November 2021, Vol. 7, No. 4

Does Involvement in Christian Student Organizations Serve to Expose or Insulate Indian American Students From the Wider Student Peer Culture? Critical Conversations #27

Justin Samuel, The University of Texas at Austin, and Costin Thampikutty, Rutgers University 

 Involvement in South Asian-based Christian student organizations provides Indian American students a platform from which they can understand their identities better, have affinity spaces to share common struggles and celebrations, and build coalitions to amplify causes important to their community.  Read More.

Questions Relating to Moral Development: JCC, November 2021

Pamela C. Crosby, Co-Editor, Journal of College and Character

Here are some important questions that relate to moral development that are explored in articles in the November 2021 issue (vol. 22, no. 4) of the Journal of College and Character. Read more.

Critical Religious Studies in Higher Education

Legislation against Critical Race Theory: Are Critical Religious Theories Next?

 Jenny L. Small, Salem State University, Sachi Edwards, Soka University, and J. Cody Nielsen, Dickinson College 

The three guest editors of the current special issue of the Journal of College & Character titled “The Emerging Critical Religious Studies Lens in Higher Education” talk about their goals for bringing together the group of authors whose scholarship is featured in the issue. They also discuss how as scholars, why each of the three is personally motivated to think and write about critical religious studies. Read more. 

New Spaces & Roles for Student Affairs Educators

Are We Still Doing It for the "Work?" Student Affairs Educators and the Great Resignation

Michael J. Stebleton and Melanie Buford, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

 Melanie Buford, career education scholar/practiioner, and Michael Stebleton, professor, decided to conduct an interview to discuss these trends and issues that are affecting readers of Connexions and JCC. We present highlights of this discussion in an interview format. Read more.

Engaging Civic Religious Pluralism

Murray, Mahalia, and Mavis, and Their Moments of Civic Religious Pluralism

Becca Hartman-Pickerill, Interfaith Youth Core

The stories we tell shape our understanding of reality and what’s possible. That is why critical approaches to history and to any media consumption are crucial, as is a consistent expansion of the stories in our mental repertoire. This is the work of so much of formal education, of course, and one of significance in popular culture. One tension in story telling in a religiously diverse democracy, especially in a time of diminishing attention spans, is to tell compelling stories that honor the nuance of each individual’s experience, yet not ignoring the community or systems-level patterns at play. A commitment to individuals’ stories helps to capture the dignity of the human experience, and attention to systems enables the kind of analysis that lead to social change. Read more.

Fostering Moral Development

The Walk

Alan Acosta, University of Massachusetts Medical School 

For me, this was one of the first times I felt a personal connection to a philanthropic cause....My motivation for participating in the walk, along with the source of difficulty in writing this post, comes from the memory of the family members we lost to some form of cancer.  Read more.