The setting up of the Courtyard of the Gentiles by Pope Benedict XVI has provided the Catholic Church with an official forum for dialogue with atheists. The intellectual energy surrounding this initiative can be harnessed to focus on how the contemporary Catholic school addressed its responsibilities to the Catholic community while offering a good…

It is a commonplace for Catholic schools to claim that they educate the "whole" person in the faith, yet exactly what this means and how to accomplish it is harder to say. Though these matters of holistic formation and Catholic identity are always important, they are especially so at present given ongoing efforts to implement the U.S.…

This position statement is aimed at informing the general public, the K-12 community, and all educators, from pre-kindergarten through graduate school, about the importance of addressing study about religions in the social studies curriculum in ways that are constitutionally and academically sound. National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)…

Missing from the growing literature on Jewish camps is Lukinsky's (1968) pioneering study of the curriculum to teach responsibility that he designed for the 1966 Ramah American Seminar. Reviewing this work I discovered that Lukinsky--under Schwab's (1971) influence--creates a rare balance between his own perspectives as an educational practitioner…

The Private Schools Conditional Integration Act (PSCI Act) of 1975 in New Zealand reinvigorated a Catholic education system, on the verge of financial collapse. This enacted legislation required Catholic authorities to develop and maintain the "Special Character" of the school. Financial or State aid is dependent on each school's ability…

This paper discusses strategies I employed during seven years of teaching within a study abroad program focusing on religion. This year-long program traveled to four Asian countries and included immersion experiences in monasteries, ashrams, and other religious institutions. I identify four principles and discuss accompanying exercises that guided…

This article describes six constitutive "senses" of the "Christian educator's imagination." These dispositions toward knowing, being, and doing characterize competent leadership in educational ministry. They include a sense for vocational empowerment, a sense for teaching and learning, a sense for seeking God's presence; a sense for the contours…

This article discusses what kinds of religious education led to the improvement of women's status and the realization of higher education for women in modern Japan, by reconsidering the educational views of Jinzo Naruse (1859-1919), both a pioneer of Japanese women's education and a promoter of the Concordia movement (1912-1941), within the…

This chapter explains how the study of world religions prepares the community college student to become a better citizen, worker, and neighbor. The effective middle between the pitfalls of religious relativism and religious dominance in a world religions classroom is central to this discussion of teaching critical thinking, empathy, and…

Judaism, Jewish life, the Jewish people--indeed, almost all facets of the Jewish experience--are in a postmodern, post-denominational, post-ethnic, post-Zionist, post-diaspora, or what may simply be called a "post-everything" age. Studies show that post-everything youth in general are less concerned with national/ethnic/religious identification…

Narrative learning is strongly allied with transformational learning and adult development (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007), given that it creates context for adult meaning making. Through the use of narrative writing, adult students have the opportunity to engage multiple aspects of learning. Many colleges and universities allow…

This article attempts two tasks. First, to clarify how the claim that colleges and universities may "shove religion down students' throats" has a historical background. Second, to indicate how pedagogical strategies--like service learning, discussions, paper revisions, and "Just in Time Teaching" exercises--can be used in ways…

'Participatory' research is often presented as a means to 'empower' stigmatised groups by addressing shame and by promoting attitude changes. Drawing on experiences producing a 'participatory' docudrama with traditional Qur'anic students ("almajirai") in Kano, northern Nigeria, I reflect on the limits of 'participatory' research as a…

In this article, Yaccov Katz describes Israel as a unique country housing a population that has increased ten-fold since independence in 1948. It is a country composed of Jews and Arabs, veterans, and immigrants hailing from over 100 countries throughout the world. On the one hand, Israel has a population of secular Jews who profess to be Jewish…

When people of faith participate in movements for social change, how are their religious and moral identities formed, challenged, and transformed? Although they have explicit and tangible goals as they participate in advocacy, protest, and boycotts, religious social activists also, James Jasper argues, craft "lives worth living" (1997).…