Religious Education At A Crossroads

"In this book Francoise Darcy-Berube warns that religious education is at a dangerous crossroads. Choices made in catechetical style now, she counsels, will shape the faith of the Church well into the next century. A preeminent authority in religious education, Darcy-Berube responds to the challenges in religious education by offering a comprehensive statement of her theory and praxis for catechesis. She begins this insightful treatment by outlining the paradigm shift which she maintains has changed the nature of religious education over the last twenty-five years. Darcy-Berube then provides a clear critique of current trends in catechetics, highlighting the issues that need to be examined in the current catechetical climate." "Religious Education at a Crossroads is a defining study, the fruit of Darcy-Berube's many years of experience in the catechetical field. In ten chapters the author argues for important changes both in our attitudes toward and structure of religious education at the family and parish levels. Darcy-Berube's conversational style lends an inviting warmth to a complex subject of central importance for today's Church. Balanced by a life of scholarship and broad experience in designing catechetical programs, her proposal for a holistic curriculum will appeal to parents, teachers, and students alike."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Details the achievements and shortcomings of the past and the risks, challenges and opportunities religious education will meet in moving into the next century

The author, a modern Catholic writer-philosopher, sets forth his views on Christian education.

Lieven Boeve examines the place of theology in the university, the church and society. He emphasizes that theology certainly belongs to all of these three domains as it belongs to the nature of theology to involve itself in all three spheres, especially at the crossroads where they overlap. Boeve discusses the recent document Theology Today from the International Theological Commission which circumscribes theology's place and task in the Catholic Church. Boeve discusses how the difficult relation between theology and philosophy is typical for a Church which has difficulty with the dialogue in today's world; as well as examines the relation between theology and religious studies. Going further, Boeve offers a reflection on Catholic identity today, focusing more specifically on education. He presents four models for considering the identity of Catholic schools in the light of the changed society and argues that dialogue in a context of plurality and difference can lead to new, fruitful ways to shape even the Catholic identity. Boeve concludes his discussion with a short assessment of Pope Benedict's papacy and emphasizes the need for the Catholic Church to convert itself before it can call the world to do the same.

How can Christians live faithfully at the crossroads of the story of Scripture and postmodern culture? In Living at the Crossroads, authors Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew explore this question as they provide a general introduction to Christian worldview. Ideal for both students and lay readers, Living at the Crossroads lays out a brief summary of the biblical story and the most fundamental beliefs of Scripture. The book tells the story of Western culture from the classical period to postmodernity. The authors then provide an analysis of how Christians live in the tension that exists at the intersection of the biblical and cultural stories, exploring the important implications in key areas of life, such as education, scholarship, economics, politics, and church.

Essays discuss the relationship between America's religious and artistic communities and consider the controversies that have developed between them in the later twentieth century.

Milligan (educational leadership and policy studies, Florida State U.) notes that in recent years important progress has been made in America's public school system to honor differences in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, and sexual orientation, while ignoring religious identity and diversity. In this scholarly text, he advocates a re-imagining of the teacher in a way that "neither embraces religion as an unquestioned good to be inculcated in students nor rejects it as an artifact of less enlightened times impeding human progress." In support, he offers a reading of Cornel West's notion of prophetic pragmatism and Toni Morrison's Beloved. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR