“Using the Language of Christian Love and Charity”: What Liberal Religion Offers Higher Education in Prison
1
Institut d’études religieuses, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1N8, Canada
2
Religion and Classics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
3
Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
4
Center for Civic Engagement, University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Religions 2019, 10(3), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030169
Received: 7 February 2019 / Revised: 25 February 2019 / Accepted: 26 February 2019 / Published: 7 March 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carceral Intersections: Christianity and the Crisis of Mass Incarceration)
This article explores what religious frameworks and institutions have to contribute to college-in-prison. We first provide an historical overview of higher education programs in American prisons. Then, we limn the role religion can play in motivating people to commit themselves to educating incarcerated people. Because this work is so thorny, we document some of the generic challenges programs must face and show how religious languages can be an asset in navigating these challenges. Next, we present the pedagogical practices and educational philosophies expressed among the programs in our study. We conclude with some broader reflections about teaching incarcerated people, and, after wrestling with objections, we encourage our colleagues in religious studies—those with faith commitments as well as those without them—to get involved.
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Keywords:
prison education; Protestantism; pedagogy; mass incarceration; justice; transformation
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Atkins, C.; Dubler, J.; Lloyd, V.; Webb, M. “Using the Language of Christian Love and Charity”: What Liberal Religion Offers Higher Education in Prison. Religions 2019, 10, 169.
AMA Style
Atkins C, Dubler J, Lloyd V, Webb M. “Using the Language of Christian Love and Charity”: What Liberal Religion Offers Higher Education in Prison. Religions. 2019; 10(3):169.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAtkins, Charles; Dubler, Joshua; Lloyd, Vincent; Webb, Mel. 2019. "“Using the Language of Christian Love and Charity”: What Liberal Religion Offers Higher Education in Prison" Religions 10, no. 3: 169.
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