THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR AS CULTURAL SPEC-ACTOR: RESEARCHING SELF IN INTERCULTURAL PEDAGOGY

This article seeks to explore notions regarding the conceptualization of culture in the field of Christian religious education. These conceptualizations are central to understanding the social nature of faith communities and the role of religious educators as they respond to this nature. The author proposes that the faith community is intercultural in that people with distinct cultural perspectives come together to forge a shared religious identity. Consequently, the vocation of the religious educator is presented as a call to be a specactor1, a practitioner who constantly assesses his/her own cultural orientations in relation to those of the learners. The article concludes the paper with some suggestions on how to develop a contrastive pedagogy that takes into account both the intercultural dynamics of the Christian educational experience and the vocation of the intercultural religious educator.     

经验与反思：玉树灾害社会工作与社区重建

玉树灾害社会工作在灾后重建的三年时间里,大致经历了“紧急救援”、“灾后重建”两个阶段。灾后重建以甘达村联合社会工作站为主体,发掘和链接政府、民间组织、宗教团体等各方资源,搭建社会支持网络,为个人和家庭提供服务,探索灾后集中定居的牧民生计恢复和可行之策。玉树甘达村社工站是青海本地社会工作教育者和社会工作者成长和服务的平台,也可链接外部资源弥补本土社会工作因年幼无法独自完成任务的不足。玉树甘达村社工站初步形成的多方合作介入灾后社区重建的介入模式可资借鉴。     

From tweeting to meeting: Expansive professional learning and the academic conference backchannel

As new technologies shape and are shaped by human practices, educators and researchers must consider the impact that participating in social media—to access, reflect upon, question, evaluate and disseminate scholarship—is having on their professional development and practices. This paper investigates how members of the educational research community use social media to advance professional learning and scholarship dissemination in online–offline networks. Specifically, we examine whether and how participating in the microblogging service, Twitter, as a conference backchannel, facilitated professional learning and participation in the annual meetings of American educational researchers in 2012 and 2016, respectively, and the nature of that participation. Insights from this paper will benefit educators of varying disciplines and experience levels interested in the changing nature of social media in education, scholarship, and professional learning ecologies.     

Against the Generation Gap: Thinking “Otherwise” about Adolescence

Prevailing cultural views of adolescence are the product, this article argues, of a long, multidimensional process of social construc-tion. Employing a double reading of this process, this article analyzes the difficulties religious educators face on account of the reified nature of this social construction. Drawing on philosophical and psychological understandings of human flourishing, this article presents and argues for a different way of thinking about adolescents and the religious congregation's role in religious education.     

Participatory Action Research: Practical Theology for Social Justice

This article looks at participatory action research (PAR) as a means for a religious educator to unite scholarship and teaching with the purpose of building up community and moving toward social justice. A definition of this term is offered as well as short examples of how different religious educators have engaged in doing PAR in their respective communities. The place of the researcher is analyzed and the different methods of research that are a part of PAR are briefly described. As a practical theology for social justice, theological reflection is integrated with the theory and practice of PAR.     

Beyond the far too incessant schism: special education and the social model of disability

Special education critics' vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand the nature of disability. In this article, we offer our response to their recent articles. As advocates of the social model, we find their critiques intriguing, at moments a bit provocative, but more importantly we find in their work an opportunity to advance beyond the far too incessant schism between those who support the medical model of disability and those who endorse its alternatives.     

社会工作和社区服务新探

构建和谐社会的主要任务是社会建设,社会建设离不开社会工作,因此,社会工作是构建和谐社会、进行社会建设的战略选择。社区服务是社会工作的重要载体和平台,社会工作的福利属性决定了社区服务的福利属性,社区服务应该坚持福利发展方向。《国务院关于加强和改进社区服务工作的意见》把“社区服务业”改成“社区服务工作”,是对社区服务产业化发展方向的矫正,是向社区服务的社会工作性质、社会福利性质和公共服务性质的真正回归。     

TRANSFORMING TRADITIONS: TAKING POPULAR CULTURE SERIOUSLY IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Making traditions “accessible” and making the connections between traditions and transformation “manifest” (this is Boys's definition of religious education), is a challenging endeavor in mass mediated popular culture contexts. Although definitions of “tradition” may differ from community to community, there is generally a sustained pattern of practice over time that shapes the religious identities of the people in question. Religious educators need to engage this pattern in multiple ways, some of which may extensively if not completely rework it. This essay illustrates such engagement by considering two examples of the televisual mediation of rituals following September 11, 2001, as well suggesting useful digital resources for religious educators in this context     

How Exemplar Counselor Advocates Develop Social Justice Interest: A Qualitative Investigation

The authors examined the experiences of 10 peer‐nominated exemplar counselor advocates using grounded theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1998 ). Analysis by the authors yielded a model of how exemplar counselor advocates develop a social justice interest and provided key insights on how counselor educators can enhance social justice interest in their students. Implications for supervisors and scholars are presented.     

THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE CHURCHES∗

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and materials in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research.

Each section describes a group of findings which have been reported in PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS together with titles of these works so that those who wish may go to the original source.

This column is written as a service to religious educators by the Union College Character Research Project. All abstracts are used with permission of the periodical, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. The abstract numbers are Volume 35. Number 4, August 1961.     

宁波基督教青年会研究

基督教青年会兴起于19世纪中叶的英国,不久传入中国。中国基督教青年会是宗教活动与社会改造运动相结合的产物,它以城市青年会为基本活动单元,提倡德、智、体、群,引入了大量西方科学文化知识,培养了一大批有益于国家和社会的青年。宁波基督教青年会作为城市青年会的一个代表,可以说是集宗教、娱乐、社会服务为一体的泛宗教组织,它积极关注各种社会问题,比较温和地强调社会的心理建设和精神构建,应当给予客观评价。     

REFLECTIONS ON THE VOCATION OF A RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR

This article is the author’s reflection on forty years as a religious educator. Vocation reveals itself to be the distinctive life and work of an individual in so far as it contributes to the service of others in community and society. Vocation has both an individual and a social meaning; it can be viewed in religious or secular terms. It is characterized by commitment, sacrifice service, and passionate devotion. Through a number of scenarios, the author’s vocation is revealed in a number of distinctive ways: instructor and spiritual guide, adult educator, critical pedagogue, builder of faith sharing communities, social educator, mentor, and loving friend.     

THE SPECIAL CHURCH‐SCHOOL BUILDING

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and materials in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research

Each section describes a group of findings which have been reported in PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS together with titles of these works so that those who wish may go to the original source

This column is written as a service to religious educators by the Union College Character Research Project. All abstracts are used with permission of the periodical, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. The abstract numbers are Volume 36. Number 2, April 1962     

The Impact of Religion/Spirituality on Acculturative Stress Among International Students

The authors conducted a qualitative study using phenomenological inquiry to explore the nature and essence of international students' experience of utilizing religion/spirituality to cope with acculturative stress. Twelve students from 2 public universities and diverse religious/spiritual traditions participated. Results suggest that religion/spirituality plays a central role in the heightening of psychological, cognitive, and social functioning and affects students' performance in the academic environment. Implications for student affairs personnel, counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors are provided.     

HOW TO CONDUCT A MUSICAL SERVICE IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Each section describes a group of findings which have been reported in PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS together with titles of these works so that those who wish may go to the original source. This column is written as a service to religious educators by the Union College Character Research Project. All abstracts are used with permission of the periodical, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. The abstract numbers are Volume 37, Numbers 1‐5. 1963.     

RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND INFLUENCE OF THE UNIVERSITY∗

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and materials in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research.

Each section describes a group of findings which have been reported in PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS together with titles of these works so that those who wish may go to the original source.

This column is written as a service to religious educators by the Union College Character Research Project. All abstracts are used with permission of the periodical, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. The abstract numbers are Volume 35. Number 1, February 1961 and Volume 35, Number 2, April 1961.     

CATHOLIC ACTION IN RELIGIOUS AND NATIONAL WELFARE

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Each section describes a group of findings which have been reported in PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS together with titles of these works so that those who wish may go to the original source. This column is written as a service to religious educators by the Union College Character Research Project. All abstracts are used with permission of the periodical, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. The abstract numbers are Volume 38, Numbers 1‐3, 1964.     

THE CHURCHES AND THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM IN STATE UNIVERSITIES

A liberation‐based religious education emphasizes its own particular social experiences to question universal claims of theology and religious education and to unmask oppressive particularities of those universal claims. In this contextualization of religious education, particular ways of belonging provide paradigms for religious education, and the analogy of cultural workers illumines the task of religious educators.