Recent events have resulted in the return of religion as a subject of discussion, both in the public and social domains, and at national as well as at European levels. This book is the initial outcome of the REDCo-project, Religion in Education: A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European countries?
How religious beliefs and practices can influence the wealth of nations Which countries grow faster economically—those with strong beliefs in heaven and hell or those with weak beliefs in them? Does religious participation matter? Why do some countries experience secularization while others are religiously vibrant? In The Wealth of Religions, Rachel McCleary and Robert Barro draw on their long record of pioneering research to examine these and many other aspects of the economics of religion. Places with firm beliefs in heaven and hell measured relative to the time spent in religious activities tend to be more productive and experience faster growth. Going further, there are two directions of causation: religiosity influences economic performance and economic development affects religiosity. Dimensions of economic development—such as urbanization, education, health, and fertility—matter too, interacting differently with religiosity. State regulation and subsidization of religion also play a role. The Wealth of Religions addresses the effects of religious beliefs on character traits such as work ethic, thrift, and honesty; the Protestant Reformation and its long-term effects on education and religious competition; Communism’s suppression of and competition with religion; the effects of Islamic laws and regulations on the functioning of markets and, hence, on the long-term development of Muslim countries; why some countries have state religions; analogies between religious groups and terrorist organizations; the violent origins of the Dalai Lama’s brand of Tibetan Buddhism; and the use by the Catholic Church of saint-making as a way to compete against the rise of Protestant Evangelicals. Timely and incisive, The Wealth of Religions provides fresh insights into the vital interplay between religion, markets, and economic development.
This volume offers an introduction to all questions of teaching Religious Education as a school subject and as an academic discipline related to this subject. The chapters cover most of the aspects that religion teachers have to face in their work, as well as the theoretical background necessary for this task. The volume is a textbook for students and teachers of religious education, be it in school or in an academic context, who are looking for reliable information on this field. The book has proven its usefulness in German speaking countries. This volume is the English translation of the German Compendium of Religious Education (edited by Gottfried Adam and Rainer Lachmann). The present English version is based on the 2012 edition which aims for a most current representation of the field. The background of the book is Protestant but its outlook is clearly ecumenical, and questions of interreligious education are considered in many of the chapters. The compendium continues to be widely used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland – as an introduction to the field and as a handbook for students who are preparing for their final exams. The English edition makes this compendium available to students and colleagues in other countries.
A comprehensive source that demonstrates how 21st century Christianity can interrelate with current educational trends and aspirations The Wiley Handbook of Christianity and Education provides a resource for students and scholars interested in the most important issues, trends, and developments in the relationship between Christianity and education. It offers a historical understanding of these two intertwined subjects with a view to creating a context for the myriad issues that characterize—and challenge—the relationship between Christianity and education today. Presented in three parts, the book starts with thought-provoking essays covering major issues in Christian education such as the movement away from God in American education; the Christian paradigm based on love and character vs. academic industrial models of American education; why religion is good for society, offenders, and prisons; the resurgence of vocational exploration and its integrative potential for higher education; and more. It then looks at Christianity and education around the globe—faith-based schooling in a pluralistic democracy; religious expectations in the Latino home; church-based and community-centered higher education; etc. The third part examines how humanity is determining the relationship between Christianity and education with chapters covering the use of Christian paradigm of living and learning; enrollment, student demographic, and capacity trends in Christian schools after the introduction of private schools; empirical studies on the perceptions of intellectual diversity at elite universities in the US; and more. Provides the breadth and depth of knowledge necessary to gain a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between Christianity and education and its place in contemporary society A long overdue assessment of the subject, one that takes into account the enormous changes in Christian education Presents a global consideration of the subject Examines Christian education across elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels The Wiley Handbook of Christianity and Education will be of great interest to Christian educators in the academic world, the teaching profession, the ministry, and the college and graduate level student body.
This book examines Religious Education (RE) in over ten countries, including Australia, Indonesia, Mali, Russia, UK, Ireland, USA, and Canada. Investigating RE from a global and multi-interdisciplinary perspective, it presents research on the diverse past, present, and possible future forms of RE. In doing so, it enhances public and professional understanding of the complex issues and debates surrounding RE in the wider world. The volume emphasizes a student-centred approach, viewing any kind of ‘RE’, or its absence, as a formative lived experience for pupils. It stresses a bottom-up, sociological and ethnographic/anthropological research-based approach to the study of RE, rather than the ‘top down’ approaches which often start from prescriptive legal, ideological or religious standpoints. The twelve chapters in this volume regard RE as an entity that has multiple and contested meanings and interpretations that are constantly negotiated. For some, ‘RE’ means religious nurturing, either tailored to parental views or meant to inculcate a uniform religiosity. For others, RE means learning about the many religious and non-religious world-views and secular ethics that exist, not promoting one religion or another. Some seek to avoid the ambiguous term ‘religious education’, replacing it with terms such as ‘education about religions and beliefs’ or ‘the religious dimension of intercultural education’.
Media and Information Literacy in Higher Education: Educating the Educators is written for librarians and educators working in universities and university colleges, providing them with the information they need to teach media and information literacy to students at levels ranging from bachelor to doctoral studies. In order to do so, they need to be familiar with students' strengths and weaknesses regarding MIL. This book investigates what university and college students need to know about searching for, and evaluating, information, and how teaching and learning can be planned and carried out to improve MIL skills. The discussions focus on the use of process-based inquiry approaches for developing media and information literacy competence, involving students in active learning and open-ended investigations and emphasizing their personal learning process. It embraces face-to-face teaching, and newer forms of online education. - Examines the intersecting roles of academic librarians, teacher educators, and library educators in preparing library students and teacher education students to use the library - Brings new perspectives from both teacher educator and library educator, and draws connections between higher and secondary education (K12) - Draws on a number of competences, skills, knowledge, experiences, and reflections from a variety of perspectives, and focuses on libraries as efficient tools in all kinds of education and learning activities - Written by an international group of authors with firsthand experience of teaching MIL - Looks at how libraries can contribute to the promotion of civic literacy within higher education institutions and in society more widely
This book is a contribution to the development of the young discipline of the didactics of the Study of Religions (Religionswissenschaft) in international perspective. Integrative religious education refers to education about different religions in classrooms with children of various religious and non-religious backgrounds. Cornerstones of recent debates about theory and methodology in the academic study of religions and in education are discussed in the first chapter. They form the basis of the following analysis and evaluation of current approaches to integrative religious education in Europe, with a special focus on England and Sweden. Particular attention is paid to the different underlying concepts of religion, education and ways of representing religious plurality in these approaches. Building on a discussion of the current situation of teaching and learning about religions in schools in Europe in the context of wider cultural, social and political debates, the book concludes with the suggestion of a framework for integrative religious education in Europe, from a perspective that combines insights from the study of religions and education.
Religious Education: Educating for Diversity raises issues that are central to the theory and practice of education, and in particular religious education, in modern liberal democracies characterized by diversity in its different forms. What kind of religious education is best equipped both to challenge prejudice and intolerance in society and to develop responsible and respectful relationships between people from different communities or with different commitments? Two eminent educators address this question and propose contrasting answers. Attention is given to the aims of education and the contribution of religious education to the curriculum; historical forms of religious education; the nature of diversity in society; the roots of prejudice; different methodologies in religious education and their philosophical and religious commitments; and to positive strategies to enable religious education to realise its potential and contribute to the social and moral aims of liberal education.
This first issue of the Brill Research Perspectives in Religion and Education makes the case for 'religion and education' as a distinct but cross-disciplinary field of inquiry. Authors argue for and outline the particular insights to be gleaned about 'religion and education' on the basis of their commitment to particular methodologies involved in its study, namely the historical, philosophical, sociological and psychological.
