In a 1974 essay entitled "Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire," Rabbi Irving Greenberg offered the "working principle"--no statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of burning children--in response to Christian silence during the Holocaust and as a kind of moral plumb line by which post-Shoah…

In this article, the authors present a new interdisciplinary methods called "Story and Healing." These methods enable teachers to enter a discussion of the ills of white privilege and the epidemic of racism through the "back door" approach. First, students are asked to contemplate transpersonal experiences such as healing and suffering, second,…

I discuss philosophical and methodological difficulties in researching young children's spiritual development. I describe my research involving detailed discussions with, and observations of, 14 teachers of 4- and 5-year-olds. I highlight key issues, including what distinguishes spiritual from other sorts of development, the nature of children's…

"Positive Support" examines potential benefits of matching high-risk youth with faith-based mentors. Drawing on surveys and interviews with young people who participated in the National Faith-Based Initiative, we found that mentored youth were less likely to show signs of depression than the youth who were not matched with a mentor. This in turn…

This article introduces a cosmological perspective of teaching second/foreign languages for promoting ecological interconnectedness and spirituality to counter material and monetary interests that cause environmental destruction and militarism. The arguments are couched in cross- and deep cultural learning and are based on the concept of…

This article considers the notion of difference as we experience it in our daily lives, and specifically, within the classroom between pupils and teachers. Drawing on research and work with schools in the south of England, the paper describes how the Working with Others Unit at the University of Brighton has developed a practical process approach…

Most high school students grapple with profound questions of loss, love, and letting go; of meaning, purpose, and service; of self-reliance and community; of choice and surrender. The classroom community can profoundly influence how students respond to these questions--with love, denial, apathy, or even violence. When students work together, they…

Using data from 1,162 people entering treatment and followed up (greater than 94%) for 8 years, this article examines the relationship between the duration of abstinence (1 month to 5 or more years) and other aspects of recovery (e.g., health, mental health, coping responses, legal involvement, vocational involvement, housing, peers, social and…

This study explored the spiritual development of college women, to gain an understanding of what religion, spirituality, and faith mean to them. Interviews with three college women explored issues critical in their religious lives, revealing the emergence of their faith and religious identities. The three were entering their fourth year at a…

This book contains 19 personal essays on the role that fathers play in fostering connections between their children and the natural world. Written from the perspective of adult children or of fathers themselves, most essays show how outdoor activities, particularly hunting and fishing, are replicated across the generations and serve to foster…

Noting the difficulties American adolescents have in finding answers to profound spiritual questions, this book examines how educators and parents of diverse backgrounds can unite to find ways to nourish spiritual development or invite soul into schools without violating the separation of church and state or deeply held beliefs of families and…

The findings from recent empirical studies question decades of prior research showing a negative effect of attending college on students' religious practices and beliefs. This study employs a narrative, synthetic review of empirical research conducted over the past 15 years. Results are discussed along with limitations of the findings.…

This study explored the relationship between spirituality and work values among graduating college seniors at a large public mid-Atlantic Research-Extensive institution. Gender differences in this relationship were also examined. Via an online survey, 429 participants completed Super's (1968) Work Values Inventory and Wheat's (1991) Human…

The current investigation examined the relationship of ethnic identity and spiritual development. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (J. Phinney, 1992), Spirituality Ends Measure (B. Fiorito & L. Ryan, 1998), and Spirituality Means Measure (B. Fiorito & L. Ryan, 1998) were administered to 198 male and female college students from 4…

Pentecostalism is the result of an interesting amalgamation of different traditions: black and oral cultures, middle-class and proletarian languages, catholic and evangelical spiritualities. These traditions are contextualized in Western, Latin American, Asian and African contexts which produce a bewildering pluralism. This "post-modern…