Spiritualism is one word which puts man on the highest plinth of life. Spirituality is the way we find meaning, hope, comfort and inner peace in life. Spirituality in the virtual World is generally known as Virtual Spirituality. A goldmine of wisdom from all kinds of religious and spiritual philosophies, traditions and practices can be found in…

This paper aims at showing the dimensions of spirituality in childhood education by suggesting a new analysis of the concept of "pure life" used in the Qur'an. Putting spirituality in the framework of the pure life provides us with a rich framework in dealing with spirituality as the latter will be extended to all dimensions of a life. In the…

This paper takes a philosophical view of the spiritual concept "relational consciousness" first proposed by Rebecca Nye in 1998. I will consider the "relational" aspect of spirituality through the ontology of Heidegger and the dialogical relationship "I and Thou" of Martin Buber, examining the problems that contingency and mediation within…

This article describes the use of Fowler's (1981) faith development theory (FDT) in counseling. FDT is a stage model of spiritual and religious development that allows counselors to identify both adaptive qualities and potential encumbrances in spiritual or religious expression. FDT offers a nonsectarian model of spiritual growth that permits…

A "native" Christian ethnographer finds religious education at this church-sponsored school to pursue two distinct, and occasionally conflicting, curricula: "love" and "purity." The curriculum of love draws on what Turner called liminality and communitas in an effort to promote spiritual "encounters with…

There is an increasingly diversified student body within higher education institutions. The existence of such diversity requires higher education personnel to have a better understanding of the spiritual and cultural practices of various student populations. This article will address some of the unique practices within the Native American student…

In "Education, liberation and the church," Paulo Freire uses the metaphor of "apprenticeship" to describe a form of liberative education for people of faith who begin to discover the ways in which they benefit from the systemic oppression of other human beings. As depicted in ten oral history interviews conducted with the…

All the basics of the Montessori prepared environment are put into an extraordinary context of community and nurturing through personal encounter. The article emphasizes the longitudinal impact of an intentional community that results in character and concentration and looks to the spiritual attributes of the child in relation to the tangible…

From the founding of Harvard College in 1636 as a mission for training young clergy to the landmark 1968 Supreme Court decision in "Epperson v. Arkansas," which struck down the state's ban on teaching evolution in schools, religion and education in the United States have been inextricably linked. Still today new fights emerge over the…

This article explores how new knowledge about the adolescent female brain lends theoretical support to narrative and contemplative practices of spiritual formation of girls. Current brain research supports the use of particular methods of religious formation for teenagers in general, and teenage girls in particular. This article suggests that…

This article offers a reading of a story from the Babylonian Talmud ("Bava Batra" 8a). Through this reading several key themes emerge, including: the power and politics of knowledge acquisition, the connection between spiritual and physical nourishment, the relationship between religious educators and students, and the meaning and value of…

This paper considers the challenges faced by contemporary Catholic Education systems with particular reference to the contrast between the prevailing neo-liberal agenda and gospel values. It explicates this contrast from the perspectives of current critiques of the influence of the new manageralism in education and relevant literature on Catholic…

To satisfy the ongoing demands of external communities, education faculty at liberal arts colleges often make curricular and instructional compromises within their programs which can adversely affect the developmental goals of liberal education. This article highlights several of the complex tensions faculty members face in offering their…

Children and young people have the inalienable right to be part of a learning community. Nobody can learn on his/her own. Education is always a communal enterprise. In this article the concept of the "spiritual learning community" is developed as a contemporary answer to the socioeducational issues raised by Martin Buber and John Dewey…

Character development in higher education is a complex process. This process has often been delegated to a single course on ethics or courses on religion. The authors of this article pose an alternative higher educational process whereby character development is rooted in a series of abilities that are contextualized throughout the entire…