The contours of a secular age, as delineated by classical and contemporary sociologists of religion, have tended to result in secularising trajectories for church-founded institutions of Higher Education, some of which have migrated towards secular normativity. This article explores these trends and then proposes five characteristics of an…

In the field of higher education Newman has been dismissed as irrelevant and out of date. Ronald Barnett, for example, is highly critical of his "value-laden" vision of a particular kind of university. This article seeks to consider the question of values more carefully, suggesting that Newman's writings do have strong resonances…

In this opinion piece, the author writes that England is now well on the way to having the most totalitarian as well as one of the most inefficiently managed schools system in Europe. He states that in the much maligned 1960s, people came from all over the world to learn from what was being achieved in the best of England's publicly-funded,…

This article seeks to evaluate universities against an ideal and finds the modern university gravely wanting in terms of its governance, staff and student relationships, and in the way it delivers its teaching and research. It is corrupted by power relationships, the lack of real accountability of SMTs, the failure to recognise the disciplines and…

Etched on a stone from a monastery from the Middle Ages at a small village in County Roscommon in Ireland is a combination of Jewish and Christian symbols. The Menorah sits atop a cross. At the base of the cross and at both ends of the crossbar are three small extensions. The image is one of religious integration. Augustine, whose argument for the…

This article considers the growth of Pentecostal-style churches in Southeast Asia, and specifically in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. It outlines four reasons for the growth that occurred and then, using qualitative and quantitative data in a mixed mode, seeks to test the hypotheses it derives. It concludes that each of the hypotheses…

Assuming religious education to be the same as other subject areas of a Catholic school's curriculum by, for example, applying the outcomes based philosophy and language of other subject areas to religious education renders a category mistake. A prominent notion in the work of metaphysical philosopher Gilbert Ryle, a category mistake arises when…

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…

Previous literature has shown the importance of parental engagement for children's outcomes; a largely separate body of literature has shown that there are clear effects on children's outcomes related to parental religion. This article is a literature review of these two fields, with the aim of relating them to each other. The article suggests two…

This study explores benevolent action among Pentecostals in the USA using a congregational questionnaire survey of worshippers among the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) (N = 1522). The influence of religiosity and the socialization of a perceived relationship of love with God (Godly Love) are explored, while controlling for background variables. The…

This article is concerned with assessment issues in Religious and Moral Education (RME) offered in Scottish non-denominational schools. The analysis of the findings in this article is weighed against the framework of the new "3-18" Scottish curriculum called "Curriculum for Excellence" (CfE). CfE was introduced in primary schools in 2009 and a…

The question of sustainability in multi-religious societies underscores interrelating theological, moral and cultural issues affecting the very process of social co-existence, cohesion and development. This article discusses Islam's understanding of the question of sustainability in multi-religious contexts while highlighting the contribution of…

The construction of social identity is an interdisciplinary term, which is a favourite topic for many scholars worldwide. Religion and identity are intertwined regarding the concept of identity construction. In Iran, this relation can best be seen through English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. To achieve this, this study investigates the…

This study considers how religious individuals may be more likely to entertain doomsday scenarios, such as the December 21, 2012 Mayan prophecy, particularly when juxtaposed with the occurrence of several recent adverse and cataclysmic events. One hundred forty two undergraduates were asked to assess their belief as to whether they believed that…

In common with a number of recent studies of religious change that have taken a gendered approach, this article takes older women as its focus and considers the role the emotions play in religious change, adopting Riis and Woodhead's new conceptual framework of religious emotion. Emotions, they argue, are not merely private, personal and…