International Journal of Childrens Spirituality最新文献

{"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":"24 1","pages":"243 - 259"},"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}

{"title":"Icarus ignored: understanding mundane spirituality through young people’s prayer","authors":"Julian Stern, Eli Kohn","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646219","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A major international contribution to the applied philosophy of spirituality, this article builds on Wong’s description of ‘mundane spirituality’, exploring this through empirical research on young people’s approaches to prayer in Israel and the UK. The Icarus narrative is used as a metaphor for the apparent choice between the material, everyday, mundane and the heavenly, sacred and divine spiritual. Prayer is typically regarded as a spiritual activity if it makes the latter choice, and as inappropriate and unspiritual if too focused on the mundane. However, a more relational approach to spirituality sees the mundane not only as a possible route to the spiritual but as in itself spiritual. Mundane spirituality is evidenced from two projects on young people’s prayer, one based in Jewish religious schools in Israel, the other based in a range of schools (with and without religious foundations) in the UK. Young people describe the importance of the everyday, and in particular of personal relationships (with the living and the dead, and the sacred and divine), in enabling spirituality through engagement with prayer or ‘prayer spaces’ in schools. The conclusions are of significance for academic research and for professional practice.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"290 - 306"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646219","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44921047","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}

{"title":"The religious imagination of children project: an initial research report","authors":"J. Wigger","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652572","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652572","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article presents a report of ongoing research into children’s religious beliefs and practices. Three sources of research are put into conversation with each other: 1) new findings in cognitive and developmental psychologies; 2) original empirical research utilising interviews with children; and 3) theological understandings of childhood. The author makes the case that childhood imagination and cognition are more sophisticated than prevalent developmental paradigms have allowed (ones rooted in Freud and Piaget). Likewise, the author raises the possibility that children’s religious imaginations may be more sophisticated than often appreciated, potentially helping them navigate existential threats and challenges. Charles Taylor’s notion of a porous self provides a conceptual framework for considering the ways in which children’s religious imaginations may represent an openness to a sense of transcendence even in the midst of a general disenchantment of reality in secular societies.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"228 - 242"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1652572","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46871022","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}

{"title":"Fred Rogers and children’s spirituality: valuing the uniqueness of others and caring for others","authors":"Kathleen I. Harris","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619526","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was a safe haven advocating kindness, empathy, and caring for all children. Making everyone feel loved, Fred Rogers captured the attention and curiosity of young children across America with his compassionate manner, intentional listening skills, and respect for all individuals by encouraging children to feel good about themselves. This article explores the ministry of Fred Rogers and how his approach to children's spirituality focused on valuing the uniqueness of each individual, human connections through play, and caring for others by recognizing spiritual moments and teaching the whole child while appreciating the uniqueness of others. His genuine and patient presence had a healing quality, creating a world for children in which real learning and unconditional love could flourish. The messages of tolerance and acceptance by recognizing and respecting other's beliefs, and unconditional love and care, were beacons of hope for all.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"140 - 154"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619526","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47295897","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}

{"title":"Jack Priestley: an obituary","authors":"R. Wills, Clive Erricker","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622219","url":null,"abstract":"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Jack Priestley. Jack had been a long-time key figure in the life of the International Association for Children’s Spirituality, being involved with the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality as a member of the Editorial Board, a delegate at the early International Conferences and our Honorary President. One task in this role was to compile his ‘Notion of the spiritual,’ a short piece posted until recently on the IACS website. This piece marked a significant shift away from the prioritizing of dogmatic claims regarding spirituality. Rather than reverting to fixed descriptions and claims to truth within theology and religion, his ‘notion’ indicates how spirituality transcends theology and religion. His Hockerill lecture of 1996 was an important contribution to the debate on children’s spirituality, proposing the idea that ‘development’ is an appropriate term in this respect. He preferred to focus on the dimension of spirituality that cannot be described or defined, and as such, this idea has provided a foundation for the beliefs and values of the association and journal. His thinking was also influential in the wider world of education. Along with Terence Copley and others, he was instrumental in encouraging teachers to consider a different dimension to religious and spiritual education. His idea was that students should be participants in learning, allowing for the creation of dynamic experiences that are relevant to their personal lives. This was certainly at a tangent to the epistemological hegemony within the paradigm prevalent in Religious and Spiritual Education in the UK in the 1980s. In turn, his thinking inspired the work of scholars such as Tony Eaude, Jacqueline Watson and Ruth Wills, each of whom have made significant contributions to this journal. Their research and practice within the fields of Education and Children’s Spirituality in the UK has perpetuated an interest in the development of an understanding of (non-religious) spirituality in children’s lives and thus ensured that Jack’s legacy continues to inform and inspire. Clive and Jane Erricker, co-founders of the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality and conveners of the first International Conference on Children’s Spirituality worked closely with Jack and were similarly instrumental in promoting the rhetoric and theory of children’s spirituality. Clive offers this tribute: ‘Jack’s death is an occasion for sorrow. He was a mentor in my professional life and a long-time friend. He was a major proponent of an experiential approach to religious education that gained traction in the 1980s in England and Wales, though its influence went further than that. He, along with others INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SPIRITUALITY 2019, VOL. 24, NO. 2, 104–106 https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622219","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"104 - 106"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622219","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45967628","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}

{"title":"Inspiring wonder, awe, and empathy: spiritual development in young children","authors":"J. Surr","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622218","url":null,"abstract":"Dr. Schein has written a useful guide to help early childhood practitioners identify and nurture spirituality in young children at home and in child care. Schein emphasizes the need for adults to think of spirituality when relating to young children, especially by paying attention to and remarking upon the children’s signs of spirituality (such as wonder, awe, and empathy). Young children tend to look more to their caregivers’ behaviors and interests than their words, in building their own brains and lives to fit in with the world they experience. Schein brings home vividly these themes with ample photographs and stories, in a discussion with the reader peppered with examples of the windows of opportunity she has witnessed. This is not a book of research findings, although Schein briefly describes some relevant research along the way. Rather, it is aimed at helping the classroom teacher move in a direction toward nurturing spirituality equally with the physical, sensory, selfhelp, emotional, social, communication, and cognitive domains. She emphasizes that young children grow best when they can integrate the different domains into their play, rather than when academic skills take priority before the children are ready for them. She praises the integrative power of exposure to nature. ‘Nature provides an excellent milieu for supporting a child’s spiritual development’ (p. 71). Schein characterizes spiritual development as beginning with a spiritual embryo, using love, connections, and relationships to build a positive sense of self. As the next step she sees the emergence of the child’s basic internal dispositions, spiritual moments and feelings of wonder, awe, joy, and inner peace. The third stage she describes as one of complex dispositions, leading to values, morals, and a sense of duty to others. These stages culminate in a self-sustaining system in which all three stages work together. This approach to spiritual development recasts more conventional categories of early childhood development in a way that might not resonate with some teachers or researchers, but it serves Schein’s purpose of organizing an approach emphasizing spirituality into the lattice of early childhood development. Schein goes into some detail about cultivating spiritual moments with young children. She reports that in her dialogues with teachers, many have difficulty understanding her references to spirituality until Schein asks: ‘Have you ever seen a child’s face light up with pure inner excitement and wonder?’ (p. 91) Schein then examines factors leading to such moments, such as","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"221 - 222"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1622218","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49494583","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}

{"title":"Rendering theology with 2-year-old children: a Godly Play and grounded theory combination","authors":"Kathy Frady","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619535","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619535","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Research conducted with a specialized population such as very young children is fraught with issues not faced by research conducted with older participants. While researchers have conducted interviews with adults regarding their perceptions of young children and researchers have observed young children, this study was designed to allow 2-year-old children to be in a setting that offered the needed backdrop of language and play interaction in order capture theological understanding from the child’s point of view. Using Godly Play with grounded theory allowed the emergence of the concept of rendering theology with 2-year-old children. The sub-themes included: Eager Receptiveness, Pretend to the Read the Bible Play, and Jesus Play. This study highlighted not only a theory regarding very young children’s theological ideas, but also a spiritual qualitative methodology that may be used for future research with 2-year-old children.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"183 - 201"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619535","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45185748","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}

{"title":"Setting the stage for children’s participation in worship practices","authors":"Lydia van Leersum-Bekebrede, Ronelle Sonnenberg, Jos de Kock, M. Barnard","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619533","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT How children participate in worship practices is largely determined by adults. Adults set the stage; they shape the physical environment and determine the subject matter. Adults design the format for children’s participation in various forms of worship and the roles adults perform influence the interactions with children. Many different intentions inform these design choices and roles: Intentions revolving around faith, liturgy, community, and experience. The way adults shape worship with children points to the significance of spirituality. When adults perform directing roles, children’s spirituality can find a point of reference in stories and traditions while adults themselves gain from the process of translation this involves. When adults facilitate exploration, this nourishes both children’s and adults’ spirituality. Finally, when adults and children participate in worship practices together, it may contribute to a sense of community in which faith can be lived and shared.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"166 - 182"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619533","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43635754","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}

{"title":"Editorial","authors":"A. Gellel, R. Wills, Karen-Marie Yust","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1629569","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1629569","url":null,"abstract":"In the movies The Matrix (1999), Virus (1999) and Kingsman: the Secret Service (2014), humans are considered by villains to be like viruses. Meanwhile the Marvel movie, Avengers: Infinity War (2017), differently from the original comic story-line in The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos, the film’s antagonist, kills half of the universe because of overpopulation. In the view of the villains of these popular superhero movies, overpopulation is to blame for the climate crises and many other human sufferings including famine, pandemics and war. This view is rooted in the idea that Earth has a natural limited carrying capacity but, on the other hand, there is also an underlying anthropological understanding that humans are alien to the ecosystem and therefore are damaging to nature, and ultimately to themselves. In reality, an increase in population should not necessarily result in widespread famine or other human sufferings. In fact, although the human population has increased dramatically over the past one hundred years from just 2 billion to the current 7.5 billion, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (2006, 2018) has reported that in the past 50 years undernourishment has decreased from 37% in 1969 to 10.9% of the continuously increasing total human population in 2017. In any case, we can leave the discourse on whether or not Earth has a limited carrying capacity to scientists and focus on how we humans understand our relationship with the environment and our place in the ecosystem, and examine the implications of such understanding to children’s spirituality. Widely held conceptions should not be underestimated since it is through concepts and metaphors that we regulate our relationship to reality and to fellow humans. Thus, it is easy to blame suffering and environmental problems on overpopulation even though the causes run much deeper than that since they are related to our understanding of human nature as well as to the narrative that regulates our relationship with our same species and with the whole of the environment. It is our contention that the main underlying problem is spiritual. On the one hand, it is how humans, particularly those in power understand our relationship to nature. For too long we have seen ourselves as masters of nature and thereby outside the ecosystem. On the other hand, over the past centuries there has been a growing awareness of individual autonomy and authenticity. Although, as Taylor (1992) points out, this per se is not wrong; this has also led to individualism and the resulting fragmentation in all areas of human experience. These twoways INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S SPIRITUALITY 2019, VOL. 24, NO. 2, 101–103 https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1629569","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"101 - 103"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1629569","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46811923","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}

{"title":"Islamic Model of Children’s Spiritual Education (CSE); its influence on improvement of communicational behaviour with non-coreligionists","authors":"M. Ganjvar","doi":"10.1080/1364436X.2019.1624254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1624254","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper aims at showing the efficiency and influence of spiritual education on improvement of communicational behaviour of children with the followers of others religions through presentation of an Islamic model derived from Quran and prophetic tradition. In the first part of the paper, we have provided a conceptual analysis of spirituality along with a short history of the attention to spiritual education of children in the world. Then, we introduce the Islamic model of spirituality and its moral foundations and aspects. In the final part of the paper, we have inferred the key factors of Islamic Model for Children’s Spiritual Education that play a vital role in the reinforcement of communicational skills of the children with the non-coreligionists. The method used in the current research is of descriptive-analytic type.","PeriodicalId":45218,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Childrens Spirituality","volume":"24 1","pages":"124 - 139"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1624254","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48042272","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}