This article examines the importance of memory in the Hebrew bible and how memory lay at the center of Ancient Israel's religious faith and cultural identity. It argues for a similar, albeit nuanced, memory-based approach to contemporary Christian religious education. It analyzes memory through the lens of Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic of…

Agency is a particular concern for ministry with adolescent girls because they rarely see themselves as subjects of their own lives. Human agency is often emphasized in churches as a way to explain human sinful action. As a population treated as objects by society, it is important for young women to embrace and exercise their agency in order to be…

This article addresses four models of leadership that Christian communities may want to adopt to help them assess and articulate a more vibrant and dynamic youth ministry. In particular, this article will demonstrate that authentic Christian leadership for youth ministry is much more than teaching young people about pastoral skills, but requires a…

Preparing future Christian leaders to take their place in the Church is not only about ensuring they have the capacities (intellectual, pastoral, strategic leadership, public performance, etc.), but that they become significant carriers of the traditions, beliefs, and practices that define a particular community of faith. Learning to become a…

In "Education, liberation and the church," Paulo Freire uses the metaphor of "apprenticeship" to describe a form of liberative education for people of faith who begin to discover the ways in which they benefit from the systemic oppression of other human beings. As depicted in ten oral history interviews conducted with the…

Children and young people have the inalienable right to be part of a learning community. Nobody can learn on his/her own. Education is always a communal enterprise. In this article the concept of the "spiritual learning community" is developed as a contemporary answer to the socioeducational issues raised by Martin Buber and John Dewey…

The author argues that adolescents are not only philosophers, as Kohlberg and Gilligan once claimed, but should also be viewed as theologians. This view corresponds to what has been called "lay theology" or "ordinary theology." Moreover, the article takes up the double question what adolescents might benefit from theology and…

Islamic education has always recognized spiritual and moral values as significant elements in developing a "balanced" human being. One way of demonstrating spiritual and moral concepts is through effective teaching methods that integrate and forefront these values. This article offers an investigation of how the authors' teaching…

The publication in 2011 of "This is Our Faith" (TIOF), the Catholic Church in Scotland's syllabus for religious education in Catholic schools, is a significant contribution to wider debates on the appropriate conceptual framework for religious education. Recent teaching of the Holy See has suggested that religious education in…

Katharine Drexel was an important educator who taught profound lessons to the Roman Catholic Church and American society about the responsibility of privilege and the irresponsibility of prejudice. As a professed nun dedicated to the education of Black and Native Americans, she taught both intentionally and by example. Religious educators, seeking…

At the heart of the Christian experience lies the conviction that justice and freedom are essential to build communities where God's love is authentically experienced by all. Such conviction emerges as part of an intentional process of faith formation that begins at home and must be constantly nurtured throughout the life cycle. This article…

In popular understanding, the late Middle Ages has been viewed as a time of relative religious ignorance for both laity and clergy. Recent scholarship is indicating a more knowledgeable and vigorous faith experience in this time period. This article examines the major educational ministry renewal of the church in England following the Fourth…

This article offers a reading of a story from the Babylonian Talmud ("Bava Batra" 8a). Through this reading several key themes emerge, including: the power and politics of knowledge acquisition, the connection between spiritual and physical nourishment, the relationship between religious educators and students, and the meaning and value of…

The author believes that a deep sense of spirituality together with effective Christian education can be a powerful resource for equipping individuals and communities to play an active role in transforming their lives as well as oppressive systems that have impacted their communities. In her discussion of spirituality, womanist ethicist Emilie…

Brains and gender, separately and in their interrelatedness, are hot items today in popular journals and academic literature. It is in particular the complexity of the interdependence of physical-, psychological-, and contextual-related developments of feminization in education that we focus on these contributions. We argue that a combination of…