Pub Date : 2019-10-02DOI: 10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672628
R. Wills
ABSTRACT Doubt, in much of Kierkegaard’s writing, is the inspiration for faith. Illustrating doubt in terms of the suspension of totality, the negation of certainty, and subsequent reflection, Fear and Trembling, and Philosophical Fragments, both authored pseudonymously by Kierkegaard, consider how individuals might learn on the strength of their own personal contingency within the remits of pre-existing structures and systems. After exploring Kierkegaard’s ideas in these texts, this article considers how the four dimensions of Hay and Nye’s concept of relational consciousness might provide the conditions for questioning and critical thinking, which form a part of doubt. Drawing on examples from practice, it is proposed that children’s spiritual development might include doubt in order to effect change in the lives of learning individuals and on a wider scale.
{"title":"Creating the condition for doubt. How might questioning and critical thinking inspire children’s spiritual development?","authors":"R. Wills","doi":"10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672628","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672628","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Doubt, in much of Kierkegaard’s writing, is the inspiration for faith. Illustrating doubt in terms of the suspension of totality, the negation of certainty, and subsequent reflection, Fear and Trembling, and Philosophical Fragments, both authored pseudonymously by Kierkegaard, consider how individuals might learn on the strength of their own personal contingency within the remits of pre-existing structures and systems. After exploring Kierkegaard’s ideas in these texts, this article considers how the four dimensions of Hay and Nye’s concept of relational consciousness might provide the conditions for questioning and critical thinking, which form a part of doubt. Drawing on examples from practice, it is proposed that children’s spiritual development might include doubt in order to effect change in the lives of learning individuals and on a wider scale.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672628","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46953846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-02DOI: 10.1080/1364436x.2019.1675603
J. Bellous
ABSTRACT I define human spirituality as a sense of felt connection, which is central to a human capacity to survive and thrive. That is, the spiritual lies at the foundation of human experience, so that everyone is spiritual, and typically, people use religious language to express spiritual concerns. In this paper, I lay out an inclusive approach to spiritual education that gets beneath religious and spiritual tensions to focus on human need. In offering the approach, and perhaps an attitude to the humanity of our learners, this essay describes four spiritual styles. Each one relies on a specific currency. The four currencies are, namely, word, emotion, symbol and action. I unpack the styles to show how, taken together, they create a holistic and humane literacy curriculum that welcomes children and youth into classroom experiences despite their personal religious differences or, perhaps, the indifference they bring with them to class.
{"title":"An inclusive spiritual education","authors":"J. Bellous","doi":"10.1080/1364436x.2019.1675603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1675603","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT I define human spirituality as a sense of felt connection, which is central to a human capacity to survive and thrive. That is, the spiritual lies at the foundation of human experience, so that everyone is spiritual, and typically, people use religious language to express spiritual concerns. In this paper, I lay out an inclusive approach to spiritual education that gets beneath religious and spiritual tensions to focus on human need. In offering the approach, and perhaps an attitude to the humanity of our learners, this essay describes four spiritual styles. Each one relies on a specific currency. The four currencies are, namely, word, emotion, symbol and action. I unpack the styles to show how, taken together, they create a holistic and humane literacy curriculum that welcomes children and youth into classroom experiences despite their personal religious differences or, perhaps, the indifference they bring with them to class.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1675603","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46138044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-01DOI: 10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672627
Fereshteh Ahmadi, J. Ristiniemi, Inger Linblad, Lina Schiller
ABSTRACT The article discusses children’s thoughts about death. Research was carried out in two elementary schools in Sweden among 40 children between 6 and 9 years of age, data were collected through text reading, movie viewing and dialogues with children. The main results reveal child-specific thoughts about the end of life, i.e., ideas children construe on their own. The findings also show society- and time-specific thoughts that children take from their societal and cultural context. The article proposes an integrative approach between these two: it is only when the categories of child-specific and society- and time-specific thoughts are combined that we get a fair picture of children’s perceptions of death. The main finding is that children form ideas of their own; they are not completely under the influence of their societal and cultural context. Children take over ideas from their surrounding society but they also express ideas produced by themselves.
{"title":"Perceptions of death among children in Sweden","authors":"Fereshteh Ahmadi, J. Ristiniemi, Inger Linblad, Lina Schiller","doi":"10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672627","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672627","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article discusses children’s thoughts about death. Research was carried out in two elementary schools in Sweden among 40 children between 6 and 9 years of age, data were collected through text reading, movie viewing and dialogues with children. The main results reveal child-specific thoughts about the end of life, i.e., ideas children construe on their own. The findings also show society- and time-specific thoughts that children take from their societal and cultural context. The article proposes an integrative approach between these two: it is only when the categories of child-specific and society- and time-specific thoughts are combined that we get a fair picture of children’s perceptions of death. The main finding is that children form ideas of their own; they are not completely under the influence of their societal and cultural context. Children take over ideas from their surrounding society but they also express ideas produced by themselves.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672627","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49610266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-01DOI: 10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672625
Krystyna Heland-Kurzak
ABSTRACT It is generally accepted that religiosity is a reflection of a child’s experiences at home, of religious family practices, and of the knowledge gained at school. I assume that religiosity is a form of individual experience and that the image of God is part of this experience. The aim of this research was to reveal the different images of God and the differences in religiosity among the children of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant denominations. For the purposes of this work, all of the previously described environments were addressed as religiously aligned environments. The topic presented in this article shows new perspectives of the children’s spirituality in the context of the acquired experiences of religiosity. The author tried to achieve this by conducting 82 interviews with children. This article concerns mainly with the analysis of conversations with children, and through this the author tries to show the children’s image of God.
{"title":"Children’s creation of an image of God and religiosity – a pedagogical perspective","authors":"Krystyna Heland-Kurzak","doi":"10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672625","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672625","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT It is generally accepted that religiosity is a reflection of a child’s experiences at home, of religious family practices, and of the knowledge gained at school. I assume that religiosity is a form of individual experience and that the image of God is part of this experience. The aim of this research was to reveal the different images of God and the differences in religiosity among the children of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant denominations. For the purposes of this work, all of the previously described environments were addressed as religiously aligned environments. The topic presented in this article shows new perspectives of the children’s spirituality in the context of the acquired experiences of religiosity. The author tried to achieve this by conducting 82 interviews with children. This article concerns mainly with the analysis of conversations with children, and through this the author tries to show the children’s image of God.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436x.2019.1672625","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41501583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652962
Brian Frain, S.J.
{"title":"Teaching religious education: researchers in the classroom (2nd ed)","authors":"Brian Frain, S.J.","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652962","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652962","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41711943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646218
Helena Stockinger
ABSTRACT Children’s spiritual development is influenced by those with whom they interact and by the world around them. An important context for young children is the kindergarten, which has a high level of responsibility for their (spiritual) education. At kindergarten children encounter people with different religious and spiritual attitudes, which may be fundamental to the development of their own spirituality. Research results regarding how two kindergartens in Austria deal with this diversity and how children address it are summarized. One result of this qualitative ethnographic research project is that, depending on their religion, children have different opportunities to develop their spiritual communication and spirituality based on religious traditions and rituals. Developing kindergartens in line with the metaphor of safe spaces where diversity is recognized and discussed can contribute to the creation of equal opportunities for children’s spiritual development.
{"title":"Developing spirituality – an equal right of every child?","authors":"Helena Stockinger","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646218","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Children’s spiritual development is influenced by those with whom they interact and by the world around them. An important context for young children is the kindergarten, which has a high level of responsibility for their (spiritual) education. At kindergarten children encounter people with different religious and spiritual attitudes, which may be fundamental to the development of their own spirituality. Research results regarding how two kindergartens in Austria deal with this diversity and how children address it are summarized. One result of this qualitative ethnographic research project is that, depending on their religion, children have different opportunities to develop their spiritual communication and spirituality based on religious traditions and rituals. Developing kindergartens in line with the metaphor of safe spaces where diversity is recognized and discussed can contribute to the creation of equal opportunities for children’s spiritual development.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646218","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46772075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652961
Kathy Frady
{"title":"Godly play-European perspectives on practice and research","authors":"Kathy Frady","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652961","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652961","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47268940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652573
Tony Eaude
As books review editor, as well as a reader of, and contributor to, the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, I gain a particular perspective on the themes which are – and are not – highlighted in relation to children’s spirituality; and how these have changed over recent years. This editorial offers the opportunity to consider the current state of the discourse on children’s spirituality and to suggest some directions which this and future research might usefully take, though inevitably this reflects my own interests and prejudices to some extent. It also provides me with the chance to thank those who have reviewed books and to encourage other people to recommend suitable books and/or offer to review them – please contact me if so. The majority of books put forward are, unsurprisingly, suggested by publishers, with authors sometimes asking for their books to be reviewed and unsolicited reviews received occasionally. Publishers tend to suggest books which are either academic and fairly denseor deal in relatively simple andmore accessible termswith a particular issue such as ADHD, illness or bereavement. The more academic books, with some notable exceptions, are usually related to religion and/or religious education, and in some cases chaplaincy, but often refer only loosely to spirituality. The less academic ones frequently make only a somewhat cursory mention of spirituality, except those which discuss practical programmes, such as Godly Play, or approaches such as mindfulness. There have been more books recently which discuss children’s spirituality in relation to holistic education. Books are published from time to timeonaspects of children’s lives such as dreams and imaginary friends which are necessarily dependent on children’s own perceptions and descriptions. Most of the books which discuss children of a specific age address the early years or adolescence, rather than the years in between. Only rarely arewebsites identified for possible review. Occasionally, books are recommended, or even sent, which make no mention of spirituality or children. Unsurprisingly, these are not considered for review! What are we to make of this? First, the perception by publishers of what the IJCS will be interested in, and therefore presumably how spirituality is perceived more broadly, is that it relates mainly to members of faith communities and educators, especially those working in religious education. Maybe, the type of books recommended reflects the long-standing difficulty of defining what is meant by spirituality. I suspect we will always face this and should see spirituality as a very loosely defined concept, drawing on a Wittgensteinian view of family INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SPIRITUALITY 2019, VOL. 24, NO. 3, 225–227 https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652573
{"title":"Editorial","authors":"Tony Eaude","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652573","url":null,"abstract":"As books review editor, as well as a reader of, and contributor to, the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, I gain a particular perspective on the themes which are – and are not – highlighted in relation to children’s spirituality; and how these have changed over recent years. This editorial offers the opportunity to consider the current state of the discourse on children’s spirituality and to suggest some directions which this and future research might usefully take, though inevitably this reflects my own interests and prejudices to some extent. It also provides me with the chance to thank those who have reviewed books and to encourage other people to recommend suitable books and/or offer to review them – please contact me if so. The majority of books put forward are, unsurprisingly, suggested by publishers, with authors sometimes asking for their books to be reviewed and unsolicited reviews received occasionally. Publishers tend to suggest books which are either academic and fairly denseor deal in relatively simple andmore accessible termswith a particular issue such as ADHD, illness or bereavement. The more academic books, with some notable exceptions, are usually related to religion and/or religious education, and in some cases chaplaincy, but often refer only loosely to spirituality. The less academic ones frequently make only a somewhat cursory mention of spirituality, except those which discuss practical programmes, such as Godly Play, or approaches such as mindfulness. There have been more books recently which discuss children’s spirituality in relation to holistic education. Books are published from time to timeonaspects of children’s lives such as dreams and imaginary friends which are necessarily dependent on children’s own perceptions and descriptions. Most of the books which discuss children of a specific age address the early years or adolescence, rather than the years in between. Only rarely arewebsites identified for possible review. Occasionally, books are recommended, or even sent, which make no mention of spirituality or children. Unsurprisingly, these are not considered for review! What are we to make of this? First, the perception by publishers of what the IJCS will be interested in, and therefore presumably how spirituality is perceived more broadly, is that it relates mainly to members of faith communities and educators, especially those working in religious education. Maybe, the type of books recommended reflects the long-standing difficulty of defining what is meant by spirituality. I suspect we will always face this and should see spirituality as a very loosely defined concept, drawing on a Wittgensteinian view of family INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SPIRITUALITY 2019, VOL. 24, NO. 3, 225–227 https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652573","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652573","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48770955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646221
Mira Cataya Rodriguez, Christian Stokke
ABSTRACT Spiritual experiences are common across religious and non-religious faiths, but schoolchildren are often afraid to share these because they fear ridicule from peers who are convinced religion is irrational. The need to speak about spirituality in religious education is increasingly recognised. Signposts suggests that intercultural understanding implies recognising religious students’ perception of reality and helping others understand it. Religious education in Norway now includes exploration of existential questions as a core element, and in England, making sense of religious, spiritual and mystical experiences has been suggested as a big idea. In this paper, we discuss how the dualistic paradigm of modern science makes it difficult to take spirituality seriously as lived experience and empirical phenomenon. Instead we suggest a transrational approach to explore our multidimensional reality in an intercultural dialogue where insiders and outsiders learn from each other. We also explore examples of transrational research on spiritual phenomena.
{"title":"Taking spiritual experiences seriously in the religious education classroom: a transrational approach","authors":"Mira Cataya Rodriguez, Christian Stokke","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646221","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Spiritual experiences are common across religious and non-religious faiths, but schoolchildren are often afraid to share these because they fear ridicule from peers who are convinced religion is irrational. The need to speak about spirituality in religious education is increasingly recognised. Signposts suggests that intercultural understanding implies recognising religious students’ perception of reality and helping others understand it. Religious education in Norway now includes exploration of existential questions as a core element, and in England, making sense of religious, spiritual and mystical experiences has been suggested as a big idea. In this paper, we discuss how the dualistic paradigm of modern science makes it difficult to take spirituality seriously as lived experience and empirical phenomenon. Instead we suggest a transrational approach to explore our multidimensional reality in an intercultural dialogue where insiders and outsiders learn from each other. We also explore examples of transrational research on spiritual phenomena.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646221","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46584015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2019.1650003
J. Livingston
ABSTRACT Parent-child relationships can be strengthened by the increased time spent together due to youth sport involvement. The time demands, however, require families to skip religious services. The intent of this qualitative study was to explore how Christian families with competitive youth athletes promote faith development. Fifteen families across the United States were interviewed to gather data related to the level of church and sport involvement as well as behaviours related to faith development. The results suggest families strategically find ways to remain involved in church, integrate their faith into daily life, and identify ways to develop character in sports.
{"title":"Competitive youth athletes: how do their families prioritize faith development while participating in sports?","authors":"J. Livingston","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1650003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1650003","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Parent-child relationships can be strengthened by the increased time spent together due to youth sport involvement. The time demands, however, require families to skip religious services. The intent of this qualitative study was to explore how Christian families with competitive youth athletes promote faith development. Fifteen families across the United States were interviewed to gather data related to the level of church and sport involvement as well as behaviours related to faith development. The results suggest families strategically find ways to remain involved in church, integrate their faith into daily life, and identify ways to develop character in sports.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1650003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47279123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}