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The article focuses on the importance of biblical authority in faithful Christian higher education. It highlights the need for the Bible to play a central role in shaping educational curricula and discusses the challenges faced by Christian educators in a secular society. The Protestant Reformers, particularly Martin Luther, emphasized the supreme importance of Scripture in education, advocating for its diligent study and the integration of its teachings into curriculum.

The article focuses on developing a biblical theology of education. It examines various biblical passages and themes related to education, including the role of parents in shaping children, the importance of written Scriptures, the transmission of knowledge within the family, and the teaching ministry of Jesus.

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various article on topics including the importance of Christian higher education, the role of Christian higher education in developing global Christians and establishing a Christian presence in the world.

Scholarly discussions on what constitutes Christian humanism in the Renaissance and Reformation periods have typically concentrated on its manifestations before 1536, when Erasmus died. In this period, the old arguments for the reading of the Classics once set out by Basil and Augustine still predominated. Calvin’s teaching on the Fall and the noetic effects of sin, however, provided another basis for the incorporation of pagan thought into Christian learning. Christians who followed Calvin benefited from his precise and comprehensive theological position on the place of worldly knowledge in God’s original creation as a means for justifying their study of the Classics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper recalls the fact that there is not only Jerome's famous statement about the trifaria varietas of the Greek biblical text in the preface to Chronicles, but also a quite different statement in his letter to Sunnia and Fretela, where he talks about only two text forms: the old, widely circulated Septuagint text, now called »Lucianic«, and the Hebraizing text, which is also found in the Hexaplaric codices. The paper analyses the background of Jerome's two different statements and relates them to modern insights of Septuagint research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes an autobiographical approach to the development of practical theology as a discipline over the past 30 years, with particular attention to my own context of the United Kingdom (UK). The unfolding of my own intellectual story in relation to key issues within the wider academic discourse provides an opportunity to reflect on some of the predominant themes and trends: past, present and future. Changing nomenclature, from ‘pastoral studies’ to ‘practical theology’, indicates how the discipline has moved from regarding itself as the application of theory into practice, into a more performative and inductive epistemology. This emphasis continues to the present day and foregrounds the significance of the human context and the realities of lived experience, including narrative and autobiography. Whilst the methodological conundrums of relating experience to tradition and theory to practice continue, further challenges are beckoning, including religious pluralism, and so the article closes by surveying the prospects for a multicultural practical theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the enthusiasm and use of Heidelberg Catechism in Christian training and teaching in North America and non-European countries. Topics discussed include reformed character and commitment of Dutch congregations to doctrinal standards and liturgy, German Reformed Church (RCUS), and missions and translations of catechism.

The author responds to an article entitled "The Evolutionary Psychology of Chinese Religion: Pre-Qin HIgh Gods as Punishers and Rewarders," by scholars Kelly James Clark and Justin T. Winslett in a previous edition of the journal. He criticizes the article's premise and states that the premise contends that a Hebrew-Bible deity is at the core of early Chinese religion. He argues that the scholars unduly criticize sinologists concerning early Chinese deities and incorrectly assume that cognitive approaches to religious studies demand the recognition of a singular deity.

An essay is presented on the religious orthodoxy of Christian monk Evagrius of Pontus. It examines how his orthodoxy became a main topic of 20th century scholarship on Evagrius, what that scholarship has determined in the debate over his orthodoxy, and surveys additional scholarly work that the author states attempts to reconcile competing viewpoints. The article examines the work of scholars such as Antonie Guillaumont, DomJohn Eudes Bamberger, and Gabriel Bunge.

In this article, the author discusses motherhood, feminist parenting, and raising of male children. She discusses the complexity of theories regarding kinship, motherhood, and gender in Western culture bsed on feminist scholars of religion. She mentions the end of the film Walt Disney Co. film "Never Cry Wolf," and relates it to human and animal experiences of loss and survival. She also talks on queer parenting in the postmodern world.

Reflection on the Holocaust is still critical today to help all educators teach their students about good and evil in the world today. In particular, reflection on the Holocaust is crucial for religious educators to help people know and name God, as well as help them deal with questions of theodicy, within their everyday life experiences. This article examines the role of religious education in this post-Holocaust context. Because of the Holocaust, Christians ought to be educated in ways that free them from biased and slanderous views of people and their religions, and open them to more inclusive and hospitable ways of coexisting with all types of people in the world today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the challenges provided by a plural condition toward doing religious education in the Philippines. The problem of Philippine religious education hinges on the fact that the growing plural condition in the educational system remains until now “un-discussed” or integrated in many schools. Not much is heard about proposing a platform of dialogue within religious education. Dialogue is more often associated with inter-faith initiatives beyond the learning environment. If religious education should be an instrument in the formation of the right Christian attitudes among the young, dialogue must be an urgent Christian agenda in Philippine religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MOST PROGRAMMES OF adult Christian learning today expect students to engage in theological reflection. The theoretical underpinning for this is often drawn from secular models of reflective practice, made 'theological' by the subject matter for reflection. This article aims to establish an explicitly theological basis for the use of the metaphor of reflection to characterize Christian learning. The insights of this approach are explored in relation to a validated programme of education for Christian ministry on which the author teaches, and some implications are suggested for all church-based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The category “religion” is a tripartite, emergent from Christian theology during modernity, as Christianity increased, transcended, and diminished, and persistent in contemporary religious studies and Christian theology. With the postmodern and postcolonial “return of religion”: the tripartite category is located as a product of Eurocentric modern Christianity; Christianity is positioned as one religion among others; and religious studies engages religious traditions, including Christianity, in their particularities, rather than in terms of overarching (modernist) categories. Within Christian theology, while Christianity transcended persists in (pluralist) liberal theologies, religion is repudiated and (particularist) Christianity re-centered in its neo-orthodox strands. While the Eurocentic entwining of Christianity with western modernity unravels, Christianity re-centered looks to a Trinitarian core, differently appropriated in the diverse locations constituting World Christianity. The recent particularist focus of both religious studies and Christian theology opens a path toward greater cooperation between the two disciplines, beyond tensions arising from the Christian-infused tripartite. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Librarianship is built on information. As we proceed further into the 21st century, librarians need to understand the concept of "information" as it cannot be easily defined. This paper presents a brief overview of information theory and reviews several concepts proposed by non-librarians. Also, these ideas, when viewed from a Christian perspective can help our understanding of "information." A review of related scriptures is also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a discussion on the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostle in the New Testament of the Bible which dealt on concepts and issues with regard to bible-based learning or scholarship. A brief history of the ideology that has brought a universally accepted paradigm for study based on Luke's Gospel, is presented which traces back to the huge outpouring of historical-critical post-War German and English-speaking scholarship. Several critical assumptions are considered as basis in support to the post-War New Testament thought including one on the acceptance of the relatively late composition for Luke and Acts which has created a negative value-judgment in terms of historical liability.

In this article the author argues for why people should learn about monk Thomas Merton. It is surprising that in a society in need of contemplation Merton remains for many college teachers a kind of enigma, according to the author. This essay argues that Merton can be taught and appreciated in a public, secular educational environmental.

Discerning the purpose of Ephesians is a notoriously difficult task since the letter lacks the necessary specificity for identifying a particular life-setting to explain its composition. This article explores the extent to which recent scholarship has disclosed the rationale behind this letter. Various contributions are considered, evaluated and integrated as one seeks to arrive at an understanding of the purpose of Ephesians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There was a time when the interpretation of the Bible was a seamless integrated theological activity. Today, the separation of biblical studies from theologically interested exegesis amongst theologians encourages a sceptical arms-length relationship between Old and New Testament scholars and theologians. Theologians criticise biblical studies' so-called objective and disinterested approach to interpreting the Bible for requiring scholars of both testaments to suspend their theological convictions. Biblical scholars condemn theologians for misusing biblical texts in support of their own preconceived theological agendas. The article suggests a way to bring these divergent exegetical approaches into conversation in a charitable, yet critical fashion, by comparing Karl Barth and N. T. Wright's exegesis of Romans 3:21-4:25. It concludes that the biblical scholar's and theologian's respective sensitivity to the historical and theological sense of the biblical text can, when brought together, benefit each other's reading of the Bible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is crucially important for Christianity. Without it the Christian faith would not be able to preserve its identity and expand through the ages. This is why Christians have devoted themselves to this task, although not always in a successful and coherent way. This article seeks to point out some meaningful aspects of the church's teaching activity since early times through the twentieth century. It includes observations on Christian education in the early church, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the modern period, as well as some information about Brazil. The author stresses two aspects of Christian education -- instruction in the faith and school education based on Christian principles. He also points out the tensions and challenges faced by Christian education throughout the centuries, but especially in today's pluralistic and relativistic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistics, and more generally mathematics, have been neglected in Christian scholarship on faithful learning and teaching. This subject has been generally classified in the "some areas are harder than others when it comes to making connections with faith" category. If statistics is more than just a technical tool and is in fact a way of thinking, such connections need to be made. The approaches that have been typically suggested to this end have taken two forms: (a) extremely philosophical and (b) the "add a Bible verse" superficial version of faithful learning. These two directions don't seem promising to me. I propose an approach that deals with specific statistical concepts rather than broad generalizations. This approach would be more useful to a statistics instructor attempting to integrate the course content with faith. This paper suggests some ways in which this can be done in the actual teaching of statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: When he surveyed the whole of knowledge in the first book of The Advancement of Learning, Francis Bacon identified three main diseases: firstly, an exaggerated care for form or style, which was dead learning; secondly a study of a false, not wrong, learning based on heated debates, teeming, so to speak, with the living worms of endless questions and answers. Finally, Bacon condemned not as a disease but a vice a ‘wrong’ learning based on the thriving of pseudo-sciences and the comfortable connivance of masters and disciples. Altogether, after spelling out these three criticisms, he trusted that knowledge should not simply deal with correctness or exactness, but should aim at truth coupled with the welfare of mankind. He based his belief explicitly on saint Paul''s view of knowledge-for-the-good-of-Christians, which to him meant potentially all men. The lesson for today''s academic life, both lecturing and research, would or might be to couple the search for truth with the aim of the good of man. The academic world might then rediscover values and meaning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article examines the four most widely discussed proposals for the genre of Acts in contemporary scholarship (biography as proposed by C. Talbert, novel as proposed by R. Pervo, epic as proposed by D. MacDonald, and history as reflected in the consensus of scholarship). Because the historical genre is currently the most widely accepted understanding, four historical subgenres are also considered (general history as proposed by D. Aune, political history as proposed by D. Balch, deuteronomistic history as proposed by T. Brodie, and apologetic history as proposed by G. Sterling). Currently the tendency of scholarship appears to be moving in the direction of understanding Acts as a mixture of genres, some of which are fictive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflects on the essay "A Pietist Perspective on Love and Learning in Cultural Anthropology," by Jenell Williams Paris. Views on the proposal of Paris to de-center the integrationist approach to include Christian traditions and diverse ways of understanding what Christian identity may mean for the scholarly vocation; Comments on the argument of Paris that Christian anthropologists who have used an integrationist approach have highlighted the differences between the faith and the discipline; Agreement with the belief of Paris that scholarship for Christian anthropologists focused on points of stress for Christians involved in the discipline of anthropology.

Explores the concept of love as a means of understanding what Christians do with their scholarship in cultural anthropology. Discussion of the shortcomings of the integrationist model for cultural anthropology; Pietist perspective on love and learning in cultural anthropology; Proposal to de-center the integrationist approach to include Christian traditions and diverse ways of understanding what Christian identity may mean for the scholarly vocation.

The article discusses the basics and core of Saint Augustine's biblical interpretation. Subjects discussed include the use of the Bible according to Saint Augustine, the influence of the saint on the development of biblical interpretation in Western Christianity, and the difficulty of extracting a coherent Augustinian theology from his writings.

Libraries are the arena where intellectual interaction takes place through the universal conversation of scholarship. Librarians share a common commitment to learning and service. In addition Christian librarians share a calling to knowledge and service that comes from the Holy Scriptures. Aspects of integrating our Christian faith, through the professional environment we create in our workplace, are considered. Collegiality as the means to achieve a productive library ambience for scholarship is suggested. When a Library has an atmosphere conducive to promoting learning it is a place of intellectual stimulation where the culture is collegial and the values of Christianity are practiced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on theological education. Topics discussed include theological education as formation for pastoral leadership; opinion that the central emphasis of learning the Christian message is the gospel of Jesus Christ; and argument that theological education is communal, which engage in the task of learning the Christian message, and think about and speak the Christian story.

The authors attempt to refute criticism by scholar Jordan Paper of their scholarly methodology concerning an article they wore on ancient Chinese texts. The authors argue that Paper read too much into the text of the original article, particularly concerning Paper's assertion that the authors assumed a Hebrew Bible deity at the center of early Chinese religion. The authors argue that they do not cite scholars such as David Keightly and Robert Eno in their original article, and that they do not employ circular logic in reading their own concepts of Christian divinity into ancient texts. The authors state that they are not alone in utilizing the concept of the cognitive science of religion (CSR) in their research.

This article presents the concluding questions on the outcome of the seminar on Christian Scholarship. It notes that the concluding questions may assist to create productive Christian scholarship in the twenty-first century. Questions include the reason of turning to religion, the meaning of being a Christian scholar or doing a Christian scholarship, the roles of classic Christian doctrines in the conversation between literature and Christianity, and the role of tradition for the Christian scholar.

Presents the author's response to a criticism of her article "A Pietist Perspective on Love and Learning in Cultural Anthropology." Aim of the article to understand the disadvantages of integrating faith and anthropology; Views on the lack of Christians involved in anthropology; Position on the argument that the reformed pietist traditions must not be dualized as theory versus practice, and that individuals coming from reformed traditions should not be silenced.

The article discusses two significant milestones in the history of the "Journal of Research on Christian Education." First, the journal has swiftly made the transition from Information Age Publishing (IAP) to a different publisher, the Taylor & Francis Group. George Johnson, president of IAP, assisted with the changeover. The second milestone is the return to a regular production and release schedule of the journal's publication. The editor thanks his mentor, Lyndon G. Furst, the journal's former editor, for coaching him through the process.