A hermeneutic-communicative model of religious education is proposed which is grounded in a Christian anthropology. The human person is presented as a 'fragile hermeneutical space'--consisting of a radical openness to reality, an essential indeterminateness and an ability to transcend his or her own reality. This means that people have an inbuilt…

Four writings by the medieval theologian Bonaventure (c. 1221-1274) provide inspiration for the future of Christian education. His writings cast a vision for Christian education and provide insight into four key areas for hope in the future: a reclaiming of the purpose of Christian education; a recovery of the Great Tradition; a rediscovery of the…

The workplace is a place where we show up as human beings, subject to human experience. People are no longer willing to leave their spirit-ness at the door. In reality, spirit-ness shows up "without permission" as a revolutionary, powerful, and transformative way of being in a world that too often supports status quo activities that are…

Community engagement through service-learning has been a mainstay of higher education for the past 20 years and has increasingly proven successful in grounding academic knowledge in community experience. This article explores how service-learning programs designed to shape students' sense of responsibility for the common good can also foster their…

This paper discusses human relationships with the natural world in Japanese educational policy. Based on two case studies, we argue that policy must recognize the cultural and spiritual ties that people in Japan have fostered in order to live well, which this paper considers to be part of "re-wilding education policy." We briefly review…

This conversation between Peter McLaren and Petar Jandric brings about some of the most recent and deepest of McLaren's insights into the relationship between revolutionary critical pedagogy and liberation theology, and outlines the main directions of development of McLaren's thought during and after "Pedagogy of Insurrection." In the…

This paper presents an abbreviated version of a verbatim script developed from oral history interviews with individuals key to the development of counselling and psychotherapy in Scotland from 1960 to 2000. Earlier versions were used in workshops with counsellors and pastoral care practitioners to share counter-narratives of counselling and to…

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…

Rather than presenting an academic paper, I wanted to simply examine my own perspective as a physical educator and classroom teacher and the importance of creating relationships with children. As a relatively new physical educator and recent Masters of Education graduate of the University of Toronto at OISE, but experienced classroom teacher…

Nietzsche accused Socrates of being degenerate. The question is posed whether practitioners of contemporary religious education may be suffering from this condition, in particular through the modern practice of associating religion with secular philosophies or "beliefs". Through the examination of tolerance and "respect for…

This article reviews the prevalence of trauma, substance use disorders, and their co-occurrence in both clinical and community populations. Deeper understanding of these phenomena is providing new and promising treatment modalities. Spiritual development and growth complement these emerging treatments.

In every faith community, worship and education should be conceived and practiced as interdependent, interpenetrating dimensions of ecclesial life. Too often, however, worship and education are separated and compartmentalized to the detriment of both. This article explores a way to understand the inherent unity of worship and education and…

This article discusses William James's notion, propounded in his "Varieties of Religious Experience" (1902), that authentic religious experience should be evidenced in mature moral functioning--"the value of saintliness". Support for this and his other ideas relevant to the intersection of morality and religion was adduced from a review of current…