Showing papers on "Religious education published in 2001"

Western Europe and Its Islam

Abstract: Preface 1. Western Europe and its Islam Part One. The Netherlands: The Institutionalization and recognition of Islam at the national level 2. Government, society and Islam: a brief history 3. The sphere of religion 4. The sphere of education 5. Politics and other spheres 6. Conclusions at the national level Part Two. The Institutionalization of Islam and the struggle for recognition at the local level 7. Recognition as partners in the political debate 8. The establishment and funding of places of worship 9. Islamic religious instruction in state primary schools 10. The establishment of Muslim schools 11. Conclusions at the local level Part Three: An international comparison 12. Belgium 13. The United Kingdom 14. Conclusions at the international level 15. Conclusions List of abbreviations for political parties References Index

The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief

Abstract: Only a century ago, almost all state universities held compulsory chapel services, and some required Sunday church attendance as well. In fact, state-sponsored chapel services were commonplace until the World War II era, and as late as the 1950s, it was not unusual for leading schools to refer to themselves as "Christian" institutions. Today, the once pervasive influence of religion in the intellectual and cultural life of America's preeminent colleges and universities has all but vanished. In The Soul of the American University, Marsden explores how, and why, these dramatic changes occurred. Far from a lament for a lost golden age when mainline Protestants ruled American education, The Soul of the American University offers a penetrating critique of that era, surveying the role of Protestantism in higher education from the founding of Harvard in the 1630s through the collapse of the WASP establishment in the 1960s. Marsden tells the stories of many of our pace-setting universities at defining moments in their histories, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. He recreates the religious feuds that accompanied Yale's transition from a flagship evangelical college to a university, and the dramatic debate over the place of religion in higher education between Harvard's President Charles Eliot and Princeton's President James McCosh. Marsden's analysis ranges from debates over Darwinism and higher critics of the Bible, to the roles of government and wealthy contributors, the impact of changing student mores, and even the religious functions of college football. He argues persuasively that the values of "liberalism" and "tolerance" that the establishment championed and used to marginalize Christian fundamentalism and Roman Catholicism eventually and perhaps inevitably led to its own disappearance from the educational milieu, as nonsectarian came to mean exclusively secular. While the largely voluntary disestablishment of religion may appear in many respects commendable, Marsden believes that it has nonetheless led to the infringement of the free exercise of religion in most of academic life. In effect, nonbelief has been established as the only valid academic perspective. In a provocative final chapter, Marsden spells out his own prescription for change, arguing that just as the academy has made room for feminist and multicultural perspectives, so should there be room once again for traditional religious viewpoints. A thoughtful blend of historical narrative and searching analysis, The Soul of the American University exemplifies what it advocates: that religious perspectives can provide a legitimate contribution to the highest level of scholarship.

Religious Segregation and the Emergence of Integrated Schools in Northern Ireland

Abstract: A distinctive characteristic of the education system in Northern Ireland is that most Protestant and Catholic children attend separate schools. Following the partition of Ireland the Protestant Churches transferred their schools to the new state in return for full funding and representation in the management of state controlled schools and non-denominational religious instruction was given a statutory place within such schools. The Catholic Church retained control over its own system of voluntary maintained schools, initially receiving only 65% of capital funding; however all grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland are now eligible for full funding of running costs and capital development. This paper highlights the emergence of a small number of integrated schools since the 1980s. Catholic and Protestant parents have come together as the impetus for these schools and this presents an implicit challenge to the status quo of church involvement in the management and control of schools. In practical terms the integrated schools have had to develop more inclusive arrangements for religious education, and legislation that permits existing schools to "transform" into integrated schools also presents new challenges for the society as a whole.

Identity, Cultural Change, and Religious Education

Abstract: How should we deal with the process of secularisation, the plurality of cultures, and the dominance of thinking about education in terms of transmission, when religious education has to foster the development of personal identity formation of pupils? In answering this question the authors present a transactional epistemology and transformative view on (religious) education and learning which both have far‐reaching consequences for our views on socialisation and individuation. In religious education the gaining of religious experiences and the cultivation of a religious attitude are seen as part of everyday life instead of only being connected to certain religious practices. The approach suggested here can stimulate the growth of the pupils’ capacity to integrate different and differing perspectives ‐ ideals, norms, values, knowledge, narratives ‐ into their own personality.

Interreligious Learning: The Problem of Interreligious Dialogue in Primary Education

Abstract: The increasing plurality of religions and world-views in western society has major implications for religious communication in both public and private settings. This study is an important step in an exploration of the consequences of this religious plurality for religious education in primary education. The chief concern of this study is the following question: To what extent is a pedagogic model in which pupils are encouraged to participate in an interreligious dialogue adequate for coping with this religious plurality? To address this question, the author discusses the following research questions: what are the cognitive, the affective and the attitudinal effects of the interreligious model for religious education, and can this model be legitimised? These questions are considered in the context of a discussion of the meaning of religion and an elaboration of the aim of religious education within the context of a secularized and multicultural society.

What is wrong with the phenomenological approach to religious education

Abstract: In this article the phenomenological approach to religious education is subjected to careful analysis and criticism. Something of the contemporary debate on the nature of religious education between liberals and conservatives is sketched in, before the origins and nature of the phenomenological approach to the study of religion are considered. This is followed by an account of the way in which the phenomenology of religion proper has been appropriated by educationalists and developed into what is regarded as a suitable methodology for religious education. Finally, it is argued that certain features of a phenomenological approach to religion are untenable in the light of recent work in the philosophy of language and mind.

Comparing Levels of Spiritual Well-being in State, Catholic and Independent Schools in Victoria, Australia

Abstract: This article reports on a survey completed by Chaplains, Religious Education and Student Welfare Coordinators in State, Catholic and Independent schools in Victoria. Results from this survey support the model of spiritual well-being, which was seen to be reflected in the quality of relationships that people develop with themselves, others, the environment, and with a Transcendent Other. The staff surveyed generally reported positively on current practice and expressed high priorities for action in nurturing their students' spiritual well-being. School type contributed to significant differences in each of these four sets of relationships.

Denominational school identity and the formation of personal identity

Abstract: Three important factors determine the institutional identity of denominational (Christian) schools: their interpretation of the religious truth claim, their conception of the nature of education, and their view of cultural differences as content of education. We investigate conceptually which of these interpretations of identity are consonant with a view of education as a place where the personal identity of students is constructed. We interpret personal identity in a narrative way, as a permanent process of reflexive construction where consistency over time is not seen as an ideal, given the plurality of postmodern culture.

Dancing in the Fire: A Deconstruction of Clive Erricker's Postmodern Spiritual Pedagogy

Abstract: Clive Erricker's proposal for a deconstructive postmodern religious education is critiqued. It is argued that it is internally incoherent, vulnerable to external criticism, and rooted in a confessional model of education. An alternative approach, rooted in critical realism, is outlined.

Becoming an RE teacher: A life history approach

Abstract: This paper discusses why life history method was considered to be the most appropriate approach for investigating what it is like to become and be a teacher of religious education (RE) at the present time. The study in question followed a cohort of Secondary Post‐Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) in RE students through their training and into their first years of teaching. Within England and Wales, religion per se tends to evoke suspicion and even hostility and the stereotypes associated with religion‐related identities are often negative. We wanted to investigate both what it was like for particular individuals, each with his or her own unique history, to become and be RE teachers and also, how contemporary and dominant perceptions of and attitudes towards religion, together with the ways in which RE is positioned within schools and the curriculum, influence and impact upon that experience. Life history method has the ability to bestride the micro‐macro interface and to consider the dialectical re...

Talking to children about death

Abstract: This short paper considers a response to requests from schools to help them when working with children who have been bereaved. It sets out a consideration of a more systematic way of providing teachers with a context in which they might address questions about death and how they might do so in a way that considers death as an event in which we are all involved and not one needing specialist intervention. The method outlined suggests that death can be incorporated across the British school curriculum into every subject already being taught and does not need to be either a specialist area, part of religious education or to be left to personal, social and health education. A small survey with children is included to illustrate children's own attitudes towards teaching death in schools.

Constructivist Perspectives on Language, Identity, and Culture: Implications for Jewish Identity and the Education of Jews.

Abstract: This article reviews recent theoretical works in the field of language, identity, and culture with the aim of exploring their possible implications to the field of cultural ethnic education in general and more specifically in the area of Jewish education. The theories reviewed develop from within a social constructivist paradigm belonging to a high or postmodern perspective. The theories presented have the potential to encourage a serious and critical revision of the premises which support the work of those involved in cultural ethnic and Jewish education. More specifically, these theories could help educators interested in the creative and participatory development of Jewish and other ethnic religious groups to rethink the possible contents and processes of such an educational effort.

Shall We Dance? Authority, Representation, and Voice: The Place of Spirituality in Religious Education

Abstract: This article considers issues raised by attempting to place spirituality in the context of religious education. While, this might appear to be the least problematic for marriages, or most obvious pairing of dancing partners, when considering how it can be addressed in other curriculum subjects, on closer inspection, perhaps it gives rise to some of the most disturbing issues formal education has to face. These issues range across interconnected themes related to philosophical inquiry, national context and tradition, social values, and the rights of citizens in democratic communities. The argument presented is that whether, when we interrogate these issues in the context of different social histories, with special reference to England and Wales, we find that the concept of spirituality questions current constructs of education and religious education.

A Political History of the Establishment Clause

Abstract: The central contention of this paper is that the Court's Establishment Clause jurisprudence can best be understood from a political perspective. The title of the article signals the intent. We analyze Establishment Clause decisions as if they were political. More fully, we analyze Establishment Clause decisions as if they were products of political contests among various interest groups, both religious and secular, with competing positions on the proper relation of church and state. Looking at the Establishment Clause in this way is deeply informative. It yields a more complete and coherent account of modern constitutional doctrine than can be derived from the conventional sources of text, history, and structure. Indeed, one good reason to analyze the Establishment Clause in this way is the lack of plausible alternatives. To preview the argument briefly, the modern Establishment Clause dates not from the founding but from the mid-twentieth century. At that time, the Supreme Court adopted a rhetoric of radical separation of church and state. That rhetoric had as its defining application and chief consequence a constitutional ban against aid to religious schools. Later, the Court also moved to purge religious observances from public education. These two propositions - that public aid should not go to religious schools and that public schools should not be religious - make up the separationist position of the modern Establishment Clause. We begin with the ban against aid to religious schools. The modern no-aid position drew support from a broad coalition of separationist opinion. Most visible was the pervasive secularism that came to dominate American public life, especially among educated elites, a secularism that does not so much deny religious belief as seek to confine it to a private sphere. Additionally, the ban against government aid to religious schools was supported by the great bulk of the Protestant faithful. With few exceptions, Protestant denominations, churches, and believers vigorously opposed aid to religious schools. For many Protestant denominations, this position followed naturally from the circumstances of their founding. It was strongly reinforced, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by hostility to Roman Catholics and the challenge they posed to the Protestant hegemony. In its political origins and constituencies, the ban against aid to religious schools aimed not only to prevent an establishment of religion but also to maintain one. Today, much has changed. Anti-Catholic animosity has faded, and the crucial alliance between public secularists and Protestant believers has collapsed. Public secularists, whose devotion to public schools has declined in recent decades, are now divided over the question of funding religious alternatives. More importantly, so are the Protestant faithful. While mainline Protestant denominations continue to demand strict separation of church and state, fundamentalist and evangelical opinion has largely deserted that position. Today, fundamentalists and evangelicals have moved from the most uncompromising opponents of aid to parochial schools to its unlikely allies. As a consequence, strict separationism is opposed today by true believers of many faiths, not just Roman Catholics (and a few other sects with a history of religious schools), but also by the nation's largest Protestant denomination (Southern Baptists) and by the great weight of opinion among the variety of churches called fundamentalist and/or evangelical. Against this new coalition, we predict, the constitutional barrier against financial support of religious schools will not long stand. We see the current judicial uncertainty on this subject not merely as a continuation of the blurred and shifting margins that have plagued the field for years, but as a crack that goes to the core. This prediction does not depend (except in timing) on a guess about future appointments to the Supreme Court. It arises rather from the current realignment of the political forces historically arrayed against constitutional toleration of aid to religious institutions. Old coalitions have collapsed, and new alliances are demanding change. We think it likely that the emerging political combination in favor of government aid to religious education will prove, sooner or later, to be irresistible. We do not, however, see a similar fate for secularism in public education. In contrast to the political revolution on school aid, no new coalition has formed to overturn the Court's decisions outlawing school prayer and Bible reading. Religious exercises in public schools are endorsed today, as they were forty years ago, by the Catholic leadership and by conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists. They are opposed today, as they were forty years ago, by public secularists, mainline Protestant clergy, and most Jews. Moreover, the increasing religious pluralism of American society reinforces the secularist position. While the growing religious diversity of private schools makes government funding of them more "neutral" and hence more acceptable, the growing religious diversity of students in public schools makes it more and more difficult to envision any religious exercises that would not favor some faiths and offend others. We therefore predict that the constitutional prohibition against prayer in the public schools to remain more or less intact. The argument proceeds in three stages. Part I describes the two policies that have dominated the modern Establishment Clause. Part II places those doctrines in historical context. It traces the political antecedents of the separationist policies and identifies the constituencies of their support. Part III addresses the current instability in Establishment Clause doctrine and analyzes the underlying realignment of political forces that are now deploying in favor of radical change.

On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding

Abstract: On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding. By Michael Novak. (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002. Pp. 250. Appendix. $23.95.) In recent years some fine books and articles have appeared on the role of religion in the formation of the American Republic by distinguished scholars such as John Noonan, James Hutson, and Barry A. Shain. Michael Novak draws selectively upon the work of these and other scholars and brings his own interests in philosophy and theology to bear on a discussion of the history and political theory of the Revolutionary era. On Two Wings argues for the importance of religion in the minds and hearts of the founders. But rather than focus exclusively on the usual cast of characters, dominated by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, Novak wants to retrieve as much as possible the voices of the other participants in Independence Hall who declared independence and formulated the Constitution. At the outset, Novak asserts that for the past century the bulk of the intellectual community has subordinated religion to the Enlightenment in interpreting the founding. Yet the founders, he claims, understood their world in terms of a "Hebrew metaphysics" (8), a perspective derived from the Old Testament that emphasized God's purposeful, providential design at work in an intelligible creation. The founders, he argues, justified the Revolution in terms of God's plan for human dignity and liberty. Repeatedly, as Novak points out, they turned to prayer during and after the war. In his view, the "two wings" of the American Republic are reason-the common sense that comes from reflecting upon experience-and faith-which Novak sometimes equates with Christian faith and elsewhere describes as that which can be known about God through reason. Each wing reinforced the other. Both were essential to the eventual success of the American Republic. As Novak reads the founders, they were more religionists than rationalists. The Virginia experiment in religious liberty, he asserts, actually depended upon a theological argument: the priority of "the duty we owe to our Creator" (56), in Madison's words, over the claims of any government. For Jefferson and Madison, religion had to be kept pure, so it should be kept separate from government as much as possible. In Massachusetts, John Adams thought government needed to support people's religious education in order to cultivate the virtue needed in a republic. Through his efforts, the new state constitution of 1780 made provisions for "public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality" (96). Novak is more confident of Adams's approach than that of the Virginians. There was a danger that separation of church and state could turn into hostility toward religion and that government's failure to support its teaching might result in popular ignorance of "the great religious principles on which the natural right to religious liberty is based" (60). Novak claims that America's natural rights theory is based ultimately on religious belief, with Thomas Aquinas in the unusual role of "first Whig" (93). In developing this argument, Novak draws on the revisionist work of Brian Tierney. …

Singing to the Jinas: Jain Laywomen, Mandal Singing, and the Negotiations of Jain Devotion

Abstract: While Western Jain scholarship has focused on those texts and practices favoring male participation, the Jain community itself relies heavily on lay women's participation for religious education, the performance of key rituals, and the locus of religious knowledge. In this fieldwork-based study, Whitney Kelting attempts to reconcile these women's understanding of Jainism with the religion as presented in the existing scholarship. Jain women, she shows, both accept and rewrite the idealized roles received from religious texts, practices, and social expectation, according to which female religiosity is a symbol of Jain perfection. Jain women's worship shows us a Jainism focused more on devotion than on philosophy. With rituals structured around singing hymns, Jain women negotiate hybrid theologies that sometimes conflict with normative Jainism. Singing to the Jinas describes these women's interpretations of their religion, not as folklore or popular religion, but as a theology that recreates Jainism in a form which honors their own participation.

The Future of Jewish Schooling in the United Kingdom: A Strategic Assessment of a Faith-based Provision of Primary and Secondary School Education

Abstract: Jewish day schools are flourishing. While the UK Jewish population has shrunk by over 25 per cent since the 1950s, the number of children attending Jewish day schools has grown by 500 per cent. However, at the same time, Jewish day schooling is at a crossroads. It faces new challenges in adapting to the fast-changing social, political and educational environment of the twenty-first century. This report examines key performance data, including national examination results and OFSTED inspection reports. It also includes data from in-depth interviews with education providers and parents throughout Britain. The book analyses the strengths and weaknesses of full-time Jewish day schooling from a policy perspective. It attempts to answer key policy questions. Do Jewish day schools - as an example of faith-based schooling - work? To what extent do they meet the needs of pupils, parents, sponsors, Jewish communities and the wider society?

Including Children with Mental Retardation in the Religious Community

Abstract: ingful for all children and adults—but particularly for people involved in inclusive religious education programs. Although intentions may be good, the religious community sometimes engages in practices that result in segregation, such as having separate classes for persons with disabilities, furnishing modes of transportation not used by people without disabilities, or setting aside a special seating section of the worship service for people with disabilities. This article describes some practical strategies and engaging activities community members can use to promote inclusion in religious programs (see box, “What Does the Literature Say”).

From Lutheran Catechism to World Religions and Humanism: Dilemmas and Middle Ways through the Story of Norwegian Religious Education

Abstract: This article traces the socio‐cultural development of Norwegian religious education in order to discuss the present syllabus of the subject, introduced through the 1997 National Curriculum. The syllabus is controversial, and an interpretation of it becomes paramount. With ‘the making of the modern Norwegian nation‐state’ as historical context, a story may be told of democratic liberation, emphasising the gaining of equal rights and social justice through one common educational institution. In the story, the 1997 religious education syllabus is interpreted as a middle way between the bureaucratic function‐alism of the nation‐state and the ‘free choice’ ideology of modern individualism.

The Imagined Other: Postcolonial Theory and Religious Education

Abstract: This paper examines one aspect of postcolonial theory ‐ the relationship between culture and its representation ‐‐ and considers the relevance of this for contemporary religious education. The paper provides particular focus on the now widely held premise in postcolonial theory that domination within political and social systems is dependent upon the control and manipulation of cultural representation. The crucial idea here is that such domination is dependent upon the creation of a culturally imagined ‘other’. Arguing that this essentially colonial notion of ‘otherness’ remains ingrained within the language of religious education in England and Wales, the paper concludes with a call to re‐examine the representation of religious culture within a global, postcolonial framework.

Towards autonomy? The Islamist movement's quest for control of Islamic institutions in Israel

Abstract: From origins as a small clandestine association, the Islamist movement in Israel grew into a major grassroots organization with political representation at the municipal and national levels by the late 1990s. The movement has been particularly successful in mobilizing Israel's Muslim population to challenge the state-- controlled Islamic institutions. The current literature tends to downplay the impact of this escalating campaign either to gain control over Islamic institutions (such as waqf, charitable endowments, and shari'a courts) or to establish autonomous alternatives wherever possible. The article focuses on this quest in order to assess the movement's development and its prospects for future communal autonomy. Beginning as a small militant underground movement in the early 1980s, the Islamist movement developed into a major force on the Arab political scene in Israel by the early 1990s. Providing community services and action where apathy and despair had previously reigned, the independently funded movement improved the quality of life for many of its supporters and achieved political representation at the municipal, and then national, levels. While critical of all aspects of state minority policy, the Islamist movement has been especially successful in rallying public support around its dissatisfaction with the state-controlled Islamic institutions. Most scholarship of the movement has focused on its political and social mobilization of the Muslim minority population; however, one of its most significant achievements has been its sustained campaign to gain control over Islamic institutions such as waqf (plural awqaf, charitable endowments), holy places, and religious education. In recent years, the Islamist movement has succeeded in bringing the backwater issue of Israel's Islamic policy to the forefront of the minority political agenda and has escalated its challenge by successfully introducing its own set of parallel, autonomous institutions wherever possible.1 The most prominent case to date involves a dispute over land in Nazareth, which gained international attention in the months preceding Pope John Paul II's visit to the city in March 2000. The struggle centers on the land directly adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, one of Christianity's most important holy places. Leaders of the Islamist movement have declared the land to be waqf, or Muslim religious trust land, and insist on building a mosque at the site. Whatever the final outcome of this potentially explosive dispute, it exemplifies the Islamist movement's effective use of Israel's Islamic policy as a rallying point for political mobilization. Examining the escalating struggle for control over Islamic institutions in Israel provides some insight into the Islamist movement's ultimate goals concerning communal autonomy and the potential response of the state in addition to providing an additional dimension for understanding the emergence and development of the movement. EXPLAINING THE RISE OF AN ISLAMIST MOVEMENT IN ISRAEL Scholars mark the 1967 Arab-Israeli War as a major source of the wave of religious resurgence in the Arab world, when military defeat diminished popular support for secular nationalism.2 For the Muslim citizens of Israel, the subsequent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip initiated a dual process of Palestinization and Islamization. In light of growing frustration with continued discrimination and a perceived second-class citizen status, the Arabs in Israel embraced the nationalist identity articulated by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). In addition, for the Muslim community in Israel, less than inspired by its own state-controlled religious establishment, renewed access to the holy sites in Jerusalem and the well-organized West Bank Islamic establishment sparked a religious revival.3 Mounting contact with the religious institutions of the West Bank and Gaza also directly exposed Israel's Muslim citizens to Islamist ideologies. …

Education and civic culture in post-communist countries

Abstract: List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction S.Webber & I.Liikanen PART I: REVIVING CIVIC CULTURE Reflections on Social Networks and Collective Action in Russia R.Alapuro Educational and Political Capital and the Breakthrough of Voluntary Association in Russian Karelia I.Liikanen The Intelligentsia and the 'Breakdown of Culture' in Post-Soviet Russia P.Stranius PART II: NATIONALITY REFRAMED National Schools and National Identity In and After the Soviet Union J.Smith Ethnic Minorities in the Czech Education System: Before and After Transition (1945-1997) D.Canek New Paradigms of National Education in Multi-Ethnic Russia G.Schmidt PART III: IDENTITY MATTERS Ethnographical Activism as a Form of Civic Education: A Case Study on School Museums in North-West Russia K.Heikkinen Gender Representation in Educational Materials in the Period of Transition in Hungary E.Thun Gender Study and Civic Culture in Contemporary Russia A.Temkina Hypocritical Sexuality of the Late Soviet Period: Sexual Knowledge and Sexual Ignorance E.Zdravomyslova The Struggle for the Souls of Young People: Competing Approaches to 'Spiritual' and Religious Education in Russia Today J.Muckle PART IV: TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE? The Abandoned Children of Russia: From 'Privileged Class' to 'Underclass' S.Stephenson Psychological Development Programmes for Civil Society Building D.Javakhishvili & N.Sarjveladze The Culture of the Russian School and the Teaching Profession: Prospects for Change S.Webber Pedagogy in Transition: From Labour Training to Humanistic Technology Education in Russia J.Pitt & M.Pavlova Political Aspects of Reforming the Higher Education System in Ukraine L.Pivneva Civic Education for Russia: An Outsider's View J.Vaillant Index

God Our Teacher: Theological Basics in Christian Education

Abstract: A topic of frequent discussion in religious education circles is the relationship between theology and practice. How does Christian theology work itself out in the teaching ministries of the church? Noted Christian education thinker Robert Pazmino contemplates this debate and offers a contemporary overview of the messages theology brings to Christian education. Sensitive to today's expanding global culture, God Our Teacher reaffirms the essential role theology plays in developing educational practices and conventions, and carefully fleshes out what it means to use the Trinity as a model for ordering educational thought and practice. This book will be welcomed by all those involved in fostering the growth and development of Christian education.

Inter-Religious Negotiations: Case Studies on Students' Perception of and Dealing With Religious Diversity

Abstract: Among the many themes and issues which have to be dealt with in religious education, the field of inter-religious issues did not have a very prominent place for centuries. The growing number of immigrant students however and increasingly culturally and religiously mixed classes, especially in schools in which the students are not separated according to their religious affiliation for religious education, and a new awareness and sensitivity for interreligious relations caused immense changes and raised questions which have not been worked through and have not found a satisfactory solution to date. One of these – rather neglected – questions is the one asked in this chapter: How do students perceive and deal with religious diversity? This calls for engagement in basic research. Later in this chapter I present selected results of a pilot project in this area. Certainly, the question of religious diversity and of how students perceive this and deal with it is not limited to inter-religious relation, i.e. to the relation between different (world) religions, but religious diversity can also be observed in presumably homogenous religious education classes which are separated according to the parents’ religious affiliation and membership: Religious orientations and world views may differ greatly e.g. between Protestant students, especially as they enter into adolescence. However, the more distinguished cases which we encounter increasingly throughout Europe yield a more contrasting relief.

Religious Education in a ‘Christian Nation’: The Case of Zambia

Abstract: This article examines problems of multi‐faith RE in a predominantly Christian Zambian society that has also been officially declared a ‘Christian nation’. The article briefly discusses the nature of Zambian society and Zambian RE before focusing on some problems and tensions that have arisen in the field of RE since the country was declared a ‘Christian nation’. It ends with the view that since the constitution guarantees religious freedom and the non‐Christian religions are here to stay, Zambian RE should continue developing along the current pluralistic approach.

Knowledge that doesn't just sit there: considering a reconception of the curriculum integration of jewish and general studies

Abstract: Since the onset of modernity, Jewish all-day schools have widely aspired to the curriculum integration of Jewish and general studies. This article surveys some of the most significant reasons why this ideal has largely remained unrealized. It argues that schools committed to an integrative ideal might benefit from reconceiving of integration in a manner which involves grounding it within constructivist/cognitivist assumptions about teaching and learning. A working model is offered for what the integration of Jewish and general studies might look like when conceived in this way. The article draws evidence from the curriculum of a recently established Jewish day school in Britain, suggesting that the instances displayed by this case, while constituting a weak form of integration, strongly embody a fertile notion of how students might be initiated into making sense of their world in an integrated fashion.

Is There a Way Beyond Fundamentalism? Challenges for Faith Development and Religious Education

Abstract: The global occurrence of fundamentalist developments and their highly political and sometimes scandalous quality call for a global perspective. The Chicago Fundamentalism Project (Marty and Appleby 1993a; 1993b; 1994a; 1994b; 1995) has the merit to address fundamentalism in such a global perspective across cultures and religious traditions. The global and highly political perspective however should not divert attention from the fact that there are also quiet and a-political currents within the fundamentalist movements. Moreover, it can be argued that at the basis of any fundamentalist orientation, there are religious orientations and attitudes. The global and political perspective should furthermore not obscure the possibility of individual biographical developments which may open up opportunities to change and to find new biographical trajectories, to engage in de-conversion and transformation. The study of biographies opens such a perspective. The two ex-fundamentalist case studies which will be portrayed in the first section below demonstrate not only the possibility of change, but also very different avenues of de-conversion and transformation.

Fundamentalism as a challenge for religious education

Abstract: Empirical research on fundamentalist biographies ? presented are three case studies and a summary of research results ? demonstrate the complex biographical-motivational factors for fundamentalist turns, but also a transformational potential. Explaining fundamentalist conversion and deconversion within a theoretical framework of fundamentalism as "modern anti-modernism" and as "dislocation of religious styles" opens up a new perspective on the goals of religious education: to transcend the teaching of pure factual knowledge, to open up an atmosphere of "care of souls," to aim at overcoming literal understanding, and to engage in a creative laboratory for thought experiments in order to accompany fundamentalist young people into processes of transformation.