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Religions
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Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education
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Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2021) | Viewed by 29001

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Melanie C. Brooks

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Interests: religion and education; Islamic school leadership; Islamic schooling; education and ethno-religious conflict

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue for Religions centres on issues related to religion, critical spirituality, and education. The current intensification of supremacist, nationalist, anti-immigrant, and racist discourses globally raises urgent concerns regarding the education of students that identify with or belong to minoritised religious communities. As oppressive and hateful ideologies are taught and learned, this can be considered an educational problem that has important implications for minoritised students, teachers, administrators, and staff across many types of schools. Moreover, many educational leaders find themselves unprepared to address issues of religion. In addition to immediate concerns regarding school and student safety, educators must consider their ethical responsibility to their school community—and arguably the wider society—in regard to the ways in which they are culturally and religiously responsive, supportive of their religiously minoritised students, and facilitative towards providing educational experiences that develop understanding and compassion rather than hatred and mistrust.

Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks papers from any theoretical and methodological perspective that speaks to the intersections of religion and/or critical spirituality and education. Empirical and theoretical papers that explore issues of religion and education in a wide variety of global locales and contexts are welcome. With this Special Issue, I anticipate a strong contribution to the fields of religion and education, having implications for both theory and practice. This topic is especially timely, given current political polarisations globally and the role education plays in mitigating or exacerbating these divisions.

Dr. Melanie C. Brooks
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religion and education
  • critical spirituality
  • religious minoritisation
  • religious violence and education
  • sociology of religion
  • religious literacy
  • teaching and learning of religion
  • religious bias
  • faith-based schools
  • religion and government schools
  • pluralism

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 379 KiB  
Article
Hauntological Pedagogies: Confronting the Ghosts of Whiteness and Moving towards Racial and Spiritual Justice
by M. Nathan Tanner
Religions 2022, 13(1), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010083 - 17 Jan 2022
Viewed by 3261
Abstract
The purpose of this conceptual article is to bring critical theoretical frameworks and discourses used in educational research on leadership, pedagogy, and policy into conversation with literature on hauntology. Furthermore, this work aims to pursue avenues for theorizing and developing notions of [...] Read more.
The purpose of this conceptual article is to bring critical theoretical frameworks and discourses used in educational research on leadership, pedagogy, and policy into conversation with literature on hauntology. Furthermore, this work aims to pursue avenues for theorizing and developing notions of hauntological pedagogies by evoking the language and imagery of ghosts to confront the political, social, and spiritual problems in U.S. schooling contexts that stem from whiteness. This article is grounded in the critical discourses of antiracism, BlackCrit, critical pedagogy, critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, decolonial studies, and TribalCrit. By juxtaposing historical and contemporary case studies in U.S. schooling, this study demonstrates that whiteness, apart from constituting a socially constructed set of power relations, takes on religious or spiritual qualities. Critical educational researchers and practitioners will benefit from engaging with this work as it can help them conceive of and strive for more epistemologically, racially, and spiritually just schooling environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education)
9 pages, 253 KiB  
Article
Emerging Community Pantries in the Philippines during the Pandemic: Hunger, Healing, and Hope
by Alma Espartinez
Religions 2021, 12(11), 926; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110926 - 25 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 10540
Abstract
This research is a critical approach to the emergence of community pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic as at-once contestatory and transformative narratives, foregrounding the Filipino poor’s experience of hunger, suffering, and marginality, while also highlighting their collective hope for a better world. I [...] Read more.
This research is a critical approach to the emergence of community pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic as at-once contestatory and transformative narratives, foregrounding the Filipino poor’s experience of hunger, suffering, and marginality, while also highlighting their collective hope for a better world. I began by exploring the emergence of the community pantry in the Philippines, which was prompted by the government’s inadequate response to the plight of the hungry poor due to prolonged mandatory lockdown in the National Capital Region. I then turned to Emmanuel Levinas’ concept of hunger as the basis for the ethical giving displayed in the community pantries, which is a symbolic arena where leadership is questioned and the marginalized voices of the hungry poor are both mainstreamed and articulated. I brought ethical giving into relation with the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam as the platform for the possibility of healing wounded relations. I constructed a particular weave between the community pantry and the Filipinos’ shared experiences of hunger that touches on the ethical that can create liberating spaces for collective hope. In conclusion, I argue that this study is valuable for confronting unexamined assumptions of the relationship between hunger, healing, and hope for critical pedagogy and critical spirituality, which can have significant philosophical and theological implications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education)
8 pages, 684 KiB  
Article
Buddhist Healthcare in Philadelphia: An Ethnographic Experiment in Student-Centered, Engaged, and Inclusive Pedagogy
by C. Pierce Salguero
Religions 2021, 12(6), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060420 - 8 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3375
Abstract
This essay describes the Jivaka Project, a pedagogical experiment undertaken at a public liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia. A multi-year ethnographic survey of Buddhist healthcare in the greater metropolitan area, this project has come to constitute a major part of my general [...] Read more.
This essay describes the Jivaka Project, a pedagogical experiment undertaken at a public liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia. A multi-year ethnographic survey of Buddhist healthcare in the greater metropolitan area, this project has come to constitute a major part of my general education course on American Buddhism. As I argue, this project serves as a model for student-centered, engaged, and inclusive approaches to pedagogy. It is particularly notable for centering the intercultural competency of international and first-generation Asian American students. I discuss how this project was inspired by a bilingual Chinese American student; how it developed into a large-scale effort involving about a hundred students in ethnographic research in Philadelphia’s Asian American neighborhoods; how it was a transformational educational experience for a diverse group of participating students; and how in the process it pushed my pedagogy in a more relevant and personally fulfilling direction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education)
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18 pages, 340 KiB  
Article
Courses Preferences and Occupational Aspirations of Students in Australian Islamic Schools
by Mahmood Nathie and Mohamad Abdalla
Religions 2020, 11(12), 663; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11120663 - 10 Dec 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4588
Abstract
Course selection by year 11 and 12 students exert a significant influence on occupational outcomes of young people. While many studies have been conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) across a broad spectrum of schools, not much is known about [...] Read more.
Course selection by year 11 and 12 students exert a significant influence on occupational outcomes of young people. While many studies have been conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) across a broad spectrum of schools, not much is known about this aspect in relation to Islamic School students. In this research, data was collected on student course choice from nine randomly selected Islamic schools across Australia. For the first time, the results reveal the most prevalent course clusters studied by students are Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) aligned courses. Mathematics and sciences followed by legal and business studies sit at the peak of the course hierarchy. Long-held views and anecdotal evidence that suggest Arabic and Islamic Studies feature prominently in course selection proved to be unfounded. Preference for these courses are shown to be very low. Vocational Education & Training (VET) courses do not feature prominently in Islamic school curriculums to the disadvantage of students who may wish to pursue non-academic careers instead of opting for university inspired career paths. Professionally, medicine, engineering, law and business (in that order) are the most preferred occupations. We also find a conspicuous gender-based difference regarding course selection and occupational aspirations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education)

Review

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23 pages, 2079 KiB  
Review
The Research on Islamic-Based Educational Leadership since 1990: An International Review of Empirical Evidence and a Future Research Agenda
by Khalid Arar, Rania Sawalhi and Munube Yilmaz
Religions 2022, 13(1), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010042 - 1 Jan 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6049
Abstract
The aim of the present article was to systematically review international evidence about Islamic-based (a new term we suggest) educational leadership models published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2021. We conducted a systematic review of the literature by following the steps identified [...] Read more.
The aim of the present article was to systematically review international evidence about Islamic-based (a new term we suggest) educational leadership models published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2021. We conducted a systematic review of the literature by following the steps identified by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). These steps were data source identification, search, data collection, eligibility criteria selection, data selection, and data analysis. They were aimed at enabling us to answer the following research inquiries: (1) What are the existing developments in research on Islamic-based educational leadership and policy? and (2) What are the main themes presented in these studies? Here, the results are presented first in a macro-outlook elucidating the main trends of this research (topical areas, geographical areas, approaches, and methods). The main themes that emerge from the analysis are: (a) policy, reforms, and stakeholders; second, educational leadership models and styles; and third, gender, feminism, and social justice. We share theoretical and methodological conclusions and outlines of some possible future research directions to contribute to inter-faith, equity, and diversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Intersections of Religion, Critical Spirituality, and Education)
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