This article is a response to Michael Hand's critique in this issue of my response to his use of the epistemic criterion as the sole means for identifying whether or not an issue should be identified as controversial. I argue that he has misunderstood my intention in suggesting that I was seeking to replace the epistemic criterion. Rather my…

This article investigated the core of religious education (RE) by examining Finnish student teachers' pedagogical aims in the context of Lutheran RE. The data consisted of essays (N=82) analysed in a deductive manner using the main concepts of the didactic triangle together with the aims of the Finnish National Core Curriculum. The student…

This article will argue that neuroscientific insights can inform religious and spiritual education's capacity for strengthening student understanding, promoting transformation and ultimately wisdom. Among other findings, it will show that current neuroscientific research supports a holistic approach to pedagogy which emphasises the cognitive,…

Divided into four parts, the article explores the relationship between literature and faith. The first part examines the connection between literature and the pursuit of truth and the second shows that literature can offer a challenging encounter with different beliefs. Part three examines some examples of the imagination at work in illuminating…

This article has three broad aims. The first is to draw attention what is probably the largest empirical study of moral, values and character education in the United Kingdom to the present date. The second is to outline--sufficient for present purposes--a plausible conceptual or theoretical case for placing a particular virtue-ethical concept of…

This article seeks to engage with the contention that, given the dilemmas of the self purportedly raised by these aspects of modernity, teachers of religious education need, ethically as well as professionally, to urgently revise their often traditionalist view of society, of children and of appropriate pedagogy for their subject. The aim of such…

CREATe (Christian Reflection on Ethics And Teaching) groups are peer support groups which use an action research model to facilitate reflection and to promote the development of thinking about Christian ethics in teaching. This report summarises the findings of a pilot research project commissioned by The Stapleford Centre to offer a preliminary…

The question explored in this article is whether religious schools can contribute to the formation of the civic virtues in pupils by means of citizenship education. It is commonly agreed that civic virtues are needed in pluriform Western societies to promote social cohesion and reduce hostile attitudes. However, some argue that religious schools…

The article investigates the meaning of temperance by noting some cultural assumptions, raising the question as to why this classical virtue has largely disappeared from modern ethical discourse. By means of some historical notes temperance is identified as the unifying virtue in the person and in society. In its Christian form it is related to…

African Pentecostal churches are becoming increasingly important in Britain where they are growing at a time when mainstream Christianity is in decline. Originally functioning as social and religious support networks for African migrants, their growth has been stimulated by a conscious missionary agenda. Recently, there has been a shift towards a…

This paper presents findings from a recent study investigating young children's (aged 10-11) conceptions of Jesus in England. The overall picture revealed by the study is that whilst there was a general assent amongst pupils in our sample towards an ethical and humanistic conception of the historical Jesus, there was less of a consensus about…

Myers-Briggs personality typing is widely used in the Christian church as an aid to individual self-understanding and spiritual formation. However, some Christian leaders have expressed doubt about its validity in understanding human personality and also opposition to its use in nurturing spiritual growth. The aim of the work reported was to…

There are few self-report measures of morality. The Religious Status Inventory--"Being Ethical" subscale represents one approach. However, at present there is limited information on the psychometric properties of either the original 20-item version (RSInv-20) or the shortened embedded 10-item version (RSInv-S10). The aim of the present study was…

This article examines the moral orientation of Finnish peacekeepers in the field of civil and military cooperation. This aim is studied through identifying different voices in peacekeepers' narratives. Following previously published research on the ethics of justice, the ethics of care and the ethics of empowerment related to moral orientation,…

Although most if not all human activities may be matters of passionate pursuit, it is less clear that emotions and feelings are inherently implicated in such pursuit: on the contrary, chemistry, cookery, sculpture or football might be effectively pursued without any significant or substantial emotional involvement. On the other hand, it seems less…