This book collects multiple disciplinary voices which explore current research and perspectives to discuss how spirituality is understood, interpreted and applied in a range of contexts. It addresses spirituality in combination with such topics as Christian mysticism, childhood and adolescent education, midwifery, and sustainability. It links spirituality to a variety of disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, sociology, and psychology. Finally, it discusses the application of spirituality within the context of social work, teaching, health care, and occupational therapy. A final chapter provides an analytical discussion of the different voices that appear in the book and offers a holistic description of spirituality which has the potential to bring some unity to the meaning, expression and practice of spirituality across a variety of disciplines as well as across cultural, religious and secular worldviews.
"A strength of the book is that eachchapter is characterized by a fearless confronting of oppositional perspectives and use of the latest research in addressing them. The book takes the difficult topic of spirituality into almost every nook and cranny of personal and professional life. There is a persistent grasping of the contentiousness of the topic, together with addressing counter positions and utilizing updated research across a range of fields in doing this. The opening and closing chapters serve as book ends that keep the whole volume together."
Terence Lovat, The University of Newcastle, Australia
"The interdisciplinary nature of the work is by far the strongest aspect of this volume. It has the potential to contribute to a dialogue between different professions and disciplines. This prospective publication promises to promote a more holistic approach to the study of spirituality. This volume takes into consideration a wide variety of issues. The way the editors havestructured the sequence of chapters contributes to facilitate any possible dialogue between the different areas."
Adrian-Mario Gellel, University of Malta, Malta
BIOGRAPHY MARIAN DE SOUZA
Dr Marian de Souza is an Honorary Fellow at Australian Catholic University and an Honorary Associate Professor at Federation University, Australia. She has published extensively about her research into the spirituality of young people and the implications for education. Her approach recognizes the complementarity of the cognitive, affective and spiritual dimensions and the role of nonconscious learning. Marian also has significant experience, nationally and internationally, in the supervision and examination of doctoral students in the field of spirituality in education and wellbeing.
Marian is Chair, International Association for children's spirituality and an Honorary Academic Adviser to the Centre for Religion and Spiritual Education, Institute of Education, Hong Kong. As well, she is a member of the international editorial boards for several international journals.
Marian is available for consultancies in schools and other educational organizations and for the supervision of higher education research students. Her teaching and research expertise are in the following areas:
• Children and young people as spiritual beings with corresponding implications for learning across the curriculum;
• Young people's spirituality and the implications for the religious education curriculum;
• Using the arts to teach across the curriculum;
• Interspiritual and intercultural education for inclusivity, social cohesion and wellbeing;
• The transmission of the religious, spiritual and cultural heritage amongst ethnic communities in contemporary pluralistic societies
BIOGRAPHY JANE BONE
Dr Jane Bone is involved in research in the area of early childhood education in Australia (and formerly in New Zealand). Her expertise is in holistic and alternative approaches to pedagogy and learning, including research involving Steiner, Montessori andReggio Emilia based preschools. Her main research area explores spirituality in early childhood settings. Taking a contemporary theoretical approach her research contributes to wider understandings about the significance of early childhood education in terms of wellbeing and social justice. She is currently exploring the connections of children with animals and the environment. Her PhD supervision reflects these interests and she is involved in a range of projects in Australia and internationally about spiritual practices in everyday life, holistic approaches to leadership, play and movement, the wellbeing of young children and the challenges of diversity and spiritual and religious belief in Australia and elsewhere.
Jane is currently a Senior Lecturer at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. She is a member of the CRN (Collaborative Research Network), a project with Queensland University of Technology, Charles Sturt University and Monash.
BIOGRAPHY JACQUELINE WATSON
My key area of research is spirituality in education, including connections between spirituality and religious education (RE), and the inclusion of Humanism in Religious Education in the UK. Until recently, I was a researcher and lecturer at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and, from 2012-2014, I was Director of the Centre for Spirituality and Religion in Education at UEA.
My interest in spirituality in education began over 20 years ago when I was privileged to be taught by Jack Priestley and Terence Copley during my PGCE at the University of Exeter. After teaching RE in Devon, I studied part-time for an MEd and then a PhD at UEA while continuing to teach in secondary schools. My research enabled me to explore what spirituality meant in adults’ and young people’s lives, and to examine understandings and definitions of spirituality in education among teachers, educationalists and policy makers.
I retired from the University of East Anglia in 2014 and now live in Devon where I continue my academic interests and have a new career as a as a Humanist funeral and wedding celebrant with the British Humanist Association. I am an Honorary University Fellow with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of Exeter, and a Visiting Fellow with the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia.
I am managing editor of the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality. I am a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Children’s Spirituality and a member of the British Association for the Study of Spirituality.
