The phrase "free, compulsory, and secular" is central to Australia's understanding of its own education system. Yet the extent to which education in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, can be described as "secular" is never clear or settled. This work examines the history of education in Australia, from 1910 through to the present, through an interdisciplinary survey of key scholarship and a series of six original case studies. It seeks to uncover the extent to which the education system has undergone a process of secularisation and argues that the very meaning of the term "secular" is always contingent and changeable.

In December 1967, my life was in more trouble than I could realistically handle. While in the midst of those struggles, I asked the Lord to forgive me for all the wrong that I had done and to put my life on a path that would lead me out of my difficulties. More than forty years later, I can now report that He was faithful to do just that. He changed me from the inside out. Then He changed the dreadful circumstances of my entire life. Since that night in 1967, I have experienced the joy of knowing the God of the universe and the one and only Creator of everything. Through the years, I have diligently and carefully studied the Bible in hopes of better understanding all that happened to me on and after that night in 1967. Most people in this life for one reason or another never accept the free gift of salvation that has been provided by God to everyone. Of those that do, unfortunately, most never get to where they really understand the true essence of what that great gift of salvation even means. Therefore, this book has been written for three specific purposes. The first has been to present the many evidences that support the Christian Faith, namely those evidences that show that God is real, that Jesus is Lord, and that the Bible is the true Word of God. Those chapters are intended to help Christians better understand the solid foundation upon which Christianity stands. They will also show those that are not Christians that this whole "religious" thing is real. The second purpose of this book has been to share the pure utter logic of God's salvation plan, to show how and why His plan is the only true plan, and also to reveal that it is the only plan that really makes sense. The third and final objective has been to explain how through Jesus Christ an individual can have a personal, right relationship with the God that created them. That part of the discussion will be followed with some simple but important spiritual principles for showing everyone how to live a life that is pleasing to God. I am grateful for the new life that I received in Him in 1967. I am grateful that He has given me the knowledge and ability to even attempt this work. I am grateful for answered prayers. I am pleased for the peace that I have felt over the past years as I have labored on this book. In a few moments, my part in all of this will be done. I will then turn this whole project over to the Lord. From that moment on, how far this book goes and before whose eyes it comes will be His business, not mine. Through it all, may He be the One that gets all the honor and glory for what He has done and continues to do in the hearts and lives of those that trust Him.

Teaching the Bible Coming to terms with the interpretive revolution- "Although the field of biblical studies is bursting with new methods and fresh interpretations, there has been surprisingly little discussion of what these changes mean for the actual task of teaching the Bible. Happily, this volume takes significant first steps in addressing the shifts in classroom pedagogy that the new day in biblical studies urgently demands." Norman K. Gottwald Author of The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction "An absolutely indispensable compendium of resources for charting the changes in the discipline of biblical studies, for exposing the operations of power in past and present interpretations and uses of the Bible, and for discovering a variety of postmodernist and postcolonial pedagogies in the reading and teaching of the Bible in a radically pluralistic age." Abraham Smith Perkins School of Theology, S.M.U. "A superb collection of essays on a topic centrally important to theological education and biblical studies. It is an invaluable contribution to the new emancipatory paradigm emerging in biblical studies. Highly accessible, a must reading for anyone in the field." Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity Harvard University Divinity School "Teaching the Bible engages the problem and opportunity of theological education in the twenty-first century head on. In a tightly crafted series of provocative essays, the work clearly defines the postmodern, postcolonial, culturally enriched challenges facing the academy today. For any student or scholar who wants to engage the postmodern challenge as an innovative opportunity rather than a debilitating crisis, Teaching the Bible is required reading." Brian K. Blount President, Union Theological Seminary-PSCE Fernando F. Segovia is Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is author, with Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, of Hispanic Latino Theology: Challenge and Promise (Fortress Press, 1996). Mary Ann Tolbert is George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. She is author of Sowing the Gospel: Mark's World in Literary-Historical Perspective (Fortress Press, 1996). Biblical Studies / Hermeneutics Fortress Press FortressPress.com

This collection of essays constitute an extended argument for an anthropocentric, human-focused, study of religious practices. The basic premise of the argument, offered in the opening section, is that there is nothing special or extraordinary about human behaviors and constructs that are claimed to have uniquely religious status and authority. Instead, they are fundamentally human and so the scholar of religion is engaged in nothing more or less than studying humans across time and place and all their complex existence-that includes creating more-than-human beings and realities. As an extended and detailed example of such an approach, the second part of the book contains essays that address practices, rhetoric and other data in early Christianities within Greco-Roman cultures and religions. The underlying aim is to insert studies of the New Testament and non-canonical texts, most often presented as "biblical studies," into the anthropocentric study of religion proposed in the opening section. For a general reading of modern biblical scholarship makes clear the assumption that the Christian bible is a "sacred text" whose principal raison d'etre is to stand, fetish-like, as the foundational and highest authority in matters moral, ritual or theological; how might we instead approach the study of these texts if they are nothing more or less than human documents deriving from situations that were themselves all too human? Braun's Jesus and Addiction to Origins seeks to answer just that question-doing so in a way that readers working outside Christian origins will undoubtedly find useful applications for the people, places, and historical periods that they study.

In this provocative book Warren A. Nord argues that public schools and universities leave the vast majority of students religiously illiterate. Such education is not religiously neutral, a matter of constitutional importance; indeed, it borders on secular indoctrination when measured against the requirements of a good liberal education and the demands of critical thinking. Nord also argues that religious perspectives must be included in courses that address morality and those Big Questions that a good education cannot ignore. He outlines a variety of civic reasons for studying religion, and argues that the Establishment Clause doesn't just permit, but requires, taking religion seriously. While acknowledging the difficulty of taking religion seriously in schools and universities, Nord makes a cogent case for requiring both high school and undergraduate students to take a year long course in religious studies, and for discussing religion in any course that deals with religiously controversial material. The final chapters address how religion might best be addressed in history, literature, economics, and (perhaps most controversially) science courses. He also discusses Bible courses, and the relevance of religion to moral education and ethics courses.
While his position will be taken by some as radical, he argues that he is advocating a "middle way" in our culture wars. Public schools and universities can neither promote religion nor ignore it. Does God Make a Difference? increases our understanding of a long and heated cultural conflict; it also proposes a solution to the problem that is philosophically sound and, in the long run, eminently practical.

This book is a collection of inspirational sermons given across North America following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. All were written on short notice by pastors who were themselves experiencing 9-11 with the rest of us. They serve to bring us all back to those dark days. Reading the sermon's and the pastors' comments help you recall and experience the feelings we all felt in September 2001.

Whenever people from different cultural and religious backgrounds converge, it produces tension and ambivalence. This study delves into conflicts in interreligious educational processes in both theory and practice, presenting the results of empirical research conducted at schools and universities and formulating ground-breaking practical perspectives for interreligious collaboration in various religious-pedagogical settings.