Summary: This book seeks to uncover the basic significance of religious education thought and practice by looking at the meaning of words. In doing so, the book shows that while the church's traditional language has been theology, the adoption and inclusion of religious education language will lead to major breakthroughs not only in religious education itself but also in the whole way in which the churches engage in their own reflection and ministry. In the end, this book is about vision, a vision revealed in the authentic meaning of the words used in religious education

Spirit of the Book: The spirit of this book is one of revealing the true nature of religious education work by analyzing the meaning of the words which religious education typically and often uncritically uses. In this way creative and innovative patterns of thinking about religious education emerge in a surprising but very helpful way. Thus the spirit of this book is one of innovation, creativity, and helpful new ways of thinking seriously about religious education and its major tasks.

What this Book Gives You: When all is said and done, the most important thing this book gives you is Gabriel Moran. He is one of the most important thinkers in religious education in the past 100 years and this volume gives you a fine summary of his nearly forty years in the field. The book gives you vintage Moran, namely an innovative, creative, and inclusive way of reflecting on religious education. Every religious educator should have read at least one book by Gabriel Moran, and this volume gives you an overview of some of his best and most refined views.

Distinctiveness: Why this Book is Special: The book is distinctive primarily because it is written by Gabriel Moran, who is one of the most distinctive major contemporary writers on religious education. One central distinctive characteristic of Moran is that he views religious education from the point of words and meaning. In his own distinctive way, Moran shows that by analyzing words in a common-sense rather than scholarly fashion, religious education thought and practice can achieve major relevance and serious practicality. Yet another distinctive feature of this book is its all-inclusiveness. Moran eschews all forms of provincialism and avers that religious education must necessarily include all persons, all disciplines, all persons, and all religions.

Major Features: Major features of this imaginative book include; (1) the centrality of language in religious education theory and practice; (2) the essential proactiveness of religious education; (3) the organic relation of religious education to other areas of study and life; (4) the necessity of religious education to include the four inters: intergenerational, interreligious, intergenerational, and interinstitutional

Chapters
Part I-The Educational Question
1. The Uncovering of Meaning
2. Education's Religious Problem
3. Teaching: From Moral Dilemma to Religious Education

Part II-The Elements of Religious Education
4. Over the Atlantic and Looking Eastward: The British Experience
5. Looking Westward: The U.S. School
6. Does Religion Belong in a Parish?

Part III-Implications and Conclusion
7. Is Religious Education Moral?
8. Religious Education Profession
9. Toward a Wider Conversation

Praise for this Book: There has been a great deal of praise from many quarters for this eye-opening book:.

A review in RELIGIOUS EDUCATION says: "This is a most excellent and original book. It sets directions for the field, and is provocative in uncovering important current issues in religious education."

A review in THE FURROW (Ireland) states that "while Moran's scholarship and breadth of vision are impressively apparent throughout the book, at no point do these overwhelm or oppress. This book deserves to be read. It needs to be read."

A review in REVIEW AND EXPOSITOR says: "This book is recommended not just to those in religious education but also in theology and in theological education."

Price and Such:
254 pages List Price: $24.95 ISBN 0-89135-072-1

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