Annual Meeting Registration Issue
1999 APRRE Annual Meeting
Educating for Religious Particularism and Pluralism
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Triumph Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel
Triumph Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel
Phone: (416) 636-4656. Identify yourself as APRRE members when you call the hotel.
1-2 persons $115.00 (CA) = $79 (US)
3 persons $125.00 (CA) = $86 (US)
4 persons $135.00 (CA) = $93 (US)
(Currency fluctuates.)
Reserve no later than 9/29/99 for these rates!
Travel Grants
APRRE offers a limited number of travel grants to members in need. To apply you must be a member in good standing, your least expensive round trip airfare is more than $400 (US) of unreimbursed personal funds. Preference is given to students and active younger members who have not recently received a grant. The size of grants will depend upon the number of applicants and funds available.
Applications can be mailed to APRRE, 950 Marietta Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603, must be received by Sept. 15, and must include cost of round-trip airfare, portion reimbursed and by whom, and amount of personal funds to be expended.
What are Research Interest Groups, Colloquia, Doctoral Forums and Task Forces?
Each is a format for conversation among members.
Colloquia are designed for presenting research-in-progress, or for sharing practices which do not lend themselves to formal papers. Research Interest Groups provide members an opportunity to present research in publishable formats for critical discussion. These papers are included in the Annual Proceedings, and are eligible for publication in the APRRE issue of Religious Education. Space in RIG's is limited to the first 20 registrants to encourage critical discussion, and it is expected all will have read the papers in the Proceedings prior to the session.
Doctoral Forums provide doctoral students a place to share their dissertation research (either in-progress or newly completed) for discussion with senior scholars and other students.
Task Forces meet for a limited period (usually three years) with the intent of completing a focused task. Members are expected to commit to a particular task force for the duration.
Travel Fund Donation News
The generosity of members is greatly appreciated. We are nearing our goal! As of this mailing we have received over $4600 in contributions to the Travel Fund to support the travel of students and younger scholars to the APRRE Annual Meeting. Contributors since our last mailing include:
Dori Baker, Mary Boys, Francis Buckley, Gary Chamberlain, Margaret Crain, Tito Cruz, Peter Gilmour, Dwayne Huebner, Pat Kluepfel, Bill Lord, Robert Martin, Taylor McConnell, Marie Murphy, Ellis Nelson, Wenh-In Ng, Joseph Tarrillion, Gloria Taylor, Norma Thompson, Mary Wilcox, Anne Wimberly
Thanks to you all!
Tax Breaks for Non-Canadian APRRE Members
Visitors to Canada can claim rebates on Goods and Services Taxes paid while visiting Canada (which amounts to 7%), if the amount paid for goods purchased and hotel accommodations is more than $107.00 (Canadian). Claims can be mailed directly to Revenue Canada or you may claim a cash refund at participating duty-free shops when you leave the country.
Keep your invoices for all purchases - they must accompany your claim.
You may not claim for transportation that originates outside the country.
Information will be provided in your registration packets upon arrival.
Membership Renewal
(click here for an renewal form in RTF)
Remember that renewal of membership is also support of APRRE and its purposes. About 100 members have renewed in July, and those who have not will find a second-notice member renewal form in this mailing. It is important for you to renew even if you cannot attend the meeting each year, for the daily expenses to support our ongoing conversation and to plan for future meetings (now exploring Atlanta, Cleveland, Charlotte, Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans or Orlando). Renewing membership will entitle you to all Newsletters, participation in leadership at Annual Meetings, the CSSR Bulletin, and eligibility for travel funds.
While costs for postage, printing, and office supplies continue to rise and hotel costs escalate, we are committed to keeping member costs as low as humanly possible. But your continuous support is needed.
Meeting Registration
(click here for a registration form in RTF)
1999 Registration Fees include Conference fee, 1 copy of the Annual Meeting Proceedings and Friday night Plenary Session Dinner. NB: Dining facilities near the hotel are limited.
APRRE Annual Meeting Program for October 15-17, 1999
Friday, October 15, 1999
8:30 - 12:00 APRRE Executive Committee
8:30 - 12:00 Lutheran Denominational group
11:00 - 2:00 pm Registration
1:00 pm Orientation session for new members
2:00 - 4:00 pm Opening Plenary:
"My Particularism, Your Particularism and Our Pluralism: Ideological and Personal
Perspectives"
This session will introduce the theme with presentations by Catholic, Jewish and
Protestant scholars and a reflective exercise involving all participants. Panelists: Su
Pak Drummond, Union Theological Seminary; Livia Straus, Academy for Jewish Religion; and
Fayette B. Veverka, Villanova University. Moderator: Sara S. Lee, Hebrew Union College.
4:15 - 5:45 pm Select Session One: (select one of six)
Research Interest Groups
(limit 20 participants each; select 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice)
11. Randy G. Litchfield, Anderson University. Quilting a
Postmodern Self: Difference, Identity, Holiness. Difference between
conservative and liberal Christians is an aspect of particularity that religious educators
must face. Postmodern assumptions offer options for rethinking these differences and
engaging pluralism. This paper will explore ways that postmodern approaches to the self,
conversion, and holiness negotiate particularity and pluralism. Educational implications
are explored through a metaphor of quilting.
and
Winifred Whelan, St. Bonaventure University. Bonaventurian
spirituality in a postmodern world. Back in the 1200s, St. Bonaventure
attempted to balance Aristotle's and Augustine's theories of knowledge. In this paper, I
will present a summary of Bonaventure's theory of knowing, and show how this theory has
relevance for a postmodern world
12. Michael Warren, St. John's University, Youth
Ministry's Bottom-Line Conviction: Self-Esteem. This paper deals with the
following questions, for their relevance for youth ministry: What is self-esteem,
especially in a consumerist culture; what is a religious sense of self-esteem; what does
research say about self-esteem; what guidelines does this study offer ministry with youth
in churches (or in any religious setting).
and
Gloria Durka, Fordham University. Teaching Youth in a
Socially Toxic Environment. We are all living in a world that is at once
violent and beautiful. For too many young people, the world is a dangerous place.
Childhood and adolescence ideally are times of safety, security, and imaginative
explorations into an ever-widening world. As religious educators, how can we respond with
hope to transform the socially toxic environments of home and neighborhood into places of
"caring community?"
13. Lorna Bowman, University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. Women
at the Margins: The Challenge of Educating for Religious Particularity in Theological
Education. This paper addresses the situation of women students in
theological education in schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in
the U.S. and Canada. How does one educate women for religious particularity when so much
of theological education has been constructed within the parameters of patriarchy? What
are the implications (as mandated by the ATS) for the personal and spiritual formation of
women?
and
Dori Baker, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Girlfriend Theology:
God-Talk across Religious Borders. This paper will report preliminary
research on a method of doing theology with adolescent females from differing faith
communities. It will explore two theological themes which emerged in the research and
which echo themes of contemporary feminist theology: the body as a locus of religious
experience and the Hebrew concept of minyan as a source of religious experience.
14. Christine E. Blair, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Lessons
from "third-culture" children: implications for religious education.
The author draws on her observations of Christian education in the context of the
expatriate American churches in Europe, attended by "third-culture" children,
and on theoretical studies, to explore implications for Christian religious education in
North America, its context, goals, process/content, and structure.
and
Mary Hess, Boston College. Thinking through others: Insights
from cultural studies for the practice of religious education in a pluralist context.
This paper will mine the insights of cultural studies scholarship for religious education
by exploring the insights of Richard Shweder and Roberto Goizueta (one an "outside
observer" and one a "religious insider") to create a substantive and
pragmatic argument for the necessity of "thinking through others" as a
constitutive element of religious education in our contemporary, and clearly pluralist,
context.
Colloquia:
15. David M. Hindman, The College of William and Mary. Believers in a Culture of Disbelief Practicing Particular Religions in a Pluralistic World: A Work in Progress in a Campus Ministry Setting. Using educational activities of the Jewish, Muslim, United Methodist and other Christian campus ministries at The College of William and Mary in Virginia as a case study, this colloquium will present a variety of programs and practices which have been utilized to facilitate learning and conversation about religious pluralism and particularism on the campus.
16. Maureen O'Brien, Duquesne University. The Pedagogy of Practical Theology and Implications for the Education and Ministerial Practice of Ecclesial Lay Ministers In this colloquium we will consider a proposed research project designed to explore how practical theology, with a focus on its pedagogical dimensions, shapes the ministerial formation and practice of ecclesial lay ministers in the United States today.
6:00 - 9:00 pm Plenary Session and Dinner:
"Sharing a Sabbath Experience: Christian and Jewish Perspectives"
A learning experience and celebration. Dorothy Bass (Lilly Project: Valparaiso University)
and Sara Lee (Rhea Hirsch School of Education, Hebrew Union College) will share insights
and symbols of Sabbath from their respective faith traditions. We will celebrate a Sabbath
meal as a conference community and participants will engage in an interreligious learning
experience.
Saturday October 16
8:30 - 10:00 am Select Session Two: (select one of six)
Research Interest Groups
(limit 20 participants each; select 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice)
21. Francis J. Buckley, S.J., University of San Francisco. Animated
Graphics Teach Pluralism. Change in theology can best be shown in animated
graphics. They cut across language barriers and appeal to the right side of the brain.
They demonstrate mutual interrelationships neglected by linear thinking. A web-site,
GoodNews@usfca.edu, welcomes imaginative animated graphics which display interaction
between different theological elements and their stages of development.
and
Rita Guare, Fordham University. The Arts and the Imagination:
Educating for Religious Particularism and Pluralism. The purpose of this
paper is to draw on a generous expression of the arts as a way of helping us look through
multiple perspectives. Through literature and poetry, the paper will wonder how to deal
with the tensions of particularism and the drive to conformity. The paper intends to probe
how to reconcile the passion for pluralism while working toward community. Ultimately, the
paper seeks to uncover the mystery of communion experienced through the arts and available
to faith.
22. Sharon Burch, Boston University School of Theology. Educating
for Religious Particularism and Pluralism To educate for deep and
responsible religious particularism while laying a foundation for commitment to religious
pluralism means dealing with the nature of truth claims. Jesus Christ is an incomparable
gift to the world, and the Truth revealed by him is of infinite value. It is a universal
truth, and to educate for religious particularism means to proclaim that proudly, clearly,
and convincingly. This fact should not, however, be reduced to an exclusive truth claim.
To educate for pluralism is to be convinced that one has something of value that needs to
be shared, but not to impose one system of truth on others because without it they are
lost or damned.
and
Mario O. D'Souza, The University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. Educating
for Religious Particularlism and Pluralism. Canada has an official policy of
multiculturalism and, hence, pluralism, though it may have been weakened by the secular
notion of culture and the insistence that the state not endorse spiritual or moral
standards. In such an environment, multiculturalism comes to be celebrated as an end, and
the deep religious and moral pillars that ground distinct cultures are ignored. I would
like to reflect upon a commitment to religious particularlism and a democratic sensitivity
to pluralism, in a Canadian context and against the backdrop of multiculturalism. Pierre
Trudeau- responsible for introducing official multiculturalism-believed that a
multicultural society lets people flourish and respects diversity compared to a
unicultural society.
23. Leona English, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
A Spirituality of the Informal and Incidental: Educating Adults for
Particularity and Pluralism. The paper discusses the place of experiential
learning in adult religious education (ARE). By attending to the spiritual dimensions of
learning from the everyday, which is shared by members of every religious group, I argue
that educators can enable learners to examine the particularity of their own religious
tradition.
and
Norma Everist, Wartburg Theological Seminary. The Paradox of
Pluralism: Challenge and Opportunity for Religious Education. In an era of
violence and xenophobia, faith communities are challenged, not to lessen their
distinctiveness, but to strengthen identity and provide safe learning environments for us
to be different together.
24. Peter Gilmour, Loyola University of Chicago. Spiritual
Borderland: Practicing more than a single religious tradition. People who
simultaneously practice more than one religious tradition represent a creative challenge
to many traditionally held patterns of religious bodies. Their grass roots practice gives
new definition and understanding of religious particularity and pluralism.
and
Stephen Schmidt, Loyola University of Chicago. The Paradox of
Particularity and the Prophetic Possibility of Pluralism. An exploration of
the unity of particularity and pluralism. The paradox of both ideals bears promise for
serious public religious discourse. A brief exploration of that idea in the practice of
two religious institutions of particularity and promise: Loyola University, Chicago and
Lutheran General Hospital, Chicago.
Colloquia:
25. Jack Priestly, University of Exeter, England. Religious Education or Religiously Educating? The Spirituality Debate and its Relevance to Educational Research and Methodology. In Britain there has been a return to an emphasis on RE as learning FROM religion as distinct from learning ABOUT. Are religious educators themselves capable of learning from religion in the methodologies they employ? The current debate on spirituality within education is, it is argued, a focal point of dissatisfaction with method as much as substance, especially with regard to methodologies which so accentuate the objective as to deny to religious study the very processes by which religion has become meaningful to its adherents over the centuries. Particular emphasis will be placed on the teaching of Soren Kierkegaard, summarised in his maxim, "objective to self, subjective to all others."
26. Robert Reber, Auburn Seminary. Building Bridges: Understanding Our Neighbors' Faiths. This will provide an opportunity to hear about the development of the Building Bridges program, view the materials, and discuss what has been learned from this four-year project by Auburn Theological Seminary, the Long Island Council of Churches and the Long Island Multi-Faith Forum, with the active involvement of twelve different faith traditions.
10:15 - 11:45 am Denominational meetings
12:00 - 1:45 pm Men's and Women's Luncheons
2:00 - 4:00 pm Select Session Three: (select one of five)
Research Interest Groups
(limit 20 participants each; select 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice)
31. Kieran Scott, Fordham University. Metaphors for
Interreligious Teaching-Learning: Therapeutic and Political. Two metaphors
are in use to describe and guide the process of interreligious teaching-learning. One is
therapeutic, the other political. They need each other as complementary opposites. The aim
is to show how interreligious teaching-learning and healing/ liberation can be parallel
processes.
and
Brian Mahan, Candler School of Theology. Compassion and Its
Inhibitions: Christian Religious Education as Cultural Resistance. The
widespread internalized expectation--sometimes explicit, sometimes tacit--that all actions
and beliefs are motivated by self-interest represents a strong inhibition to the goals of
religious educators who desire to awaken and nurture compassion for others and sensitivity
to issues pertaining to social justice. Drawing from my teaching experience with both
undergraduates and seminarians (and citing the relevant literature, as well), this paper
offers an interpretation and pedagogical response to the problem of "the assumption
of egoism.
32. Denise Nadeau, Vancouver School of Theology and Laurel
Dykstra, Jubilaction: engaging with jubilee in a secular and
multi-faith context. How can we promote the radical vision of Jubilee in a
secular and multi-faith context? In this paper we analyze a feminist popular theatre work
on women's history of Jubilee, the hermeneutical tools the group developed to recover
women's untold stories, and the implications of this feminist hermeneutical model for
doing popular education with sacred scriptures in a multi-faith pluralistic society.
and
Susan Willhauck, Wesley Theological Seminary. A "Web of
Inclusion:" Pluralism and Women's Leadership in Religious Education. Women's
leadership in the education and formation of Christians is described using the image of
the web. This paper argues that this web-like enterprise is most effective for the church
in our pluralistic society.
33. Greer Wenh-In Ng, Emmanuel College, Toronto. From
Confucian Master Teacher to Freirian Mutual Learner: Challenges in Pedagogical Practice
and Religious Education. Exploration into the tensions in pedagogical
practice between communities of "traditional," more hierarchical and usually
patriarchal values and those of more egalitarian, liberative, and feminist values,
beginning with the case of Confucian-oriented communities and going on to ask the same
question of generally high-context societies.
and
Janet Parachin, Claremont School of Theology. Educating for
an engaged spirituality: Dorothy Day and Thich Nhat Hanh as spiritual exemplars
Roman Catholic Dorothy Day and Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh are exemplars of "engaged
spirituality," a path which intentionally unites engagement with resources which
provide spiritual nurture and engagement with the world through acts of compassion and
justice. The formative influences which shape and nurture their engaged spiritualities
provide clues for religious communities seeking to cultivate a similar commitment within
their own contexts.
Colloquia:
34. Michael P. Horan, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. From Proselytism to Internal Transformation: The "Conversion" of Catholic Motives for Evangelizing in A Pluralistic World. In the past three decades the Catholic church's official documents have enunciated a decidedly different understanding of evangelization than the one held prior to Vatican Council II. The "new evangelization" shifts the weight from increasing the number of new members to supporting and transforming the current members as they live their faith in a pluralistic world. What implications does this shift bear for meaningful Religious Education of Catholics today and tomorrow?
35. Doctoral Forum I:
Hope Antone, Union-Presbyterian School of Christian Education, An Invitation to the Table Community: A Biblical and Cultural Image for Asian Christians' Theory of Religious Education that Takes Account of Religious Pluralism. First, we Asian Christians need to realize that religious plurality is a given, and that Christian education is one form of religious education that may not represent the forms of other faith communities. Third, we need to prepare Christians for dialogue with Asians of other faith commitments. Shall we continue to consider Asians of other faiths as our mortal enemies, or as the unsaved doomed for hell, or as heathens to convert? Or shall we begin to look at them as brothers, sisters, and partners whom God also loves; to whom God has also revealed truths; from whom we can learn about life, living and relating; and in whom we can find the image of God? To address these needs, this presentation proposes a theory and vision of religious education as "invitation to a table community" which is theologically, biblically and culturally rooted.
Dean Blevins, Trevecca Nazarene University, Seeing our Reflection in the Mirror of the Other. Educators within conservative Wesleyan denominations, including the Church of the Nazarene, need a Wesleyan approach to Christian religious education to offset the influence of American evangelicalism. Wesley's understanding of the means of grace provides a strong theological and pedagogical framework leading toward an educational approach of formation, discernment and transformation. Wesley's understanding and use of the means of grace is analyzed in relation to his personal and social context, especially his sacramental heritage. Specific practices reveal a relationship between sacramental thought and educational theory, including different ways of knowing God. Formation socializes participants into Christian character, while discernment teaches participants to investigate and interpret God's activity within life. Transformation empowers participants actually to become means of grace, to live lives of holiness in order to transform the world at large.
4:15 - 5:45 pm Task Forces Select Session Four: (select one of seven)
41. Adult Education (George Brown, convener) "New Directions in Adult Education" In keeping with the annual meeting theme, participants are invited to bring information about new directions in adult education related to particularism and pluralism to share with others in this task force. Bibliographies, program brochures, surveys, or other handouts are appreciated. Since George will be completing his term as convener, the group will name a new convener to a three-year appointment.
42. Liturgy and Catechesis - **New Task Force** The goal of this task force is to explore from a variety of perspectives the intrinsic and interdependent relationships between liturgy and catechesis. Some questions we are pursuing include: What does it mean to talk about catechesis about, of, or through liturgy? How is liturgy both an object and means of catechesis? How does participation in a faith community change when catechesis both prepares for and reflects that community's liturgical life?
43. Ethnography as Methodology for Religious Education Research (Crain & Parker, conveners) See assignment in the June Newsletter.
44. Gender (Convener??)
45. Children: Presenters: Mary Anne Fowlkes, Union-PSCE, "Faith Interviews with Children" and Jerome Berryman, "Changing Views of Childhood."
46. Philosophy of Education (A. Proffitt, Convener)
47. Religious Education and the Natural World (K. O'Gorman, Convener)
6:15- 7:45pm Buffet Dinner and REA Annual General Meeting (over dinner - all welcome)
8:00 pm Plenary session:
"The Interdependence of Particularism and Pluralism: Definitions, Issues and
Implications."
Presenters: Philip Cunningham, Notre Dame College, New Hampshire - "The Theological
Frame"; Aryeh Davidson, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America - "The
Social/Psychological Frame; Joseph O'Keefe, S.J., Boston College - "The Educational
Frame." Moderator Mary Boys, Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Sunday, October 17
8:00 - 8:30 Worship
8:45 - 10:15 Select Session Five: (select one of five)
Research Interest Groups
(limit 20 participants each; select 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice)
51. Suzanne Johnson, Perkins School of Theology. Practicing
the Presence of God in the City. This paper describes and assesses three
approaches to embracing religious pluralism (1) critical dialogue focused on the sacred
texts and beliefs of the respective religious traditions; (2) mutual sharing of religious
practices and spiritual experiences enjoined by traditions; (3) cooperative and
emancipatory praxis on behalf of and alongside the poor and marginalized in every
tradition and society. It concludes by outlining an approach - "practicing the
presence of God in the city" - that includes the strengths but overcomes the
drawbacks of these approaches.
and
Helen Blier, Emory University. Wide-Awakeness in the World:
Education for Commitment to the Particular and the Plural. How does one
educate for, from, and within a tradition while acknowledging the complex reality of the
world? How does one educate on behalf of some vision of the common good while honoring
particularity? This paper will address these concerns by examining the process of
commitment as detailed by social psychologist Philip Brickman and exploring what
Brickman's observations imply for religious education and commitment in a pluralistic
world.
52. Siebren Miedema, Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands. A
concept for multi-religious schools: Teaching from different traditions and practicing
multi-world-view encounters. In this presentation we develop a
conceptualisation for multi-religious schools that can meet the coherence argument (and so
the particularism argument) by stressing the need for a stable primary/secondary culture),
and at the same time can deal with the plurality of traditions at hand in the
socio-cultural-religious environment of the students.
and
Gabriel Moran, New York University. Divine revelation as
teaching-learning. One problem is that in the twentieth-century
psychologizing of education, learning is praised but teaching is disparaged; that is,
learning is taken to be a process separate from teaching. I take teaching-learning to be a
single process, as practically all religions assume and philosophers from Aristotle to
Dewey assert. Teaching-learning then can serve to bring out the inner relation of divine
initiative and human response. Teaching-learning and divine revelation might be mutually
clarifying. A Jewish-Christian conversation about teaching-learning could thereby also
contribute to better religious understanding.
53. Elizabeth Box Price, Phillips Theological Seminary. Cognitive
Complexity and the Learning Congregation. Do congregations that become
"learning congregations" require a certain level of cognition? Members and
leaders of "learning congregations" know themselves to be co-creators of the
congregation's culture, shaping its decisions and life, engaging in and reflecting on the
shared practice of ministry. These congregations find that education occurs when problems
are identified and solved, assumptions are examined, and mental maps are clarified.
Cognitive theory would assume that a complex level of cognition is required of person who
make up such a congregation.
and
Robert K. Martin, Yale Divinity School. Leading the Community
Inward and Outward: A Practical Framework for Developing Ecclesial Leadership.
The educational ministry of ecclesial communities may powerfully address the relation of
particularity and pluralism by evoking and developing appropriate forms of leadership
among the community's membership. Guiding principles and practical suggestions for
developing ecclesial leadership will be drawn from biblical and theological perspectives
that critically appropriate social scientific research.
54. Darlene Scott, American Baptist Seminary of the West. The
Development and Demonstration of a Positive Personal Construct of Homosexuality Among
Pastors: A Phenomenological Exploration. This presentation will report
findings on qualitative research of pastors who have a positive personal construct of
homosexuality: how they developed a positive personal construct and why they demonstrate
their unconditional acceptance of homosexual persons within the context of the church.
and
Bert Roebben, Theological Faculty Leuven, Belgium. Teaching
Religion on the Internet. During this presentation the educational concept
behind the web-site GODINET (Teaching religion on the Internet) will be discussed from a
practical-theological point of view. The concept is radically relating to the
interreligious and intra-religious task which is set by contemporary adolescents in the
religion classroom.
55. Doctoral Forum II:
Wanda J. Stahl, Boston College, Building Small Faith
Communities in United Methodist Congregations: Theological Foundations and Pedagogical
Possibilities. This dissertation asserts that small faith communities are an
important strategy for empowering white, middle-class, American Christians in their own
faith journeys and toward social justice ministry. The proposed strategy involves more
than just adding small groups to a congregation's existing programs. This work will
propose that small faith communities provide a model for restructuring a congregation.
This dissertation is grounded in the Protestant, particularly United Methodist, tradition,
but its implications have potential relevance for other faith traditions as well.
and
Linda Thal, Union Theological Seminary/Columbia Teachers College, (What)
Can Jews Learn from Christian Spiritual Direction? The presenter is
beginning dissertation field research (in-depth interviews) designed to inquire into the
forms that Jewish spiritual guidance is taking in its incipient stages of development.
What insights into Jewish spirituality and Jewish spiritual development come from
examining the applicability and adaptability of the model of Christian spiritual
direction? Christian forms of spiritual direction, its underlying assumptions and its
conceptual frameworks and goals, are relatively foreign to Jewish tradition. The
centrality of religious experience and personal relationship to God stand out as both key
attractions and the primary difficulties. This research examines these issues in an effort
to sensitize educators to this ambivalence, help them understand the dynamics by which it
functions in both the learner and in the tradition, and to contribute to their knowledge
of ways to help Jewish seekers negotiate the mixed messages they correctly perceive.
10:30 - 11:45 - APRRE Business Meeting
11:45-12:15 - Closing
12:00 - 1:30 - REA Board Meeting
Back Copies of the Proceedings
To order a back copy of the Proceedings, send the following to the APRRE office(supplies are very limited):
APRRE
950 Marietta Ave.
Lancaster PA 17603-3105 USA
Please send _____ copies of the 1997 APRRE Annual Meeting Proceedings.
Please send _____ copies of the 1998 APRRE Annual Meeting Proceedings.
Cost: $35.00 plus $5.00 postage and handling, each. (Remit in U.S. dollars, drawn on a U.S. bank or International Money Order.) Copies will be sent by return mail.
Send to: Name:________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________
______________________________________________
Faculty Opening
The Chicago Theological Seminary seeks candidates for a full-time, tenure-track position in the field of Congregational Ministry. Candidates should have competence in one or more of the following areas: congregational studies, religious education, liturgics, or homiletics. Human science proficiency in hermeneutics, ritual studies, critical pedagogy or critical sociology is also desirable. Ph.D. required, parish experience preferred.
The Chicago Theological Seminary is closely related to the United Church of Christ, and offers the following degree programs: M.A., M.Div., S.T.M., D.Min., and Ph.D. Candidates should send a letter of application, CV, transcripts, and three letters of recommendation to Congregational Ministry Search Committee, The Chicago Theological Seminary, 5757 South University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. EOE/AA.
REA Annual General Meeting
The Religious Education Association holds its Annual General Meeting, often in close connection with APRRE meetings, since so many of us are members of both organizations. This year this meeting will take place on Saturday evening, over dinner - and all APRRE members are cordially invited.
This meeting will introduce the new Executive administrator, Kimberleigh Buchanan; provide an update on the search for a new editor for the journal Religious Education; explore the possibility of gathering statistical data on the profession of religious education, and a presentation and discussion on "Religious Education: The State of the Field."
We have been assured that the buffet is especially good. Members should also note that there are limited number of facilities for dining in the vicinity of the hotel.