This document summarizes an article about teaching world religions at Jesuit colleges. It discusses how the academic study of religion has developed from a theological liberalism focused on comparative religions to a more historical approach that considers issues of power and justice. Specifically, it examines how the discipline of History of Religions emerged seeking to unite religions but later fragmented due to criticisms that it ignored history and power relations. The author argues teaching world religions can foster discussion of justice if done with awareness of these issues.
This document discusses the debate around teaching creationism versus evolution in public schools. It argues that banning creationism from school curricula discriminates against the 44% of Americans who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible's creation story. While evolutionists claim their theory is not a religion, some scientists acknowledge parallels between evolution and religious faith. The document concludes that allowing creationism as a separate elective course could find common ground while respecting all beliefs.
This document summarizes a study that explored how faculty at a Jesuit Catholic university described their responsibility to promote Ignatian spirituality. Interviews were conducted with 15 faculty members and the university president. The faculty represented Jesuit, Catholic non-Jesuit, and non-Catholic backgrounds. The study found that faculty's ability to promote Ignatian values depended on their religious beliefs and willingness to promote Catholic and Jesuit values, despite challenges. A model was developed showing how interactions between administrators, faculty and students influence the university's ability to maintain its faith-based identity. Additional perspectives are needed to better understand promoting Ignatian spirituality at this and other Jesuit universities.
The document argues that a new vision of international cooperation is needed to address global challenges like inequality, insecurity, and environmental degradation. It outlines four reasons why the current system has failed: 1) failure to address the challenges of global capitalism, 2) lack of mutual respect and democratic participation, 3) over-reliance on governments, and 4) failure to prevent humanitarian crises. It argues that reform needs a spiritual dimension to provide moral frameworks, social services, and transformation of individuals, in order to underpin new forms of politics, economics and social policy through ethical behavior and equitable sharing.
Wedding and Formal Photography by Erin Leigh MulliganErin Mulligan
Erin Leigh Mulligan provides wedding and formal photography services. She specializes in capturing sentimental moments from weddings and other formal events with beautiful photography. Clients can contact Erin Leigh Mulligan for wedding or formal photography needs.
1. El documento presenta el informe de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en México en 2015, enfocándose en desapariciones forzadas, ejecuciones extrajudiciales, tortura e impunidad.
2. México atraviesa una grave crisis de violencia desde 2006 que ha provocado más de 100,000 muertes y miles de desapariciones. Las autoridades han aumentado el rol de las fuerzas armadas en tareas de seguridad pública, lo que ha desatado mayor violencia y viol
1) The author, Johan Van de Gronden, attended a nonprofit management conference in Stanford where he observed key differences in how Americans and Europeans view societal challenges.
2) Americans have an almost unquestioned belief in the value of entrepreneurship and a suspicion of government, seeing problems as market failures best solved by social entrepreneurs.
3) The author believes the three main actors in society - business, government, and civil society - all have important roles to play, and that a thriving civil society is important for a healthy democracy.
The document discusses the good, bad, and ugly aspects of corporate responsibility. It argues that while corporate social responsibility has many interpretations and is divisive as a term, corporations can maximize profits while also serving the public interest. The document outlines how capitalism has moved away from Adam Smith's vision of "enlightened self-interest" towards a more selfish "brute capitalism" focused only on profits. However, it argues that a moral form of capitalism is possible where corporate and public interests are reconciled through corporations accepting accountability for external impacts and recognizing this enhances long-term shareholder value. In conclusion, for capitalism to be sustainable, corporations must balance self-interest with consideration for others.
This document discusses the debate around teaching creationism versus evolution in public schools. It argues that banning creationism from school curricula discriminates against the 44% of Americans who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible's creation story. While evolutionists claim their theory is not a religion, some scientists acknowledge parallels between evolution and religious faith. The document concludes that allowing creationism as a separate elective course could find common ground while respecting all beliefs.
This document summarizes a study that explored how faculty at a Jesuit Catholic university described their responsibility to promote Ignatian spirituality. Interviews were conducted with 15 faculty members and the university president. The faculty represented Jesuit, Catholic non-Jesuit, and non-Catholic backgrounds. The study found that faculty's ability to promote Ignatian values depended on their religious beliefs and willingness to promote Catholic and Jesuit values, despite challenges. A model was developed showing how interactions between administrators, faculty and students influence the university's ability to maintain its faith-based identity. Additional perspectives are needed to better understand promoting Ignatian spirituality at this and other Jesuit universities.
The document argues that a new vision of international cooperation is needed to address global challenges like inequality, insecurity, and environmental degradation. It outlines four reasons why the current system has failed: 1) failure to address the challenges of global capitalism, 2) lack of mutual respect and democratic participation, 3) over-reliance on governments, and 4) failure to prevent humanitarian crises. It argues that reform needs a spiritual dimension to provide moral frameworks, social services, and transformation of individuals, in order to underpin new forms of politics, economics and social policy through ethical behavior and equitable sharing.
Wedding and Formal Photography by Erin Leigh MulliganErin Mulligan
Erin Leigh Mulligan provides wedding and formal photography services. She specializes in capturing sentimental moments from weddings and other formal events with beautiful photography. Clients can contact Erin Leigh Mulligan for wedding or formal photography needs.
1. El documento presenta el informe de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en México en 2015, enfocándose en desapariciones forzadas, ejecuciones extrajudiciales, tortura e impunidad.
2. México atraviesa una grave crisis de violencia desde 2006 que ha provocado más de 100,000 muertes y miles de desapariciones. Las autoridades han aumentado el rol de las fuerzas armadas en tareas de seguridad pública, lo que ha desatado mayor violencia y viol
1) The author, Johan Van de Gronden, attended a nonprofit management conference in Stanford where he observed key differences in how Americans and Europeans view societal challenges.
2) Americans have an almost unquestioned belief in the value of entrepreneurship and a suspicion of government, seeing problems as market failures best solved by social entrepreneurs.
3) The author believes the three main actors in society - business, government, and civil society - all have important roles to play, and that a thriving civil society is important for a healthy democracy.
The document discusses the good, bad, and ugly aspects of corporate responsibility. It argues that while corporate social responsibility has many interpretations and is divisive as a term, corporations can maximize profits while also serving the public interest. The document outlines how capitalism has moved away from Adam Smith's vision of "enlightened self-interest" towards a more selfish "brute capitalism" focused only on profits. However, it argues that a moral form of capitalism is possible where corporate and public interests are reconciled through corporations accepting accountability for external impacts and recognizing this enhances long-term shareholder value. In conclusion, for capitalism to be sustainable, corporations must balance self-interest with consideration for others.
This document summarizes a presentation on business ethics and social responsibility given by Marcos Eduardo Villa Corrales. It includes questions on 8 case studies relating to issues like accounting scandals, human rights, intellectual property, environmental protection, product safety, labor practices, and corporate culture. The cases examine companies like Enron, Unocal, GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, Questar, Ford, Ralphs, and Gap, and discuss their ethical responsibilities to stakeholders, communities, consumers, workers and the environment.
This document discusses human rights issues facing indigenous groups in Guerrero, Mexico. It describes threats and violence faced by Raúl Lucas, the president of OFPM, who was kidnapped and murdered along with another member. The National Commission on Human Rights and Mexican authorities failed to adequately investigate these cases. The document also discusses cases of persecution against members of another indigenous rights group, OPIM, who were falsely accused of murder. Amnesty International has declared members of OPIM to be prisoners of conscience. Overall, the document outlines serious threats to human rights defenders and lack of accountability in Guerrero.
This document discusses new hybrid legal structures that allow social enterprises to operate as both nonprofits and for-profits. Specifically, it introduces contract hybrids, which use legal agreements to bind together separate nonprofit and for-profit organizations into a single hybrid structure. It also discusses newer hybrid models like B Corporations, benefit corporations, and L3Cs, which provide legal forms for social enterprises to pursue both social missions and profits. The challenges of creating hybrid structures that satisfy both nonprofit and for-profit regulations and objectives are also addressed.
El documento describe las actividades realizadas por los estudiantes de primer grado en la Escuela Integral durante el año 2009, incluyendo preparar sopa para el invierno, recolectar tapitas para ayudar a un hospital, plantar un árbol y escribir un libro, aprender natación, y compartir momentos especiales con sus maestros.
The document summarizes the treatment of a Nuuchaanulth ceremonial curtain. It describes how the curtain had many holes and irregular discoloration from water damage. The treatment involved custom dyeing replacement fabric to match, then mending the holes by cutting windows in foamboard and stitching the new fabric pieces. Finally, the curtain was lined and fitted with a hanging sleeve to allow for display without further damage.
This document discusses Mexico's CSR Award program, which evaluates companies' corporate social responsibility practices across five key areas. It outlines the self-assessment process, measurable areas, questionnaire, means of recognition for high-scoring companies, and public benefits. Achievements over the past decade include growing participation and an increasing number of indicators. Leading participating companies praise how CSR improves competitiveness and benefits stakeholders. The program has also spread to other Latin American countries through cooperation with local CSR organizations. Requirements to introduce the award in a new country include establishing partnerships and adapting the process while maintaining core elements.
Amazing analysis of the philantropist american culture.
This is the result of: “investin research that clarifies donors‟ motivations, needs, and decision-making criteria.”
The document discusses a project retreat that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico from November 8-9, 2008. It includes the schedule for a 2006 Guadalajara SOFE event and some pictures.
The Student Monitoring & Attendance Tracking System (SMATS) is a software system that allows teachers to track student attendance, conduct, academic performance and other data. SMATS captures this data from fingerprint devices, mobile devices and computers to create a centralized database. This centralized database allows teachers to access information faster, reduces paperwork, and increases productivity by focusing more time on teaching.
IC_022414B_IACS General Institute Brochure_RD12_lbLeigh Bailey
This document provides an overview of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC. It discusses the Institute's mission to bring together faith and reason through interdisciplinary research. The Institute draws scholars from around the world to examine issues from Catholic perspectives in order to benefit both the Church and broader society. It is located at USC to take advantage of the university's resources and diversity. The Institute supports research on topics like economics, education, and interreligious dialogue. It also sponsors publications and programs to disseminate its work.
This document provides an overview of Christian liberal arts education. It discusses the origins of liberal arts in ancient Greece and its integration with Christianity. The author argues that a Christian liberal arts education develops students' minds, character, and passion for serving God and others. It aims to produce graduates who think critically, live Christian lives, and work to change the world for God's kingdom. The author also outlines some challenges facing Christian liberal arts institutions today.
This document summarizes and discusses several articles related to religion and culture. It begins with the story of a stolen chalice that was returned after 25 years by a dying man. It then discusses a book about evolution and God, arguing that evolution opens up a new understanding of God. Finally, it discusses the role of religion in universities, arguing that religious identity should be allowed in class discussions to model civil discourse.
This document discusses the history and foundations of Catholic education. Some key points:
- Catholic schools are designed to provide students with an academically rigorous and doctrinally sound education that strengthens their faith.
- They collaborate with parents and provide sound Church teaching through a curriculum where faith and culture are intertwined.
- This education ensures students have a moral foundation to live uprightly in today's world.
- The document traces the history of Catholic schools from their establishment by religious orders to meet the needs of immigrant communities in the US and their decline in the late 20th century.
Medieval education focused on teaching basic literacy skills to children. Schools operated without books, instead relying on skilled masters to orally teach students. Education was often provided for dubious personal or political gains rather than to truly enlighten minds. Jesus advocated a universal, ethical education open to all regardless of class or social status. He used conversational, parable-based, and Socratic teaching methods that encouraged questioning and remain influential today. Early Christian and monastic education emphasized religious and moral instruction through memorization and catechism, while scholasticism introduced more rational theological approaches. Chivalric, guild, and Saracenic models diversified medieval education.
This document provides a summary of the education and employment background of Edward (Ted) Newell. It lists his degrees from Teachers College at Columbia University, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Western Ontario. It then outlines his employment history, including positions as an Associate Professor at Crandall University, pastor roles at two churches, and international teaching experiences. It also lists authored books and publications on topics related to education, theology, and worldviews.
This document provides an overview of the history and foundations of Catholic education. It discusses how Catholic schools were established to educate children in the faith and provide a sound education rooted in Gospel values. It traces the development of Catholic schools from early Christian times through the Middle Ages, Reformation, Council of Trent, establishment in North America led by figures like Elizabeth Ann Seton, growth in the 19th century with immigrations, the height in the mid-20th century, and transition as orders of teaching nuns declined in the 1970s. It emphasizes that Catholic schools are called to form students in their faith and allow them to respond to Jesus' teachings while providing excellence in academic rigor.
The document discusses including theology and Christianity in public education standards and curriculum. It notes that Colorado high school history standards currently only address religion once by discussing the historical development and impact of major world religions. The author believes theology standards should be included in social studies to allow discussion of all religions alongside Christianity in order to help students understand the motivations of different religions. The document also recommends an academic journal article that explores the roots of Christianity in education and how the two subjects are nearly inseparable.
The document discusses the debate around teaching creationism versus evolution in schools. It focuses on the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows teachers to teach additional materials in science classrooms. Many opponents want to repeal this law as it could enable the teaching of creationism alongside evolution. The document argues that the Louisiana Science Education Act should be repealed as creationism is not scientific and its inclusion in science classrooms would violate the separation of church and state.
E D U C AT I O NStudy Theology, Even If You Dont Believe .docxkanepbyrne80830
This document discusses the context of a secular world that emerged in Western Europe in the mid-20th century following two world wars. Scientific advances, democracy, universal education, and influential thinkers like Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche challenged religious beliefs and the authority of the church. Christianity became a small minority faith in a much larger culture with many competing viewpoints. This threw Christian faith into crisis and caused many people to drift away from the church, questioning the meaning and truth of traditional doctrines.
Jews and Gentiles in the Early Jesus Movement abelbibliowicz
Jews and Gentiles in the Early Jesus Movement casts new light on Jewish-Gentile relations and the evolution of belief in the early Jesus movement. Abel Mordechai Bibliowicz suggests that the New Testament reflects the early stages of a Gentile challenge to the authority and to the legitimacy of the descendants of Jesus' disciples and first followers as the exclusive guardians and interpreters of his legacy. With the passage of time and loss of context, the tensions and trauma produced by this crisis came to be understood by later believers as reflective of a Jewish-Christian conflict. Bibliowicz suggests that the New Testament texts do not reflect a struggle between 'Christians' and 'Jews' nor a conflict between 'Judaism' and 'Christianity' but rather a heated dispute about Judaism and about Torah observance among Jesus' early followers.
This document summarizes a presentation on business ethics and social responsibility given by Marcos Eduardo Villa Corrales. It includes questions on 8 case studies relating to issues like accounting scandals, human rights, intellectual property, environmental protection, product safety, labor practices, and corporate culture. The cases examine companies like Enron, Unocal, GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, Questar, Ford, Ralphs, and Gap, and discuss their ethical responsibilities to stakeholders, communities, consumers, workers and the environment.
This document discusses human rights issues facing indigenous groups in Guerrero, Mexico. It describes threats and violence faced by Raúl Lucas, the president of OFPM, who was kidnapped and murdered along with another member. The National Commission on Human Rights and Mexican authorities failed to adequately investigate these cases. The document also discusses cases of persecution against members of another indigenous rights group, OPIM, who were falsely accused of murder. Amnesty International has declared members of OPIM to be prisoners of conscience. Overall, the document outlines serious threats to human rights defenders and lack of accountability in Guerrero.
This document discusses new hybrid legal structures that allow social enterprises to operate as both nonprofits and for-profits. Specifically, it introduces contract hybrids, which use legal agreements to bind together separate nonprofit and for-profit organizations into a single hybrid structure. It also discusses newer hybrid models like B Corporations, benefit corporations, and L3Cs, which provide legal forms for social enterprises to pursue both social missions and profits. The challenges of creating hybrid structures that satisfy both nonprofit and for-profit regulations and objectives are also addressed.
El documento describe las actividades realizadas por los estudiantes de primer grado en la Escuela Integral durante el año 2009, incluyendo preparar sopa para el invierno, recolectar tapitas para ayudar a un hospital, plantar un árbol y escribir un libro, aprender natación, y compartir momentos especiales con sus maestros.
The document summarizes the treatment of a Nuuchaanulth ceremonial curtain. It describes how the curtain had many holes and irregular discoloration from water damage. The treatment involved custom dyeing replacement fabric to match, then mending the holes by cutting windows in foamboard and stitching the new fabric pieces. Finally, the curtain was lined and fitted with a hanging sleeve to allow for display without further damage.
This document discusses Mexico's CSR Award program, which evaluates companies' corporate social responsibility practices across five key areas. It outlines the self-assessment process, measurable areas, questionnaire, means of recognition for high-scoring companies, and public benefits. Achievements over the past decade include growing participation and an increasing number of indicators. Leading participating companies praise how CSR improves competitiveness and benefits stakeholders. The program has also spread to other Latin American countries through cooperation with local CSR organizations. Requirements to introduce the award in a new country include establishing partnerships and adapting the process while maintaining core elements.
Amazing analysis of the philantropist american culture.
This is the result of: “investin research that clarifies donors‟ motivations, needs, and decision-making criteria.”
The document discusses a project retreat that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico from November 8-9, 2008. It includes the schedule for a 2006 Guadalajara SOFE event and some pictures.
The Student Monitoring & Attendance Tracking System (SMATS) is a software system that allows teachers to track student attendance, conduct, academic performance and other data. SMATS captures this data from fingerprint devices, mobile devices and computers to create a centralized database. This centralized database allows teachers to access information faster, reduces paperwork, and increases productivity by focusing more time on teaching.
IC_022414B_IACS General Institute Brochure_RD12_lbLeigh Bailey
This document provides an overview of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC. It discusses the Institute's mission to bring together faith and reason through interdisciplinary research. The Institute draws scholars from around the world to examine issues from Catholic perspectives in order to benefit both the Church and broader society. It is located at USC to take advantage of the university's resources and diversity. The Institute supports research on topics like economics, education, and interreligious dialogue. It also sponsors publications and programs to disseminate its work.
This document provides an overview of Christian liberal arts education. It discusses the origins of liberal arts in ancient Greece and its integration with Christianity. The author argues that a Christian liberal arts education develops students' minds, character, and passion for serving God and others. It aims to produce graduates who think critically, live Christian lives, and work to change the world for God's kingdom. The author also outlines some challenges facing Christian liberal arts institutions today.
This document summarizes and discusses several articles related to religion and culture. It begins with the story of a stolen chalice that was returned after 25 years by a dying man. It then discusses a book about evolution and God, arguing that evolution opens up a new understanding of God. Finally, it discusses the role of religion in universities, arguing that religious identity should be allowed in class discussions to model civil discourse.
This document discusses the history and foundations of Catholic education. Some key points:
- Catholic schools are designed to provide students with an academically rigorous and doctrinally sound education that strengthens their faith.
- They collaborate with parents and provide sound Church teaching through a curriculum where faith and culture are intertwined.
- This education ensures students have a moral foundation to live uprightly in today's world.
- The document traces the history of Catholic schools from their establishment by religious orders to meet the needs of immigrant communities in the US and their decline in the late 20th century.
Medieval education focused on teaching basic literacy skills to children. Schools operated without books, instead relying on skilled masters to orally teach students. Education was often provided for dubious personal or political gains rather than to truly enlighten minds. Jesus advocated a universal, ethical education open to all regardless of class or social status. He used conversational, parable-based, and Socratic teaching methods that encouraged questioning and remain influential today. Early Christian and monastic education emphasized religious and moral instruction through memorization and catechism, while scholasticism introduced more rational theological approaches. Chivalric, guild, and Saracenic models diversified medieval education.
This document provides a summary of the education and employment background of Edward (Ted) Newell. It lists his degrees from Teachers College at Columbia University, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Western Ontario. It then outlines his employment history, including positions as an Associate Professor at Crandall University, pastor roles at two churches, and international teaching experiences. It also lists authored books and publications on topics related to education, theology, and worldviews.
This document provides an overview of the history and foundations of Catholic education. It discusses how Catholic schools were established to educate children in the faith and provide a sound education rooted in Gospel values. It traces the development of Catholic schools from early Christian times through the Middle Ages, Reformation, Council of Trent, establishment in North America led by figures like Elizabeth Ann Seton, growth in the 19th century with immigrations, the height in the mid-20th century, and transition as orders of teaching nuns declined in the 1970s. It emphasizes that Catholic schools are called to form students in their faith and allow them to respond to Jesus' teachings while providing excellence in academic rigor.
The document discusses including theology and Christianity in public education standards and curriculum. It notes that Colorado high school history standards currently only address religion once by discussing the historical development and impact of major world religions. The author believes theology standards should be included in social studies to allow discussion of all religions alongside Christianity in order to help students understand the motivations of different religions. The document also recommends an academic journal article that explores the roots of Christianity in education and how the two subjects are nearly inseparable.
The document discusses the debate around teaching creationism versus evolution in schools. It focuses on the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows teachers to teach additional materials in science classrooms. Many opponents want to repeal this law as it could enable the teaching of creationism alongside evolution. The document argues that the Louisiana Science Education Act should be repealed as creationism is not scientific and its inclusion in science classrooms would violate the separation of church and state.
E D U C AT I O NStudy Theology, Even If You Dont Believe .docxkanepbyrne80830
This document discusses the context of a secular world that emerged in Western Europe in the mid-20th century following two world wars. Scientific advances, democracy, universal education, and influential thinkers like Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche challenged religious beliefs and the authority of the church. Christianity became a small minority faith in a much larger culture with many competing viewpoints. This threw Christian faith into crisis and caused many people to drift away from the church, questioning the meaning and truth of traditional doctrines.
Jews and Gentiles in the Early Jesus Movement abelbibliowicz
Jews and Gentiles in the Early Jesus Movement casts new light on Jewish-Gentile relations and the evolution of belief in the early Jesus movement. Abel Mordechai Bibliowicz suggests that the New Testament reflects the early stages of a Gentile challenge to the authority and to the legitimacy of the descendants of Jesus' disciples and first followers as the exclusive guardians and interpreters of his legacy. With the passage of time and loss of context, the tensions and trauma produced by this crisis came to be understood by later believers as reflective of a Jewish-Christian conflict. Bibliowicz suggests that the New Testament texts do not reflect a struggle between 'Christians' and 'Jews' nor a conflict between 'Judaism' and 'Christianity' but rather a heated dispute about Judaism and about Torah observance among Jesus' early followers.
Classroom sex education is harmful and should be avoided according to Catholic teachings. It violates the natural privacy of sexual matters and can corrupt the morals of children. While the author was initially unaware of the issues with classroom sex ed, he came to understand through the writings of others that it is never appropriate to teach sex education as a separate classroom subject. The magisterium of the Catholic Church prohibits classroom sex education and sees it as an obligation of parents, not schools, to educate children about sexuality.
Relevant and Effective Theological Education for Twenty First.pptjoshva raja john
This document discusses relevant and effective theological education for 21st century India. It argues that theological education should be dialogical and interactive, starting from students' meanings and experiences. It should involve teachers, students, churches and the broader community in an ongoing process of creating, sharing, interpreting and analyzing their faith experiences and meanings in relation to their contexts. This recognizes that standardized, top-down models of education have not helped churches respond to needs. Theological education should maintain a creative tension between faith, experience and social realities, through community engagement and consideration of multiple models for doing theology in different contexts.
1) The document discusses the history of how religious studies has been taught in schools, from colonial times through the present. It focuses on a case study of the Modesto, CA school district which mandates a world religions course for graduation.
2) The Modesto course covers major world religions equally and is intended to promote understanding and prevent harassment. It has positive effects like increasing respect among students for different faiths.
3) Challenges to teaching religious studies include lack of emphasis on assessments and need for teacher training. Support can come from strong administration, clear communication, and integrating religion into history and social studies courses.
This document contains an outline for a philosophy of ministry course. The outline includes sections on biblical narrative, the imago dei, the Holy Spirit, God as king, education, prayer in teaching, course summaries, and a personal mission statement. Key points include: viewing education as transformative rather than just professional; the importance of prayer in teaching; facilitating agency and relationship in teaching; and a mission of pastoring teenagers struggling with identity. The document provides an overview of the topics and themes covered in the course.
medieval theology and effects of modren science.pptxMuhammadHashami2
here i write about the relationship with various aspects of medieval life, including education, ethics, science, and culture, With modern science.
and some philosophes that lived in medieval age and also i write some effects of theology on philosophy science
This article discusses recent trends in pilgrimage studies. It argues that scholars should study instances where pilgrimages fail to achieve their intended outcomes, but this is difficult due to theoretical assumptions and methodological limitations. Specifically, Victor Turner's influential model portrays pilgrimage as transformative, while methods rely on sources like participant observation and pilgrim accounts that emphasize intended rather than actual effects. The article suggests pilgrimage studies could be advanced by moving beyond its subfield boundaries and contributing to broader conversations across disciplines.
This document provides a literature review on the topic of faith schools in multicultural Britain. It discusses the history of faith schools in Britain and key debates around their role. The review covers literature on topics like Islamophobia, the "Operation Trojan Horse" scandal, the Prevent strategy, and reports from the Runnymede Trust and Richard Dawkins critiquing faith schools. The review aims to establish the extent to which faith schools promote social cohesion or conflict by exploring a range of perspectives in the existing research literature.
The medieval education (monastic, scholastic, chivalric)BonTayaben
This document provides an overview of medieval education systems including monasticism, scholasticism, chivalry, and guilds. It discusses the spiritual, intellectual, political, and economic aspects of each system. Monastic education focused on spiritual salvation and moral discipline through studying theology and the liberal arts. Scholasticism emphasized using logic and reason to justify religious doctrines in universities. Chivalric education trained knights through apprenticeships focusing on combat skills, social graces, and religious devotion. Each system contributed to the organization and content of medieval education.
Similar to Teaching justice and teaching justly - Mathew Schmalz (20)
Reunión de Freedom Prep en Birmingham, AL con personas de la comunidad en la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Fátima. Es una reunión que busca mostrar el interés de la comunidad por tener opciones de educación en la ciudad de Birmingham.
Primer reunión de Freedom Prep en Birmingham, AL con líderes comunitarios de los vecindarios donde posiblemente estableceríamos Freedom Preparatory Academy
Información General de Freedom Preparatory Academy. Presenta características más detalladas de Freedom Prep y permite acercar a la población Hispana/Latinx a una educación de calidad en sus comunidades. Comparte la misión/visión de FPA y acerca al lector a una visión amplia pero al mismo tiempo detallada.
Información General de Freedom Preparatory Academy. Presenta características generales de Freedom Prep y permite acercar a la población Hispana/Latinx a una educación de calidad en sus comunidades.
The publication details the policies that should be the priority of federal lawmakers across civil rights, criminal justice, economic security, education, health and well-being, and immigration issues.
The Latino community has made notable gains across key indicators including health, education, and the economy. Yet harmful policies and regulations issued under the Trump administration threaten to reverse this progress and widen inequities. UnidosUS’s policy agenda urges the 116th Congress to prioritize American workers and families—including Latinos—by protecting and advancing the gains they have made over the past decade.
FPA vision: All students at Freedom Prep will have the same competitive advantage as the most privileged children in America. This ppt provides the information so you can sign up to Duke TIP!
Doi it ASAP!
St. Jude Leadership Society encourages a focus on gratitude
and good citizenship, building your personal brand, diversity
and inclusion, leading with purpose and how we can all be
at our best through a series of leadership development sessions.
St. Jude recognizes the importance of mentorship and community, and encourages collaboration and shared learning throughout this experience.
In January of 2017, PeacePlayers launched a partnership with Nike to bring PeacePlayers’ proven model of uniting communities through sport to the United States. This partnership piloted growth in 2017 first to Baltimore, Brooklyn and Detroit, and then in the summer of 2018 added programs in Chicago and Los Angeles. At this time we are excited to begin launching two new sites Memphis (TN) and Portland (OR). We are currently seeking a Director to lead the planning and implementation of PeacePlayers Memphis.
MICAH is made up of 50+ churches, synagogues, mosques, community organizations, and unions--all standing together for a more just Memphis.
MICAH works to connect and amplify these diverse voices around our common values--equity, justice, and our God-given human dignity.
This was the Program for Public meeting in 2018
15 recommendations wer given including:
1. Protecting the right to request and be granted asylum.
2. Adapt national legislation to international standards
3. Adapt internal migration norms, policies, procedures and protocols to international norms and standards
4. Ending fast-track deportations and automatic returns
5. Adopt necessary measures in order to safeguard the right to counsel of migrant persons, asylum-seekers, and refugees
6. Ending lengthy migration detentions and taking any measures necessary to implement alternatives to deprivation of liberty
7. Ensuring conditions of detention that meet international standards for deprivation of liberty
8. Closing the processing centers supervised by the CBP.
9. Ending the practice of detaining children and adolescents in detention centers.
10. Prioritizing the child’s best interest in all administrative and judicial decisions that concern a child or adolescent and their family.
11. Prioritize the principle of family unity, and forego with the Zero
Tolerance policy and the policies and practices that criminalize migrants and their families in any circumstances
12. Continue with the implementation of actions aimed at reunifying families that have been separated
13. Taking any measures to protect defenders of the rights of migrant persons, asylum-seekers, and refugees, as well as the right of these defenders to do their job and to effectively access justice. Immediately ending threats and acts of harassment against these defenders.
14. Creating national and transnational mechanisms that enable an effective, timely identification of missing or dead migrant persons, and to make it possible to investigate those cases, punish anyone responsible for them, and provide the applicable reparations.
15. Ratifying the American Convention on Human Rights, the
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This document provides an overview of the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope's (MICAH) second annual public meeting to highlight their work on issues of economics, education, and immigration/intercultural equity in Memphis. It outlines the agenda, guest speakers, and goals to garner support and commitments from community representatives and political candidates on solutions to these issues, including investing in education, public transportation, economic opportunities, and building trust between law enforcement and communities of color.
MICAH (Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope) is a coalition of community and faith-based organizations joining together to give a more powerful voice for issues of justice in our city. Our current platform concentrates on three pillar issues, economic equity, education equity, and immigration & intercultural equity. We organize and speak to our community and its leaders, always seeking to "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God." The purpose of MICAH is not to replace each congregation or community organization's efforts, but instead to amplify the voice and the impact by working together interdependently.
MICAH is a power organization that addresses social justice issues in Memphis. MICAH is interfaith and multi-racial and engages stakeholders in the political and economic decisions affecting their lives. MICAH acts as a unified voice for the faith and justice community to act on its values in the public arena. MICAH is a coalition of congregations and community organizations whose interest is justice for all people.
This document summarizes an article that examines the influence of economic inequality on immigration detention in the United States. It describes how private prison companies have promoted widespread immigration detention by influencing policymakers to mandate detention quotas. This ensures profits for private prisons by guaranteeing demand for detention beds. The document also explains how economic inequality dictates individual detention decisions, as immigration authorities sometimes set bond amounts based on filling detention space rather than flight risk. Wealthy private prison groups have been able to promote policies that expand detention for financial gain, while economic factors can determine whether poorer individuals are detained.
The state of Tennessee, along with the nation, has undergone a “demographic evolution” spurred by increases in minority populations. These demographic booms are evident all over the
country, primarly in states like California and Texas, and major metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, Houston, and New York.
However, these changes are evident in all corners of Tennesse, including the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County. Hamilton County Schools have seen a significant growth in Hispanic and English Learner populations, directly mirroring the growth across
the state. As these groups and other under-served groups grow, it is imperative to have community stakeholders advocating on their behalf to ensure that they receive the appropriate support and resources to perform on par with their peers.
Chattanooga State Community College has proposed to create an innovative hybrid program for English Language Learners to have increased access to Early post-Secondary Opportunities. As the Bridges to Success 2.0 program evolves, it is necessary to
recognize the demographic trends of the country, the city, and the
state and what the state of educational attainment is for English
learners in Hamilton County to ensure BTS 2.0 provides the most
appropriate support.
Teachers of color are positive role models for all students in breaking down negative stereotypes and preparing students to live and work in a multiracial society. A more diverse teacher workforce can also supplement training in the culturally sensitive
teaching practices most effective with today’s student populations.
In addition to providing social advantages for all students, the racial diversity of the teaching workforce can help to close the
achievement gap, emerging research suggests. Both quantitative and qualitative studies find that teachers of color can improve the school experiences of all students; further, teachers of color contribute to improved academic outcomes while serving as strong role models for students.
One report suggests that, compared with their peers, teachers of color are more likely to (1) have higher expectations of
students of color (as measured by higher numbers of referrals to gifted programs); (2) confront issues of racism; (3) serve as
advocates and cultural brokers; and (4) develop more trusting relationships with students, particularly those with whom they
share a cultural background.
A recent report shows that, despite the critical role that teachers of color can play in helping students of color succeed, every
state has a higher percentage of students of color than teachers of color and the workforce is still overwhelmingly homogenous.
While the focus of this report is on racial diversity, the Department acknowledges that other forms of diversity such as socioeconomic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, religion, and multilingualism are also important and should be examined. For example, when considering gender in addition to race, we know that black males make up only 2 percent of the teaching workforce nationwide.
Interculturality: How can we move from racism? - Student Tennessee Education ...
Teaching justice and teaching justly - Mathew Schmalz
1. This article was downloaded by: [Villa, Marcos]
On: 12 April 2011
Access details: Access Details: Free Access
Publisher Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-
41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Christian Higher Education
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713669144
TEACHING JUSTICE AND TEACHING JUSTLY: REFLECTIONS ON
TEACHING WORLD RELIGIONS AT A JESUIT LIBERAL ARTS
COLLEGE
Mathew N. Schmalza
a
The College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
To cite this Article Schmalz, Mathew N.(2005) 'TEACHING JUSTICE AND TEACHING JUSTLY: REFLECTIONS ON
TEACHING WORLD RELIGIONS AT A JESUIT LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE', Christian Higher Education, 4: 1, 1 — 17
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/15363750590898713
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15363750590898713
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf
This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or
systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or
distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents
will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses
should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,
actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly
or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
2. Christian Higher Education, 4:1–17, 2005
Copyright C Taylor & Francis Inc.
ISSN: 1536-3759 print / 1539-4107 online
DOI: 10.1080/15363750590898713
TEACHING JUSTICE AND TEACHING JUSTLY:
REFLECTIONS ON TEACHING WORLD RELIGIONS AT A
JESUIT LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE
MATHEW N. SCHMALZ
The College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
This paper examines how the teaching of world religions at Catholic Christians
institutions can contribute to teaching justice and teaching justly. The paper
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
compares central issues engaged by History of Religions as a discipline with
those addressed within the Jesuit tradition of higher education as it developed
in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. While many scholars have argued
that the academic study of religion and theology are premised upon irreconcilably
opposed paradigms of teaching and scholarship, this paper argues that a creative
combination of the two disciplines can create a crucial space for reconsidering
justice within the contemporary classroom at Catholic Christian colleges that
embrace the Jesuit tradition of higher education.
On an unseasonably warm fall day, I was teaching a class in Com-
parative Religions during my first semester as a professor at the
College of the Holy Cross. Although the class was only in its fourth
week, it seemed clear that the backgrounds of the students con-
formed quite well to a profile of Holy Cross’s student body as a
whole: overwhelmingly Catholic. The subject of my lecture that
day was the religious life of Hinduism, most particularly the pu-
rifying ritual acts called samskaras. During my efforts to stimulate
class discussion, I drew upon what had thus far been a successful
method of making general comparisons to the Catholic tradition.
I talked about Hindu samskaras in relation to Catholic sacraments;
a deceptively simple point of departure that I thought would en-
gage the class. I mentioned the Eucharist. At that point, a student
raised his hand and asked, matter of factly, “What’s the Eucharist?”
The question “What’s the Eucharist?” from a student at a
Jesuit college ordinarily involves the issue of Catholic students
Address correspondence to Mathew N. Schmalz, Edward Bennett Williams Fellow,
Department of Religious Studies, The College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 01610.
E-mail: mschmalz@holycross.edu
1
3. 2 M. N. Schmalz
who know very little about Catholicism. But this question came
from a different quarter and elicited a very different issue.
Yusuf Gulleth asked the question, a student who had already
distinguished himself as one of the most engaged and engaging
participants in class discussions. Gulleth was pursuing a rigorous
program in chemistry but wanted to balance his scientific studies
by examining Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity in a comparative
framework. Underlying his desire for academic balance was Gul-
leth’s concern as a Muslim from Tanzania to explore Christianity
and Hinduism in a way that would relate to his own tradition
and religious sensibilities. The question that he raised then was
not a simple inquiry about the definition of a word so crucial
to Catholicism. Instead, it was a thoughtful challenge to the
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
assumption of a shared cultural knowledge within an institution
explicitly dedicated to the Jesuit tradition in higher education.
Considered more abstractly, Yusuf Gulleth was asking about justice
and whether the class itself was being taught justly.
Informed by Yusuf Gulleth’s question, this paper addresses
how teaching world religions at Catholic institutions can con-
tribute both to teaching justice and to teaching justly. To open
the discussion, we first overview the development of the discipline
of the History of Religions, the field with which the teaching of
world religions is most explicitly associated. We then compare the
changes experienced in the understanding of the History of Reli-
gions to those occurring within Catholic education. These changes
have forcefully elicited the question of justice, particularly as it re-
lates to issues of power and dominance. Against this background, I
outline some of the crucial issues relating to justice and the teach-
ing of world religions in Catholic institutions. In light of the ques-
tion put to me by Yusuf Gulleth, I argue that teaching world reli-
gions allows a methodological and imaginative space not only for
the comparative discussion of justice, but also for teaching justly.
A History of the History of Religions
There are many ways to understand the development of the aca-
demic study of religion. Most recently, many scholars of religion
have attempted to retrieve a subaltern tradition of “explaining re-
ligion” that includes the work of thinkers such Giambatista Vico,
David Hume, and Sigmund Freud among others (Preus, 1987).
4. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 3
But these explanatory efforts are valorized often in explicit con-
tradistinction to how “world-religions” has been taught within the
academic area of specialization that has come to be called “the His-
tory of Religions.” While the History of Religions has developed
in institutions other than those shaped by the Jesuit tradition, an
instructive comparison can be made of the development of History
of Religions with the development of Catholic higher education.
Indeed, History of Religions’ struggle with postmodernism pro-
vides an interesting parallel to Catholicism’s effort to rearticulate
its educational mission in the wake of Vatican II, since both ef-
forts remain concerned with how issues of justice and power shape
scholarly inquiry and pedagogy.
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
Theological Liberalism and Comparative Religions
The History of Religions initially developed as an interdisciplinary
project informed by philology and liberal theological sensibilities.
The beginning of the discipline is most immediately identified with
the philologist Friedrich Max Muller. In his lectures at the Royal In-
stitute of London in 1867, Muller (1882) coined the term “religion-
swissenschaft” to refer to the idea of a science of religion as an aca-
demic discipline. Muller was concerned with “the original natural
religion of reason,” an entity that could be retrieved by seeking to
understand the broad progression of religious phenomena within
human history (see also Kitagawa, 1959, p. 17). With Muller’s work
exerting a formative influence, the later half of the nineteenth cen-
tury saw a marked increase in the attention given to the study of re-
ligion as whole. For example, James Freeman Clarke published Ten
Religions: An Essay in Comparative Religions and assumed the chair
of natural religion and Christian doctrine at the Harvard Divinity
School (Kitagawa, 1959, p. 2). A profusion of works followed and
the turn of the century saw most notably the publication of C. P.
Tiele’s (1897) Elements of the Science of Religion and William James’s
(1990) The Varieties of Religious Experience. But the most significant
event for the academic study of religion was the World Parliament
of Religions, convened in Chicago in 1893. As Joseph Kitagawa
(1959, pp. 3–4) recalls, the statement of purpose for the Parliament
affirmed its mission: “to unite all Religion against irreligion; [and]
to make the Golden Rule the basis of this union.” Within three
decades, the study of religion had passed from an idiosyncratic
5. 4 M. N. Schmalz
concern of philologists and liberal-minded theologians to a public
effort to find some unifying ground for all religious traditions.
This idealistic endeavor to unite all religions quickly passed
and instead became an exclusively academic project to study
religion as an irreducibly unique phenomenon. The intellectual
sophistication and rigor of the History of Religions in the 20th cen-
tury can primarily be associated with two scholars teaching at the
University of Chicago: Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade. Joachim
Wach, who began his career at the University of Leipzig, focused his
work on developing a broad taxonomy of religious experience. In
his major works, Types of Religious Experience (1951) and The Sociology
of Religion (1944), Wach diagramed a schema of religions by focus-
ing upon key elements within religious life that structure religious
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
organization and experience. While Wach advocated a historical
method that also drew heavily on philology, he finally maintained
that History of Religions must be resolutely hermeneutic in its
focus upon the meaning embodied in religious phenomena (for
a helpful discussion of Wach, see Long, 1985). This approach
reached its greatest exposition in the work of Rumanian-born
scholar Mircea Eliade. Eliade propounded a phenomenology of
religion that drew upon the methodological stance of Geradus van
der Leeuw (1938) by employing macron epoche, or the bracketing
¯
of religious phenomena. For Eliade, religion was sui generis and
must be studied in and of itself without any kind of normative
evaluation. Within this methodological framework, Eliade (1974)
traced the morphology of the Sacred—from “hierophanies” in
which the Sacred was made manifest, to the “kratophanies” that
constituted emblematic expressions of religious power. As articu-
lated in Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries (1967, pp. 231–245), Eliade’s
goal was not only a “science of religion,” but a new humanism,
founded upon the History of Religions, that would reclaim the
Sacred in an era that had lost its myths of transcendence.
During its one hundred years of development, History of Re-
ligions drew upon what Joseph Kitagawa (1985, p. 128) has called
two “maps of reality.” The first map of reality was drawn by the
extending hand of the Enlightenment. The contours of this map
were cast in bold relief by characteristically Enlightenment atti-
tudes concerning the primacy of reason and by associated aversions
to dogma, ecclesiastic authority, and the pretenses of particular
religious traditions (Kitagawa, p. 129). But as Kitagawa also ob-
served, historians of religion also came to view religion in a more
6. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 5
positive light by arguing that the underlying essence of religion
had become obscured by “layers of historical accretion” and must
be retrieved (p. 129). But both these maps had a cross-cultural
span since the central claim of the History of Religions was that
religious phenomena could be compared across time and space.
Hinduism thus could be placed alongside Christianity and com-
pared to Islam. In this comparative discussion, however, any nor-
mative evaluation of religious phenomena needed to be carefully
circumscribed so that religious phenomena could emerge in their
clarity as sui generis manifestations of the Sacred.
The Problem of History
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
The idealism and expansive claims of the History of Religions even-
tually led to its fragmentation if not collapse. Strangely, perhaps,
the History of Religions had become resolutely ahistorical. Indeed,
within Eliade’s morphology of religious manifestations, history had
to be bracketed out as accident. Because of this, the History of Re-
ligions became subject to a variety of postmodern critiques. Chief
among the criticisms leveled against the History of Religions was
the charge that it made no methodological sense to ignore history
in humanistic scholarship. Since all knowledge is inevitably situ-
ated within the social and temporal context of human activity, the
effort to excavate or retrieve essences remained fundamentally mis-
guided. Moreover, the very idea of reclaiming the Sacred sounded
much like a theological project as opposed to a religio-historical
investigation. Most recently, Russell McCutcheon (2001) has ar-
gued that scholars of religion must become “critics, not caretak-
ers” and dispense with the romantic visions that have often brought
the academic study of religion perilously close to theology. Under
the withering fire of both postmodernist and empiricist attacks,
the idea of a religionswissenschaft was seen as a mask concealing a
metanarrative that served universalizing religious interests.
The crucial point made in the criticism of the History of
Religions was that the discipline ignored relations of power. The
claim that religion was unique, so central to the projects of Eliade
and Wach, became understood as a kind of ontological claim
as opposed to an ordinary feature of classification in which all
phenomena were reciprocally unique. While some historians of
religion now attempt to classify religious phenomena much as
7. 6 M. N. Schmalz
a biologist would classify the organisms inhabiting the natural
world, such a project seems pretentious within a current academic
climate that would understand this and other totalizing aspirations
as the products of a crude scientism. Instead, the History of Reli-
gions has attempted to become more historical by understanding
religion as an intimately human phenomenon enmeshed within
discursive and nondiscursive relations of power. Contemporary
religio-historical studies, such as Bruce Lincoln’s Discourse and
the Construction of Society (1989) and Holy Terrors (2003) or Wendy
Doniger’s The Implied Spider (1998), see religion as a cross-cultural
manifestation of very human efforts not only to understand
existence but to dominate and control it and others. Within this
framework, History of Religions often becomes a demystifying
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
hermeneutic that unmasks the totalizing pretenses of religious
claims to divine truth. In this sense, historians of religions now
chart a kind of postmodern narrative of emancipation in which
justice becomes a central and abiding concern.
Catholic Education and the Concern for Justice
The trajectory of Catholic education in the United States followed
a much different course from that charted by the History of Re-
ligions. But if the History of Religions was in some ways disman-
tled in relation to postmodern critiques of knowledge, then so too
has Catholicism found itself forced to respond to contemporary
society and academic culture. Catholic education has tradition-
ally not found a place for the History of Religions, for, as Jacob
Neusner (1968, p. 37) has observed, the academic study of reli-
gion developed in an ethos of “cultural Protestantism” and was
explicitly accepted by liberal Protestant or secular institutions. But
as Catholicism has moved to consider the implications of educa-
tion for justice, it has created a space where its concerns meet those
of the History of Religions.
Pre–Vatican II Catholic Higher Education
For well over one hundred years, American Catholic higher ed-
ucation endeavored to maintain its own distinctive academic cul-
ture (see Marsden, 1997, p. 103). Catholic colleges in the United
States were structured by an initial orientation to the seminary
8. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 7
(Power, 1958, p. 56). Jesuit schools in particular were informed by
the educational ideals of the Ratio Sudiorum with its three divi-
sions of study: philosophy, theology, and the humanities (Power,
p. 64). Students were trained in classics, English, and associated
disciplines, with instruction embodying a pervasive moral empha-
sis. As Catholic education developed and expanded in the 19th
century, it maintained its clerical control and its aversion to partic-
ularistic or overly vocational emphases in curricula. Throughout
the 19th century, Catholic education found no room for the recon-
sideration of religion as a phenomenon, an approach tentatively
embraced by the institutions that endowed the first chairs in Nat-
ural Theology. To study other religions, or to study religion itself
as a phenomenon, would of course mean compromising Catholic
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
claims to truth.
The philosophy informing Catholic education became a cen-
tral issue as the Roman Catholic Church continued to consider its
mission within American society in the 20th century. In his charac-
terization of Jesuit education at the turn of the century, John Court-
ney Murray (1964, p. 235) observed that instruction focused upon
stylistic, literary, and analytic skills that the Society of Jesus had
adapted from the educational curricula of the Renaissance human-
ists. This instruction culminated in the study of Thomistic philoso-
phy that provided a unifying vision of transcendent truth (Gleason,
1967, p. 46). Yet within this vision, the study of religion itself was not
necessarily considered to be an object of speculative inquiry. In-
deed, as late as 1964, John Mahoney (1964, p. 245; for comparison
see also Lauer, 1963) argued that in Catholic institutions “theol-
ogy is an academic limbo, whose concerns are irrelevant to the stu-
dents advancing knowledge in other subjects, not only because the
integration of theology with other learning is not accomplished,
but because such integration is a sheer impossibility.” Whether
or not such criticism was accurate in all cases, it is clear that
Catholic education maintained an alternatively triumphalist and
defensive posture until the convening of the Second Vatican Coun-
cil (see Gleason, 1998). Perhaps no better example can be found
of these attitudes than articles and editorials published in the
Catholic journal Thought that consistently inveighed against exter-
nal threats to the unifying integrity of the classical and Thomistic
heritage of Catholic higher education. Communism, secular
democracy, and prevailing trends in American higher education
were all seen as emblematic of a modern dissolution of values
9. 8 M. N. Schmalz
(for example, see Kelly, 1938). From this standpoint, to study other
religions alongside Catholicism would only hasten the process of
fragmentation that Catholic education must fight against.
The Second Vatican Council brought into question many of
the traditional assumptions of Catholic education. Crucial to how
the Second Vatican Council changed the ground of discourse
was its description of the modern world. The seminal document,
Gaudium et Spes (Flannery, 1975, p. 907) drew attention to the gap
between rich and poor, the increasing power of science and tech-
nology, and also articulated a vision of the human race inhabiting
“a dynamic and more evolutionary” reality. The document extolled
the virtues of research and the autonomy of the sciences and other
methods of inquiry. To the effect of Gaudium et Spes, we could also
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
add the document Ad Gentes that evinced a more progressive un-
derstanding of Catholicism’s relationship to other world religions.
Religion and religious discourse thus must engage the world of
which they are inevitably a part.
The Society of Jesus and the Concern for Justice
For the Society of Jesus, reflection on the implications of the Sec-
ond Vatican Council came to emphasize the theme of justice. Un-
der the stewardship of Superior General Pedro Arrupe, the Soci-
ety of Jesus addressed itself specifically to the question of justice
in its 32nd General Congregation in 1974–1975. In the decrees
issuing from the General Congregation, the society enunciated its
vision of the promotion of faith and justice as a necessary response
to the challenges of the modern world. Specifically, the decrees
identified three characteristics of the modern age that required a
discerning call for justice (1977, B.24–28): first, a pluralism that
demands evangelization; second, the rise of technology and con-
comitant secularization; and third, the actual ability of human be-
ings to make the world more just. Given these pervasive charac-
teristics of the contemporary age, the 32nd General Congregation
emphasized that the promotion of justice must find concrete ex-
pression not only in evangelization and theological research but
also specifically within the society’s educational ministry. This em-
phasis on justice requires not only sensitivity to the marginalized
and the voiceless but also active solidarity with the poor, a point
made quite eloquently by Ignacio Ellacuria (1990, pp. 147–151) in
10. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 9
an address in which he diagrammed the mission of the Christian
university. Within the contemporary context of Jesuit education,
the phrase “men and women for others” is often repeated as an
exhortation to promote the justice that the society has committed
itself to achieve.
Decrees of the 32nd General Congregation had a great ef-
fect, not only because they were bold, but also because, to some,
they were controversial and even vague (see Tripole, 1994). But it
is also important to emphasize that the theme of the promotion
of justice was not something entirely new to Catholic theology.
In an engaging overview of themes within Catholic social teach-
ing, David Hollenbach, S. J. (1997) diagrams a clear line of devel-
opment and thematic unity in Catholic social teaching from Leo
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
XIII’s Rerum Novarum to Gaudium et Spes and beyond. Hollenbach
(p. 227) argues that Catholic conceptions of justice have always
been associated with the themes of human dignity, mutuality, and
participation in community. From these themes issues an eschato-
logical vision of “sharing” in the death and resurrection of Christ
God with “Christian justice”—in Hollenbach’s words (p. 227), “a
specification of how this sharing is to be made present in the re-
lations between persons in history.” The call to promote justice in
education is then simultaneously a prophetic call to critique, as
well as an invitation to solidarity and discernment.
Catholic education and the History of Religions were both
shaped by the very real demands for a more relevant discourse
about religion and its relationship to the contemporary world.
In pursuing the rather contrived comparison between contem-
porary Catholic discourse about justice and the concerns of the
History of Religions, what is clear is that in both spheres of dis-
course there is a fundamental appreciation of religion’s complex
place within human life. Religion is not somehow disengaged from
human reality but enmeshed within it. Moreover, the very fact of
contemporary pluralism requires new methods of understanding
religion in connection with issues of both power and justice. In this
concern, both Catholicism and History of Religions have often
embraced methodological forms of unmasking—whether in the
form of prophetic critique or through deconstructionalist analy-
sis. Issues of justice and power are not necessarily synonymous or
isomorphic, but they do clearly have a very intimate relationship.
If this is so, then the History of Religions does have a place within
11. 10 M. N. Schmalz
the continually developing Catholic discourse on education and
the promotion of justice.
Teaching World Religions and Teaching Justice
In an essay in Justice and Peace Education, Monika Helwig (1986,
p. 15) argues that there is no discipline better suited for social jus-
tice and peace education than religious studies. In her carefully
argued piece, Helwig diagrams a variety of themes that religious
studies courses could emphasize in their consideration of justice:
sin, redemption, materials from liberation theology and scripture.
But to this rich proposal we might also add that religious studies
includes the History of Religions and that, in the effort to en-
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
gage questions of justice, the History of Religions and Catholic
theology could have a fruitful, if sometimes contentious, partner-
ship. All too often in Catholic institutions, History of Religions
has become simply “World Religions.” Within this classification,
Catholicism is usually considered within the domain of theology,
while all other religions are relegated to broad World Religions
survey courses. But if mutuality and community lie at the heart of
Catholic conceptions of justice, then a comparative consideration
of other traditions alongside Catholicism might lay the ground for
a broader discourse about justice, human community, and solidar-
ity. Put more polemically, to so privilege Catholicism and Catholic
discourse about justice often militates against articulating a vision
of justice sensitive to both pluralism in the classroom and in the
world as a whole. While it is important to consider both normative
and foundational questions in discussions of justice, I would argue
that the History of Religions offers a necessary complement to ex-
plicitly Catholic considerations of justice precisely by setting such
a discourse within a comparative framework that is open to critical
self-examination.
Theology and the Academic Study of Religion
One of the most suggestive recent efforts to approach “world re-
ligions” in a way that is sensitive to questions of both teaching
justice and teaching justly is Francis Clooney’s Hindu Wisdom for
all God’s Children (1998). A Jesuit priest and comparative theolo-
gian, Clooney moves beyond the conventional understandings
12. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 11
of justice education as a rather static exercise in what var-
ious religious traditions “say” about justice. Instead, Clooney
presents a multilayered approach to understanding Hindu reli-
giosity that invites the reader to an openness that “is mindful
enough to welcome the stranger at our gate” (p. 136). Clooney
presents the visions of Mohandas Gandhi and Mahasweta Devi
(who chose to live with the poor) while also introducing as-
cetics and mystics such as Ramana Maharishi and the Tamil
saint Satakopan. Throughout Hindu Wisdom for all God’s Children,
Clooney draws the reader into the complexity of the Hindu re-
ligious imagination by focusing upon how existential questions
and symbolic imagery are joined. For example, when discussing
Hindu creation narratives, Clooney draws attention to how im-
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
ages of “male and female” as well as the “the eater and the
eaten” articulate both the “complementarity and conflict” at the
heart of the continuing creation and recreation of the world
(pp. 7–10). In relating Hindu visions of creation to traditional
Judeo-Christian accounts, Clooney’s discussion moves back to
the familiar, having radically expanded the ground for appreci-
ating both the differences and similarities between the Hindu
and Christian traditions. Through Clooney’s discussion, Hindu
wisdom remains firmly situated within its Indian context but
also moves to engage more abstract questions that are nonethe-
less rooted in the very specificity of human life. Clooney thus
not only teaches “justice” through his exposition of Hindu un-
derstandings of the purpose and nature of human life, but he
also teaches “justly” by refracting Christianity through a Hindu
lens and thus reversing the conventional tendency to understand
Christianity as “normative.” But this emphasis upon “Hindu wis-
dom” in no way makes Clooney’s investigation less Christian.
Indeed, Clooney describes his work as a “spiritual task” and
observes:
Those of us who are Christian can keep looking upon the face of Christ,
never imagining that we need something more than Christ; in Christ God
keeps giving us more, so that we can also contemplate in Christ all the
experiences and wisdom of the religious traditions around us.
The call to open oneself to Hindu wisdom for Clooney is ultimately
a call to open oneself to Christ who reveals Himself in all things.
13. 12 M. N. Schmalz
Francis Clooney writes as a Catholic theologian and speaks
to a primarily Christian audience. Within the context of educa-
tional institutions with a religious identity, Clooney’s work could be
well complemented by an approach that draws upon the scholarly
methodology provided by the History of Religions. Historians of
Religions would query Clooney’s understanding of “wisdom” and
ask to what extent wisdom is often determined by relations of power
(Schmalz, 2003). Sensitivity to issues of power would also lead
Historians of Religion to observe that in presenting “Hindu wis-
dom,” Clooney engages texts which only members of the Brahmin
caste are eligible to read and explicate. Finally, Historians of Re-
ligions would reflect upon the implications of appropriating the
texts from another religious tradition for use within an explicitly
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
Christian context. For example, does such a move finally subsume
Hinduism within Christianity or the figure of Christ? In this ef-
fort, do Hindu wisdom and conceptions of justice become simply
expressions of Christian wisdom and Christian understandings of
justice? Such questions would not be to dismiss or to undermine
Clooney’s project, but rather to bring theology and the academic
study of religion into critical and self-reflective engagement over
what it means to teach justice and teach justly.
Critical self-examination or reflexivity provides the materials
for constructing a bridge over and between the contested aca-
demic turf occupied by theology and the History of Religion.
The strongest objection to any joining of theology with the aca-
demic study of religion is that they reflect two fundamentally op-
posed ways of understanding religion itself (for an early reflection
on this issue, see Kim, 1972). The differences between theology
and the academic study of religion were brought into sharp relief
in a series of heated exchanges between the Catholic theologian
Paul Griffiths (2000) and the critical historian of religion, Donald
Wiebe. In a collection of essays, Wiebe (2000) explicates the theo-
retical foundations of the approach to religious studies now most
aggressively advocated by his former student Russell McCutcheon.
Wiebe argues for a robust scientific paradigm for religious stud-
ies, a paradigm that embraces a rigorous “naturalism” in order
to explain religious phenomena. Against this position, Griffiths
observes, quite correctly, that the term “religion” is an eminently
Christian creation that loses much of its relevance when applied to
other forms of life such as Hinduism or Islam. Because religion as
14. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 13
a category is born from Christian theological reflection, to assume
that it exists independently of theological discourse is to be funda-
mentally mistaken. Griffiths pushes his critique further by observ-
ing that science and other forms of “naturalism” also make episte-
mological claims which Wiebe and his followers fail to recognize as
eminently contestable. Interestingly, however, both Griffiths and
Wiebe would probably join together in resisting the postmodern
trend in the History of Religions: Griffiths would collapse the His-
tory of Religions into theology, while Wiebe would surely maintain
that the subject and object of academic inquiry become hopelessly
blurred in what I have described as the “postmodern narratives of
emancipation” that characterize much scholarly work in religious
studies.
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
For both Griffiths and Wiebe there is a strong desire for both
intellectual clarity and, indeed, existential firmness in scholarly
work—although both Griffiths and Wiebe sharply disagree as to
where this intellectual and existential ground can be found. But
scholarly disciplines are curious things; they change as they are
continually shaped not only by intellectual investigation but also by
configurations of power. In a thoughtful response to Alasdair Mac-
Intyre’s After Virtue (1984), the philosopher D. Z. Phillips (1992)
observes that there is a strong tendency to romanticize how re-
ligious traditions and, by extension, scholarly disciplines seek to
present a coherent vision of the world and human activity. Draw-
ing upon the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Phillips would call at-
tention to how messy human “forms of life” can be—a view that
would be echoed in the writings of the former Jesuit Michel de
Certeau (1990) who observes that much of human life is funda-
mentally about “making do.” While hardly a popular position, one
could argue that scholarly disciplines, whether theological or sci-
entific, are also ways of “making do.” In specific response to both
Griffiths and Wiebe, one could also argue that the History of Reli-
gions occupies a provisional middle ground between theology and
the social sciences. The academic study of religion then becomes
an imaginative construct, not unlike alchemy, that is produced in
a continuing exploration of and negotiation with contemporary
religious pluralism and cultural diversity. While the History of Re-
ligions is not a discipline in the conventional sense, it is perhaps
because of its ambiguous status that it can have the power to create
new vantage points of perspective and destabilizing insight.
15. 14 M. N. Schmalz
Teaching Justice
If pluralism and diversity are generally recognized as crucial is-
sues in the contemporary world, then no discourse about justice
can proceed in a context bound by exclusively one tradition. With
specific regard to Catholic claims about justice, while they arise
from a coherent tradition of inquiry, they exist within a broader
context of often competing understandings of the nature of jus-
tice itself. A comparative examination of Catholic understandings
of justice with those of other religious traditions would recognize
the pressing demands of contemporary pluralism and also open
new possibilities for mutual understanding and collective action.
For example, a course that extends Clooney’s approach in Hindu
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
Wisdom might focus on conceptions of the Self in Christianity and
Hinduism and proceed by contrasting Christian conceptions of the
Self as a teleological whole to Hindu understandings of the Self as
fluid and changing in its interactions with others. Such a course
might then move to consider the views of justice that proceed
from these differing conceptions of Selfhood, initially focusing on
Catholic documents that make strongly universalistic claims about
the nature of justice and then examining Hindu texts that reflect
a contextually sensitive understanding of justice and its demands.
The course might conclude by examining how these differing con-
ceptions are expressed in practice. While attempting to preserve
difference, a comparative discussion of Dorothy Day and Mahatma
Gandhi, for example, might lead to an interesting consideration of
similarities in social praxis that allow for solidarity across cultural
and religious boundaries. A comparative approach to questions of
justice would then draw upon the methodology of the History of
Religions by understanding Christianity and Catholicism precisely
as world religions.
Beyond a comparative approach to teaching justice, the His-
tory of Religions offers an important corrective to totalizing dis-
courses based upon exclusive understandings of religious iden-
tity. The strength in making claims about justice, at least in a
Catholic Christian context, is that they are normative. Such norma-
tive claims, however, can often too quickly sweep aside the diversity
and specificity of human life. This is precisely the argument made
against the universalizing projects of historians of religion like
Mircea Eliade and Joachim Wach: too often they ignored history
16. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 15
and the contingency of human life. To understand religion and
religious understandings of justice is to examine a particular form
of discourse—a discourse made possible not only by individual
and collective spiritual longings and intellectual inquiry but also
by discursive and nondiscursive formations of power in the speci-
ficity of human relations. To address the question of justice within
such a framework is not to dismiss it but to offer an important cor-
rective to claims that move too quickly into generalization about
the complex and culturally defined nature of human experience.
Openness to critical self-examination is essential to any religious
tradition, especially given the all too human tendency, pithily de-
scribed by the singer Bruce Cockburn, to want “justice done on
somebody else.”
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
Teaching Justly
When Yusuf Gulleth asked me to explain the Eucharist, he was rais-
ing an issue about whether I was teaching justly. Just as universal-
izing claims about justice can often ignore cultural specificity and
difference, so too can generalizing assumptions about the compo-
sition of the classroom marginalize those whose voices most need
to be heard. To deprivilege Catholicism in the classroom of a Jesuit
college might seem at best counter-intuitive or at worst a violation
of the very mission of the institution. But, as Yusuf Gulleth gently
pointed out to me, Catholics are not the only ones who fill the
seats in the Catholic classroom. If one of the crucial themes in
Jesuit discussions of justice is concern for the marginalized, then
Catholic institutions must be sensitive to this issue within the aca-
demic communities they seek to build.
Beyond the specific issue of classroom diversity, it is crucial for
Catholic students to begin to understand their own tradition not
only as it relates to others but also as it is seen by others. To this
end, understanding Catholicism within the framework of the His-
tory of Religions offers a mode of discourse that is sensitive to the
cross-cultural variations of religious expression. When employed
in this way at Catholic institutions, the History of Religions assumes
a role not dissimilar to that envisioned in the early development of
the discipline. Indeed, by emphasizing an initial bracketing of nor-
mative claims about religion and justice, the History of Religions
could be seen as an initial step in the eventual cooperation of
17. 16 M. N. Schmalz
religions. While most contemporary Historians of Religion would
find such a goal a grandiose fantasy, it is one worthy of consider-
ation when speaking of teaching world religions, teaching justice
and teaching justly.
References
´
Certeau, M. (1990). L’invention du quotidian I: Arts de faire. Paris: Editions
Gallimard.
Clooney, F. X. (1998). Hindu wisdom for all God’s children. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis
Books.
Doniger, W. (1998). The implied spider: Politics and theology in myth. New York:
Columbia University Press.
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
Eliade, M. (1974). Patterns in comparative religion. New York: New American Library.
Eliade, M. (1967). Myths, dreams and mysteries (Philip Mairet, Trans.). New York:
Harper & Row.
Ellacuria, I. (1990). The task of a Christian university. In Jon Sobrino (Ed.),
Companions of Jesus. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, pp. 147–151.
Flannery, A. (Ed.). (1975) Pastoral constitution on the church in the modern
world. Vatican II: The Conciliar and post-Conciliar documents (pp. 903–1001). New
York: Costello Publishing Co., Inc.
Gleason, P. (1967). American Catholic higher education: A historical perspective.
In Robert Hassenger (Ed.), The shape of Catholic higher education (pp. 15–56).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gleason, P. (1998). In search of unity: American Catholic thought 1920–1960.
The Catholic Historical Review, 75, 185–205.
Griffiths, P. (2000). The very idea of religion. First Things, 103, 30–35.
Helwig, M. (1986). “Religious Studies,” in D. M. Johnson (Ed.), Justice and peace
education (pp. 15–26). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Hollenbach, D. (1977). Modern Catholic teachings concerning justice. In John
C. Haughey (Ed.), The faith that does justice (pp. 207–233). New York: Paulist
Press.
James, W. (1990). The varieties of religious experience. New York: Vintage Books.
Kelly, W. A. (1938). Needed: A directive philosophy of education. Thought, 13,
197–205.
Kim, J. (1972). Belief or anamnesis: Is a rapprochement between History of Re-
ligions and Theology possible? Journal of Religion, 52, 150–196.
Kitagawa, J. (1959). The history of religions in America. In Mircea Eliade and
Joseph Kitagawa (Eds.), History of religions: Essays in methodology (pp. 1–31).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kitagawa, J. (1985). The history of religions (Religionswissenschaft) then and
now. In J. Kitagawa (Ed.), History of religions retrospect and prospect (pp. 121–
144). New York: Macmillan.
Lauer, Q. (1963). Catholics and freedom of thought. Thought. 38, 514–
528.
18. Teaching Justice and Teaching Justly 17
Lincoln, B. (1989). Discourse and the construction of society: Comparative studies of
myth, ritual and classification. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lincoln, B. (2003). Holy terrors: Thinking about religion after September 11. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Long, C. (1985). A look at the Chicago tradition in the history of religions: Retro-
spect and future. In J. Kitagawa (Ed.), History of religions: retrospect and prospect
(pp. 87–104). New York: Macmillan.
MacIntyre, Alasdair. (1984). After virtue. South Bend, IN: Notre Dame University
Press.
Mahoney, J. (1964). The American Catholic college and the faith. Thought, 39,
239–252.
Marsden, G. (1997). The outrageous idea of Christian scholarship. New York: Oxford
University Press.
McCutcheon, R. T. (2001). Critics not caretakers: Redescribing the public study of reli-
gion. Albany: SUNY Press.
Downloaded By: [Villa, Marcos] At: 03:06 12 April 2011
Muller, M. (1882). Introduction to the study of religion. London: Longmans and
Green.
Murray, J. C. (1964). On the future of humanistic education. In Arthur A. Cohen
(Ed.), Humanistic education and Western civilization (pp. 231–247). New York:
Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Neusner, J. (1968). Judaism in the history of religions. In James Helfner (Ed.),
History and Theory: Studies in the Philosophy of History. Supplement 8: On Method in
the History of Religions (pp. 31–45).
Phillips, D. Z. (1992). After virtue? In Phillips, D. Z., Interventions in ethics (pp. 42–
60). SUNY Series in Ethical Theory. Albany: SUNY Press.
Power, E. J. (1958). A history of Catholic higher education in the United States.
Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing.
Preus, J. S. (1987). Explaining religion: Criticism and theory from Bodin to Freud. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
Schmalz, M. N. (2003). “Tradition and Transgression in the Comparative Theol-
ogy of Francis Xavier Clooney, S. J.” Religious Studies Review, 29, 130–136.
Society of Jesus. (1977). Our mission today: The service of faith and the promotion
of justice. Society of Jesus: Thirty first and Thirty second general congregations (B.24–
28). St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources.
Tiele, C. P. (1897). Elements of the science of religion: Part I. Morphological. New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons .
Tripole, M. R. (1994). Faith beyond justice. St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources.
van der Leeuw, G. (1938). Religion in essence and manifestation (J. E. Turner, Trans.).
London: George Allen & Unwin.
Wach, J. (1951). Types of religious experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wach, J. (1944). The sociology of religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wiebe, D. (2000). The politics of religious studies: The continuing conflict with theology
in the academy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.