In this paper, we, members of a dharmic* scholars collective, share the outcomes of our discussions over the last three years centered on the question: what shifts in research and practice are necessary to enable higher education to address the concerns of dharmic* (Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu) students in the US? Topics we have focused on in…

Pedagogue's fallacy occurs when epistemological principles are applied by educators that in fact do not tell of, or explain, or help understand, the subject at hand. It is identified and introduced in this article to raise an important issue in the construction of pedagogical models of religious education: knowledge is reduced and/or distorted to…

Interfaith initiatives are seen as promising sites for societal change and personal transformation. However, many questions about the actual outcomes of such initiatives have remained unanswered. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted, focusing on 1) the outcomes of interfaith initiatives and 2) the methods used to evaluate these outcomes.…

Site visits provide an irreplaceable learning experience to students in both religious studies and the emerging field of interfaith studies. The conceptual core of this thesis is the claim, drawn from feminist epistemology, that an embodied pedagogy--a pedagogy which engages students not only intellectually, but as embodied beings who inhabit a…

Since the early 1980s, several Muslim communities have attempted to create indigenous Muslim American institutions of higher learning. Many of the first attempts failed to sustain their operations beyond a few years; and until recently, none could attain accreditation. Since early 2000, a second wave of Islamic postsecondary institutions has…

Almost countercultural today, focusing on the humanities--examining what it means to be human, understanding our cultures, and learning to embrace what Jonathan Sacks calls the "Dignity of Difference"--provides students with the tools to reclaim our public spaces, our public dialogue, and our businesses and corporations from the venal,…

Interreligious education has been a concern over the past few decades and continues to be a challenge. This article will review ways in which religious education has attempted to face the issue of education for increasingly multifaith societies. It identifies objectivity in religion as a major concern and will provide a perspective based on the…

In our teaching, research, and community service, both of us have sought to engage and extend the work of interfaith education. We write from our perspectives as a Jewish educator and as a Christian educator. Both of us have experienced the gifts and challenges this work engenders. The purpose of this article is simple: to offer a typology for…

This article addresses four models of leadership that Christian communities may want to adopt to help them assess and articulate a more vibrant and dynamic youth ministry. In particular, this article will demonstrate that authentic Christian leadership for youth ministry is much more than teaching young people about pastoral skills, but requires a…

What is the place of teaching about other world religions in a Jewish educational curriculum for adolescents? This article explores a course in world religions that has been taught at the Genesis Program at Brandeis University since 2001. Based on a participant observational study during 2002 and 2012, the author traces how the teachers construct…

This article provides a study of scholarship on religions and education, published over the past forty years, in "History of Education". It also includes reference to other publications, attempting a thematic analysis that scrutinises work on missionaries, churchmen, convents, charitable societies, denominations and education. Methodologies and…

Developmental immigrant students are a growing phenomenon in the United States, a growing population in higher education, and a growing presence in undergraduate classes, and like their mainstream developmental counterparts, many are academically underprepared for the rigors of college (Goldschmidt & Ousey, 2011), sometimes prolonging, or even…

Using statistic indicators as vectors of information relative to the operational status of a phenomenon, including a religious one, is unanimously accepted. By introducing a system of statistic indicators we can also analyze the interfacing areas of a phenomenon. In this context, we have elaborated a system of statistic indicators specific to the…

This article presents the author's response to Jon A. Levisohn's article entitled "A Menu of Orientations in the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature." Levisohn's article provides educators with a comprehensive review of possible modes of studying and teaching rabbinic literature. His method of extensive consultation and dialogue with teachers of…

In this article, the author investigates the controversial curricular and instructional aspects of teaching about Islam in social studies courses. Specifically, the author discusses pedagogically sound approaches to teaching about "jihad" and "Shari'ah" law, two of the most important and controversial concepts in Islam that often generate intense…