Visions of the "good life" are conspicuously absent in contemporary culture. This has sent people searching for a sense of spirituality within themselves, in their communities and traditions, and in the transcendent that lies beyond space and time. Contemporary education has abandoned a connection with spirituality and has failed as a consequence to cultivate goodness in people. Yet there is a deep connection between ethics, spirituality, and education. For spiritual visions respond to our quest for a moral life, and the first task of education is to initiate people into communities that celebrate such as life. This book is divided into three main sections: (1) calls for spirituality and ethics in education, (2) relations between the spiritual and the ethical in education, and (3) spiritual and ethical traditions and practices in education. Themes include education for justice, hope, and reconciliation; Jesus as teacher; spirituality and violence; spirituality and citizenship; the spirituality of Arab children in Israel and Palestine; spirituality and children in the Jewish tradition; spirituality and humanistic education; the dangers of spirituality in education; personal and collective spirituality in education; liturgy and literature in spiritual education; and spirituality and peace education. Spirituality and Ethics in Education provides an international, multicultural, interfaith forum concerning the philosophical, theological, and practical foundations of ethics in spiritual education for a rapidly changing world.

From being on the margins of scholarly debate for much of the past century and a half, religion is being recognized once again as an area of concern for scholars, politicians, and public policy makers, and thus, the role of religious and spiritual education has taken on a new importance. Apart from its socio-political ramifications, the place of religiousness and spirituality in the make-up of individuals has been given renewed prominence through updated brain science, and neuroscientists regularly refer to elements of this brain science in terms such as spiritual intelligence and even mystical consciousness. This book explores many of the new directions being taken in the field of religious and spiritual education, as new developments challenge the priorities of formal education, and open up new avenues for incorporating religion and spirituality into the modern curriculum. It asks whether the educational aims of teachers should be focused on specifically personal development, or whether religious education should be used to develop understanding of more global and social issues such as citizenship, conflict, and ethics. The book also addresses neuroscientific insights, which suggest a need to engage with cognition and emotion in order to create a rich learning environment, something to which a particularly contested subject area like religion and spirituality is well-placed to contribute. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Beliefs & Values.

This book deals with the multiple problem of education in the public schools as it relates to moral and spiritual values. The author cuts a wide swath through the tangled underbrush of church and state, religion and education, sacred and secular, spiritual and materialistic, "body and soul," and lets in a lot of light. To these problems the author brings a lifetime of courageous reflection and experience. To them he also brings, as case studies, the actual experiences of actual children and teachers in actual classrooms in Kentucky, where an experimental program of education in moral and spiritual values has been in process for the past several years.

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Annotation Robert J. Nash (education and social services, U. of Vermont) shares insights gained through 35 years of teaching in a public university. The volume centers around his struggle (as a self- described "postmodern agnostic skeptic") to create a spirituality of teaching. Through this autobiographical narrative, Nash examines topics such as the politics of education, finding faith in honest doubt, and moral constructivism. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Reclaiming Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest begins with the premise that sound models for achieving both spiritual fulfillment and the "good life" are lacking in contemporary culture. Arguing that contemporary education is responsible for having abandoned spirituality and the cultivation of goodness in people, Hanan A. Alexander advances a definition of spirituality which acknowledges an integral connection to education. Reclaiming Goodness charts a way to reintegrate ethical and spiritual values with the values of critical thought and reason. Written in accessible and non-technical prose, it will be of interest to professional educators as well as to a wider audience.

EXPLORING RELIGION AND ETHICS is written by leading educators and experienced practising teachers to meet the requirements of the Religion and Ethics SAS in Queensland. It offers a vast array of learning opportunities that draw on a three-tiered model of personal, relational and spiritual dimensions, and encourages students to explore how these dimensions relate to their own religious beliefs. It features: Clear concise and student-friendly language that caters for different learning abilities and styles Learning and assessment activities that engage and extend students A wide range of valuable time-saving teacher support resources for additional classwork, homework and assessment are available on Cambridge GO.

This primer on authentic education explores how mind and heart can work together in the learning process. Moving beyond the bankruptcy of our current model of education, Parker Palmer finds the soul of education through a lifelong cultivation of the wisdom each of us possesses and can share to benefit others.