Search Results (545)

This article examines how theology can engage meaningfully with secular academic and cultural contexts, focusing on the possibility of public theology within the modern university. Emerging from societies where religion was long marginalized or privatized under communist regimes, the discussion highlights the renewed struggle to reintegrate theological discourse into public intellectual life. It argues that public theology must learn to “speak faith publicly”—that is, to express religious convictions in ways that contribute to shared intellectual and moral discourse without resorting to confessional exclusivity. By comparing public theology to public philosophy, the authors highlight both the similarities and tensions between the two. While both seek to address common human questions concerning truth, value, and meaning, public theology must navigate the added complexity of grounding its insights in faith traditions while remaining open to secular dialogue. The article argues that the Beatitudes and the concept of middle axioms provide complementary theological and methodological resources for communicating Christian faith within secular higher education, as illustrated by a qualitative case study conducted at a public university in Slovakia. Full article

This study explores the educational experiences of Syrian Muslim refugee students in higher education in Türkiye, with particular emphasis on social integration, belonging, and identity construction in relation to religion and religious education. Using a qualitative research design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants and analyzed through content analysis, leading to the development of thematic categories. The findings indicate that these experiences constitute a non-linear, multi-layered, and dynamic process shaped by temporal and contextual influences. Language proficiency, social interaction, and the educational environment are identified as key determinants of social integration, which emerges as a fragile and reversible rather than linear process. The sense of belonging develops through individual experiences and does not necessarily align with social acceptance, pointing to a distinction between its internal and external dimensions. Identity construction is characterized as flexible, hybrid, and continuously negotiated. The study’s primary contribution lies in revising the initial conceptual model. While the mediating role of social integration is supported, religion and religious education are shown to function as context-dependent and ambivalent factors. Although religion may promote meaning-making, social connection, and belonging, it may also contribute to exclusion depending on the context. Its influence is largely indirect, operating through social integration. Overall, the study offers a more nuanced and dynamic model for interpreting refugee students’ educational experiences. Full article

How do the frameworks of religion and spirituality influence perceptions of what it means to be a Black man and a family man? This study explores how increases in religiosity and spirituality influence Black masculinity and fatherhood among 33 Black Christian couples (n = 66). Qualitative interviews and analysis examine how religious beliefs and practices may facilitate shifts from independence-centered views of masculinity to family-oriented, spiritually grounded ideals. Participants described how deepened religiosity and spirituality were perceived as assisting with greater marital fidelity, fatherly involvement, and relational commitment, regardless of denominational affiliation, socioeconomic status, or education. Key mechanisms included (1) personal crises and faith community engagement, (2) divine interventions, (3) scripture study, and (4) recovering traditional religious masculinity roles. Findings suggest that religion and spirituality may provide an alternative framework for Black masculinity, one that emphasizes relationality, moral integrity, and family leadership. These processes are interpreted through Ryff’s six-factor model of eudaimonic well-being and mapped onto positive psychology constructs such as resilience, meaning-making, and the sanctification of family roles. Full article

This article examines developmental communication as one of the key factors influencing health and the overall functioning of the family. The aim of the study is to highlight the importance of interpersonal communication and religious values in fostering family bonds, shaping health-promoting attitudes, and enhancing the psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of family members. The article is theoretical and analytical in nature and is based on a literature review spanning family studies, pedagogy, sociology, psychology, and the psychology of religion. The findings indicate that open, dialogue-oriented communication supports the development of strong emotional bonds, a sense of security, and family resilience in the face of crisis situations. The importance of marital relationships, parent–child communication, and intergenerational relations for the psychosocial health of family members is emphasized. The study also highlights the role of religion and spiritual values as factors that strengthen family cohesion, foster a sense of meaning in life, and enhance coping with adversity. The conclusions suggest that developmental communication, supported by moral and spiritual values, is a key element in building a healthy and sustainable family system. Full article

This paper adopts a multisemiotic perspective to examine the significations of monuments in city spaces in Calabar, Nigeria. Data were generated through photo documentation, participant observation and semi-structured interviews in a three-year fieldwork involving 34 participants. Drawing from interactions between the designers, the monuments and the social audience, findings present the monuments as multisemiotic significations of the benefits derived from Western education, gains from missionaries’ activities and their interface with the locals, abolition of the slave trade, sociocultural heritage, histories and identity, potential in tourism and carnivals, and an emerging shift from African traditional religion to Anglo-Christian beliefs. These representations are dialogic expressions of lived experiences and histories of residents that (re)construct memorials of their past and provide a guide for the present and project expectations of the future. The symbolic images integrate localised intentions of the designers drawn from the environment and the people, with appropriate interpretations by the social audiences to situate their indigenous significations within varying global discourses on monuments. Full article

This study examines how religious socialization unfolds within a multi-religious academic campus, focusing on Palestinian–Muslim female students studying in a Jewish-majority institution in Israel. While academic spaces are often framed as secular and neutral, this research investigates how religion continues to shape identity, belonging, and everyday interactions in such contexts. Drawing on an interpretive qualitative approach, the study is based on in-depth interviews with 28 Palestinian–Muslim female graduate students. The findings reveal that the campus functions as a post-secular space characterized by three interconnected dynamics: (1) institutional arrangements that privilege majority religious norms while marginalizing minority practices; (2) the reproduction of power relations and symbolic boundaries between Jewish and Muslim students; and (3) subtle yet significant processes of identity transformation emerging through interreligious encounters. The study shows that religious socialization extends beyond family and community, taking shape within institutional contexts that require ongoing negotiation of visibility, legitimacy, and belonging. It further highlights forms of agency expressed through strategic adaptation, selective participation, and everyday resistance under conditions of constraint. These findings contribute to post-secular theory by demonstrating how religion is reconfigured rather than diminished in contemporary academic institutions, and position higher education as a critical site for understanding religion, gender, and power in divided societies. Full article

Chinese translations of the Bible are an important case in the dissemination of texts across cultures and religions. One of its core challenges lies in how to convey the textual personification of God in the Bible through translation within the context of traditional Chinese thought. Through a longitudinal empirical analysis of Jingjiao (景教) texts, Catholic translations from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the Protestant Chinese Union Version, this article proposes an interpretive framework of “dual mediation,” revealing how Confucian and Daoist thought interact through distinct cultural pathways to influence the representation and local reconfiguration of the divine personhood. Through its concept of “naturalization,” Daoist thought removes the element of coercive will from the expression of divine action, emphasizing instead the process of spontaneous generation from within. Confucianism, on the other hand, through a process of “ethicalization,” relies on the relational network and moral system of the “father-son” to transform God into an educational agent endowed with personal characteristics and moral responsibility. Through these two pathways, God is not only expressed in Chinese translations as a Revealer, Creator, and Redeemer, but His personhood is also adapted during the translation process to align with the divine subject within the Chinese intellectual system and ethical order. Based on this, the “dual mediation” framework presented in this article offers a new perspective for understanding cultural adaptation and theological expression in the translation of the Chinese Bible. Full article

Background/Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is an important cancer prevention strategy, yet uptake remains incomplete. Although provider recommendation is a key driver of HPV vaccination, less is known about how future physicians’ own vaccination behaviors are shaped. This study examined whether family vaccination context was associated with HPV vaccine uptake among medical students, with attention to implications for future vaccine counseling and prevention training. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of survey data from 230 medical students at Wayne State University School of Medicine. The primary outcome was self-reported HPV vaccination status, dichotomized as fully vaccinated versus not fully vaccinated or unsure. Predictors included family vaccination context, gender, religious affiliation, age, year in medical school, prior HPV education, HPV knowledge, and HPV stigma. Family vaccination context was modeled as an ordinal predictor based on agreement that family members of age were vaccinated. HPV knowledge was modeled using a 22-item baseline pre-survey composite score. HPV stigma was modeled as a 2-item composite assessing perceived stigma associated with HPV and disclosure. Analyses included univariate and bivariate tests, followed by complete-case multivariable logistic regression. A sensitivity analysis restricted the outcome to vaccinated versus unvaccinated students, excluding those who were unsure. Results: Of 230 students, 189 (82.2%) reported being fully vaccinated against HPV. In bivariate analyses, family vaccination context, gender, and HPV knowledge were associated with vaccination status, whereas religion, age, year in medical school, prior HPV education, and HPV stigma were not. In the adjusted model (n = 165), family vaccination context remained the strongest independent correlate of HPV vaccination status (OR, 3.95; 95% CI, 2.11–7.42; p < 0.001). Female gender was also associated with higher odds of vaccination (OR, 3.80; 95% CI, 1.01–14.29; p = 0.048), as was higher HPV knowledge (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.03–1.53; p = 0.024). HPV stigma showed a borderline inverse association with vaccination status (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.26–1.07; p = 0.076). Religion, age, year in medical school, and prior HPV education were not statistically significant after adjustment. The family vaccination association remained robust in the vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated sensitivity analysis (OR, 7.70; 95% CI, 2.45–24.26; p < 0.001). Exploratory secondary analyses suggested that family vaccination context may also be associated with stronger intention to recommend HPV vaccination to future patients and greater intent to vaccinate among students who were not fully vaccinated or unsure, although these findings should be interpreted cautiously. Conclusions: Perceived family vaccination context was the strongest and most consistent correlate of self-reported HPV vaccine completion among medical students in this cross-sectional study. Gender and HPV knowledge were also associated with vaccination status in the primary adjusted model, although these estimates were less precise and less consistent across model specifications. Findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects. HPV prevention training may benefit from addressing not only factual knowledge, but also trainees’ vaccination histories, perceived family and social norms, HPV-related stigma, and comfort discussing vaccination as part of preparation for future cancer prevention counseling. Full article

This paper explores the advocacy of Daisaku Ikeda (1928–2023) for intercultural dialogue as a means of fostering peace. It does so by bringing his thought into dialogue with Martin Wight (1913–1972), an English international relations theorist whose three traditions model explored two forms of dehumanization: a radical solidarist position that dehumanizes by treating all people the same, and an extreme form of pluralism that leads us to a realist position that there is no morality except for a group’s own truth. Wight’s model is especially helpful for drawing out the tensions in Ikeda’s writings between peacebuilding processes centered on solidarism and those centered on pluralism. But, at the same time, this model benefits from a sustained conversation with Ikeda because Wight’s conceptualization of a middle path was highly Eurocentric and too state-centric. Ultimately, Wight’s model gives us a new vocabulary and the context to understand Ikeda’s advocacy, but Ikeda’s approach to intercultural dialogue, deeply rooted in Buddhist humanism and prioritizing citizen diplomacy and education, went farther than Wight in theorizing and practicing how to create a healthy middle ground between the two forms of dehumanization. When viewed together, both scholars also address the broader ambivalence in the literature about why, how and when religion(s) contribute to violence and peace by emphasizing the courage and faith needed to navigate a middle path between extremes. Full article

Background and Objectives: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern, with nearly one in three women experiencing rape, physical assault, stalking, emotional manipulation, or a combination of these behaviors in their lifetime. As an often neglected cause of injury worldwide, IPV is underreported and not well recognized by healthcare professionals. Employment has been identified as a key factor in women’s successful disentanglement from IPV. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the factors that influenced women who had experienced IPV, established a career path, and successfully disentangled from IPV. Materials and Methods: Women who experienced IPV were recruited from a local university. Results: Ten female participants completed open-ended interviews (mean age = 47, SD = 10.25). Five main themes emerged as the most important in disentangling from their abusive situation: tipping point, grit, religion, children, and education/career. The main theme or step in the process that led to disentanglement was the tipping point. Once the tipping point had been reached, participants moved toward disentanglement. Conclusions: Disentanglement from IPV was enhanced for women who reached a tipping point of abuse. Full article

Adam Smith’s system of natural liberty aimed at the happiness and virtue of humankind. Yet the Scottish philosopher also recognised that the system’s internal dynamics could render it unsustainable unless the state intervened to preserve sociability and justice through the education of both the working and the middle and upper classes. This article argues that the educational programme envisaged in The Wealth of Nations entailed the triumph of a pure and rational religion, understood as the conviction that the Supreme Being valued and rewarded virtue alone, thereby reinforcing the sense of duty, together with an awareness of belonging to an impartially conceived, divinely ordered system, fostering humility. Full article

This paper shifts the research perspective from “Buddhist monasteries” to “monastic Buddhism,” using Nālandā Mahāvihāra as a micro-level case to illuminate the broader support mechanism of Indian Buddhist monasteries, with particular focus on the concept of “non-exhaustible endowment”. Drawing on epigraphic evidence, Vinaya texts, and Chinese pilgrims’ records, it finds that major donors supported monasteries through religious rituals, land grants, and cash investments, primarily in the form of landed property and gold and silver currency, which were designated as non-exhaustible endowments. Monasteries then engaged in agriculture, handicrafts, building industry, commerce, and lending, transforming static assets into a non-exhaustible cycle of capital that benefited both monastics and laity. Systems such as Yizhi (robe funds) and Gongfu zhi Zhuang (robe-providing estates) reveal mature financial services that not only liberated monks from economic constraints but also stimulated the cotton textile trade between India and China. The wealth possessed by monasteries was not static but perpetually engaged in a dynamic cycle of capital. Major Buddhist monasteries thus emerged as regional economic engines, which became the core value for continuous royal patronage, as well as the key incentive for their violent destruction by Turkic Muslims. However, the transformation of the religious landscape and economic network in late medieval Bihār was not a simplistic process. Faced with a changing political and religious environment over time, Sufi saints, Jain followers, Shaiva ascetics and other religious communities, each grounded in their own faiths, landholdings, commercial networks and educational systems, gradually displaced, restructured and undermined the Buddhist monastery-centered endowment mechanism, causing Buddhism to progressively lose its regional dominance as an institutionalized religion. Full article

This study examines the schooling experiences of transgender students in Malta within the broader historical and sociocultural influence of the Catholic religion, focusing on how religious discourse shapes processes of inclusion and exclusion. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with transgender students, parents, educators, and school administrators, the findings reveal that Catholic doctrine and its presence within school contexts contribute to the erasure of transgender identities from early childhood onward. In contrast to ecclesiastical narratives that frame transgender identity as a form of “gender ideology,” participants’ accounts demonstrate that social and medical transitions function as critical strategies for survival, well-being, and self-recognition. Methodologically, the study employs qualitative thematic analysis informed by a critical anticolonial framework, enabling an interrogation of how religious authority intersects with colonial legacies to regulate gender and embodiment. The analysis further highlights tensions between the Catholic religion and contemporary human rights and ethical frameworks, particularly in relation to inclusion. The study concludes that if the Catholic religion is to retain relevance within school contexts, it must undergo a substantive ethical reorientation toward inclusivity, recognizing transgender embodiment and agency. In line with emancipatory pedagogical traditions, this entails reimagining the role of the Catholic religion as one that actively supports social justice, critical consciousness, and transformative practices of inclusion. Full article

This paper examines the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on the First Amendment protection of the Free Exercise of religion by focusing on the Court’s judicial role to provide civic education in America’s constitutional principles. It argues that the Court’s current Free Exercise jurisprudence has ignored the Court’s teaching role by favoring brightline tests that fail to apply constitutional principles to the circumstances of each case. In these cases, the Court has refused to model for citizens how to reflect on constitutional principles and carefully apply them to new circumstances. This hesitancy reflects a greater debate over whether the judiciary or the legislature is the best protection for religious liberty and the proper educator on constitutional rights. Despite the Court’s constitutional role as teacher on constitutional rights, there are inherent limits to its authority to educate on religion given the liberal nature of the American regime. The Court limits itself to legal questions affecting religion and leaves religious doctrine and its truth outside of its cognizance in order to restrain its educative function to the proper constitutional limits. The Court’s Free Exercise jurisprudence thus demonstrates the potential and limits for the Court to protect religious liberty and educate citizens on religious freedom. Full article

This article develops a symbolic hermeneutic framework for interpreting contemporary socio-educational phenomena within the horizon of decolonial thought and Liberation Theology. It begins from the assumption that symbols are not merely decorative forms of representation but fundamental structures of meaning that shape both individual experience and collective life, especially through their educational effects. From this perspective, the article examines how the symbols circulating in social communication reveal the ideological underpinnings of imagination, authority, exclusion, and resistance. The essay then places this symbolic analysis in dialog with decolonial theory, arguing that the enduring epistemological legacy of colonialism continues to organize hegemonic forms of knowledge, subjectivity, and power. Particular attention is devoted to the concept of the frontier, first understood as a modern device of exclusion and then reinterpreted as a space of epistemic resistance, ethical encounter, and democratic confrontation among differences. The discussion further engages key authors of Liberation Theology and the philosophy of liberation—especially Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, Enrique Dussel, and Paulo Freire—in order to show how religious discourse and pedagogical practice intersect in processes of emancipation. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative, interpretative approach grounded in philosophical hermeneutics and critical conceptual analysis. It reconstructs and compares major theoretical positions rather than presenting empirical data. The article argues that the integration of symbolic hermeneutics, decolonial thought, and liberationist theology offers an original framework for rethinking education as a transformative practice grounded in ethical responsibility toward the Other. By bringing the concepts of frontier, sentipensamiento, communality, and pluriverse into a single analytical constellation, the paper contributes to current debates in religious studies, critical pedagogy, and epistemic justice. In the context of contemporary global crises—migration, ecological devastation, social fragmentation, and the weakening of democratic participation—it proposes a renewed role for religion as a critical and generative force capable of opening new educational spaces for dialogue, liberation, and the reconfiguration of knowledge. Full article