Notes on the book Echo and Silence: Contemporary Issues for Australian Religious Education,
Edited by Dr Maurice Ryan, Katoomba: Social Science Press, 2001.
This book brings together a number of leading Australian religious educators to present their research and reflections on the present state of religious education in Australia. The book provides scholars and practitioners in schools, parishes, diocesan offices and universities with a rich selection of material with which to further their work. A broad range of interests has been surveyed in this collection. A number of contributors reflect on issues of schooling and classroom curriculum. In addition, specific chapters focus on parish and family religious education. Attention has been given to historical topics in addition to current research on spiritual development among young people and adults. As well as a focus on the context of Australian religious education, a chapter by Gabriel Moran offers an international perspective on issues raised by the various authors.
As a whole, this book provides a comprehensive, focused and contemporary rendering of Australian religious education. Readers will find ample resources for guiding policy formulation, further research projects and the practice of religious education in the home, school and parish.
Contributing Authors
Sandra Carroll, Marian de Souza, Dan Donovan, Barry Dwyer, Kathleen Engebretson, Graham English, G.P. (Joe) Fleming, Peta Goldburg, Chris Harris
Kevin Lawlor, Terence Lovat, Gabriel Moran, Graham Rossiter, Maurice Ryan, Anne Tuohy, Kevin Treston, Louise Welbourne
Dr Maurice Ryan
is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Religious Education at Australian Catholic University, Queensland. He is the author of Foundations of Religious Education in Catholic Schools: An Australian Perspective, and Respectable Citizens and Better Catholics: Maintaining Catholic Schools in Victoria, 1872-1885.