Search Results (122)

There are many lessons to be learned from the findings of research that would be advantageous in realising the potential of Catholic schools to contribute to the common good of a secular society. In summary, it is possible to highlight the following inferences, which were drawn from research undertaken by the writer: (1) From the perspective of Catholic school leaders, Catholic education faces considerable challenges and, sometimes, antagonism, within a secular society, which can impose significant pressures on the conduct of their work. (2) There is a need to disseminate information to individuals and groups within and outside Catholic schools of the Christian values that are promoted by the Church. (3) Catholic schools make a significant contribution towards the common good of society, which is not always generally appreciated and should be more widely publicised. (4) Catholic communities and their leaders would benefit from ongoing opportunities to engage in continuing professional development and formation that would nourish and nurture the enhancement of spiritual capital in their schools. Full article

Templestay programs in South Korea represent a unique convergence of Buddhist ritual, cultural immersion, and wellness tourism. While often treated as niche cultural experiences, their broader significance within sustainable wellness tourism remains underexplored. This study examines participant reflections from the Beomeosa Templestay program through thematic analysis of over 600 reviews sourced from TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and handwritten guestbooks. Using a triangulated framework combining Grounded Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and the Wellness Tourism Model, the research identifies four recurring experiential themes: spiritual development, emotional healing, cultural immersion, and conscious consumption. Findings reveal cross-cultural variations: non-Korean participants emphasized spiritual exploration and cultural learning, while Korean participants prioritized emotional renewal and reconnection with heritage. Yet, across all groups, participants reported transformative outcomes, including heightened clarity, inner calm, and enhanced self-awareness. These results suggest that Templestays serve as accessible, culturally grounded wellness retreats that align with rising global demand for intentional, mindful travel. This study contributes to sustainable tourism scholarship by framing Templestays as low-impact, spiritually resonant alternatives to commercialized wellness retreats. Practical recommendations are offered to expand participation while maintaining program authenticity and safeguarding the spiritual and cultural integrity of monastic hosts in an increasingly globalized wellness landscape. Full article

This article describes the design and implementation of a Specialized Mental Health Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program for clergy and theological students of all spiritual, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Addressing the need for mental health competencies in religious leaders and chaplains, this training equips participants with specialized skills in individual and group mental health spiritual assessment and spiritual care. Program participants become effective members of a multiprofessional team, gain knowledge of mental health philosophies of concordant and discordant spiritual orienting systems, and gain greater relational capacity. The Mental Health CPE Program includes traditional and novel CPE elements: (1) clinical practice, (2) group and individual supervision, (3) didactic presentations and journal clubs, (4) verbatim (Protocols of patient encounters) and case presentations, (5) group leadership training and practica, and (6) experience of faith reflections. This article provides insights into the origins of CPE, a description of the implementation in a free-standing psychiatric hospital, and observed developmental changes of program participants. We include graduates’ anecdotal feedback about their learning experience and its impact on their leadership in chaplaincy and in religious communities. Additionally, we report on areas for future development and further study of the effectiveness of Mental Health CPE. Full article

Oxford’s Alister McGrath undoubtedly reflects a paradigm of meaningful intersection in the scholarship of science and religion, especially Christian theology. McGrath’s life journey from loving science to discovering God in Christianity is particularly intriguing because his convictions were not supernatural but intellectual, rooted in multiple conscientious inquiries culminating in his conclusion that through Christianity, humanity and creation can be better understood. A recurring quote in McGrath’s writings comes from C.S Lewis: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else”. How do spiritual eclipses influence religious belief? What might non-Christian theistic religion like African traditional perspectives glean from a uniquely Christian outlook? This paper, leveraging McGrath’s unique journey as a bridge between religion and science, unravels intelligible parallels between two different religious perspectives and learnings that non-Christian theists can glean from exclusively Christian scholarship. Full article

Migration is a multidimensional process that reshapes identities and communities. This article adopts a polyhedral framework inspired by Pope Francis’s Laudato si’ and Michel Foucault’s concepts of “subjectivation” and the “polyhedron of intelligibility”. Both emphasize spirituality as a transformative force in individuals’ lives and a concept that connects philosophy and theology to support resilience among migrant populations. Using Portugal as a case study, the research examines migration’s historical and contextual landscape and its discursive framework. Through a Lisbon-based research project of interviews with migrants, the study explores the concept of spiritual integration by presenting how spirituality functions to preserve cultural identity while facilitating integration without full assimilation into the host community. Spirituality includes many rules and choices regarding ways of life; therefore, the interview projects’ migrants interpret the concept of spiritual integration in a subjective and polyhedron manner. Creating strong ties to their homes, traditions, cultures, spirituality, sports, and culinary practices, as well as practicing, sharing, and teaching these practices, protects them from total subjection, while learning the host society’s customs and rituals helps them to fit in. The findings show that spirituality serves as an integrational tool, a coping mechanism, and a form of resistance, providing a space for migrants to address and overcome challenges. The article emphasizes the importance of integration policies to create a “safe place” of inclusivity within host communities. Full article

This study aims to elucidate the mechanisms through which digital government construction influences regional dual control of energy consumption (encompassing both the total volume and intensity of energy use), with a particular emphasis on exploring its indirect effects mediated by the synergistic advancement of technological and spiritual civilizations. Drawing on provincial panel data from China, we establish a nested framework that integrates spatial difference-in-differences models with double machine learning models to systematically dissect the transmission pathway linking digital government construction, the synergy between technological and spiritual civilizations, and the dual control of energy consumption. Our findings indicate the following: (1) Digital government construction significantly enhances the dual control of regional total energy consumption and energy intensity through policy coordination and optimized resource allocation. (2) While the progression of technological civilization plays a notable intermediary role in reducing energy intensity, its impact on total energy consumption is constrained by the “Jevons paradox”. (3) Advancements in spiritual civilization concurrently promote the alleviation of both total energy consumption and energy intensity by reshaping social consensus and behavioral norms. (4) The synergistic effects of technological and spiritual civilizations further amplify the efficacy of the dual control of energy consumption, although digital government construction exhibits a pronounced spatial polarization effect on energy intensity in neighboring regions. The theoretical contributions of this study are as follows: Firstly, it proposes the governance paradigm of digital government as a “technology–culture” collaborative hub, breaking through the binary opposition between technological determinism and institutional embeddedness. Secondly, it constructs a “feasible ability” expansion model to reveal the complementary mechanism between scientific and technological civilization (technology acquisition ability) and spiritual civilization (value selection ability). Thirdly, the policy black box is deconstructed through methodological innovation and provides a systematic path for emerging economies to solve the “efficiency–equity” dilemma of energy governance. Full article

This paper critically addresses the pervasive neglect of indigenous approaches to social transformation within the field of international development cooperation. It shows how commonly used evaluation frameworks—shaped by Western assumptions about evidence, measurement, and progress—tend to exclude non-Western knowledge systems. Focusing on African Initiated Churches (AICs) as exemplars of development actors with transformational approaches that incorporate the spiritual, this study explores the possible reforms required in mainstream evaluation practices to recognise and include development alternatives. An analysis of AIC evaluation practices reveals the potential for decolonised frameworks rooted in African and indigenous epistemologies, including relational, communal, and spiritual ways of generating evidence. This paper argues that fostering mutual learning and dialogue in the field of development evaluation is fundamental to driving more inclusive and sustainable social change. Full article

The natural environment plays a vital role in children’s health, influencing their physical, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Maintaining a continuous relationship with nature is essential for children and is a key consideration for professionals, such as architects, urban and interior designers, and landscape architects. School design should balance students’ abilities and environmental challenges and offer opportunities to alleviate mental fatigue, supporting sustained learning. The well-known architectural approach, biophilic, fostering a stronger connection between nature and humans, can significantly enhance students’ learning experiences and mental health in school settings. However, implementing this style in Iranian primary schools has largely been overlooked despite its potential to develop a more peaceful and dynamic environment. This research ranked several schools in northern Iran based on biophilic criteria to help authorities identify which schools require improvements. To this end, biophilic design elements in schools were identified through a literature review and provided to research experts. The most important criteria for evaluating and prioritizing options (schools) were selected based on their opinions. Subsequently, each criterion’s importance (weight) was determined using pairwise comparisons, and, finally, the schools were prioritized using the TOPSIS method. Full article

This paper expands on the anthropocentric focus of the Self-Directed Flourishing (SDF) framework by introducing the Eco-Systemic Flourishing (ESF) framework. The primary contribution of the ESF is the integration of ecological systems thinking, place-based education, and regenerative learning into existing flourishing frameworks. Methodologically, the paper synthesizes interdisciplinary perspectives from developmental psychology, systems theory and sustainability education and to propose a transformative educational approach. The results outline how the ESF framework positions education as a crucial driver for fostering relational awareness and ecological literacy, thus promoting both human and planetary flourishing. The framework’s implications are significant, offering a scalable model for sustainability integration in educational systems, curriculum design, and policy development. Future empirical validation, through longitudinal studies, is recommended to evaluate ESF’s effectiveness in enhancing educational outcomes and ecological stewardship. Full article

Although the Zhuangzi is mentioned in late Warring States and Han Dynasty texts, it was in the post-Han Wei-Jin period that it first exerted a significant influence on intellectual life, becoming a central target for both praise and criticism, much of which focused on its transcendent attitude toward Confucian social values and secular interests. This paper examines these discussions, focusing on criticisms from the pragmatically minded realist Confucian literati of the period, who largely regarded the text as detaching and distracting scholars from the pressing needs of the state and responses from the more sympathetic and idealist “Neo-Daoist” figures of the Dark Learning (xuanxue) movement. For the latter, the spiritual self-transcendence that could be found in the Zhuangzi text was not only a source of personal satisfaction and joy but also served an important function in Confucian ethics, leading readers to transcend narrow obsession with individual self-interest, political power and social status. While these debates express the state of Chinese society after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, they have also been seen as reflecting wider issues that have become prominent in modern Western philosophical and religious thought, notably the concept of nihilism, an association that is here critically assessed in detail. Full article

Outdoor education camps offer adventure programs to schools that deliver camp-based activities that challenge students in various ways. These camps provide students with an opportunity to learn in a natural environment, interact with their peers outside of the classroom, and participate in activities that challenge them both physically and mentally. Youth Adventure Camps also espouse a Christian ethos, Christian values, and spirituality, which are also key focuses. Prior research into outdoor education camps has examined the social, emotional, and physical benefits for students. In this study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five (n = 5) Christian Youth Adventure Camp (CYAC) staff to better understand their experiences and perceptions of their induction, ongoing training, strategies, and pedagogical approaches used to deliver the CYAC camp programs. Targeted observations of camp staff (N = 5) in action were also used to identify the intentional pedagogies they used to embed CYAC’s philosophy within their camp programs. This paper is part of a larger study, and its findings are focused on the perspectives of the camp leaders for two key reasons: First, we wanted to examine the intentional pedagogies of camp leaders, particularly those who were not qualified teachers; and second, our aim was to examine how these camp leaders included the values-based THRIVE philosophy in their day-to-day practice. Our findings show that, despite not being university-qualified educators, camp staff consistently employed intentional pedagogies that were effective in engaging students in opportunities to “thrive” in alignment with the philosophy underpinning their operations and to meet the goals of the school using their programs. Full article

This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the online delivery of a spiritual–mind–body (SMB) wellness intervention previously delivered and validated in person, Awakened Awareness for Adolescents (AA-A), designed for spiritual individuation among emerging-adult undergraduates. Undergraduates aged 18–25 (N = 39) participated in an open trial study. Enrollment, retention, and engagement rates were calculated to assess the feasibility of delivering AA-A online. Thematic analysis on qualitative feedback was conducted to assess acceptability. Clinical and spiritual well-being were assessed before and after AA-A delivery using self-report measures and pre-to-post-intervention changes examined. Results were compared to previous findings from AA-A delivered in person. Interactions between sexual and gender minority (SGM) status and AA-A delivery method on spiritual well-being change scores were explored. Significant improvements were seen in anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms and spiritual well-being. Affordances and constraints of the online format were identified across three themes. SGM students showed significantly greater improvements than non-SGM students in depression and anxiety symptoms and spiritual well-being. AA-A is feasible and acceptable in an online format and can support students’ spiritual individuation and mental health in a way that is comparable to its in-person format. Furthermore, the online format may be particularly beneficial for SGM students to actively participate and engage. Full article

Pastoral supervision and spiritual direction are inherently personal in nature. They reveal a transformative life of spiritual and soul care demanding the formation of theological reflection, healing, guidance, and discernment. Whilst pastoral supervision serves to guide theological reflection on service and mission, spiritual direction facilitates the moments of awakening to the presence and narrative of God’s grace and work in the depths of the soul. Under the light of Catholic Social Teaching, the notions of solidarity and subsidiarity will be pressed into service to unveil a common spiritual–theological foundation animating the roots of both these ministries. To understand the common dynamics of pastoral supervision and spiritual direction, the article develops a spiritual theology to reveal that both ministries, however distinct in practice, share the same incarnational (creative) and redemptive (re-creative) qualities. In other words, they both share the same source, root, origin, or existence in God’s word and grace. This comes to light by learning to pronounce love in truth, a prophetical work of solidarity and subsidiarity, of friendship and sharing orienting integral human development to listen and respond to God’s movement. The actions of solidarity and subsidiarity are rooted in the beatitude of righteousness revealing the little goodness, a work of possibility and responsibility. Such actions serve to transform the time of ministry into spaces of blessing and mystery, of appreciating the sacredness and unknowability of the other with boldness, curiosity and gentleness. The article concludes by showing how both ministries of pastoral supervision and spiritual direction share the spiritual-pastoral appeal to form communities witnessing the little goodness of love in truth. Full article

This study applied machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using comprehensive social determinants of health (SDOH) features. Data from the All of Us dataset, comprising participants with complete HRQOL and SDOH records, were analyzed. The primary outcome was HRQOL, which encompassed physical and mental health components, while SDOH features included social, educational, economic, environmental, and healthcare access factors. Three ML algorithms, namely logistic regression, XGBoost, and Random Forest, were tested. The models achieved accuracy ranges of 0.73–0.77 for HRQOL, 0.70–0.71 for physical health, and 0.72–0.77 for mental health, with corresponding area under the curve ranges of 0.81–0.84, 0.74–0.76, and 0.83–0.85, respectively. Emotional stability, activity management, spiritual beliefs, and comorbidity were identified as key predictors. These findings underscore the critical role of SDOH in predicting HRQOL and suggests future research to focus on applying such models to diverse patient populations and specific clinical conditions. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions had significant impacts on the well-being and academic functioning of students worldwide. When universities closed campuses and moved teaching and learning online, students faced numerous challenges. The researchers conducted a study to establish which factors most affected South African students’ academic competence during the initial months of lockdown and the shift to online learning. Using an online survey that focused on students’ wellness, perceived academic competence and coping behaviour, data were collected from 3239 university students. Multiple linear regression showed that students’ subjective sense of intellectual wellness, coping behaviour, satisfaction with support from the university, and mental health were strong predictors of academic competence. Other factors that influenced students’ academic competence were emotional and spiritual wellness, perceptions of safety and security, and hopefulness. Females, undergraduates, and Faculty of Law students reported higher perceptions of academic competence. These findings have practical implications for universities as they identify factors that contribute to students’ academic competence, especially during times of crisis and online learning. Academic and support services staff at universities may find the findings valuable when developing policies to provide appropriate resources and services to promote and sustain students’ academic functioning. Full article