Integrating Resilience,Reciprocating Social Relationships,and Christian Formation

Spiritual maturity is the goal of Christian formation and is frequently understood through stages of faith development. Popular stage theories often lack diverse cultural representation and alone are insufficient in promoting spiritual maturity and resilience. Integrating elements of the developmental models of Lev Vygotsky and James Marcia through reciprocal relationships in faith communities allow for the expansion of the capacity of the believer to bounce back from adversity. Mentors can provide direct instruction and promote independent cognitive growth, construction of resilience, and commitment to faith despite crisis experiences. The result is a more durable, mature, adaptable, and stable believer.     

Spiritual Formation Within Christian Higher Education

The Christian university has a distinct responsibility to provide an environment devoted to the spiritual formation of students. Spiritual formation is not to be viewed as the only important goal of the university, thereby sacrificing intellectual or relational development, but rather spiritual formation is the aggregate “product” of the Christian college. It is a culminating attribute produced holistically from the collection of experiences gained while attending the Christian college. Christian higher education has distinct advantages in its history of spiritual formation while also facing significant challenges. Yet as the Christian colleges are true to their calling, there are few institutions better positioned to examine the spiritual formation of their students. This article reviews various aspects of this spiritual formation.     

曹禺与基督教文化

曹禺的早期思想和戏剧创作具有鲜明的基督教思想资源,基督教既影响了他对社会和人性世界的复杂体认,拥有“悲天悯人”的宗教情怀,又渗透在他的戏剧结构、戏剧思维和表现方式上,成为曹禺戏剧创作的一个重要的精神结构。《雷雨》的“罪恶与拯救”、《原野》及《北京人》的“神秘”都显示了作者的宗教性眼光。     

INTERGENERATIONAL EDUCATION FOR AN INTERGENERATIONAL CHURCH?

From the biblical era, Christian faith communities have been inter‐generational entities. This article examines how Christian education strategies have expressed intergenerationalism; suggests three major reasons why intergenerational Christian education should be developed with more vigor (Christian theology, spiritual formation, and societal fragmentation); and provides clues for facilitating intergenerationalism in faith communities.     

Spiritual Conversation as Religiously Educative

This article proposes spiritual conversation as a religiously educative activity. Revelation as the relational activity of speaking–listening between the human and the divine in daily life, and education as an activity to show someone how to live and die, are key concepts for this study. This work includes a study of narrative at the heart of spiritual conversation. By uncovering the two contrasting processes of religious education, namely teaching religion and teaching how to be religious, this work identifies the contexts in which these processes may take place. This article explores spiritual conversation in two settings: Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and biomedicine.     

绝望汪洋中的一叶方舟：救赎——北村小说主题的阐发研究

文章侧重从阐发研究的角度,通过中国儒家文化和基督教文化的比较阐释,解读北村的小说文本,突出其西方基督教文化色彩,概括出北村小说宗教主题的逻辑结构及主要内涵：表现人外在的生存困境,剖析人内在的精神困境,探寻人在困境下的宗教救赎之路。     

Faith Development Theory as a Context for Supervision of Spiritual and Religious Issues

Although there is a growing interest in spirituality and religious issues in counseling, little has been written for the supervisor. This article addresses this need by demonstrating how J. Fowler's (1981) model of faith development stages can inform supervisory work with spiritual and religious issues. Faith Development Theory is a growth‐oriented approach to spiritual and religious development that focuses on adaptive rather than pathological qualities and fits well with developmental models of supervision. Fictitious scenarios illustrate the utility of J. Fowler's (1981) theory for working with spiritual and religious issues that surface in supervisory contexts.     

Integrated Spiritual Development: A New Approach to Nurturing Adolescent Spirituality and Faith

Healthy adolescent spiritual development is being hindered both by U.S. culture, which demands conformity to unattainable standards, and by the failure of the Church to become relevant in the lives of young people. This article explores how the alternative religious community found at a Christian summer camp can lead to positive growth in the spiritual lives of young people. Based on the insights that emerged from the stories of campers’ experiences, I suggest a new approach to adolescent spiritual development.     

心灵环保:环境伦理的宗教向度

环境危机的深层根源在于人类失去了终极关怀和信仰,而这曾经是宗教精神的灵魂.环境伦理重拾对自然的爱,是传承着这种宗教的情怀.生态危机不仅是一个经济与科技发展的问题,而且涉及到人性的内容.宗教对我们心灵的教育可以为彻底的生态关怀提供精神资源.     

MEMORIES BY CHRISTIAN ADULTS OF CHILDHOOD BULLY EXPERIENCES: IMPLICATIONS FOR ADULT RELIGIOUS SELF-UNDERSTANDING

The relation of adult memory of bullying experiences during childhood with adult religious self-understanding is a neglected area of inquiry by researchers. Based upon a qualitative research design over a period of four years with Anglo Christian students at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, the researcher concludes that there is a relation between the adult memory of bullying experiences during childhood with adult religious self-understanding. It is posited, moreover, that bullying is an indication of spiritual crisis expressed outwardly as a desire to be in relation with the other?but with the opposite result. The relation of bullying with such themes as empathy, hospitality, and friendship are explored as possible correctives to this spiritual crisis.     

基督徒的皈依之路：以甘肃省农村某教会为例

以甘肃省农村某教会为例,对基督教徒的皈依历程及影响皈依的因素做了调查,研究结果表明：基督教皈依者的皈依历程较短,大部分在接触到基督教的最初一年里就皈依了基督教;影响个体皈依的因素中,首要的为神秘的宗教体验,其次为寻找精神慰藉及追求教义的真理启示;个体皈依之后,怀疑改变宗教信仰的倾向明显,保持基督教信仰的坚定性较弱。具体为皈依历程短暂的个体改变宗教信仰的倾向性较之经历了更长皈依历程的个体更高;具有开放的宗教怀疑和批评态度的个体,改变宗教信仰的倾向性更强。二者之间存在显著的正相关。     

Called To Do Meaningful Work: A Blessing or a Curse?

ABSTRACT

Two groups of people are particularly inclined to mention a calling when talking about their work motivation: those who are spiritual (because the concept of calling originated in the religious realm) and those in serving occupations (such as hospitals, schools, and nongovernmental organizations). Because Christian professors are in both groups, the concept of calling is likely to emerge. In this article, I trace the development of calling as a concept of work motivation from its traditional religious origin to its daily use in organizational scholarship. Several positive sides of callings are described, as well as the potential downsides that come with high aspirations. At the end of this exploration, I conclude with three practical suggestions for Christian professors and educators who live out a calling.     

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES AS RELATED TO ENVIRONMENT OF STUDENT LIFE. DORMITORY LIFE FOR COLLEGE WOMEN

This article tests the assumption that Horace Bushnell was the father of the religious education movement, despite the fact that at least two generations lapsed between the final edition of his groundbreaking book, Christian Nurture, in 1861 and the formation of the Religious Education Association in 1903. It contends that William Rainey Harper was both the father of the movement and the founder of the Religious Education Association, while Bushnell can be viewed as the “spiritual father” of the movement, with Henry Clay Trumbull as the link between the two. George Albert Coe can be seen as the “dean” of religious educators and a leader of the movement in the first half of the 20th century.     

Considering the Ordo as Pedagogical Context for Religious Education With Christian High School Youth

The Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation attempts to join Freirean educational theory on contextual pedagogies with ancient Christian practices of the ordo toward the formation and theological education of Protestant Christian high school students. This article describes and reflects on the character and ultimately the success of this odd coupling. While attempting to demonstrate how the ordo as pedagogy may be made inviting to adolescent contexts and to evoke and value the particularities of their experiences, including their experiences of difference, this article also asserts that the ordo provides the additional benefit (sometimes absent from contextual pedagogies utilized by religious educators) of offering ample resources for theological formation, reflection, and construction.     

Defining and Assessing Spiritual Health: A Comparative Study Among 13- to 15-Year-Old Pupils Attending Secular Schools,Anglican Schools,and Private Christian Schools in England and Wales

This article argues that the nation's commitment to young people involves proper concern for their physical health, their psychological health, and their spiritual health. In this context the notion of spiritual health is clarified by a critique of John Fisher's model of spiritual health. Fisher developed a relational model of spiritual health, which defines good spiritual health in terms of an individual's relationship to four domains: the personal, the communal, the environmental, and the transcendental. In the present analysis, we make comparisons between pupils educated in three types of schools: publicly funded schools without religious foundation, publicly funded schools with an Anglican foundation, and new independent Christian schools (not publicly funded). Our findings draw attention to significant differences in the levels of spiritual health experienced by pupils within these three types of schools.     

世俗基督精神:哈代人道主义宗教观的内核——兼与马弦商榷

由于未能全面而正确地把握基督精神和人道主义的内涵及两者的关系,马弦对哈代的宗教思想所作的结论是难以成立的。哈代的绝大部分作品是在他放弃了对上帝信仰后创作的,其中既肯定人们对个人理想与权利的追求,又张扬仁爱、宽恕、牺牲、纯洁等价值观念,因此,哈代的宗教观是一种人道主义宗教观,体现了祛除宗教神秘成分后的世俗基督精神。     

Religion,Spirituality, and Sport: From Religio Athletae Toward Spiritus Athletae

We are living in a time of increasing interest in the religious and spiritual aspects of sport and human movement activities. A strict distinction between religion and spirituality is, however, still missing in much of the literature. After delimiting religious and spiritual modes of experience, this article addresses Coubertin’s religio athletae and demonstrates that this notion should have spiritual, not religious, content. Religious values are external to achievements in sports, while spirituality should be an inner aspect of human movement activities. To gain a deeper understanding of the religious and spiritual aspects of physical activities, this article focuses on spiritual health as one of the main goals of the activities of teachers and coaches.     

Reframing the Debate About the Relationship Between Learning and Development: An Effort to Resolve Dilemmas and Reestablish Dialogue in a Fractured Field

The field of early childhood education (ECE) is currently unable to reach consensus on the extent to which ECE should be based on child development. One manifestation of this situation is the dilemma that early educators purportedly face between teaching the whole child and the curriculum, between developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and standards. The source of this dilemma is attributed to a one-dimensional understanding of children’s development in which development is privileged over learning. Addressing this dilemma begins by discussing a theoretical difference between Piaget and Vygotsky: for Piaget, development drives learning; for Vygotsky, learning drives development. This seemingly dichotomous difference is reframed, however, by the insight that Piaget and Vygotsky focused on different types of development: Piaget studied universals (e.g., object permanence); Vygotsky studied nonuniversals (e.g., cultural tools often learned in schools). Their dispute stems, therefore, from this factor: development drives learning in nonuniversal developmental sequences, but learning drives development in universal sequences. Teachers who adopt a multi-dimensional developmental framework—a framework that makes visible how the relationship between learning and development may vary within universal versus nonuniversal developmental sequences—may be better prepared to (1) make informed decisions about the extent to which they should guide children’s activities and (2) avoid the DAP versus standards dilemma. The most recent iteration of DAP moved toward adopting a multi-dimensional developmental framework when it encouraged teachers to base instructional judgments on the extent to which children’s emerging capacities will likely require greater versus lesser degrees of adult guidance, structure, and support.     

REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATION OF CURRICULUM AND VOLUNTARY BIBLE STUDY IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

This article reviews the challenges provided by a plural condition toward doing religious education in the Philippines. The problem of Philippine religious education hinges on the fact that the growing plural condition in the educational system remains until now “un-discussed” or integrated in many schools. Not much is heard about proposing a platform of dialogue within religious education. Dialogue is more often associated with inter-faith initiatives beyond the learning environment. If religious education should be an instrument in the formation of the right Christian attitudes among the young, dialogue must be an urgent Christian agenda in Philippine religious education.     

《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》中的解形母题

14世纪英语诗歌《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》的解形母题源自凯尔特文化传统 ,但不是凯尔特文化独有的现象。诗歌中 ,世俗的和宗教的因素 ,异教的和基督教的因素巧妙结合。和中国古典文学中解形母题相比 ,《高文》更关注现实的世界 ,关注人自身的本质特点、精神世界和求生本能