Joseph of Nazareth has a high profile among Catholics globally. His name adorns a multitude of schools, Catholic agencies, cities and towns and he is the patron of numerous causes in the Catholic tradition. This elevated position contrasts markedly with his profile in the Bible, where he is consistently silent when he appears in the narratives,…

Despite the importance of religion to identity formation, there has been little research on religious identity, resulting in a limited understanding of the development of religious identity, especially among strictly religious adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine religious identity formation changes during post-high…

The public resurgence of religious adherence in the West remains one of the defining qualities of this century. If secularisation theory can be understood to articulate the inevitable secularisation of post-enlightenment European societies, religious converts may be understood to epitomise some of the theory's failings. Through a…

Tensions across religious and LGBTQ concerns have played out in education for some time. In this paper, I make efforts to respond productively to this context by theorising what it might mean for young people in religious schools to dissent from the heteronormativity of religion in religious education (RE). To do this, I survey perspectives across…

This article analyses the complexities of religious identity and stakeholder discourse concerning religious education (RE) reform in Scotland and Malawi. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of 'social space', it explicates the extent to which religious identity and conflicts over symbolic power in the social space of RE reform engender polarised debates…

The formation of identity in a secularized world is different from formation in a religious oriented society. In this situation, educating young people and guiding their personhood formation is even more a task of connecting to the pupils from out of your own heart. A Catholic religious teacher can be a mirror for these young people when answering…

This paper explores the question, "What is the individual's experience of interreligious learning and teaching?" It utilises hermeneutic phenomenology to interpret the rich and hidden meanings of lived experiences. van Manen's (Phenomenology of practice: meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Routledge, New…

The focus of this article is on parents' experiences with and perceptions of their children's religious education (RE). The data consist of letters from 41 parents of Finnish Orthodox children and youth. In the letters, the parents describe their understanding of minority religious upbringing and how it is affected by different factors like RE. RE…