Jeff Astley was appointed as Founding Director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education in 1981. He is Honorary Professorial Fellow in Practical Theology and Christian Education at Durham University, and visiting professor at Glyndwr University and York St John University. He is the author or editor of over thirty books on Christian education, practical theology or religious faith. Recent books include: Ordinary Theology (Ashgate, 2002), Exploring God-Talk (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2004), Christ of the Everyday (SPCK, 2007), and the SCM Studyguide to Christian Doctrine (SCM, 2010). Leslie J. Francis is Professor of Religions and Education within the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, University of Warwick, and Canon Theologian at Bangor Cathedral, Wales. He is the author or editor of over fifty books, and has authored or co-authored over five hundred papers, mainly within empirical and practical theology, the psychology of religion and empirical psychology. Recent books include Faith and Psychology (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2005), Urban Hope and Spiritual Health (Epworth, 2005), British Methodism (Epworth, 2006), Gone for Good (Epworth, 2007), and Preaching with all our Soul (Continuum, 2008). Jeff Astley and Leslie Francis have collaborated in editing a number of collections of original essays in Practical Theology and Christian Education, most recently The Idea of a Christian University (Paternoster, 2004), Religion, Education and Adolescence (University of Wales Press, 2005), Peace or Violence (University of Wales Press, 2007), Empirical Theology in Texts and Tables (Brill, 2009), and Teaching Religion, Teaching Truth (forthcoming).
