In the 1980s and 1990s in the Netherlands, as a reaction to the growing number of non-Christian pupils at Christian schools, religious education and religious development became issues for debate. At some schools, it was the exclusiveness of the Christian tradition that dominated, and at others it was the inclusiveness. Another group specialised…

African Pentecostal churches are becoming increasingly important in Britain where they are growing at a time when mainstream Christianity is in decline. Originally functioning as social and religious support networks for African migrants, their growth has been stimulated by a conscious missionary agenda. Recently, there has been a shift towards a…

These days many interested observers, in both this and other countries, are asking why for so many years the Russian Orthodox Church has been persistently raising the same questions in the field of education and, very likely, will continue to do so. Some attribute it to a desire to gain power over society and limit the freedom of citizens. A few…

This interpretive case study focused upon the outcomes of a 14-year collaboration between a PreK-4 elementary school serving a high percentage of low-income students and a church located in the same urban neighborhood. The purposes of the investigation were to (1) perform a qualitative study that identified central themes underlying this…

"Forbes" recently reported that Americans spent $11 billion in 2008 on self-help books, CDs, seminars, coaching, and stress-management programs--13.6 percent more than they did in 2005. Why the uptick? According to a recent "Publishers Weekly" cover story, conventional publishing industry wisdom holds that personal improvement titles do very well…

Religious beliefs permeate many aspects of culture. Often, however, educators are reluctant to discuss religious beliefs when working with children with developmental and intellectual disabilities and their families. Ignoring the salience of religious teachings about the nature and meaning of disabilities as they relate to both individuals and…

As part of a research project on religion, spirituality and education, the authors attended to the role that children's divine dreams could play in religious education (RE). They contend that such dreams can indeed be used by RE teachers as the gateway to understanding the spirituality of their learners. They defend their claim by firstly…

Religious beliefs, religious activities, and spirituality are coping resources used by many mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined whether and how these resources were related to maternal socioemotional functioning. Mothers of children with ASD completed questionnaires assessing religiosity, spirituality, and…

There is scant research literature on the interconnection between spirituality and anti-oppressive pedagogy in the higher-education classroom. In this paper, based on a broader qualitative study that examined spiritually-minded activist scholars in the Canadian university context, I focus on how four such scholars integrate spirituality into their…

In this article, the authors explore the spiritual dimensions of psychopolitical validity and use it as a lens to analyze clergy sexual abuse. The psychopolitical approach suggests a comprehensive human science methodology that invites exploration of phenomena such as spirituality and religious experience and the use of methods from a wide variety…

Desiring to fulfill heir institution's mission to integrate faith and learning, faculty members at Christian colleges and universities often face a special challenge. While they attempt to jettison the anti-intellectual label often associated with evangelicals through their scholarship, they are also pursuing excellence in their roles as spiritual…

Faith and beliefs about living and dying are fundamental constituents of spiritual development. However, children are seldom asked to talk about their experiences of life and death. This article has a twofold purpose. It first describes children's expressions on living and dying, as heard during a newly developed programme which encourages…

John Hull's recent educational writings have included several on what he calls the "money culture". This is analysed and criticised in this article. Hull offers a Marxist and a neo-Marxist account of the role of money in western societies utilising the labour theory of value, false consciousness and the materialist interpretation of history. It is…

Youth work in the United Kingdom is a profession requiring three years of training, and its beginnings are strongly rooted in a spiritual (often specifically Christian) context. Until the past few decades, spirituality was also integrated within the educational system. The author argues that intentionally bringing spirituality to the center of…

Speaking to the issue of spiritual development from her extensive experience as a youth work practitioner, the author notes several ideas she finds particularly compelling, among them that spiritual development interacts with, yet is distinct from, moral and religious development; that spiritual development is a core construct of identity…