In France, there is no religious education in state schools. "Convictional education" appeared by drawing its perimeter around three educational subjects: philosophy, teaching about religions, and moral and civic education. Today, the French school is facing new challenges in a highly secularised society on which religion is laying new…

There are many pitfalls associated with teaching about religions. One such pitfall entails the risk of presenting religions as stereotypical monolithic systems; that is, all who belong to a particular religious tradition think and act in the same way. I like to call this sort of stereotyping the "robotic tendency" because it has a habit…

Religious studies classrooms are microcosms of the public square in bringing together individuals of diverse identities and ideological commitments. As such, these classrooms create the necessity and opportunity to foster effective modes of conversation. In this essay, I argue that communication attuned to shared human needs--among them needs for…

Growing concern about a shrinking cultural consensus on values, coupled with religious pluralisation and the realisation that schooling is not, and cannot be, value-neutral, have led to proposals to teach ethics in schools, interpreted as a contribution of the discipline of philosophy to the common curriculum. To the extent that this approach is…

Undergraduate students today often enroll in introductory religious studies or theology classes because they want the time and space to reflect on their personal spiritual questions. Such a motivation can clash with the faculty's desire to introduce students to rigorous academic study of their field. Barbara Walvoord has proposed four "voices"…

Particularly after the Danish political system changed to parliamentarism in 1901, a growing interest in, and expanded meaning of, culture as a pedagogical category developed in relation to state schooling, on the road to a comprehensive school system for "the whole population". This article elaborates on the role played by theological…

"Dreaming in the Classroom" provides teachers from virtually all fields with a uniquely informative guidebook for introducing their students to the universal human phenomenon of dreaming. Although dreaming may not be held in high esteem in mainstream Western society, students at all education levels consistently enjoy learning about…

This essay presents educational principles of Mahatma Gandhi, specifically principles of character education, as a model for strengthening non-violence in students. Its major concern is to show that Gandhi's ideal of non-violent character education is important for university teaching in disciplines including religious studies, and that Gandhi…

This article begins by recognizing the increasing use of film in Religion, Theology, and Bible courses. It contends that in many Biblical Studies (and Religious Studies and Theology) courses, students are neither taught how to view films properly, nor how to place films into constructive dialogue with biblical texts. The article argues for a…

In this article we argue for an introductory course in the study of religion that proceeds through interactive interpretation as a responsible form of comparison. Interactive interpretation proceeds provisionally, and encourages students to formulate new questions of the materials instead of making final categories about the materials. We use…

This book reiterates the fundamental purpose of Maria Montessori's philosophy of bringing about a "better world by nurturing the spirit of the child." The book draws upon published authorities on the importance of the nurturing of the spirit, along with experiences of active Montessorians for everyday examples of nurturing spirituality…

When it came time to reevaluate and restructure the introductory year in Christian history and theology, I decided to use a roundtable of student consultants to help me in that work. Our research and reflection focused on the impact of postmodern thinking and learning, feedback from pastors in ministry, a desire to bring appropriate praxis into…