You can have the best of all worlds! Join in the online annual meeting — live translations offered, great papers, and more — and do so while also gathering in person with colleagues in Tulsa, OK at the same time. Our colleagues there have arranged an excellent companion regional gathering.
Annual Meeting Plenaries Announced!
We are pleased to share many additional details about the primary plenaries for our upcoming —July 10-14—annual meeting. You can find all of the details on the conference website, and here are direct links to each of the plenary descriptions:
July 11 plenary on “Irresponsible answers” featuring Henry Zonio, Christine Diindiisi McCleave, Ramona Grad, and moderated by Theresa O’Keefe.
July 12 plenary on “Responses of early childhood educators” featuring Japjit Kaur Pnaiser, Rabbi Michael Shire, Jennifer Mata McMahon and moderated by Rode Molla.
July 13 plenary one on “The role of parents as caregivers” featuring Duaa Haggag, Rabbi Aaron Weininger, Brad Winger, Elaine Champagne and moderated by Karen-Marie Yust.
July 13 plenary two on “Responses to adolescence” featuring Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, Carmichael Crutchfield, Elsa Lau, Mubina Kirmani, and moderated by Sarah Farmer.
As always, please check the annual meeting schedule for updated information.
Special journal forum available
We are less than two months away from our annual meeting! We are looking forward to exploring “Whose children are they?” with you.
Did you know there was a pre-conference journal issue with this theme?
If you are a member, go check out the submissions by logging into our member site and heading over to Taylor and Francis. There you will find submissions by:
- Karen-Marie Yust, “Whose children are they? Talking about responsibility for children’s religious education”
- Jerome Berryman, “Wondering about whose children they are”
- Amy Castle, “In transit: Shared motions of responsibility and belonging”
- Tony Eaude, ‘Reflections from an English perspective on nurturing young children’s spiritual growth and implications for religious education:
- Brendan Hyde, “Children of the ‘now’: Dispelling some neoliberal assumptions in Christian religious education”
- James D. Kirylo and Meir Muller, “To serve and unite children within a world of diversity is to recognize the presence of God”
- Rode Molla, “Children’s experiences matter: An interdisciplinary approach”
Join in person in Tulsa, OK!
The REA Board is working to support in-person gatherings that are more regional in nature, and REA VP Anne Walker has organized one such gathering at Phillips Seminary in Tulsa, OK. The gathering will coincide with REA’s annual meeting, and along with opportunities to participate in that online portion, there are local field trips and other events planned. More details are available online.
Dir. of Jewish Learning Community / LA, CA
Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, CA is accepting applications for their next Jewish Community Learning director. From their online post: “We are a Conservative Jewish congregation in Los Angeles that takes pride in being a warm, caring, and welcoming synagogue family that deeply values both rich, deep engagement with our tradition and being accessible for anyone who wants to connect and learn. We encourage spiritual and intellectual growth, active communal involvement, and engagement through a wide variety of educational and social experiences.
“Temple Beth Am’s Jewish Learning Community (JLC) provides meaningful opportunities for young learners to explore and encounter Judaism in immersive, resonant, and pedagogically diverse learning environments. We deeply value building Jewish minds and hearts through learning together, and we value building community within our program (for students and parents) just as highly. The JLC Director serves as the educational leader for this K-7th grade supplementary education program. This individual collaborates with our Director of Youth Learning and Engagement, lay leadership, and staff to create meaningful educational experiences for our children and engage their parents.
“Our ideal JLC Director is a master educator, a warm presence, and an expert at navigating complex systems to produce excellent educational content and programming. This person fosters learning, growth, kindness, and community by developing a learning environment that inspires students, parents, and faculty to reflect, thrive and grow. This person connects quickly and deeply with kids and adults, consistently seeks opportunities for expanding the reach of current offerings while maintaining and enhancing what’s already in place, and finds joy and fulfillment in making Judaism accessible and fun.
“We also hope to further integrate the work of the JLC Director throughout the Youth Learning and Engagement (YLE) department at Beth Am, to enhance our programmatic offerings and to build relational connections across the institution.”
More details about how to apply, and the clear start date of July 1, 2023 are available online.
YDS: Instructor/Coordinator for Joint Degree Program in Divinity and Social Work
Yale Divinity School seeks a full-time instructor for its joint Divinity/Social Work degree program, operated in partnership with the University of Connecticut Graduate School of Social Work. This is a new full time, grant-funded three-year position located at the Divinity School. Qualifications include a minimum education of MDiv and MSW degrees (or equivalents); and 3+ years of experience as a social work or ministry professional. More details are available online.
Thinking about proposing an annual meeting theme?
Any member (or team of members) of the Religious Education Association can propose a theme for the guild’s annual meeting program. If your proposal is selected, you then work collaboratively with the REA Steering Committee and Board to develop and implement the program.
To give you a feel for how the new process works, here are some tips and reflections from Anne Walker (REA Vice-President) and Karen-Marie Yust (2023 Program Chair).
If you’d like to read what they had to say, you can find their script online.
Loss, mental well-being, and self compassion: Conversations with Joyce Ann Mercer
Recently pastoral theologian Eileen Campbell-Reed (Union Theological Seminary) sat down with our journal editor, Joyce Ann Mercer (Yale Divinity School), and recorded a series of conversations about loss and grief, self compassion, and mental wellbeing. The brief blogs and videos (4 to 9 minutes each) are presented in five episodes (183-187) at Three Minute Ministry Mentor. Each conversation (also available as a podcast) raises important questions and offers insight for leading a faith community in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the multiple pandemics it revealed. Dr. Campbell-Reed is also making available her #Pandemic Pastoring Report wish shared her research with over 100 lay leaders and clergy about this emerging era of ministry.
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Boston in person regional gathering planned for March 16, 2023
The first of what will be several in-person regional gatherings will be held in Boston on the 16th of March 2023.
Board issues statement on loss of life
2023 has begun with a series of painful shootings, war, earthquake, and more. The REA Board recently met and issued a statement on these events:
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