Showing papers on "Religious education published in 1995"

The Effect of Religious Market Competition on Church Giving

Abstract: This paper contributes to the debate over the effects of religious pluralism on religosity. A key innovative feature of the paper is the use of voluntary contributions from members as a measure of religiosity. Using data from 177 congregations, and employing both the Herfindahl Index and market share as measures of religious market competition, a two-stage least squares estimation technique shows that Protestants give more when their congregation is faced with substantial competition, while Catholics tend to contribute more when they represent a minority church in a heavily concentrated market. This outcome is explained by arguing that churches with more competition react by providing a more satisfactory product and do a better job of filling niches in the religious marketplace.

Plurality and pluralism: a challenge for religious education

Abstract: A distinction is suggested between plurality and pluralism Plurality will be used in a descriptive sense, referring both to the religious plurality which is typical of many modern societies, and to the plurality of modernity itself The latter expression will be used to describe the range of life‐styles, cultural and political stances and so on which form the social context within which religious plurality is situated These descriptions will be distinguished from pluralism, which will be used in a normative sense, indicating the various values, attitudes, ethical implications and so on which arise in response to plurality The implications of these distinctions for religious education will be discussed with special reference to the relationship between plurality and pluralism

Sexual identity and religious socialization

Abstract: This paper looks at religious socialization in specific families and their local schools and churches, in order to examine the roots of gender differentiation in beliefs, attitudes and practice. Christian beliefs and practices were not usually seen by the mothers as relevant to their everyday life, even if they were churchgoers, but were seen as desirable for young children. It was precisely the divorce of Christianity from everyday life that made it a 'natural' part of childhood and naturally outgrown. Church schools providing the aspects of Christianity mothers want for their children are popular, but more specific Christian teaching can lead to fears that children are being 'indoctrinated'. Girls had more positive attitudes towards religion and higher levels of belief than boys, just as their mothers were more interested in religion than their fathers and more likely to attend a church. The mothers' central values of individualism, autonomy and freedom, mitigate against commitment to any Christian denomination and lead them to abhor any attempt to influence their own or their childrens' religiosity above the 'normal' level. As Christianity is puerilized so it becomes the particular province of women who still take the main responsibility for the care of the young children at home, nursery and infant school and Sunday school.

Family, law and religion

Abstract: Introduction. The Development of Religious Freedom. Marriage. Divorce. The Upbringing of Children. Custody and contact with children. Adoption. Religious education. Secular education.

Religious education's representation of ‘religions’ and ‘cultures‘ 1

Abstract: Multicultural education (of which ‘multifaith’ RE in England and Wales is sometimes regarded as a subset) was attacked by antiracists in Britain in the 1980s. Although it is arguable that not all of the criticisms were valid, the debate raises questions about the efficacy of religious education in countering racism. The paper argues that a lack of analysis of the concepts ‘religions’ and ‘cultures’ in British RE has led to a representation of religious traditions which essentialises them, playing down their internal diversity, and which assumes a ‘closed’ view of cultures. A more flexible approach is suggested, drawing on work in ethnography and other social science disciplines, which might better combine with antiracist stances than earlier approaches. The work of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit is introduced briefly as an example of an attempt to address some of the above issues in terms of an integrated approach to theory, the study of religions in the community and the devel...

The plural self: a hermeneutical view on identity and plurality

Abstract: This article is a somewhat revised version of the author's contribution to the 1992 meeting of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values in Banff, Alberta, Canada. It studies the recent elaborations of the hermeneutical philosophy of Ricoeur, in order to find a concept of personal identity that fits the present situation of cultural and religious diversity in general, and the multi‐faith approach to religious education in particular.

Religious education in a secular state: The Singapore experience

Abstract: (1995). Religious education in a secular state: The Singapore experience. Asian Journal of Political Science: Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 15-27.

The rood of Boxley, the blood of Hailes and the defence of the Henrician church.(Henry VIII and religious controversies)

Abstract: Recent research has rendered untenable the glib characterisation of the Henrician Reformation as 'Catholicism without the Pope', but the essential nature of the motives and achievements of Henry VIII and his ministers in the 1530s and 1540s remains a controversial issue. To J. K. McConica, the polity created in the 1530s was an 'Erasmian' one, with the views of the great humanist on such matters as vernacular Scripture, superstitious pilgrimage and religious instruction providing a consensual nexus to bind together all but the most extreme shades of religious opinion.(1) More recently, Glyn Redworth has similarly argued that the Henrician Reform was from the first 'an intellectually coherent and satisfying movement', and that it had positive and distinctive religious aspirations, seeking to use the techniques of 'Protestant' evangelism to transmit a purged but none the less essentially Catholic doctrine.(2) G. W. Bernard has, by contrast, characterised the direction of religious policy after the break with Rome as 'deliberately ambiguous', and sees Henry as a ruler who held together an unwieldy coalition of interests by employing the rhetoric of continental Protestantism while inhibiting the implementation of any fundamental change.(3) Eamon Duffy's poignant description of the destruction wrought upon late medieval Catholicism points to a king who was 'on the whole committed to the reform of the saints and of images', but in other respects fundamentally conservative, and whose policy was erratically steered by his reliance on advisors sympathetic or hostile to the evangelical cause.(4) Richard Rex's recent survey of the Reformation under Henry VIII concludes that the 'Word of God' rhetoric and the model of Old Testament kingship employed by Henry and his propagandists to justify his assumption of the royal supremacy led inevitably to an assault on many aspects of popular religion, reclassified as unscriptural and superstitious.(5) Taking up some of the suggestions of these works, the following brief examination of a cause celebre of 1538 and its repercussions will attempt to demonstrate the way in which the detection by royal agents of ostensibly fraudulent superstition, rooted in the religious houses, was exploited to justify both to a domestic and an international audience the king's assumption of the Royal Supremacy. The assertion and defence of this supremacy was, to the king's mind at least, the central and continuing preoccupation of the Henrician Reformation, and to that end evidence of religious trickery perpetrated under the auspices of the papacy could be of service both to evangelicals and conservatives within the Henrician establishment, supplying a discourse of respectability and purpose which helped to orientate the English Church amidst the competing directions in which it was being pulled.

The Christian Schools Campaign—a successful educational pressure group?

Abstract: The Christian Schools Campaign was an educational pressure group which sought to obtain state funding for faith‐based schools. It successfully influenced both the 1992 Education (Schools) Act on inspection criteria and the 1993 Education Act. The latter now gives the possibility of faith‐based grant‐maintained schools, where existing faith‐based private schools may apply to be re‐established as grant‐maintained. This article charts the nature and activities of the Christian Schools Campaign, and begins to assess its effectiveness.

Hurrying toward Zion: Universities, Divinity Schools, and American Protestantism

Abstract: PREFACE INTRODUCTION: Visions and Strategies of Influence Part 1 SPECIALIZATION Chapter 1: Strategies for a System of Education Chapter 2: Educating to Understand the Other Chapter 3: Theological and Religious Sciences Part II PROFESSIONALIZATION Chapter 4: Theory and Practice Chapter 5: Two Yokes of Responsibility Part III FORMATION AND REFORM Chapter 6: Social Class and Social Gospel Chapter 7: Formation and the Heritage of Revolt Part IV PLURALISM Chapter 8: The Challenge of Social and Cultural Diversity Chapter 9: The Challenge of the Multiversity CONCLUSION: The Ambiguities of a Heritage NOTES INDEX

The Rood of Boxley, the Blood of Hailes and the Defence of the Henrician Church

Abstract: Recent research has rendered untenable the glib characterisation of the Henrician Reformation as ‘Catholicism without the Pope’, but the essential nature of the motives and achievements of Henry vra and his ministers in the 1530s and 1540s remains a controversial issue. To J. K. McConica, the polity created in the 1530s was an ‘Erasmian’ one, with the views of the great humanist on such matters as vernacular Scripture, superstitious pilgrimage and religious instruction providing a consensual nexus to bind together all but the most extreme shades of religious opinion. More recently, Glyn Redworth has similarly argued that the Henrician Reform was from the first ‘an intellectually coherent and satisfying movement’, and that it had positive and distinctive religious aspirations, seeking to use the techniques of ‘Protestant’ evangelism to transmit a purged but none the less essentially Catholic doctrine. G. W. Bernard has, by contrast, characterised the direction of religious policy after the break with Rome as ‘deliberately ambiguous’, and sees Henry as a ruler who held together an unwieldy coalition of interests by employing the rhetoric of continental Protestantism while inhibiting the implementation of any fundamental change.

The Beyond in the Midst. The Relevance of Dewey’s Philosophy of Religion for Education

Abstract: ‘In the past few decades philosophy of religion has suffered decline as a discipline’, Cornel West wrote in his 1993 bookKeeping Faith([West, 1993], p. 119). Following up the Humean and Kantian Enlightenment critiques of religious thought in the subjectivist terms of immediate awareness or self-consciousness, the European philosophers of the late nineteenth century like Marx, Mill and Nietzsche did not pay attention to questions concerning the epistemic status of religious beliefs. Their primary concern was the nature of modern science, and the character of modern culture and society.

The christian 'school' of alexandria in the second and third centuries

Abstract: This chapter discusses the tradition that the Alexandrian school, like the great philosophical schools of Antiquity, knew a real succession of teachers who themselves had been the pupils of their predecessors. Another tradition about the teachers of the Alexandrian school was transmitted by Philip of Side, who between 434 and 439 wrote a voluminous but chaotic Christian History. The teachers were responsible for all forms of religious education, from pre-baptismal instruction to high theology. During the persecution of governor Aquila (206-210/11) all Christian teachers, also those who gave the pre-baptismal instruction, fled Alexandria. According to Nautin, it is inconceivable that Origen taught a similar curriculum already in his Alexandrian period. After Origen's departure from Alexandria in 234, the connection between church and school became so close that the two successors who came after him, Heraclas and Dionysius, were both elected bishop of the Alexandrian church. Keywords: Alexandrian school; pre-baptismal instruction; religious education

Sikh children's use of ‘God’: ethnographic fieldwork and religious education

Abstract: In Agreed Syllabuses and curriculum books unequivocal statements are made about the nature of God according to Sikh belief. These statements closely correspond to those which appear in English‐language Sikh publications. However British Sikh children's (and adults') use of the word ‘God’ often differs radically from these statements and needs to be understood in the broader context of Punjabi religious vocabulary and practice. A comparison of Sikh children's understanding and usage of ‘God’ with what appears in the RE curriculum points up important issues regarding the relationship between ethnographic fieldwork and RE. These are highlighted in the final section.

Andragogy of the Oppressed: Emancipatory Education for Christian Adults.

Abstract: In most churches, Bible and other religious instruction is based on an evangelical model structured on a teacher-centered, lecture-oriented approach that involves treating adults as children and that is thus more consistent with unregenerate human nature than with the born-again nature of Christians. An emancipatory model of Christian adult education is needed that includes consideration for the principles of andragogy. Andragogy, the science of adult learning, is based on the belief that the ways in which adults and children learn differ from five standpoints: self-concept, life experience, readiness to learn, time perspective, and orientation to learning. Each component of andragogical philosophy holds important insights for adult Christian education. The works of Walter Ong, Malcolm Knowles, and Paulo Freire present an alternative, more participative modality through which educators and clergy can transmit theological processes and principles. A model process calleH a praxis cycle has been developed based on principles proposed by Ong, Knowles, and Freire and has been suggested as a model for delivering emancipatory education for Christian adults. According to the model, teachers/facilitators use dialogue to help students/disciples develop the competencies required to become biblically literate, critically conscious, and actively involved Christian citizens. (Contains 28 references.) (MN) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * ANDRAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED: Emancipatory Education for Christian Adults by John C. Lai, Fielding Institute, HOD Program January, 1995

Independent Christian Day Schools: Past, Present, and Prognosis.

Abstract: Carper and Layman trace the development of the Protestant day-school movement. They examine its present-day status as a rapidly growing phenomenon in American education. Then they delineate some of the issues that must be addressed if such schools are to successfully negotiate the perilous path towards excellence.

Forum protestant, catholic, jew: the transformative possibilities of educating across religious boundaries

Abstract: (1995). FORUM PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC, JEW: THE TRANSFORMATIVE POSSIBILITIES OF EDUCATING ACROSS RELIGIOUS BOUNDARIES. Religious Education: Vol. 90, No. 2, pp. 254-276.

School Governors and the Religious Ethos of C of E Voluntary Aided Primary Schools.

Abstract: Revd Leslie Francis is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Trinity College, Carmarthen, and University of Wales, Lampeter. Revd Ernest Stone was Diocesan Adviser for religious education in the dioces...

A Global Ethic and Education

Abstract: (1995). A Global Ethic and Education. British Journal of Religious Education: Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 6-21.

Some Remarks on the Role and Limitations of Phenomenology of Religion in Religious Education.

Abstract: (1995). SOME REMARKS ON THE ROLE AND LIMITATIONS OF PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Religious Education: Vol. 90, No. 3-4, pp. 445-462.

Learning about Judaism: a contribution to the debate on multi‐faith religious education

Abstract: Following the recent publication of the Model Syllabuses for Religious Education, this paper considers some of the arguments surrounding multi‐faith teaching. Focusing specifically on children learning about Judaism, it reports the findings of two studies. The first, involving 12‐ and 13‐year‐olds, offers prima facie support to those who criticise a multi‐faith approach on the grounds that it inevitably leads to confusion. The second, carried out with a younger age group, undermines the force of this criticism, for it was discovered that the children had acquired misconceptions about Judaism outside the sphere of formal education. The implications of the second study are discussed in the context of claims made on behalf of multicultural education.

Pluralistic religious education in a postmodern world

Abstract: (1995). PLURALISTIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN A POSTMODERN WORLD. Religious Education: Vol. 90, No. 3-4, pp. 346-359.