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Religious educators today are called upon to enable young people to develop as fully-rounded human beings in a multicultural and multifaith world. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the history of religions: religion is not relegated to the past. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the observable outward phenomena of religions: religion is not restricted to practices, artefacts, and buildings observable in the outside world. It is also necessary to take seriously what religions believe about themselves, and what religions believe about other religions.
Seen from the inside, religions deal in the currency of truth. For the religions themselves, truth matters. Truth-claims can lead to harmony and peace, but they may also engender discord and violence. What ultimately counts is how one set of truth-claims confronts or embraces the truths claimed by other, different voices. Therefore those who teach religion cannot avoid dealing with the theology of religions.
In this collection of original essays, religious educators shaped by both Christian and Islamic worldviews discuss the problems and opportunities that now face educators and believers alike, as they are confronted by the challenge of teaching religion and teaching truth. The discussion nurtured at the sixteenth conference of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values is here developed further, to stimulate wider reflection and shape good local practice.
List of contents
Contents: Gloria Durka: Theology of Religions: Through the Looking Glass of US Roman Catholicism - Friedrich Schweitzer: Principled Pluralism and Theology's Contribution to Religious Education: A Protestant Perspective - Mario O. D'Souza: Identity, Diversity, and the Common Good - Fernando A. Cascante-Gómez: Pluralist Latin American Liberation Theology: Theological Themes and Educational Challenges - Kath Engebretson: Interfaith Education in the Christian School - Mualla Selçuk: How Can Islamic Pedagogy Promote an Understanding of 'Individualized Religion'? - Recai Dogan: An Ottoman Example of the Perception of Other Religions in Islamic Thought - Z. Seyma Arslan: A Holistic Approach in Education from the Perspective of the Islamic Understanding of Human Beings - Elisabeth Arweck/Eleanor Nesbitt: The Interaction of the Major Religions at Microcosmic Level: Religiously-Mixed Families in the UK - Hans-Georg Ziebertz: The Catholic View on Religious Pluralism in Empirical Perspective - Marian de Souza: The Dual Role of Unconscious Learning in Engendering and Hindering Spiritual Growth: Implications for Religious Education in Pluralist Contexts - Leslie J. Francis/Mandy Robbins: The Theology of Religions and Psychological Type: An Empirical Enquiry among Participants at the Parliament of the World's Religions - Üzeyir Ok: How Open is Muslim Youth to People of Other Faiths? - Jeff Astley: A Theological Reflection on the Nature of Religious Truth.
About the author
Jeff Astley is Director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education and Honorary Professorial Fellow in Practical Theology and Christian Education at Durham University, UK.
Leslie J. Francis is Professor of Religions and Education at the University of Warwick, UK.
Mandy Robbins is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Glyndwr University, Wales, UK.
Mualla Selçuk is Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity and Head of Religious Education Teacher Training at the University of Ankara, Turkey.
Report
«This is a high-calibre addition to the field, one that teachers and those involved in initial and in-service education in religious education should read with close attention.» (John Sullivan, Theological Book Review 25.1, 2013)
