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BIBCEREP: a computerised bibliographical database of publications in Christian education, religious education and practical theology

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The Institute ceased its activity and the charity was dissolved at the end of April 2013 This is a copy of the NEICE website active at that date

BIBCEREP: a computerised bibliographical database of publications in Christian education, religious education and practical theology

Presently under development

Edited by Jeff Astley

North of England Institute for Christian Education
Carter House
Pelaw Leazes Lane
Durham
DH1 1TB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 191 384 1034

An Introduction

This is a computerised bibliographical database of work published in English on Christian education, religious education and practical theology in books, journal articles, theses and chapters. It has been created by the staff of the North of England Institute for Christian Education, its associates, friends and relatives, and is currently used as an in-house research tool. Although it does not pretend to be a complete, totally accurate or wholly consistent database relating to these subjects, the editor expects that it will be found to be useful to other researchers for exploring the literature, and especially for tracking down elusive references and producing reading lists for those who are starting work in a particular area. Some remarks may be helpful about the nature of the data included in this bibliography:

  • While NEICE’s main focus of interest is on Christian education, in the sense of confessional Christian religious education – i.e. the churches’ activities of Christian formation, nurture or catechesis and critical Christian education, the database includes a substantial amount of material that is relevant to non-confessional religious education (hereinafter ‘RE’) as it is practised in general education in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The database also incorporates many references to material on Christian approaches to general education (which some would also refer to as ‘Christian education’).
  • The majority of items in this bibliography are theoretical and research studies, rather than workbooks, curriculum materials or practical hints and wrinkles for teachers. Inevitably some more ‘hands-on’ books and articles have crept in, on the grounds that they contain a theoretical or empirical element. Nevertheless, it has been our primary intention to produce a bibliography on the aims, approaches, principles, philosophy, theology, theory and fundamentals of Christian education, religious education and practical theology, together with material from empirical research that is relevant to both the theory and the practice of these subjects.
  • A number of the items included here are indirectly rather than directly concerned with Christian/religious education or practical theology. Much of this additional material is from the disciplines of sociology and psychology, particularly the psychology of religion and the psychology of education, in addition to some references from the literature on moral education, the philosophy of education, the philosophy of religion, general adult education, pastoral ministry, and other fields and forms of knowledge. No attempt has been made, however, to produce complete bibliographies in these areas.
  • We have attempted to include a complete database of journal articles from a number of relevant journals. These journals, with the appropriate dates indicating the limits of our survey, are listed below:
    • British Journal of Religious Education (1978-date)
    • British Journal of Theological Education (1987-date)
    • Christian Education Journal (1983-date)
    • Journal of Christian Education (1970-date)
    • Journal of Research on Christian Education (1992-date)
    • Learning for Living (1970-1978)
    • Panorama (1989-date)
    • Religious Education (1970-date)
    • Spectrum (1970-1996); Journal of Education and Christian Belief (1997-date)
    • Theological Education (1975-date)

The collection of articles from other journals has of necessity been much more haphazard, as has our referencing of books, chapters and theses. In these cases the database is limited to material known to the staff of NEICE and others who have assisted us in our bibliographical surveys.

Technical Details

The bibliographical database uses the Papyrus program (produced by Research Software Design). When published, users will be provided with a cut down version of this program, which cannot be edited or added to, called Retriever (Version 7.0). Papyrus is a very powerful program and it is strongly recommended that users who wish to amend this database or create another should purchase a copy of their own. These are available from Research Software Design, 2718 SW Kelly Street, Suite 181, Portland, OR 97201, USA. Many universities have a license for the full program. Although Papyrus is a DOS-based program it works well under a window or full-screen in all versions of Microsoft Windows, and the user can seamlessly move between it and other programs running at the same time.

However, for users of other database programs, such as Endnote, it is expected that the BIBCEREP data will also be available in compatible import file formats. An on-line search facility is being planned.

System Requirements

Papyrus needs only 470Kb of free RAM memory to run. In order to install the BIBCEREP database files users will need approximately 7.3Mb of hard disk space. In order to install the PAPYRUS RETRIEVER program they will need 720Kb of hard disk space. In order to install the PAPYRUS RETRIEVER manual they will need a further 80Kb of hard disk space.