This article provides a defence of my theoretical analysis of paradigm shift in contemporary religious education, particularly in light of Robert Jackson's (2015) article published in this journal: 'Misrepresenting religious education's past and present in looking forward: Gearon using Kuhn's concepts of paradigm, paradigm shift and…

This paper is a reply to Mary L. Rasumussen's paper, "Critical Exchange: Religion and Schooling: What Should Their Relationship Be?" In this paper, Julian Stern makes three claims: (1) the need for a messy conversation; (2) the need to include "whole" people in schools; and (3) the need to consider existentially significant…

In this article, the author John Volk, professor of Worldview Studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, looks forward toward the November 2017 Religious Education Association Conference, which is entitled "Learning in Encounter: Crossroads, Connections, Collaborations", and says that…

This article is a response to Elmer Thiessen's article on evangelism in this journal. Although I agree with his general position that evangelism is an educationally justifiable activity, Thiessen criticizes comments I have made in my writings and charges me with being ambiguous. I respond to these remarks by defending the distinction that I…

Drawing on the methodological framework of conversational analysis, this paper explores aspects of multilogical participation in pedagogically safe spaces with regard to religious respect and hospitality as life skill. I argue that these spaces should be conceived of as pedagogically justifiable and educationally guaranteed sanctuaries of and for…

Increasing numbers of college students enrolling in religion courses in recent years are looking to develop their religious faith or spirituality, while professors of religion want students to use and appreciate scholarly tools to study religion from an academic perspective. Some scholars argue that it is not possible to satisfy both goals in the…

In their essay, Patricia O'Connell Killen and Eugene Gallagher focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning in theology and religion, which, they say, is "identifiable" though "varied," and "exhibits standards of excellence recognizable in other forms of scholarship." Their purpose is descriptive, in large part, to share what they have…

In October 2008 The American Academy of Religion published the findings of an eighteen month study (conducted with funding from the Teagle Foundation) on "The Religious Studies Major in a Post-9/11 World: New Challenges, New Opportunities." Re-published here, this AAR-Teagle White Paper provides the opportunity for four respondents to…

In this paper, I suggest that community-based learning can act as a "public space" for the exchange of religious and non-religious identities. By providing a space for the collaboration between religiously-affiliated Universities and non-religiously affiliated community partners, community-based learning offers the opportunity for the negotiation…

In a recent book chapter, Matthew Thompson makes some criticisms of my work, including the interpretive approach to religious education and the research and activity of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit. Against the background of a discussion of religious education in the public sphere, my response challenges Thompson's account,…

This article explores debates about the public role of religion in a secular context. Drawing on the work of critical theorist, Jurgen Habermas, this article claims that the United States requires a viable public sphere in which religious and secular voices can learn from each other. Highlighting the work of the Lane Center for Catholic Studies…

This article offers a response to two provocative questions about the relationship of theology to religious education posed by Norma Thompson in her Presidential address given at the annual meeting of APRRE in 1978. I offer contemporary answers to these questions from the perspective of a theological educator. First, I show how feminist theory and…

Historian of religions Charles Long uses the term "American cultural language" to identify discursive challenges to democracy and social justice in the Unites States. The American cultural language, Long says, is the "misinterpretation" of humanness and freedom conveyed when the term "American"--used to signify…

This paper reviews the concept of liberal education and shows how, from its beginnings in classical times, it has been socially influential in schools and universities. After the rise of science and the proliferation of technology in the nineteenth century, liberal education was threatened and this threat continued in the form of late…

An extended set of conversations conducted by three religious studies faculty teaching at large public universities in the Southern United States spurred these reflections on how their institutional locations inflected issues such as the cultural expectations students bring to the classroom, how these expectations interact with the evolving…