Focuses on the developmental process of religion and spirituality across the human life span.This encyclopedia joins a recent trend in research and scholarship aimed at better understanding the similarities and differences between world religions and spiritualities, between expressions of the divine and between experiences of the transcendent.

Integrating psychology and religion, this unique encyclopedia offers a rich contribution to the development of human self-understanding. It provides an intellectually rigorous collection of psychological interpretations of the stories, rituals, motifs, symbols, doctrines, dogmas, and experiences of the world’s religious traditions. Easy-to-read, the encyclopedia draws from forty different religions, including modern world religions and older religious movements. It is of particular interest to researchers and professionals in psychology and religion.

This Handbook draws together leading social scientists in the world from multiple disciplines to articulate what is known and needs to be known about spiritual development in childhood and adolescence.

Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley draw on years of experience as pastors, church planters, professors, and transformed believers to equip readers to grow in their spiritual walk with Christ. Spiritual Formation Is… challenges believers to grow upward, inward, and outward in their spiritual formation by loving God, loving one another, and loving our neighbors. Written in a down-to-earth, approachable style that invites readers to come as they are, Spiritual Formation Is… introduces the principles, philosophy, and practice of sanctification.

From being on the margins of scholarly debate for much of the past century and a half, religion is being recognized once again as an area of concern for scholars, politicians, and public policy makers, and thus, the role of religious and spiritual education has taken on a new importance. Apart from its socio-political ramifications, the place of religiousness and spirituality in the make-up of individuals has been given renewed prominence through updated brain science, and neuroscientists regularly refer to elements of this brain science in terms such as spiritual intelligence and even mystical consciousness. This book explores many of the new directions being taken in the field of religious and spiritual education, as new developments challenge the priorities of formal education, and open up new avenues for incorporating religion and spirituality into the modern curriculum. It asks whether the educational aims of teachers should be focused on specifically personal development, or whether religious education should be used to develop understanding of more global and social issues such as citizenship, conflict, and ethics. The book also addresses neuroscientific insights, which suggest a need to engage with cognition and emotion in order to create a rich learning environment, something to which a particularly contested subject area like religion and spirituality is well-placed to contribute. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Beliefs & Values.

Evan Howard, a noted authority on Christian spirituality, provides a holistic, accessible, and informed introduction to Christian spiritual formation written from a broadly evangelical perspective. Howard joins Scripture with themes of community, spirit, formation, and mission in a single integrative guide. The book includes helpful features such as figures, charts, chapter overviews, and formation-focused questions. Its evangelical-ecumenical and global perspectives will appeal to a wide audience. Resources for professors and students are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.