This book brings together two topics which have both been of increasing interest in different countries. The first refers to the quality of Religious Education as a school subject (RE) in general, the second is about the education of teachers of RE and its possible contribution to better quality RE. There have been many public, and often controversial, debates concerning both of these topics. The chapters contained in this volume, however, are not meant to continue such debates (even if it is inevitable that they will contribute to these debates as well), but to make use of research, especially research on teacher education in the field of RE, in order to provide insights based not just on political or personal opinions, but on rigorous academic scholarship.

Schools of Education are emerging academic units in higher educational institutions in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. Most of these teacher training programs are in their infancy stages. Modern day educational discourse across teacher training programs globally, including the Middle East and in the GCC, have predominantly focused on student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. This approach to teacher training is infused with critical scholarship and marks a shift away from positivist approaches to educational scholarship. Integrating critical scholarship in GCC teacher training programs brings about a number of challenges, as this approach to education is a departure from traditional cultural and social norms for schooling in the region. This multidisciplinary volume highlights some of the challenges and complexities that inevitably arise from this paradox. Professors, researchers, and specialists working in the GCC have contributed to this volume with the intent of empowering educators with authentic and contextualized research and insights to advance collective understanding of the complexities and challenges of teacher education and training in the GCC. Ultimately, this work will serve as a practical tool and resource that can be employed by schools of education to provide authentic insights, strategies, and research to further develop teacher training in the GCC and globally.

Against the backdrop of labour migration and the ongoing refugee crisis, the ways in which Islam is taught and engaged with in educational settings has become a major topic of contention in Europe. Recognising the need for academic engagement around the challenges and benefits of effective Islamic Religious Education (IRE), this volume offers a comparative study of curricula, teaching materials, and teacher education in fourteen European countries, and in doing so, explores local, national, and international complexities of contemporary IRE. Considering the ways in which Islam is taught and represented in state schools, public Islamic schools, and non-confessional classes, Part One of this volume includes chapters which survey the varying degrees to which fourteen European States have adopted IRE into curricula, and considers the impacts of varied teaching models on Muslim populations. Moving beyond individual countries’ approaches to IRE, chapters in Part Two offer multi-disciplinary perspectives – from the hermeneutical-critical to the postcolonial – to address challenges posed by religious teachings on issues such as feminism, human rights, and citizenship, and the ways these are approached in European settings. Given its multi-faceted approach, this book will be an indispensable resource for postgraduate students, scholars, stakeholders and policymakers working at the intersections of religion, education and policy on religious education.

Handbook of Children's Religious Education is a thorough and comprehensive treatment of the religious education of children ages six to twelve. It covers virtually all the basic information that childhood educators need to know in order to be effective teachers and communicators.

Handbook of Preschool Religious Education is an exhaustive and comprehensive treatment of the entire field of early childhood religious education. This encyclopedic volume is an indispensable guide and resource for all those involved in the religious education of young children.

The authors of this volume examine theory and practice regarding past and present roles of Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious education in nurturing tolerance, interpreted as mutual respect for and recognition of other groups, in Eastern (Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Romania) and Western (Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia and Spain) Europe, Israel, Nigeria and Uzbekistan. They also explore potential roles of religion and exclusivism in fostering (Islamic state, NGOs, etc.), but also averting (Islamic legal theory, authority, Sufism, etc.) radicalization, and of secular states in allowing, but also banning minority religious education in public schools.With contributions from Friedrich Schweitzer, Martin Rothgangel, Gerhard Langer, Daniela Stan, Arto Kallioniemi, Juan Ferreiro Galguera, Maria Chiara Giorda, Rossana M. Salerno, Viorica Goraş-Postică, Constantin Iulian Damian, Valentin Ilie, Dzintra Iliško, Ayman Agbaria, Zilola Khalilova, Raid al-Daghistani, Osman Taştan, Moshe Ma’oz, Adriana Cupcea, Muhamed Ali, Rüdiger Lohlker and Dele Ashiru. The Editors Ednan Aslan is the Chair of Islamic Theological studies at the University of Vienna where he is a Professor for Islamic Education. Margaret Rausch is scholar, researcher and university instructor in the field of Islamic and Religious Studies.

The Westminster Handbook to Women in American Religious History provides an affordable and accessible reference to over 750 outstanding individual women and women's organizations in American religious history.--From publisher description.