This paper argues that educational communities of faith and learning (e.g. Catholic colleges and universities) are especially primed to face into the pain and reality of the sex abuse crisis in honest and constructive ways. Citing the need for strategic collaboration between mental health professionals and religious educators, it calls for…

Preparing future Christian leaders to take their place in the Church is not only about ensuring they have the capacities (intellectual, pastoral, strategic leadership, public performance, etc.), but that they become significant carriers of the traditions, beliefs, and practices that define a particular community of faith. Learning to become a…

This article addresses four models of leadership that Christian communities may want to adopt to help them assess and articulate a more vibrant and dynamic youth ministry. In particular, this article will demonstrate that authentic Christian leadership for youth ministry is much more than teaching young people about pastoral skills, but requires a…

In "Education, liberation and the church," Paulo Freire uses the metaphor of "apprenticeship" to describe a form of liberative education for people of faith who begin to discover the ways in which they benefit from the systemic oppression of other human beings. As depicted in ten oral history interviews conducted with the…

Congregational research using qualitative procedures is an important aspect of effective Religious Education, and appears to be growing in importance. In this article, the author focuses on several resources for qualitative congregational research. While many good sources will be considered, missing is a truly comprehensive source that examines…

In general churches talk a lot about the importance of education. At the same time their educational praxis is often fragmentized. The most crucial factor for this is a weak connection between the Church's identity and its activity. When this link is diffuse, different activities have a tendency to live their own lives. This article examines some…

Paulo Freire's educational philosophy encourages conscientization in individuals as a means to overcoming oppression. This approach includes dialogue that leads to critical thinking and problem-posed learning that fosters self-discovery. This article applies this process to a multi-ethnic congregation as it nurtures ethnic equality. In addition,…

The ongoing crisis concerning torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of prisoners by U.S. personnel or under U.S. auspices in the "War on Terror" raises issues central to the identity of both church and society. The practice of torture cries out for practical theological reflection inasmuch as it threatens to eviscerate the moral…

This article analyzes the 1863 pseudo slave narrative entitled "Black and White; Or, the Heart, Not the Face" by white Northerner Jane Dunbar Chaplin. The article sets this tale within the historical and literary context of "domestic abolitionism." The logic behind the story is described as "sympathetic identification," a perspective that,…

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…