Volume 19 (2023)

IJRR's "Book Talks" are comparable to traditional book reviews. However, instead of a unidirectional “evaluation,” this is a space for constructive and collegial dialogue between scholars with similar expertise. In each Book Talk, a reviewer responds to a recently-published book, providing a brief synopsis along with a set of critical/collaborative questions or comments, much like a letter between colleagues. Unlike most book reviews, the book's author has a chance to reply.

IJRR's "Book Talks" are comparable to traditional book reviews. However, instead of a unidirectional “evaluation,” this is a space for constructive and collegial dialogue between scholars with similar expertise. In each Book Talk, a reviewer responds to a recently-published book, providing a brief synopsis along with a set of critical/collaborative questions or comments, much like a letter between colleagues. Unlike most book reviews, the book's author has a chance to reply.

This study explored inter-and-intragroup differences in college student psychological distress and quality of life through centering religious, spiritual, and secular identity and participation in meaning-making groups. A total of 607 college students participated in an online survey which included measures of depression, anxiety, stress, and quality of life. Results showed that participants who identified as ‘spiritual and religious’ reported higher quality of life scores and lower anxiety scores than those who identified as secular or ‘spiritual or religious.’ Participants who attended religious and/or spiritual meaning-making groups reported less anxiety and enhanced aspects of psychological and environmental quality of life compared to those who attended secular meaning-making groups, although differences were not large. These findings bring nuance to the conversation regarding religious, spiritual, and secular group identity and participation, including the potential benefits of both spiritual/religious and secular meaning-making group participation in college students. Implications for college and university personnel and recommendations for future areas of research are explored.

IJRR's "Book Talks" are comparable to traditional book reviews. However, instead of a unidirectional “evaluation,” this is a space for constructive and collegial dialogue between scholars with similar expertise. In each Book Talk, a reviewer responds to a recently-published book, providing a brief synopsis along with a set of critical/collaborative questions or comments, much like a letter between colleagues. Unlike most book reviews, the book's author has a chance to reply.

The missionary journeys of Thomas — a disciple of Jesus Christ — were ones of surprising and confronting encounters. Thomas was an early Christian who knew that life could change — which can move a person on to more superhuman endeavours and accomplishments. According to historical tradition, Thomas travelled to the Parthian Empire, and India. In this article, the evidence for these historical traditions is presented together for the first time. By bringing together an array of ancient sources, including literary, archaeological, numismatic and epigraphic evidence, this article demonstrates that Thomas’s journeys to the East contained elements of religious experience, continuity and change, set in their historical contexts. Thus, in this article the missionary exploits of Thomas are explored, as are factors of the worlds and contexts he lived and moved in, which highlight the importance of Thomas and his exploits in his own times.

A meta-analysis of thirty-five studies was undertaken to help families determine the best qualities or strategies for improving the academic and behavioral outcomes of African American and Latino children with disabilities, as well as those in special education. The study examined students in kindergarten through the twelfth grade with a variety of disabilities; these included students with learning-, behavioral-, emotional-, and physical-disabilities, and those in special education. The results indicate a few parental qualities and strategies appear to improve the chances for those in special education and students with disabilities doing better both academically and behaviorally. Perhaps most interesting is that four of the top five (and all of the top three) of the parental qualities that are particularly emphasized are by people of faith. They are 1) sending children to faith-based schools, 2) family factors, i.e., intact family structure or high parental involvement, 3) inclusion, and 4) character education have the greatest impact on student academic and behavioral outcomes. The results give real hope for raising the scholastic and behavioral results of black and Latino children in special education and for students with disabilities. The significance of these results is discussed.

Ethnodoxy is the conceptual linkage of an ethnic group with a particular religion. It has been previously documented in Slavic Orthodox communities. This study uses Arabic-language surveys in Egypt and Morocco to measure this ethno-religious linkage among Arab Muslims. It develops a parsimonious survey scale for measuring ethnodoxy. It also demonstrates that ethnodox and non-ethnodox Egyptians and Moroccans have different political preferences, both for regime type and for the role of religion in politics.