Religious Education (original) (raw)

Dialogic Space and Religious Education

kasvatus-ja-aika.fi

This review hopes to present an alternative model to confessional religious education and the kind of role religion can have in teaching and education. It is framed by the conceptualization of education as simultaneously being and becoming (van Manen 1991, 67). This dichotomous description underlines the challenging tension of balancing present realities with future anticipations, a tension which is perhaps the defining feature of education. In theoretical terms this review draws on sociocultural and dialogic educational research, particularly Rupert Wegerif's notion of "dialogic space" (Wegerif 2007, 4), and a "Global Education: World Religions" -course recently run as part of the Summer School for Human Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä. The review opens by introducing the pedagogic orientation for the course and a simple cultural model developed within the course. Following this, the guidelines for the development of "dialogic space" are introduced with possible implications for Religious Education concluding the paper.

Gruffman, Paulina. "Between Religious Studies, Religious Education, Teaching Education and Religion and Education: Relationships, opportunities, tensions." Paper presented at The 19th Biennial EARLI Convention, Sig 19: The Place of Religion in Education. Stockholm University, October 28, 2021.

2021

This paper explores the entangled and complex relationships between religionsvetenskap (Religious Studies), religionskunskap (Religious Education), religionsdidaktik (Religion and Education) and Theology. After briefly outlining the concurrent developments of Religious Studies as a university discipline and Religion and Education as a non-confessional school subject, I consider the consequences of linking teaching education programs in Religious Education with Religious Studies departments, seeing as the subject and university discipline, despite their common origin, differ quite significantly. The emergence of religionsdidaktik (Religion and Education) as a growing field of research is then discussed and situated within this complex matrix, and various opportunities and challenges for the field will be explored. Lastly, demarcation problems between and identity production of Religious Studies and Theology will be discussed. How might these tensions and positionalities affect Religion and Education as it expands? Will scholars of Religion and Education have to address some of these issues, and if so, how might can scholars of the field do so?

INTERCULTURAL DIMENSION OF EDUCATIONAL DIALOGUE IN UNDERSTANDING RELIGION

Working with children of different nationalities and cultures is a challenge for the Romanian teachers. It requires both new research in the methodology field and a reconsideration of the importance of some of the subjects taught in schools. In this regard, the article shows the role of religious education in the context of the global challenges and quick changes, which require a new approach of child education based on transversal competencies. Considering the primary Finnish School of Sibiu model, the authors' view is that the class of religious education can contribute through tools and methods of non-formal education to the holistic project of educating man, namely body-mind and soul. They consider that it trains the child to be a responsible citizen with a strong identity, able to face the new challenges and to understand the civic and ethical dimension of life. Moreover, it contributes to developing child's spiritual intelligence, preparing him to live responsibly in the religious pluralism and offering the chance to assimilate and apply the common values, namely love, respect, communion and spirit of justice.

Religious education and related challenges in the twenty first century

Bagheri, Khosrow (2000). Religious education and related challenges in the twenty first century. Tarbiate Eslami (3): 69-89.

The twenty first century has started with all its embedded challenges. These challenges have emerged in all fields. They will show their delicate and doubt raising presence in the realm of religious education accordingly. This article contains four sections: in the first part, the fundamental challenge of the twenty first century is analyzed. Then taking the proper encounter with this challenge into account, the concept of religious education will then be investigated. This investigation is done in two separate ways. In one part the issue of the «concept of education» and in the other part the «concept of religion and being religious» are examined separately. Afterwards, we focus on the elementary issues of religion and being religious and finally we propose the fundamental topic of religious education in conformity with the fore mentioned challenge.

From Pre-dialogue to Interreligious Dialogue: Interreligious Theologization as the Starting Point of a Reliable Religious Education

This essay touches upon the challenge of education in theological seminaries. It scrutinizes the relevance of theological education to practical ministry in the interreligious context of our world. It proposes that such a theoretical preparation of students for serving in such a world on the theoretical level of education is very necessary, provided that the pedagogical system in these seminaries itself transforms into a theological education that is more crudely interreligious in nature and founded on training in interreligious theologization.

Editorial: Religion, Education, and the Challenges of Contemporary Societies

CEPS Journal, 2019

Religions have had, and still have, a critical role in shaping the world in which we live. As an ideology, they play a vital role in shaping world politics. In recent decades, we have been witnessing a kind of revival of religion and its re-entry into the public sphere. The context of modern globalisation in tandem with various political, economic, and ecological crises makes Western societies increasingly susceptible to influxes of heterogeneous groups of migrants, who bring with them cultural and religious traditions that are often markedly different from those of the majority of the local populations. The contrast between historically established religious practices and relatively newly established religions , combined with power struggles over the new public role of religion in some countries (especially evident in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe), is giving rise to complex social challenges, some of which are also manifested in the field of public education. The present issue of CEPS Journal systematically addresses these challenges. The growing pluralisation of European societies is bringing forth some old questions and opening up new dilemmas. The changing circumstances are probably not eroding the foundations of the modern public school laid during the Enlightenment period; the public school's commitment to secularity and neutrality (while also allowing for private schools with religious or other kinds of worldview affiliation) continues to remain at the core of its purpose in the 21 st century. However, some social developments and conflicts of the recent past are undoubtedly opening, repeating and/or worsening a number of difficult questions about the practical application of foundational democratic principles in specific social contexts of individual societies and nation-states. The old, fundamental question of the presence of religion-related content in school curricula has long been morphed into much more than the simple question of confessional religious instruction (as in catechesis) in public schools. When we discuss religion-related content in the public school today, we also-if not mostly-talk about the different forms of non-confessional education about religion(s). In the contemporary European context, which is marred by growing Islamophobia and the related growth of intolerant and radically exclusionist political (and other) extremisms, the need for a systematic critical introduction of pupils to the complex social and cultural phenomenon that is religion (with all its diversity in today's world) is particularly evident.

Authentic Religious Education: A Question of Language?

Religions

There is much emphasis today on inclusion and diversity in educational systems. As the place of religious belief remains a significant factor in such debates, there is a need for shared understanding of the language and purpose of Religious Education in schools. Given the substantial international footprint of Catholic schools, the conceptual framework of Religious Education in Catholic schools merits serious scrutiny. The Catholic Church’s written teaching on education has a strong focus on the contemporary school as a site of intercultural dialogue. The related teaching on Religious Education in schools, however, remains underdeveloped, with strong voices debating the desirability, or otherwise, of a strong focus on ‘faith formation and practice’ as an outcome of Religious Education. Problematically, terms like ‘Religious Education’ have inconsistent translations in the official documents of the Catholic Church, leading to a plurality of understandings internationally of the ultim...

M. Humeniuk (2019) Transgressions in the Pedagogy of Religion – between Instrumentalization and Emancipation of Religious Education

2019

M. Humeniuk, Transgressions in the Pedagogy of Religion – between Instrumentalization and Emancipation of Religious Education, in: Utopia, Ideology and/or Everyday Education Practice, ed. W. Żłobicki, Wrocław 2019 On the basis of the human interests concept and relevant types of rationality by Jürgen Habermas I reconstructed three models of religious education: confessional, hermeneutic and critical approach. The first of them, confessional approach, grows from the cognition objectivism and the axiological absolutism. The second one, connected with the hermeneutics in a religious education, understands knowledge as a social construct and refers to communication skills in the negotiation meanings. The last one, critical approach, makes emancipation skills, in the areas of debunking and active opposition to an oppression and enslavement coming from ideologisation of religion, the major aim of a religious education. Each one of those models has a different potential of transgression understood as a flexibility towards boundaries of self-understanding. Each of them differently addresses the context of progressive secularisation and socio-cultural pluralism.