This study tests the hypothesis that volunteer work is associated with various aspects of meaning making by employing a multi-dimensional model of meaning operationalized by the "Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire" ("SoMe"). An empirical study comparing 168 volunteers with a representative sample of the general population (N =…

This article reports on a study of volunteer levels of Catholics from various World regions who attended an international youth Catholic festival. Volunteering levels, types of volunteering, reason for volunteering, Catholic group membership and pro-social values are analysed. An online survey was administered five months after the Festival to…

Astley's construct of ordinary theology takes seriously listening to the religious expression and experience of ordinary people, both churched and unchurched. One method by which this has already been achieved is through the empirical analysis of the content of ordinary people's intercessory prayer requests left in hospitals and churches. Building…

The New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO) proposed and tested by Francis have been found in later studies to satisfy the requirements for internal reliability among samples where there are comparatively high levels of religious activity, and usually of predominantly older adults. The present study takes a sample of 393 individuals who…

This article is based on a research project concerning the development of religious education as an academic discipline in Germany during the twentieth century. Applying a methodology that has been of growing interest in a number of fields, the project proceeded by analysing major religious education journals published between 1900 and 1975. The…

In a recent book chapter, Matthew Thompson makes some criticisms of my work, including the interpretive approach to religious education and the research and activity of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit. Against the background of a discussion of religious education in the public sphere, my response challenges Thompson's account,…

Dealing with values and moral issues is recognised as an integral part of teachers' roles. Especially in culturally heterogeneous societies teachers face multiple values that students and their families may hold. The study reported in this article explores different conceptions of teachers' moral roles aiming to develop an instrument for assessing…

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI[R]) is widely used as a staff-development tool in the business and voluntary sectors. Its Psychological Type approach is found to be a valuable aid to understanding self and others and thus to enhancing effective team-working. This continuing and growing popularity is surprising in view of the disdain with…

The problems that this article seeks to address are those that are raised in the context of the bilateralism that is established when we think in terms of secularism as primarily orientated towards reason and post secularism, towards faith. The objective of the article is to show that the distinction between the two can be collapsed. Post…

This article questions whether human rights education (HRE) scholarship is responding adequately to the post secular turn in thinking about the place and nature of religion in society. Here the post secular turn is used to describe the discrediting of secularisation theory, the recognition of religion as an enduring and pervasive global cultural…

Inter-faith or inter-religious dialogue takes place for a range of reasons and comes in many guises, from the reconciliatory encounter to ease rivalry, to an engagement with the other in an exploration of the meaning and purpose of the human condition. This article examines the process of dialogue in a religious education context and proposes a…

The new Teachers' Standards draw upon the Prevent Strategy in foregrounding the upholding of "fundamental British values" as a central tenet in teacher work. This article explores the relationship between values, religion and Standards in teacher work. A consideration of the new Standards gives rise to the notion of teacher as cultural custodian,…

Post-secularism seems to follow in the wake of other (what are here called) "postal" perspectives--post-structuralism, postmodernism, post-empiricism, post-positivism, post-analytical philosophy, post-foundationalism and so on--in questioning or repudiating what it takes to be the epistemic assumptions of "modernism." To be sure, post-secularism…

In 1999, a new curriculum for Roman-Catholic religious education was introduced in Flemish primary and secondary schools, taking into account both the growing de-Christianisation and religious pluralisation of pupils in the classroom. Recently, this new curriculum has been subjected to diverging criticisms: first it is considered still too…

An important debate in the literature on controversial issues concerns how to identify them. This matters for teachers because settled issues should be taught directively and controversial issues should be taught nondirectively. Teachers are professionally accountable for this decision. This article examines the contribution of Michael Hand to the…