This paper considers the tension that can exist in the aims of religious education between the desire to encourage open-minded, critical thinking through exposure to diverse traditions, ideas and cultures and the encouragement, overt or otherwise, into uniformity whereby learners take on the values of a particular tradition, culture or ideology…

This paper explores the possibilities of teaching Genesis and the Popol Vuh, the Mayan creation account, in an interdisciplinary course at a church-related institution. The course is part of an alternative, interdisciplinary core curriculum typically taken by two hundred students a year at the university. A comparison of the Popol Vuh with Genesis…

The challenges of communicating a Christian worldview in higher education are considerable. Called to help students develop a Christian worldview, instructors must devise specific strategies for the transformation of student thinking. How does one do this? It requires, in part, rethinking our assumptions about the Christian worldview as a concept…

Post-Reformation societies and states that thought they had put religious wars behind them have been caught unawares by the vehemence of religious dissent that has exploded in their midst, sometimes literally, since the 1970s. I maintain that key Enlightenment propositions that established the means for peaceful religious co-existence seriously…

This essay explores the effects evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christian educators could have on the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals in schools. Evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christian educators' beliefs about LGB individuals may be at odds with the goals of equity, social justice and activism a true multicultural…

Jim Fay and James Dobson are two of America's most visible, popular, and influential "experts" on the topics of parenting and discipline for children. Dobson is widely known for the "pro-family" political activism of Focus on The Family, the organization he founded and currently directs. He first made a name for himself as a…

Faculty and administrators of a private Christian university responded to measures of overall, intrinsic, and extrinsic job satisfaction as well as organizational and religious commitment. The survey measured responses on a five-point Likert-type scale. Data were statistically analyzed by using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Results…

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that seeks answers to two main questions: How do we know? and How do we know we know? This paper is concerned with how four major schools of thought have addressed these questions and the implications that their answers to these questions have for education. The paper begins by discussing how four major…

Professional ethics is becoming a topic of high interest for counselors and counselor educators. Dogmatism and orthodox Christian religious beliefs are two variables which may help to explain the relationship between a counselor's personal characteristics and his or her ethical orientation. This study examined these variables and their…

The meaning and purposes of a Catholic college and the example of Madonna College in Michigan were assessed. Literature and documents were surveyed, and interviews were conducted with educators, philosophers, and theologians. The mission statement and documents of Madonna College were also reviewed. Consideration was given to: the identity of…

Myth is integral to modern as well as ancient societies in its service to multiple interrelated social functions. Among these are to explain phenomena and direct action, to justify particular interests or practices, to dramatize ideals, and to provide cultural cohesion. Three prevailing myths that are especially problematic are the myths of…

As part of a four-college project to integrate the religious tradition with humanities teaching, humanism is discussed from a Christian perspective. Definitions of the terms humanism, religion, Christianity, and Christian humanism are provided. The latter is viewed as the issues surrounding the Christian approach to the dichotomy of good and evil…

The history of the church colleges of Illinois and Indiana is presented to illustrate the part Christian higher education played in cultural and social development of the Upper Mississippi Valley. The founding of Christian colleges in Indiana and Illinois is divided into three stages: the pioneer period (1820-1854), the sectarian era (1855-1890),…

This paper examines the theoretical position of the person who drops out of illegal drug use. A person was considered a drop-out if he admittedly no longer used any or all the drugs in the following categories: marijuana, hallucinogens, speed, downers, and inhalants. A purposive sample was drawn to capture as many people fitting this criterion as…

In the rapid process of change within the last decade our schools have taken on a very important, non-traditional, and also highly moral role -- fulfilling as social instruments America's pledge that all citizens have an equal chance for intellectual and material opportunities. Moreover, the schools today are working intensely to shed dehumanizing…