guaranteed sanctuaries of and for…

The aim of this paper is to provide a positive case for increasing the role and importance of religious morality within the subject of religious education in British schools. The argument is structured in the following way. First, attention is given to the diminished role accorded to moral education within religious education that followed the…

The question explored in this article is whether religious schools can contribute to the formation of the civic virtues in pupils by means of citizenship education. It is commonly agreed that civic virtues are needed in pluriform Western societies to promote social cohesion and reduce hostile attitudes. However, some argue that religious schools…

This is a critical response to the papers by Shusterman, Sartwell, and Stroud. I claim that Shusterman has missed the inter-human moral aesthetics of Confucianism, that Sartwell has misunderstood Taoism's idea of "receptivity," confusing it with anarchist "passivity," and Stroud has not overcome the "Gita's" injunction to sacrifice the self,…

This article reviews a series of ten books entitled "Tas-heelul akhlaq wal aadaab [Morals and manners made easy]" that were produced by the Jamiatul Ulama (Council of Religious Scholars) in Transvaal in South Africa. They are designed for children between the ages of six and fifteen and are increasingly in use in the "makatib"…

Identifies four characteristics needed for discipleship in the new millennium: having a solid foundation upon which to live, having a vision of life based on the Gospels, prizing community, and taking responsibility for decisions. (VWC)

In this essay, Nel Noddings calls upon U.S. public schools to equip students with a more nuanced understanding of religious vocabulary, history, and ideas. Examining recent books by outspoken atheists including Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, Noddings argues that schools should help students "communicate…

A society is committed to basic moral principles as a function of being human and not merely by consensus. However, society's commitment to Christianity depends on the extent to which that faith is rooted in the population, even though the state may have a moral duty to provide religious freedom. (RM)

The author seeks to define ways in which the study of literature may contribute to moral education in the public schools. He considers various theories of literature as to the role of morals in determining aesthetic value; definitions of the morally integrated person; and the question of religious literature. (Author/SJL)

Describes the process and results of two groups of undergraduates' attempt to formulate a new Decalogue. By comparison with the original, they preferred general positive formulations to specific, negative ones. Analysis of the results shows a lack of clearly religious (as opposed to moral) content and the absence of anything to do with sexual…

States that spirituality must try to be in harmony with the source and meaning of being, both in contemplation and in action. Asserts that future Christian spirituality should be thoughtful and discerning, countercultural and community-building, open to uncertainty and committed to learning, and practical and ecumenical. (VWC)

The perspective taken in this paper is that of a person (now an educator) born in the United States in 1947 who did not experience any forms of deprivation, overt discrimination, or doubt about the future while growing up in the Midwest. The paper discusses two books which identified values which are at the core of U.S. society: "The Morality…

The author argues that morality can be taught in public schools without retreating into moral relativism and without compromising our cultural and constitutional principles of freedom of speech and the separation of church and state. The paper draws from philosophy and psychological theory to illustrate that concepts of the moral constitute a…

This book argues that understanding the current state of academic teaching, and the study of religion in higher education, requires familiarity with the individuals and organizations that have shaped the field and, more importantly, with the arguments used to justify religion as a field of academic inquiry. The primary focus of the book is on the…