Religion, Education and Culture – serie

Religious diversity, religious enthusiasm, and religious misunderstanding remain at the heart of so much social, economic and political conflict in the world today. Never before has religious education been so important. In this climate, religious educators have become increasingly aware of the significance of listening to the religious perceptions of adolescents, using the best research techniques pioneered by the empirical social sciences, including sociology, psychology, and anthropology. This collection of innovative and pioneering empirical studies, sponsored by the International Seminar of Religious Education and Values, draws together Christian, Islamic, and Jewish perspectives from England, Germany, Israel, Norway, Turkey and Wales.

Focuses on religious beliefs and practices of the Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities in multicultural parts of Britain. This book is based on an in depth study of 3418 teenagers in Walsall, and using data from other UK studies, it demonstrates that religion is a decisive factor in understanding communities and individuals.

This book is unique in its focus and coverage, because no titles have been published on the subject in recent years, despite the increased interest in questions of religious truth as witnessed by the increasing number of articles in relevant journals. It analyzes liberal religious education in multi-cultural societies and suggests ways in which religious education can help young people learn to take responsibility for their beliefs and life-styles in an informed, intelligent and responsible manner. Traditional religious education in Europe and America and its transmission of Christian beliefs has been transformed by the emergence of multi-cultural societies into a process whereby children were informed about different religious traditions. The primary task of this new liberal religious education was often seen to be the moral one of nurturing the twin liberal principles of freedom and tolerance. Critics of liberal religious education argue that this ignores questions of ultimate truth that are at the core of religious belief: this book seeks to reconcile the often contradictory accounts offered by different religions and secular traditions.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, public focus has been on the power of religion. This book addresses the role of religious education in a world where terrorism has impacted on western democracy. Through an analysis and evaluation of the models of religious education, it considers if religion is part of the answer or part of the problem.

Presents a study in the area of theological education. This title traces the origin and evolution of the formation model of training and identifies what difference this paradigm makes to the practice. It offers ideas for a renewed understanding and praxis of the role of prayer in learning. It is intended for the theological students and teachers.

Presents a study in the area of theological education. This title traces the origin and evolution of the formation model of training and identifies what difference this paradigm makes to the practice. It offers ideas for a renewed understanding and praxis of the role of prayer in learning. It is intended for the theological students and teachers.

This is a fascinating collection of essays illustrating the latest thought on the crucial decade of the 1670s in Britain. This was a period in which it could be argued the modern world began to emerge. These essays reflect and analyse these tensions, illustrating the surprising routes by which 'modern' ideas made progress.

This book is a study of unusual light phenomena, based on almost 400 unpublished accounts of modern-day encounters with strange lights collected over a period of thirty years, held at the University of Wales, Lampeter. It is an original and perennially topical book that goes beyond existing studies of unusual light phenomena - such as lights encountered during angelic experiences, near-death experiences, 'after death communications' - in a number of ways. It shows, for example, that experiences of unusual, spiritual, religious and paranormal lights are cross-cultural, trans-historical, and are reported widely in the present day: but not necessarily experienced when near to death. It also demonstrates that these experiences share to a remarkable degree a 'common core', showing by drawing on a large number of vivid, unpublished and dramatic testimonies that unusual lights typically manifest at times of crisis, and are overwhelmingly benign and loving, producing 'turning-points' in the lives of experients and typically setting them in new spiritual and creative directions.

This book is a study of unusual light phenomena, based on almost 400 unpublished accounts of modern-day encounters with strange lights collected over a period of thirty years, held at the University of Wales, Lampeter. It is an original and perennially topical book that goes beyond existing studies of unusual light phenomena - such as lights encountered during angelic experiences, near-death experiences, 'after death communications' - in a number of ways. It shows, for example, that experiences of unusual, spiritual, religious and paranormal lights are cross-cultural, trans-historical, and are reported widely in the present day: but not necessarily experienced when near to death. It also demonstrates that these experiences share to a remarkable degree a 'common core', showing by drawing on a large number of vivid, unpublished and dramatic testimonies that unusual lights typically manifest at times of crisis, and are overwhelmingly benign and loving, producing 'turning-points' in the lives of experients and typically setting them in new spiritual and creative directions.

This is a ground-breaking study into a crucial area of theological education. It traces the origin and evolution of the formation model of training and identifies what difference this paradigm makes to present practice. It uncovers significant and surprising functions of prayer in the formational and learning process as discovered in empirical research (informed by theological and psychological perspectives on prayer) among a sample of newly ordained clergy and tutors. The practical implications of the research are identified, offering creative ideas for a renewed understanding and praxis of the role of prayer in learning. This is essential reading for theological students and teachers alike, and calls for a clearer articulation of a spirituality of education as needed by our present culture and context.

A collection of essays illustrating the thought on the crucial decade of the 1670s in Britain.

This book is unique in that it provides data resulting from a four year study of religious experiencing in China today which could radically transform the understanding of the role of religion in contemporary China. The suppression of religion by communist authorities in the latter part of the 20th century is well known but, far less well-known, is the underlying resurgence of religious life within the most populous nation on earth. The research is focused on the Han Chinese who form over 90 percent of the population of mainland China and is undertaken on ten sites across the country resulting in data from 3,000 detailed questionnaires. The importance of this project is that it is ground-breaking research in an almost wholly new context. No previous research on this scale has taken place before and indeed until recently no such research would have been permitted in a state which since the Communist Revolution of 1949 has been deeply suspicious of any manifestation of religious feeling, and in which a wholly atheistic educational system has prevailed.