Base Christian communities (also know as base-level ecclesial communities or CEBs) are small groups of Christians, mainly Catholics and mainly in Latin America, that come together for scripture study, prayer, and fellowship. They frequently turn their attention toward social ills and address problems existing within society. The origin of CEBs can…

This study applies the teacher efficacy construct to the domain of character development in order to describe the efficacy beliefs of practicing elementary level teachers regarding character education. The Character Development Efficacy Belief Instrument, developed and validated by the researchers, was distributed to a sample of 767 elementary…

The need for Islamic schools in the United States is growing with the increasing flow of Muslim immigrants. Increasing public school problems lead many Muslim parents to seek private education. Islamic schools are based on religion, though Islam is both a religion and a way of life. The ultimate goal of these schools is to produce graduates who…

A survey was made of parental expectations of secular and religious teachers at a Jewish day school in a large metropolitan area located in the Ohio Valley. The school, with a student population of 108 students, employs 6 secular and 4 religious teachers. A high response rate (61 percent) was received from the parents. Findings indicated that…

The development of the concept of God was assessed among 120 children between the ages of 5 to 16 years who attended private Protestant and Catholic day schools in the San Diego area. All children participated in a semi-clinical interview. Twelve interview questions were asked as the first step of a probing technique used to initiate a dialogue…

Because religious communicators deal with issues most profound and consequential to their audiences, it is imperative that they examine their motives, aspirations, and rhetorical methods, as well as the ethical dimensions of their communication. Religion operates, along with every other rhetorical system, in the world of contingency, of the…

This paper examines the curriculum Charles Dickens wrote for his children, an "easy account" of selections from the New Testament. Dickens designed the curriculum to make this material accessible and meaningful to his children prior to schooling under the direction of other teachers, tutors, or governesses, and earlier than the language…

This study investigated the integration of faith with learning in teacher education, sending surveys to teacher education programs at institutions affiliated with the churches of Christ. The instrument consisted of two parts. Part 1 examined individual faculty members' perceptions of the integration of faith and learning. Part 2 examined teacher…

The investigation analyzed survey results from 18 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and about 500 faculty and staff of accredited Protestant and Roman Catholic theological seminaries. The two research hypotheses were: (1) there is a relationship between leadership match and internal measures of organizational effectiveness as represented by the…

A perceived relationship between the teaching methods of traditional Zen Buddhism and those of process-based English composition is explored. It is noted that the four main processes of Zen teaching (meditation, physical work, personal interviews, and group lectures) focus on process, not product, as in process writing. Characteristics that Zen…

The assimilation of Italians into American culture led to the loss of the Italian language, and an oral tradition of Italian peasants in which Italian feminist philosophy was grounded. The legends, parables, and proverbs told by these Italian women challenged the teachings of Catholicism, perpetuating an underground religious tradition which…

Views on the place and power of the university, the church's role in the university, and the sciences and humanities are presented. The secularization of western universities raises fundamental criticisms from the Christian point of view that the university atmosphere is not congenial to Christian spiritual values, and that higher education…

The most pressing business for those segments of the Christian community interested in the university is to develop some fresh and current theological understanding of the university that will take account of the peculiar nature of the academy and place the university in the context of a world theology. This discussion of a theology of the…

The paper presents a course outline intended for use in a one semester geography of religion course on the college level. Geography of religion is interpreted to include all aspects of the impact of religion on cultural, political, and economic geography. Objectives are to emphasize distributional aspects of religion and religious phenomena,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate response to the film, "Parable," a 20-minute color film which depicts a clown in a circus setting and which has no dialog but evokes strong emotional/affective reactions. Postviewing reactions to the film by 141 adults from age 20 to 70 of United Methodist churches in southern Indiana were researched.…