A timely and engaging story of two centuries of controversy-and sometimes violence-over prayer in America's public schools Contrary to popular belief, God has certainly not been kicked out of the public schools. What is banned is state-sponsored prayer, not the religious speech of the students themselves. But as news stories, political speeches, and lawsuits amply demonstrate, this approach has by no means resolved the long-standing debate over religion in public education. While some people challenge the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, with its reference to "one nation under God," others view school shootings and the terrorism of 9/11 as evidence that organized prayer must once again become part of the official school day. In this lively book, Joan DelFattore traces the evolution of school-prayer battles from the early 1800s, when children were beaten or expelled for refusing to read the King James Bible, to current disputes over prayer at public-school football games. Underlying these events, she shows, is a struggle to balance two of the most fundamental tenets of Americanism: majority rule and individual rights. Her highly readable book explores the enduring tension between people of good will who wish the schools to promote majoritarian beliefs, and equally well-meaning (and often religious) people who deplore any governmental influence in religious matters.

With so much information readily available today, the educators role must go beyond simply transferring knowledge to students. Drawing from the deep wisdom found in the classic teachings and stories of Kabbalah and Chassidut, The Art of Education focuses the educator on creating a lasting impression on students by opening their spirits to their own higher realms of consciousness and by helping them integrate newly found energy, will, and insights into everyday life.

The Art of Education surveys the seven skills of the accomplished educator: communication, self-criticism, recognition, flexibility, attention to details, prioritization, and the correct use of reward and punishment. Together, these seven skills form a Kabbalistic structural model that when properly understood functions like a neurological key unlocking the inner educator in each of us.

By its very nature, the ideals of religion entail sin and failure. Judaism has its own language and framework for sin that expresses themselves both legally and philosophically. Both legal questions - circumstances where sin is permissible or mandated, the role of intention and action - as well as philosophical questions - why sin occurs and how does Judaism react to religious crisis - are considered within this volume. This book will present the concepts of sin and failure in Jewish thought, weaving together biblical and rabbinic studies to reveal a holistic portrait of the notion of sin and failure within Jewish thought.

Decolonizing Interreligious Educationexplores multiple injustices, focusing on the lived experience, unaddressed grief, and acts of resistance and resilience of populations most impacted by coloniality and white supremacy. It lifts up the voices of those speaking from embodied experience of suffering multiple oppressions based on negative constructs of race, religion, skin color, nationality, etc. Engaging ideological critique, construction of knowledge beyond dominant lenses, and acts of resistance are presented from the perspective of those most impacted by systemic injustice. It challenges interreligious education to frame encounters where the impact of intergeneration trauma and the realities of power differentials are recognized and the contributions of all voices are truly integrated. It challenges the fields of religious and interreligious education to imagine a broadened view that includes recognition of the role played by religion in harm done and to take a leadership role in engaging processes of accountability and redress.

This study undertakes a comprehensive inquiry into the concept of experience in the thought of George Tyrrell from his earliest writings to 1900. No aspect of experience is passed over in its human, religious, Christian, and Catholic inflections. Tyrrell pursued a vast array of subjects and addressed them in often novel ways, even in his formative years, and at every stage of his thought he encountered the question of experience wherever he roamed. A study of experience in Tyrrell’s early works thus effectively offers a sweeping survey of the full gamut of his early thought. In the beginning we see that he came to recognize only gradually the significance of this category for all his inquiries. While scholars have traced experience in Tyrrell’s mature thought and researched its role in such targeted fields as ecclesiology and fundamental theology, the early writings by contrast have been largely passed over. This suggests a need for an unrestricted search at the origin of Tyrrell’s thought that tracks his discovery, formation, and evolution of this concept. We discover that its flexible and enigmatic character shapes and unifies the various questions that Tyrrell addressed over the years, thus marking his mature theology with a distinct character that was passed on to others in the universe of experience.

"Weapons of Mass Distraction" is a compilation of sermons that challenge us to think and act responsibly on current social issues that promise to have a huge impact on the planet's well-being in the coming century.

Globalization, the attack on democracy, the mistreatment of women, and the growing AIDS pandemic are but a few of the topics taken on by these courageous sermons that dare to challenge the prevailing mindset that labels democratic protest as unpatriotic.

This collection of hope-inspiring messages, accessible to persons of all faiths, is anything but anti-American. In fact, they speak to the very core values held high by this country for so long.

"Weapons of Mass Distraction" is a welcomed theological dialogue with the great social issues of our generation, coming from the perspective of the "silenced majority" those who's protest cries against wars of aggression did not make the evening news; and who's votes in the 2000 presidential election were ignored to the detriment of millions.

Finally, "Weapons of Mass Distraction" is a call to action; a call to all those who "see the trouble we are in" and have the courage enough to do the work of rebuilding the walls.

Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion emphasizes the inexorable influence that social identities exert in shaping methodological choices within the academic study of religion, as witnessed in sui generis appeals to particularity and reliance on (or rejection of) identity-based standpoints. Can data speak back, and if so, would scholars have ears to listen? With a refreshing hip hop sensibility, Miller and Driscoll argue that what cultural theorist Jean-Francois Bayart refers to as a "battle for identity" forces a necessary confrontation with the (impact of) social identities (and, their histories) haunting our fields of study. These complex categorical specters make it nearly impossible to untether the categories of identity that we come to study from the identity of categories shaping our methodological lenses. Treating method as an identity-revealing technique of distance-making between the "proper" scholar and the less-than-scholarly advocate for religion, Miller and Driscoll examine a variety of discursive milieus of vagueness (consider for instance "essentialism," "origins," "authenticity") at work in the contemporary discussion of "critical" methods that lack the necessary specificity for doing the heavy-lifting of analytically handling the asymmetrical dimensions of power part and parcel to social identification. Through interdisciplinary discussions that draw on thinkers including Charles H Long, Bruce Lincoln, Russell T. McCutcheon, Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida, C. Wright Mills, Laurel C. Schneider, William D. Hart, Tomoko Masuzawa, Anthony B. Pinn, bell hooks, Roderick Ferguson, John L. Jackson, Jasbir Puar, and Jean-Francois Bayart, among others, Method as Identity intentionally blurs the lines classifying "proper" scholarly approach and proper "objects" of study. With an intentional effort to challenge the de facto disciplinary segregation marking the field and study of religion today, Method as Identity will be of interest to scholars involved in discussions about theory and method for the study of religion, and especially researchers working at the intersections of identity, difference, and classification-and the politics thereof.

When the Secular Becomes Sacred: Religious Secular Humanism and its Effects Upon America's Public Learning Institutions is an analysis of American K-16 public learning institutions from a unique perspective. Secular teachings, such as social-emotional learning, and sexual and identity philosophies, are behind movements to capture the minds and hearts of America's students. Contemporary learning institutions resemble places of worship in several ways. This book will explain how this is the case. From educational philosophy to classroom practices, this book exposes tactical intersections between secular humanism and religion. In today's secular culture there is strong evidence to support the notion that worship of the self, the individual, has usurped the historically sacred place reserved for a transcendent deity. The fact is that this worship of the individual is certainly more fashionable and attractive than traditional orthodoxy or evangelical theology, in a today's society. Bolstering this self-worship are mandated programs, such as those found in states' controversial History-Social Science Frameworks, English-Language Arts Frameworks, and new sex education programs. The intention of this book is to provide the reader a realistic look into the effects of religious humanism upon America's schools and students. Readers will be challenged with the notion that separation of church and state is being ignored for the political advantage of some. Furthermore, the reader will be presented with the argument that self-worship has become more attractive than traditional Judeo-Christian religious teachings, leading to the individual becoming both the worshipper and the object of such self-worship.

When the Secular Becomes Sacred: Religious Secular Humanism and its Effects Upon America's Public Learning Institutions is an analysis of American K-16 public learning institutions from a unique perspective. Secular teachings, such as social-emotional learning, and sexual and identity philosophies, are behind movements to capture the minds and hearts of America's students. Contemporary learning institutions resemble places of worship in several ways. This book will explain how this is the case. From educational philosophy to classroom practices, this book exposes tactical intersections between secular humanism and religion. In today's secular culture there is strong evidence to support the notion that worship of the self, the individual, has usurped the historically sacred place reserved for a transcendent deity. The fact is that this worship of the individual is certainly more fashionable and attractive than traditional orthodoxy or evangelical theology, in a today's society. Bolstering this self-worship are mandated programs, such as those found in states' controversial History-Social Science Frameworks, English-Language Arts Frameworks, and new sex education programs. The intention of this book is to provide the reader a realistic look into the effects of religious humanism upon America's schools and students. Readers will be challenged with the notion that separation of church and state is being ignored for the political advantage of some. Furthermore, the reader will be presented with the argument that self-worship has become more attractive than traditional Judeo-Christian religious teachings, leading to the individual becoming both the worshipper and the object of such self-worship.

A book on teaching and learning in theological education, Decolonial Futures: Intercultural and Interreligious Intelligence for Theological Education is guided by the questions, "What makes education intercultural and interreligious?" "How might we rethink and redesign spaces of learning to be hospitable to cultural and religious differences as well as to dismantle the coloniality of theological education?" "How might we subvert traditionally colonial spaces to model the engaged intercultural and interreligious world that we seek?" The book helps educators and practitioners of intercultural and interreligious learning both deconstruct and reconstruct spaces of learning by centering interreligious and intercultural intelligence through the voices, experiences, and narratives of minoritized people.

This book challenges the faith-oriented conversion that encourages an exclusivist and monological approach to religious education in schools. "Living the Future in Dialogue" develops a new pedagogical paradigm for Nigeria: the "Integral and Transformative Model". Using a systematic approach, the book discusses the Christian tradition in light of the existence of other religions and worldviews. Religious education must encourage pupils to develop their own religious identities and respond to plurality to become members of a multicultural and multi-religious society. It is presented as an enrichment of a human being in relation to the self, world and God and the community as the locus where the human person is taught to develop the language of love, trust and hope.

In a recent work Richard Dawkins posed an immense challenge to theology by arguing on scientific grounds that the existence of God is so improbable that it can be safely dismissed as a delusion. This work responds to the challenge by examining the arguments put forward by Dawkins and subjecting them to critique in the light of Christian faith. The critique probes some of the assumptions underlying scientific endeavours about the nature of reality and it brings to the surface the question of how meaning, truth and freedom are properly to be understood. The work goes on to present a theological understanding of these realities in the light of Christian beliefs in God, in Jesus Christ, in creation and in redemption. Far from denying the importance of scientific endeavours and discoveries, this approach seeks to provide a framework in which they can be meaningfully situated, for the betterment of humanity as a whole.

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.

Improving Preaching by Listening to Listeners: Sunday Service Preaching in the Malagasy Lutheran Church explores the reaction of the congregation to Sunday preaching. Preaching has been a significant activity since the founding of the Lutheran Church in Madagascar in 1867. However, hardly any research has been carried out to explore this interesting field, particularly from the listeners' perspective. This book is an attempt to remedy this situation. With the aid of methodology from rhetorical studies, adapted into homiletics, this book investigates: How do the character of the preacher, the content of the sermon, and its emotional appeal impact the listeners in such a way that preaching becomes significant in their lives? Listeners consider the preacher himself important, both his spiritual and everyday life. They evaluate his good intentions, whether he believes in his own message, and whether his message is moulded by an encounter with the risen Lord. The Bible provides the sermon's basic content and foundation, and The Holy Spirit is considered an active agent in the preaching event. The listeners encounter words from God through the sermon. They can experience change in their lives by listening to preaching from caring pastors who create presence for important issues for change to happen. The Malagasy context and culture form the backcloth throughout the investigation, and this book specifically investigates Malagasy rhetoric, that is, the public speech tradition with regard to its possible role in increasing the impact of preaching on the listeners.