Martin Luther is primarily known as a pastor and theologian of the 16th century Reformation. However, he was also a pedagogue passionate about educational reforms that united the spiritual life with the daily lived life. Believing that education served the purpose of equipping students for a life in service of one's neighbor, Luther took a…

Barabbas has a small role in the Gospels, but his presence influences the way the Christian story has been told and received over the centuries. While he is mentioned in all four Gospels during the account of Jesus' Roman trial, he never appears "on-stage" in the Gospels. His main purpose is to exculpate the Romans of responsibility for…

The gospel is central to life in the Christian community. It is formational to the church proper and to the pedagogical task of faith-based colleges and universities. The gospel is also significant for the education of non/nominal Christians who are present in our classrooms. This article describes the gospel as indispensable for faith-based…

The idea of the heart-orientation dimension of worldview has been in the literature for over two decades but it lacks the conceptual refinement of the propositional and behavioral dimensions. The authors argue for distinct parameters within the heart-orientation dimension of a worldview which currently do not exist in the literature. A conceptual…

Learners with special needs experience myriad problems in general and special education. These problems range from minor academic, social, emotional, and behavioral problems to major disenfranchisements, disadvantages, and disillusionments. In addition, these problems can be very intense. As a result, they call for innovative and creative…

In his book "On Christian Teaching," David Smith offers multiple ways in which one's Christian faith commitments influence pedagogical practices. Specific examples are drawn from the humanities, particularly from languages and literature. Some may conclude that such discussions are less appropriate in areas such as science, technology,…

This essay builds upon previous work introducing the hermeneutic of Divine relationship, a lens by which systemically oriented Christian therapists can begin to understand the connections between the relational nature of God and their systemic worldview. Specifically, we explore what liberation theology has to offer each of the five domains of the…

The spiritual environment in America has transformed due to demographic shifts, disaffiliation, and political polarization, forcing religious organizations and ministers to adapt their practices. Ministers often face challenges as a result of inadequate training and a lack of preparedness for complex ministry demands, leading to burnout and…

A 2015 Barna report revealed that a meager 20 percent of regular church attenders in the United States participate in any church discipleship activities. With declining attendance and more than four thousand churches closing in the United States since 2019, one would wonder what impact this lack of discipleship has had on the overall health of the…

This study demonstrates the value of the field of public theology for cathedral studies. Both of these fields are concerned with the continuing role of religion in public life in contemporary societies, and yet those writing within these fields often do not draw from the work of the other. Therefore, in this study I show some findings of my PhD…

We make two interventions in two evolving scholarly literatures. First, we show how fractal metaphors escape a recurring dichotomy in Christian pedagogical scholarship, the either/or of alienation from one's object of study versus union with it in "an act of love." Second, we try to replace recent interdisciplinary work's emphasis on…

There is a longstanding discussion in child theology around the role of cognition for faith formation. This article explores research in the area of disability theology in order to examine potential benefits for Christian ministry to the child. It suggests three areas which may be profitable: the importance of increasing information to accompany…

Higher education in the 2020s remains deeply divided on the role of religion, or what the Council on the Advancement of Standards (CAS) in 2023 describes as "religious, secular, and spiritual identities." In two previous articles in this Journal, one 2010 article by the late Peter Magolda and one in 2014 by Perry Glanzer, detail the ways…

Since the earliest colonial institutions, Christianity and higher education have maintained a complex relationship. While initially dominated by Protestant intuitions, the landscape of U.S. higher education expanded denominationally, including Catholic institutions, after the Civil War and into the 20th century. As public institutions…

The development of anatomy as a scientific undertaking appears to have left little room for religious and cultural input into the conduct of anatomical investigations. This has been brought to the fore by questionnaires regarding the willingness or otherwise of individuals to donate their bodies for dissection, with higher levels of willingness…