This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's essay titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." The author considers herself as the embodiment of an informal Jewish education practitioner now responding to Reimer's educational theory about the work she has spent her adult life…

Papers for the 2006 Religious Education Association Conference explored the power of stories--the Qur'an stories of Islam, the power of traditional Korean folk stories to shape values, how story informs Christian baptism, and a discussion of the Confucian stories that continue to shape many cultures in Asia. Other papers challenged the power of…

This article argues that the creation of a range of separate religious schools can prevent integration and encourage separation. It might well be that in fifty years' time, people will look back at this moment and blame us for exacerbating the social fragmentation that characterises modern Britain.

This article discusses the new era of the Religious Education Association (REA) and how it may be seen to function as a "movement" with purposes, scope, and connectivity that bring together diverse groups. The author contends that religious education as a movement needs: (1) Research that describes patterns and uniquenesses in the religious…

This article discusses the complex relationship between philosophy and theology. It is important to recognize that the major world religions developed--initially at least--independently of Western philosophy. Although a close reciprocal relationship between classical philosophy and Western monotheism developed in the Middle Ages, the impact of…

In the way of Catholic Education, young people are engaged to experience God. Although the authors' reflections are written from the Catholic faith perspective, they feel the suggestions offered for educators to engage the human spirit could be extended to various faith communities or audiences. These suggestions were coalesced from their personal…

In this article, we challenge the common liberal assumption that religious schooling undermines the goals of liberal civic education, making it impossible for children to acquire tolerance, critical reasoning skills, or personal autonomy. As a framework for this argument, we respond to some of the claims made by Harry Brighouse in his recent book,…

This article argues that, considering the current trends of polarization between adherents of different religions, courses on world religions should no longer focus only on the transmission of knowledge, but include material from human rights studies, inter-religious dialogue, and peace studies as well. According to the author, due to their…

This paper discusses the role of religious speech in the public square and the common school. It argues for more openness to political theology than many liberals are willing to grant and for an educational strategy of engagement over one of avoidance. The paper argues that the exclusion of religious debate from the public square has dysfunctional…

The author argues that faith schools serve to exacerbate existing divisions in society and are therefore a threat to social cohesion. In many parts of Britain where segregation is already a reality, "faith" has now become another word for "race". Ethnic groups are not evenly spread between the religions, creating a situation…

In this article, the author shares some of his teaching experiences as a non-European-American religious educator. He relates that while he had received some rather poor evaluations from his students in the past, he also had some wonderful encounters with students who had experienced deep transformation in their lives, and later thanked him for…

Informal Jewish education can and must put greater focus on the goals of education. While socialization is a key component, it is not its sole goal. Informal Jewish education must make more central deep, serious Jewish learning in which learners can experience moments of transcendence, connection, and transformation. A key to reaching this goal…

This article proposes a concept of "mythical realism" as a way of understanding important characteristics of religion and orienting religious education. The focus is on beliefs as one central aspect of religion. The author draws on recent cognitive studies in religion to illumine the "counterintuitive" and "mythic" character of religious belief,…

David Carr argues that the intelligibility of spiritual development as an educational activity is dependent upon there being a framework of propositions that relates to spiritual experience and that there is a methodology for establishing their truth. These propositions and the accompanying methodology need to be constructed along the lines of a…

This article presents the author's experience of James Fowler's theory of faith development, from her first exposure to the idea in 1973 until the present. She cites Fowler?s consistent emphasis on the necessity and significance of conversation among religious communities. Throughout his research, Fowler has had to acknowledge its plurality and…