Professor Zehavit Gross Lab

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Religious Education

Religious Education

Prof. Gross’s scholarship advances a pluralism-capable, dialogical model of religious education that engages disagreement as a pedagogical resource. Her work examines religious, civic, national, and gender socialization processes among adolescents and university students navigating complex identity landscapes.
Through the development of the Pedagogy of Contestation, she offers a structured framework for managing ideological and theological tensions constructively within classrooms and interfaith encounters. The laboratory designs VR-based interreligious simulations and AI-supported dialogical platforms that enable learners to practice ethical reasoning, empathy, and reflective engagement across difference.

Selected Publications
Her publications in leading international journals and edited volumes address religious pluralism, insider–outsider dynamics, religious bullying, interfaith dialogue, and the role of religious education in sustaining democratic culture.

Religious Education
Prof. Zehavit Gross’s research in religious education advances a pluralism-capable, dialogical, and conflict-engaged model of religious learning designed for diverse and ideologically contested societies. Moving beyond confessional or purely cognitive paradigms, her scholarship examines how religious education shapes identity formation, moral development, and civic responsibility among adolescents and university students navigating complex multicultural environments.
Her work investigates religious, civic, national, cultural, and gender socialization processes, as well as interfaith encounters, insider–outsider dynamics, and the phenomenon of religious bullying in multicultural schools. A distinctive contribution of her scholarship is the development of the Pedagogy of Contestation, a structured framework that does not avoid religious, ideological, or theological disagreement but intentionally organizes it as a pedagogical resource for democratic growth. This model has contributed significantly to contemporary debates on religious pluralism and the relationship between religion and democracy in education.
Methodologically, the laboratory integrates advanced multimodal research and intervention tools, including Virtual Reality (VR), immersive simulations, AI-supported dialogical platforms, and PhotoVoice participatory research. Immersive simulations recreate interreligious dilemmas and ethically complex classroom tensions, enabling learners to practice dialogical engagement in structured environments. Complementing these technologies, PhotoVoice positions students as active co-researchers, allowing them to visually document and critically interpret lived experiences of identity negotiation, marginalization, belonging, and religious bullying.
This integration of immersive technology and participatory inquiry deepens reflective practice, strengthens dialogical competence, and generates scalable, evidence-informed models for religious and values education in democratic societies.

Publications
A. Religious Education, Interfaith Education, and Values Education
Books (Author / Co-author)

  • Gross, Z. (1995). Judaism and kibbutz children: Possible connections. Ramot. (Hebrew)
  • Gross, Z., & Rutland, S. D. (2021). Special religious education in Australia and its value to contemporary society. Springer International Publishing.
  • Gross, Z., & Neiman, I. (in press). Hijab: Navigating Multiple Modernities in a World of Coexistence.

Books (Work in Progress)

  • Gross, Z. (work in progress). State religious education in Israel: Between integration and segregation. Academic Studies.

Books (Editor)

  • Gross, Z., Davies, L., & Diab, A. (Eds.). (2013). Gender, religion, and education in a chaotic postmodern world. Springer.
  • Dervin, F., & Gross, Z. (Eds.). (2016). Intercultural competence in education: Alternative approaches for different times. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Gross, Z. (Ed.). (2023). Reimagining the landscape of religious education: Challenges and opportunities. Springer.
  • Waghid, Y., & Gross, Z. (2024). Fostering values education and engaging academic freedom amidst emerging issues related to Covid-19. Koninklijke Brill NV.
  • Brendan, H., Gearon, L., & Gross, Z. (submitted). Second Edition of the International Handbook of the Religious, Moral and Spiritual Dimensions in Education. Springer.

Chapters in Books (Selected and Thematically Grouped)

Religious identity, religious socialization, pluralism, and civic identity

  • Gross, Z. (2001). My mind is my God-Images of God and self-definition. In H.-G. Ziebertz (Ed.), Imagining God (pp. 171–190). LIT Verlag.
  • Gross, Z. (2005). Worldviews among Jewish adolescents in Israel. In H.-G. Ziebertz & W. K. Kay (Eds.), Youth in Europe (Vol. 1, pp. 182–192; 258–262). LIT Verlag.
  • Gross, Z. (2009). Israeli adolescents: Religious practices, values, and worldviews. In H.-G. Ziebertz & W. K. Kay (Eds.), Youth in Europe (Vol. 2, pp. 215–229). LIT Verlag.
  • Gross, Z. (2011). The consolidation of civic identity in a particularistic religious setting. In H. A. Alexander et al. (Eds.), Citizenship education and social conflict (pp. 172–186). Routledge.
  • Gross, Z. (2011). State religious education system in Israel. In H. Miller et al. (Eds.), International handbook in Jewish education (pp. 1219–1234). Springer.
  • Gross, Z. (2012). State religious identity debates (Hebrew). In L. Rosenberg-Friedman et al. (Eds.), The identity of state religious education… (pp. 33–48). Yad Ben Zvi. (Hebrew)
  • Gross, Z. (2012). An “orange” voice and “blue and white” hands… (Hebrew). In Y. Arnon et al. (Eds.), Studies in religious Zionism (pp. 91–120). Bar-Ilan University Press. (Hebrew)
  • Gross, Z. (2012). What makes Jewish schools pluralistic? In N. Chamo & Y. Dror (Eds.), Paths in pluralistic Jewish education (pp. 115–140). Tel-Aviv University & The Mofet Institute.

Interfaith education and ICT/technology

  • Gross, Z. (2010). Promoting interfaith education through ICT-A case study. In K. Engebreston et al. (Eds.), International handbook of inter-religious education (pp. 377–388). Springer.

Gender, religion, and education

  • Gross, Z. (2013). Challenging patriarchy… In Z. Gross et al. (Eds.), Gender, religion, and education… (pp. 1–20). Springer.
  • Gross, Z. (2013). The role of silencing among religious girls… In Z. Gross et al. (Eds.), Gender, religion, and education… (pp. 93–110). Springer.
  • Gross, Z. (2012). Muslim women in higher education… In T. Lovat (Ed.), Women in Islam (pp. 149–164). Springer.

Human rights, values, and moral education

  • Gross, Z. (2008). Combating stereotypes and prejudice as a moral endeavor. In F. K. Oser & W. Veugelers (Eds.), Getting involved (pp. 293–307). Sense.
  • Gross, Z. (2016). Educating for human rights from the Jewish perspective. In M. L. Pirner et al. (Eds.), Human rights and religion in educational contexts (pp. 219–229). Springer.
  • Gross, Z. (2018). Teaching human rights and Judaism: Are they compatible? In J. Astley et al. (Eds.), Values, human rights and religious education (pp. …). Peter Lang.
  • Gross, Z., & Maor, R. (2019). Human rights literacies… In C. Roux & A. Becker (Eds.), Human rights literacies (pp. 211–234). Springer.

Major reference / handbook chapters

  • Gross, Z. (2009). A quest for the realm of spirituality. In M. de Souza et al. (Eds.), International handbook of education for spirituality, care, and wellbeing (pp. 563–579). Springer.
  • Gross, Z. (2024). Higher education as a site of hope and anguish… In T. Lovat et al. (Eds.), International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing (2nd ed.). Springer Nature.
  • Gross, Z. (2025). Ideological orientation of state religious education and extremism/fanaticism. In L. Gearon & A. S. Kuusisto (Eds.), Oxford handbook of religion and education. Oxford University Press.

Articles in Refereed Journals (Selected and Thematically Grouped)

Religious education theory, definitions, and meaning-making

  • Gross, Z. (2003). State religious education in Israel: Between tradition and modernity. Prospects, 33(2), 149–164.
  • Gross, Z. (2010). Reflective teaching as a path to religious meaning making and growth. Religious Education, 105(3), 265–282.
  • Gross, Z. (2011). Religious education: Definitions, dilemmas, challenges, and future horizons. International Journal of Educational Reform, 20(3), 256–276.
  • Gross, Z. (2012). Multiple religious and secular definitions of secular adolescence in Israel. Journal of Empirical Theology, 25(1), 1–21.

ICT / digital spirituality and technology-enhanced learning

  • Gross, Z. (2006). The construction of a multi-dimensional spiritual identity via ICT. Educational Media International, 43(1), 51–63.
  • Abd Algani, Y., & Gross, Z. (2023). Lecturers-based evaluation on the role of technological advancements in teaching. Texto Livre, 16, e46036.

Religious education, identity, and pluralism in global contexts

  • Gross, Z. (2006). Jewish schools in Paris, Brussels, and Geneva. Comparative Education Review, 50(4), 603–624.
  • Gross, Z., & Rutland, S. D. (2015). SRE teaching as security and identity in government schools in Australia. British Journal of Religious Education, 38(1), 30–46.
  • Gross, Z., & Rutland, S. D. (2019). Montessori principles in China… Journal of Jewish Education, 85(1), 27–52.
  • Gross, Z., & Rutland, S. D. (2020). Heritage languages in the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of Jewish Education, 86(3), 241–270.
  • Gross, Z., & Rutland, S. D. (2023). Special religious education in multifaith Australia… Religion and Education, 50(1), 95–116.

Religious identity formation

  • Halevy, G., & Gross, Z. (2019). Mechina gap-year programs and identity formation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11(2), 157–167.
  • Halevy, G., & Gross, Z. (2022). Ethnic identity formation among students… Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 9(2), 81–95.
  • Halevy, G., & Gross, Z. (2024). Three components of religious identity formation. Pastoral Psychology, 73(2), 253–270.*

Encyclopedia Entries

  • Gross, Z. (2006). Spirituality, contemporary approaches to defining. In E. M. Dowling & W. G. Scarlett (Eds.), Encyclopedia of religious and spiritual development (pp. 424–425). Sage.
  • Gross, Z. (2009). Jewish day school education in French speaking Europe. In M. A. Ehrlich (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora (Vol. 1, pp. 424–428). ABC-Clio.
  • Gross, Z. (2025). Jewish Religious Education for Women in Israel. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Education and Gender. Sage.

 

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