Faith Guides
The Faith Guides for Higher Education, published in 2006, aim to give information to staff in the higher education sector on how best to support students with a variety of religious beliefs.
Currently covering Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, the series has been written by respected academics with many years' research and teaching experience in their fields of expertise, and in consultation with religious communities. This series covers key religious and cultural sensitivities that may arise within a higher education environment.
The guides offer a concise reference to the religions in question and the belief structures that underpin them, combined with tips for recruiting and retaining students and providing an inclusive and welcoming environment. Hard copies of the guides can be obtained from the Subject Centre for £3 each. Contact Julie Closs to order your guides, or download them for free below.
Please see the Cultural and Religious Diversity page for more information.
To download pdf files of the guides, please click on the images below.
The Buddhism guide has been written by Dr David Mossley and Dr Simon Smith.
David is a Senior Adviser at the Higher Education Academy. Previously he was
Centre Manager and Academic Coordinator at the Subject Centre for Philosophical
and Religious Studies and has taught philosophy at the University of Durham
and Birkbeck College London. He has a long standing academic and practice-based
interest in Buddhism as both philosophy and religion. Simon Smith is the Director
of the Higher Education Academy's Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious
Studies based at the University of Leeds where he has taught in a number of
areas, most notably Buddhism. His main research interest lies at the intersection
of Buddhism and social theory.
The Christianity guide has been written by Gregory A. Barker, an academic at Trinity College Carmarthen. In addition to lecturing and research in the areas of historical Jesus studies, Film and Religion and the World's Religions, Greg has edited Jesus in the World's Faiths: Scholars and Leaders from Five Religions Discuss His Meaning (New York: Orbis, 2005).
The Hinduism guide has been written by Dr. Maya Warrier, a lecturer in Indian Religion at the Departartment of Theology & Religious Studies, Unversity of Wales, Lampeter. She is the author of Hindu Selves in a Modern World: Guru Faith in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission (Abingdon, UK: Routledge-Curzon, 2005). Her research interests lie in the areas of contemporary and popular Hinduism; modernity, globalisation, and moder Hindu selfhood; and the Hindu diaspora in Britain
The Islam guide has been written by Amjad Hussain, a Religious Studies Lecturer
in Trinity College, Carmarthen, University of Wales. His research centres
around education in Islamic History. His interests lie mainly within the fields
of Islamic Studies and Religious Studies. He is currently interested in contemporary
Islam, Islam in further and higher education in the UK, and Islamic history.
Kate El-Alami is a Lector in Arabic at the Department of Theology, Religious
Studies & Islamic Studies, University of Wales Lampeter, and has had several
years' experience of providing support to students.
The Judaism guide has been written by Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok, co-author of
several books, including The Encyclopedia of Judaism and Christianity
(Abingdon Press, 2005), and A Short Introduction to Judaism (Oneworld,
1997), and author of A History of Jewish Civilization (Booksales
Inc., 1997).
The Sikhism guide has been written by Eleanor Nesbitt, Reader in Religions and Education at the Warwick Religions and Education and Research Unit of the Warwick Institute of Education. She specialises in the religious socialisation of young people of Christian, Hindu and Sikh background, and in qualitative research methods. Her publications relating to Sikhism include A Very Short Introduction to Sikhism (Oxford University Press, 2005), The Religious Lives of Sikh Children: a Coventry-Based Study (Leeds, Community Religions Project, University of Leeds, 2000), and Guru Nanak (with Gopinder Kaur) (Norwich, Religious and Moral Education Press, 1999), Sikhs in Britain: An Annotated Bibliography (with D.S.Tatla) (Coventry, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, Unviersity of Warwick, 2nd revised edition 1994).
This page was originally on the website of The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. It was transfered here following the closure of the Subject Centre at the end of 2011.
