Shared Learning in a Plural World


Book Description

Shared Learning in a Plural World takes the reader along to a discourse held between representatives of different world religions, religious educators and researchers about "How religious education can contribute to good community relations." Starting with the issue of pluralism, the book leads on to concepts of learning in world religions, reflections on inter-religious learning in Europe, and examples on methodologies of education and community. A number of documents related to the Interfaith work of the World Council of Churches are also documented. The publication is an outcome of a co-operation between the World Council of Churches (Education and Ecumenical Formation / Inter-religious Relations) and the Comenius-Institut in Munster, Germany.




Issues in Religious Education


Book Description

This book is designed to give students and newly qualified teachers a contextual and theoretical background to this subject, by exploring and challenging assumptions about the place of religion in education. The book is divided into the following sections: section one sets out the context for religious education in the curriculum. It looks at political, social and religious influences on legislation, particularly in faith schools, and raises questions about assessment section two focuses on Religious Education in the classroom, exploring our understanding of religion and the concept of development in Religious Education section three examines Religious Education as a whole-school issue, considering its relationship to literacy, citizenship, collective worship and spiritual, ethical and moral development.




Plural World Interpretations


Book Description




Loving Your Neighbour in an Age of Religious Conflict


Book Description

How to meaningfully engage with interfaith questions? Grounded in the author's experience of developing interfaith programmes at one of the world's leading universities, this book carves a fresh perspective on the challenges of religious difference by placing them within the broader currents of belief and scepticism in today's society. It sets out the local challenges presented by religious difference within the global picture, and explores the implications of global religious resurgence for Western secularist assumptions, both in our communities and in how we relate the rest of the world. Combining theory with examples of practical engagement, Walters offers an imaginative Christian theological approach to responding to religious difference without resorting to relativism. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of religion in the modern world.




Learning and Teaching in Social Work Practice


Book Description

With the increasing importance of learning on practice placement this new book provides students, practitioners and their assessors with a practical understanding of how people learn best in the workplace; the principles involved in work-based teaching and assessing; and the contribution of other disciplines to work-based learning.




Sophos Ontology


Book Description

Sophos Ontology: On Post-Traditional Spirituality discusses religious plurality and post-traditional perspectives on emergent forms of sacred sensibility, particularly for those identifying as “spiritual but not religious.” This book is divided into three parts. The first part is a retrospective account of multiple religious traditions, with emphasis on esoteric thought as influenced by mystical writings, covering western, eastern, and Native American traditions. The second part discusses the need for a new conceptualization of the “sacred” as expressed through multiple spiritual perspectives relevant to a pansentient, post-traditional process ontology. Other topics in this section include the importance of an ethically shaped spirituality, collective influences, dreams, imagination, and the role of pluralism in shaping beliefs. Part three explores the role of faith, redefined as spiritual commitment, mysticism as direct experiential knowledge, and transpersonal theory influenced by comparative studies in altered states of consciousness, paranormal research, and the metaphysics of discovery — all contributing to the development of present and future spirituality.




Schools and Religions


Book Description

The link between schools and religions is an area of lively and passionate debate. In this meticulously researched volume, Julian Stern analyzes the role that religion can play in fostering communities in schools and its implications for social, cultural and political developments in both national and international contexts. Drawing heavily on Vygoyskyan social contructivism and Buber's research into human relationships, Stern constructs an innovative and challenging philosophy of schooling which places schools at the heart of two of the main challenges of the twenty-first century - social inclusion and globalization.




Rethinking Religion and Politics in a Plural World


Book Description

In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an “organizational DNA.” These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha'i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community's theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.




Global Learning and Education


Book Description

What is globalisation? How are its effects felt by different people across the world? How can we help young people flourish in a world characterised by globalisation? Conflict, poverty, breaches of human rights, and environmental sustainability are everyday issues for global citizens today, old and young. Global Learning and Education presents a detailed and challenging introduction to a central concern facing education systems and curricula around the world: How young people understand and experience globalisation and how meaningful global learning can be developed. Encouraging a critical and reflective approach in order to advance understanding of a range of theoretical and practical factors, it considers the meaning and definitions of globalisation, global citizenship and global education. Global Learning and Education explores key issues including interconnectedness and interdependency, cultural diversity, social justice and sustainable development. It considers how global learning should and can imbue all aspects of education, within curriculum subjects, through project based learning, and through extra-curricular activities that help students participate and engage in global issues. It argues the importance of the mission and ethos of a school itself, of shaping global learning for different educational contexts, and of ensuring teaching and learning meets the needs of individual learners. Global Learning and Education is a comprehensive, thought-provoking - sometimes contentious - introduction for educationalists concerned with what globalisation means for our young people. Illustrated throughout with case studies that seek to inspire creativity and hope, and including questions and suggested reading for further investigation, it is essential reading for all those involved in the teaching and learning of young people, as well as those studying this vital topic on Education Studies and Masters level courses.




A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking


Book Description

A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking is a search for authenticity that combines critical thinking with a yearning for heartfelt poetics. A physiognomy of thinking addresses the figure of a life lived where theory and praxis are unified. This study explores how the critical essays on music of German-Jewish thinker, Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno (1903-1969) necessarily accompany the downfall of metaphysics. By scrutinizing a critical juncture in modern intellectual history, marked in 1931 by Adorno's founding of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, neglected applications of Critical Theory to Jewish Thought become possible. This study proffers a constructive justification of a critical standpoint, reconstructively shown how such ideals are seen under the genealogical proviso of re/cognizing their original meaning. Re/cognition of A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking redresses neglected applications of Negative Dialectics, the poetics of God, the metaphysics of musical thinking, reification in Zionism, the transpoetics of Physics and Metaphysics, as well as correlating Aesthetic Theory to Jewish Law (halakhah).