This article offers a critique of consumer culture that draws on Augustine's vision of human consciousness, exploring consumerism's formative effects on the memory, attention, and imagination of consumers. Drawing on William Cavanaugh's analysis of consumers' disposition of detachment, it explains how consumer culture distorts memory, attention,…

Religious education (RE) is arguably one of the most legislated curriculum areas anywhere in the world, and yet in countries where legislation and educational policy exist to support its provision, how schools implement the subject in practice has not received much attention in the discourse. This article attempts to address this lacuna by…

In this essay, originally written as the presidential address for the 2009 REA:APPRRE annual meeting, the author explores possibilities for naming and responding to Divine presence with reference to postmodern categories and contemporary narratives. She draws on descriptions of God as "interrupting" history, the dialectic of "chronos" and "kairos"…

This article summarizes recent efforts by Latin-American theologians concerned with developing a pluralist theology of liberation. The author highlights some of the most significant issues and themes of this emerging theological reflection among liberation theologians. Finally, he identifies some of the challenges a pluralist theology of…

The author's specialization as a Christian theologian is in the combined area of morality and spirituality. The focus of his teaching and research has been in the areas of bioethics; the theology of sexuality, marriage, and the family; and Christian spirituality. In his research he came across several authors who advocated some positions different…

With high rates of out-marriage and dwindling need for bilingual worship, Japanese-American churches face a critical question: "Why retain the Japanese part of our identity?" This article explores how one layperson (Naomi Takahashi Goto) draws from her experience as an artist, teacher, and mother to help her congregation answer this question.…

This article examines the Rev. Dr. Letty M. Russell's feminist liberation approach to educating for justice by reviewing the major themes in her writings. Educating for justice was rooted in Russell's life and ministry, namely, a sense of God's mission to reconcile and mend the world; partnership as sharing in God's mission to effect justice; and…

This article examines some of the pertinent challenges arising out of personal experiences encountered through teaching religion and theology within an African environment. What the author describes as the "new Africa" in his title is a continent that has transitioned from slavery and colonialism into a global fraternity of democratic…

This article will briefly review resources in youth ministry--two groundbreaking classics and a recent surge of good work--that can guide the footsteps of those who work with teens within faith communities. The best resources for ministry with teens engage mind, body, and spirit--always moving toward the practical step of inviting new action in…

The Enlightenment rejection of the Cartesian mechanistic understanding of animals was accompanied by a (re)new(ed) anti-cruelty sentiment. Compassion, however, fell victim to the triumph of reason leading Western culture toward an era of cruelty to animals on an unprecedented scale. What was absent in Enlightenment thought, even among proponents…

Christian religious educators in the Religious Education Association are challenged to reclaim their theological nerve and their partnership in public conversations about the educational practices of U.S. society. Beginning with the work of Randolph Crump Miller in the 1950s, this essay traces through the pages of Religious Education the dialogue…

It is tempting to respond to the question of what research is needed in religious education by saying, "Everything!" Although religious education as an academic discipline can be viewed as over one hundred years old, and much research has been done on a variety of issues, there is still so much that is not understood. In this paper, the author…

Identifies some controversies and issues that arise from Hans Kueng's adaptation of Thomas Kuhn's paradigm theory to theology, particularly those associated with the conflict presented between the educational theory advocated by Kuhn and that contained in Kueng's wider thinking. Argues that the dilemma presents ironies that Kueng must somehow…

Identifies three great religious catenas which interpret suffering. Discusses the classical and post-modern Christian catenas. Urges religious educators to question the classical Christian beliefs concerning suffering while not abandoning the Bible through dissatisfaction. Encourages acceptance of the idea that more than traditional beliefs find…

Asserts that the religious educational process must recognize the need to nurture the sense of wonder because it helps to put one's place in the world into proper perspective. Explores the concept of wonder and its place as a means of integrating personal religious experience into religious education. (DSK)