An expansive understanding of ancestors is integral to the opening of imaginative spaces for religious education--particularly in university and adult faith formation settings--to grapple deeply with contexts of precarity and the hopelessness such contexts breed. More specifically, this essay considers how hauntings by one's past selves…

Sacred teaching takes many forms across religious traditions, focusing on creation and sacramentality in Christianity, God's nature and creation of human beings in Judaism, and spiritual and social practices in both. At the heart of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions are accents on the sacredness of life, creation in the image of God, and…

In this article, the author braids storytelling with oral life history interviews, Chicana Feminisms, and portraiture. The piece centers the portrait of Ms. Sotomayor, a veteran elementary teacher, who through her stories shares with us pedagogies of pain, trust, autonomy, and empowerment. These glimpses of her life journey as a Nepantlera offer…

Those who are oppressed often find themselves internalizing voices that limit their ability. This article focuses on a population that falls on the non-hegemonic side of the intersection of race, class, gender, and age: Black girls from poor and working-class backgrounds. From my work with youth, I have noticed that internalizing these limiting…

In the context of the recent presidential election in the United States, this article examines the place of critical pedagogy and liberation theology and its positionality in impacting the moral imperative of resisting a climate of hate and intolerance. Particularly drawing from the work of Peter McLaren, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Paulo Freire and…

The need to develop a strong religious identity has concerned clergy and educators for many years. However, how religious identity development occurs has seldom been analyzed or used to guide educators' efforts to promote identity development in their students. This discussion delves into the framework of identity development as described by…

This article is concerned with the violence done in and to education. It does not address physical violence in schools, but is interested in cultural, emotional and psychological violence in schools and education systems. It asks three questions: is education inherently violent? If so, how serious a problem is this? How should spiritual education…

The purpose of this book is to explore what happens--and what can happen--in the higher education, and even secondary school, classroom when course content meets or collides with students' religious beliefs. It also considers the impact on learning in an environment where students may feel threatened, angry, misunderstood, or in which they feel…

This edited collection addresses the growing need for ideas and methods conducive to holistic educational practices and aims to encourage more personal growth in students too often distracted by the background noise of war, violence, racism, and environmental deterioration. The contributors are working teachers and professors who have integrated a…