CATHOLICS IN THE REA, 1903–1953

This article describes the involvement of Roman Catholics in the Religious Education Association during the first 50 years of its existence. It examines attitudes of Protestants toward Catholics expressed in journal articles, convention speeches, and archival material. It presents the contributions of Roman Catholics at conventions and in journal articles during this period. The article contends that Roman Catholics deepened involvement in the REA went a long way to making the association a multifaith organization. The history also documents changes in Roman Catholic viewpoints and emphases over the period of these 50 years from an exclusive concern with schooling to a broader view of the educational mission of the church and from education in an authoritarian and dogmatic spirit to one slightly more open to outside influences and cautiously willing to cooperate with other religious groups.     

Challenges to Apprenticeship Learning in Religious Education: Narrow Use of the Apprenticeship Model and Current Developments in Youth Ministry

In 2012, I proposed the apprenticeship model as a promising catechetical model for church communities in which catechists might be hope generators, and the church community becomes a community of hope. This article argues that the original meaning of the apprenticeship model is challenged by an emphasis in youth ministry practices on the individual relationship between youth ministers and youngsters and on finding individual forms of religious sense in life in favor of the ideal to acculturate a new generation in faith communities. The article discusses the implications for religious education practices that teach young people to learn to hope.     

中国近代教会大学农业教育述论

教会大学为中国近代农业教育做出了重要贡献。农学是教会大学中除了医学以外的一门重点学科。近代中国开办农科的教会大学典型当属金陵大学和岭南大学。教会大学农学教育,不但为我们引进了教学、科研、推广三位一体的农业教育模式,为近代中国培养了一批农业科技人才,而且其院系后来也成为新中国农业教育的重要组成部分。教会大学农业教育注重理论、实践、实际三结合,注重敬业奉献与艰苦奋斗精神的培养,积极开展与国内外机构交流与合作,对我们今天办好农业教育颇有启示。     

Participatory Action Research as Trinitarian Praxis and a Pedagogical Model for the Suburban Congregation

This article argues that Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology is both a trinitarian praxis and a helpful pedagogical model for the local, suburban church. The basis of this argument stems from data gathered during a PAR project conducted among suburban Lutheran congregations in 2014. The initial intention of this project was to explore how an increased awareness and understanding of the social Trinity might impact the ideation and praxis of spiritual formation in suburban Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations. The findings of the research team indicated that the process of PAR itself was the way in which the team experienced the social Trinity and was a preferred method of engaging adult learning in the local church context. The primary finding from the data was that the PAR methodology, as it was applied in this project, facilitated deep reflection and reflective action among the research team members, and this was the transformative piece for them. This article will articulate the process of the project and offer some practical implications for religious educators in a suburban church context.     

The Ministering Community as Context for Religious Education: A Case Study of St. Gabriel's Catholic Parish

Friendship renewal is offered as both content and context for Christian religious education. In the first section, four marks of genuine friendship are used to elaborate on the meaning of friendship: a shared story, embodied love and intimacy, committed reciprocity, and a shared vision that enables generativity. In the second section, it is suggested that friendship renewal provides an efficacious vehicle for renewing the life and mission of the church. Friendship enables bridges to be built across cultural divides and empowers the church to become a befriending community. In the final section, friendship renewal is discussed in relation to the what, why, where, and when questions regarding Christian religious education.     

For and Of the Truth: 'Upbuilding' Higher Education in Church Colleges

This article argues that church colleges of higher education, in their desire to be distinctive, can benefit from rethinking the relationship between the philosophical and the religious in order to retrieve a view of higher education as 'upbuilding'. This will be achieved by illustrating how the central idea of speculative philosophy—that our learning about truth occurs in and through the phenomenology of aporetic experiences of the conditions of possibility—can contribute to the debate within church colleges regarding what is different about their higher education. In short I will argue that Hegel and Kierkegaard (amongst others) find the aporetic experience of contingency to be of absolute significance. In what follows I will show how the religious and the philosophical are both constitutive of that absolute significance and how, when allowed to re-form each other, then together (and apart) they commend the kind of 'upbuilding' higher education that church colleges espouse.     

Deconstructing the ‘magnetic’ properties of neoliberal politics of education in Bahrain

This article makes contributions to questions of why international transfers of programmes do not lead to the outcomes that nations engaging in them expect to gain. Using Bahrain as an example, it is argued that tensions arising from policy borrowing are rooted in the complexities of the political incoherence between the new teaching policies, the Kingdom’s economic vision and educational aspirations of many locals that have been shaped by old political and employment settlements within the nation state. The research shows that educating for global development is not a ‘magnet’ that equally attracts everyone.     

Back to the Future: Re-appropriating Religious Education—A Case Study Using the Black Church

The article suggests that Religious Education, in practice and as a field, will benefit by exploring the history and practice of Religious Education in the Black church. Using examples from the history, curriculum, and process of Religious Education in the historic Black church, the article argues that the Black church offers a dynamic educational example for religion scholars and religious educators. The importance of reinvigorating Religious Education in the Black church is discussed and recommendations for future practice are made.     

Changing Patterns of Church College Identity and Mission

This article, presented at the conference on ‘The Church Dimension of Higher Education’ held at Canterbury, 4‐6 September 2000, suggests that church sponsored colleges in the UK are currently experiencing a problem in surviving as distinctly ‘Christian’ bodies. Secularisation, the desire to be inclusive and pluralist, as well as other factors, such as merging with larger institutions, have distanced some colleges from their original aims. Survival has often driven secularisation. After examining some of the claims that church colleges make about their religious identities, the article argues in favour of a continued role for such colleges as rigorous academic institutions whose programmes are informed by Christian insights and values. Church related colleges need to continually redefine how their mission is best expressed in the light of changed circumstances and agendas.     

A new space for a new science: the transformation of the JAE Campus after the Spanish Civil War

This article explores the way in which different concepts of education are expressed through architecture. It analyses the case of the transformation of the campus of the Colina de los Chopos in Madrid after the Spanish Civil War. The victor’s vision for education was captured physically in a new space that expressed the opposite values to those of the precedent democratic period. Francoism aspired to erase every physical trace of the Spanish liberal and democratic culture. Thus, a new campus was designed to stress physically new scientific, cultural and educational values. Aesthetically the former austerity and rationalism were substituted by monumentality and historicism; symbolically, the submission of any kind of knowledge to religion was highlighted through the transformation of the former Auditorium into a church and the erection of several religious monuments.     

电子管风琴音乐的发展

电子管风琴起源于教堂管风琴,它延续了教堂管风琴的演奏方式,并伴随着科学技术不断地发展,已经成为一种科技含量较高的现代化电子乐器。电子管风琴专业在中国的教育与发展,已经逐渐转变为我国民族音乐文化教育与世界接轨的一项重要的学科项目。本文从电子管风琴的起源、丰富多样的音色种类、特殊的演奏方式、多变的演奏效果和演奏作品的领域等方面,阐述这一新兴乐器特有的演奏形式及其发展现状。     

Alternating Currents: Sacramental and Prophetic Imagining and Church Education

This article advocates that education ought to be movement toward a unity of conflicting but complementary forces in the life of the congregation/parish. This paradox is captured best in the two divergent forms of imagination, namely, the sacramental and prophetic, both of which are grounded and united in their commitment to seeing ultimate reality. Church education in and for sacramental and prophetic practices offers the possibility of revitalizing church life from within and, in turn, offers an outward response to repair our social and public world.     

The wonder years: A profile of Madhav Chavan

An idea took shape in the slums of Mumbai in the early nineties and went on to become a peoples’ movement to address the problem of providing quality education for all of India’s children. This piece profiles Dr. Madhav Chavan, the man who provided the dynamic vision for and creative leadership of that mission/movement. Dr. Chavan combined the wisdom of an ancient Chinese philosopher and lessons from the fast-food restaurant model to develop innovations in education that are enabling children and youth to learn. His unwavering focus on the human values behind the big numbers, as well as his celebration of the joy and wonder at the heart of all learning, are a large part of the educational story that is unfolding in faraway villages in India and providing a trigger for social change. This article is an attempt to present his contributions to education innovation in India.     

HOLDING ONTO HOPE: ADDRESSING THEOLOGICAL CONFLICT THROUGH CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Today deep theological differences threaten to divide Protestant denominations. In turn, these differences often mute church education and block mission. This article seeks to offer glimpses for addressing that theological controversy. It is an exercise in historical retrieval examining a generative period in the history of Christian religious education, that is, the theological conflict between the liberal religious education movement and neo-orthodoxy in the 1930s through 1950s. As Christian educators moved through this earlier conflict, underlying theological commitments and theological practices emerged that offered a faithful politics of hope calling the church to mission.     

美国基督教教会与早期华文教育

美国的基督教教会在传教同时,一直致力于发展教育。华文教育能提高华人文化素质,又是华人社会的基本需求,美国的基督教教会积极参与了华文教育并为此做出了重要贡献。本文以19世纪后半期和20世纪初至40年代两个时间段的历史事实为依据,探讨美国基督教教会参与早期华文教育的活动和产生的影响。     

American,Hispanic, Spanish-Speaking? Hispanic Immigrants and the Question of Identity

This article explores Hispanics’ concepts of cultural and linguistic identity. It is based on the findings of a recent study conducted by the author in Iglesia hispana de Cristo,¹ a Hispanic church community in Western New York. Data come from ethnographic interviews conducted with 48 participants aged 13 to 80 years and with church leaders and from participant observation. Findings indicate that conceptions of identity vary according to age and generation of immigration. Older, first-generation immigrants view language and culture as inextricably linked, and believe that passing on the Spanish language to their children is an essential parenting responsibility. Younger, U.S.-born Hispanics and those who immigrated at a young age, on the other hand, tend to prioritize Hispanic culture over the Spanish language.     

基督教与中国东南的乡村社会--以近代福建美以美会为例

本文以福建美以美会为个案,尝试勾勒出近代来华基督教与东南中国乡村社会的互动图景.文章发现,乡村教会是基督教的发展主体.教会的发展一方面受到传统乡村社会结构与信仰态度的影响,另一方面也尝试建立一个新的宗教体系.在部分乡村,基督教会成为社区的生产、生活中心,一些乡村教会知识分子亦有较强的社会触觉,倾向改革.而在世局变迁中,乡村教会受多种社会势力影响.文章认为,乡村教会的历史研究,应放在本地社会结构与历史变迁中加以理解,将乡村教会视为地方宗教力量,较将其视作外来宗教显得更为有效.     

The Impact of Church Schools on Village Church Life

This study examines the impact of church schools on a range of indices of village church life in a sample of 1637 communities ranging in size from 250 to 1250 inhabitants. After controlling for the influence of population, electoral roll, the amalgamation of churches within multi‐parish benefices, the age of the clergyman and whether or not there is an occupied vicarage within the area served by the church, the presence of a church school is shown to augment slightly the village church's usual Sunday contact with 6‐9‐year‐olds and with adults. The presence of a church school is also shown to have a small positive influence on the number of infant baptisms, the number of 6‐13‐year‐olds in the village church choir and the number of young confirmands under the age of 14 years. All these findings emphasise the beneficial nature of the impact of Church of England voluntary schools on village church life.     

The Brain and Learning: Resources for Religious Educators

Knowing something about the human brain and how it works is vital for those who engage in the educational ministry of the church. This article reviews several resources providing important information about the brain, including insight as to the ways in which this information connects with teaching and learning practice in the church. Focusing on works that are accessible and useful for those not trained in the language and framework of the neurosciences, the article seeks to aid religious educators in expanding their knowledge about brain-compatible learning.     

The Sciences and Christian Formation: Helping Today’s Students Find Deeper Faith in a Science-Dominated World

The perceived conflict between science and Christianity continues to be a strong and prevalent narrative, both inside and outside the church. As three long-time science professors in Christian higher education, we have seen firsthand how this conflict orientation threatens both Christian faith and science education. National surveys confirm that many millennial Christians feel a tension between their faith and the discoveries of science, and some leave Christianity over science or the church’s response to it. This article presents an overview of approaches and resources for bringing healthy conversations to campus, including theological principles to frame the discussion, ways to keep the conversation civil and constructive, models for the curriculum and co-curriculum, and roles for administrators. In the midst of controversial issues, educators who work within the context of Christian colleges and universities can disciple students to deeper faith in a science-dominated culture.