Education as Transformation

The Editors: Victor H. Kazanjian, Jr. is the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life and Co-Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at Wellesley College, as well as the Co-Founder and Senior Advisor of the Education as Transformation Project. He is the author of numerous articles and a frequent lecturer on issues of religious pluralism, spirituality, inter-religious/intercultural dialogue and conflict resolution, and principles of peacemaking and social justice. Peter L. Laurence is Co-Founder and Director of the Education as Transformation Project at Wellesley College. He has been a consultant to various national and international interfaith organizations for the past twenty years, has served as Chair of the Board of the North American Interfaith Network, and as a member of the Assembly for the Parliament of World’s Religions.

«With the increased dominance of specialized knowledge and technical process, all in higher education – students, faculty, and administrators alike – are searching for new sources of meaning and coherence in their lives. ‘Education as Transformation’ is a landmark response to this pressing need. The authors in this volume are the key leaders of what has become a major movement aimed at cultivating substantive engagement and a vigorous dialogue on these critical issues. This book should be read widely throughout higher education.» (R. Eugene Rice, Scholar in Residence and Director of the Forum on Faculty Roles and Rewards of the American Association for Higher Education)«This valuable collection draws fresh and useful insights on the current state of American university culture from the worlds of religion and spirituality. The voices encountered here, both new and established, will surprise the academy with their humanity and utility. The reflections about campus community building and the promise and challenge of values, spirituality, and religious diversity, are new, useful, and long overdue.» (E. Gordon Gee, Chancellor of Vanderbilt University)«Education at its best is always about transformation. The contributors to this book come from diverse traditions, but they share at least one deep conviction: when we reduce education to the mere transmission of data and techniques, we rip the heart out of the enterprise. This book, and the wisdom traditions that inform it, offer both encouragement and guidance as we educators pursue our life-giving vocation.» (Parker J. Palmer, Author of ‘The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life’)«The higher I went in my formal education, the more my intellectual work was valued and my spirit devalued. After completing a doctoral degree, I felt a great need to resurrect my soul. The Education as Transformation Project seeks to turn around this alienating process and in compiling this resource, the project seeks ways toward an education that is integrative and unitive.» (Patricia M. Mische, Co-Founder and President Emerita of Global Education Associates; Lloyd Professor of Peace Studies and World Law at Antioch College)«One of the happiest conjunctions of my life was my service on the Board of Trustees of Wellesley College at the time Victor H. Kazanjian, Jr. became our first Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life. The vitally new concept of campus ministry that he brought to Wellesley is now shared with an increasingly appreciative audience across the country and beyond. This collection puts the vision of a new relationship between higher education and the religious dimension at the forefront of our public discourse where it belongs.» (The Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, Harvard University; Author of ‘The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart’)

• Contents: Victor H. Kazanjian, Jr./Peter L. Laurence: Preface – Diana Chapman Walsh: Transforming Education: An Overview – Parker J. Palmer: A Vision of Education as Transformation – David K. Scott: Spirituality in an Integrative Age – Cheryl H. Keen: Spiritual Assumptions Undergird Educational Priorities: A Personal Narrative – Andrés G. Niño: Spiritual Quest Among Young Adults – Arthur G. Zajonc: Molding the Self and the Common Cognitive Sources of Science and Religion – Patrick Morton: A Faculty Perspective on Magic, Meaning, and Desire in the Educational Process – Beverly Daniel Tatum: Changing Lives, Changing Communities: Building a Capacity for Connection in a Pluralistic Context – Suheil Badi Bushrui/James Malarkey: Education as Transformation: A Bahá’í Model of Education for Unity – Brad DrowningBear: The Transformation of DrowningBear – Arthur Green: Judaism, Religious Diversity, and the American Academy – John W. Healey: From Diversity to Pluralism: The Roman Catholic Challenge and the Roman Catholic Opportunity – Ji Hyang Sunim: Buddhism as a Pluralistic Tradition – Gurucharan Singh Khalsa: Pluralism, Awareness, and Mastery of the Mind: A Sikh Imperative for Education – Sulayman S. Nyang: American Pluralism, Islam, and the Challenges of Interfaith Dialogue for Muslims on the College Campus – Anantanand Rambachan: A Hindu Perspective on Moving from Religious Diversity to Religious Pluralism – Krister Stendahl: Religious Pluralism and the Claim to Uniqueness – Douglas C. Bennett: Quaker to the Core, Welcoming All – Shirley Hershey Showalter: Deep Calls to Deep: Spirituality and Diversity at Goshen College – James P. Keen: Appreciative Engagement of Diversity: E Pluribus Unum and the ‘Education’ as Transformation Project – Victor H. Kazanjian, Jr./Students of the Wellesley College Multi-Faith Council: Beyond Tolerance: From Mono-religious to Multi-religious Life at Wellesley College – Donna Bivens: The Possibility of Transformation: 25 Years Later – Janet Cooper Nelson: Burn the Ark: Kindling the Sacred at the Heart of American Higher Education – Robert M. Randolph: Building a Multi-faith Center at MIT – Susan Laemmle: Notes from a Jewish Dean of Religious Life: On Moving from Religious Diversity to Religious Pluralism – Frederic Bradford Burnham: LINKS: Establishing Communities of Dialogue on Campuses – Sally Z. Hare/Marcy Jackson/Rick Jackson: Teacher Formation: Identity, Integrity, and the Heart of a Teacher – Carol L. Flake: Teacher Education, Spiritual Transformation, & Child Advocacy – Claudia Horwitz: A Walk in the Wilderness – Victor H. Kazanjian, Jr./Peter L. Laurence: Conclusion.