Synopses & Reviews
This book is a unique collection of multi-disciplinary articles that develops the idea of religious education being directed primarily (but not exclusively) towards the spiritual insofar as it is part of a flourishing life. Redefining Religious Education explores questions including: How can we avoid making religious education merely an imparting of information about religion? How can we re-conceive religious education as nurturing the spiritual without rendering doctrinal? How can we make it relevant to young people in today's pluralistic and secular societies? The first part of the book argues the case from various theoretical points of view. The second part shows how different religious traditions can provide insight into the spiritual in (religious) education. The third part illustrates how some current innovative practices strive to cultivate spiritual development within a religious education curriculum in different parts of the world. The book hopes to invoke more creative and effective questioning concerning the part that religious education can play in enabling the flourishing of whole persons.
Review
''If it's true, it makes a difference,' stated William James, the celebrated American philosopher speaking about religious teachings. The 'difference' that spiritualities can contribute to 'human flourishing' is the central horizon of this important volume. It boldly urges that fidelity to religious traditions requires religious studies to pass from education about religions to education from religions. In a word, education from different religious traditions must become 'mystagogic,' an introduction to each tradition's experience of mystery and its animating potentials to advance human flourishing. Importantly, the book does not dodge the difficult question of how people with different religious affiliations or none can come to an agreement on how to teach from plural spiritual traditions. Honestly posing and facing that question is—arguably—the books greatest contribution, one essential to advancing a shared notion of human flourishing informed and co-built by living traditions of wonder, care, and action."
- William Vendley, Secretary General, Religions for Peace International
'This edited volume provides a very timely contribution to several thorny questions of meaning in this early twenty-first century: how to define 'spirituality' in a way that is philosophically sound as well as how to articulate its place within the complex and at times competing approaches to 'religious education'. The theoretical articles of its first section in particular are essential reading for thinkers as well as practitioners of contemporary education."
- Patrice Brodeur, Director of Research, The King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), Austria.
Synopsis
This book is a unique collection of interdisciplinary articles that argue for religious education to be directed primarily towards the spiritual insofar as it is part of a flourishing human life. The articles address this issue from the perspectives of theory, different religious traditions and innovative teaching and learning practices.
About the Author
Scherto Gill is Executive Secretary and Research Fellow at the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, UK. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex. Scherto has published widely on education, in particular on the themes of human-centered education, and narrative and dialogic pedagogy.
Garrett Thomson is Compton Professor of Philosophy at the College of Wooster, USA. He is also CEO of the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, UK. He is the author of eighteen books including Needs, On the Meaning of Life, and Bacon to Kant.
Table of Contents
PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. Is Religious Education Possible?; Richard Pring
2. The Idea of Religious Experience; Garrett Thomson
3. Educating Persons: The Role of Religious Education; Marius Felderhof
4. Education, Religion and Spirituality - How Do They Fit?; Sharif Horthy
5. Education and Religion: Issues, Visions, and Best Practice; Katherine Marshall
PART II: SPIRITUAL EDUCATION IN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
6. Religion, Spirituality and Education for Human Flourishing: a Brahma Kumaris perspective; Maureen Goodman
7. Spiritual and Humanistic Education: Perspectives from Seon (Zen) practices; Jinwol Y. H. Lee
8. Religion, Spirituality and Education for Human Flourishing: Perspectives from the Sikh Dharam; Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh
9. The Creative Life: A Buddhist Perspective on Human Flourishing; Jamie Cresswell
10. Collaborative Study for Individual and Social Transformation: a Baha'i perspective; Ming Hwee Chong
PART III: PEDAGOGICAL CASE STUDIES
Introduction
11. An Exploration of Education About rReligions and Today's Spirituality: Is there a turning point in New Zealand education?; Jocelyn Armstrong
12. Grit in the Shoe or Pearl in the Oyster? A critique of the concept of 'spiritual development' for post-16 learners in English state education; John Breadon
13. Performative Religious Education: Re-vitalizing the forgotten experiential dimension of religion in West-European schools?; Bert Roebben
14. Pathways to the Spirit, the Search for Purpose, and Thriving in Life; David Streight
15. Keeping the Baby in While Throwing the Bathwater Out: the challenges of keeping spirituality in the new Quebec K-12 curriculum on Ethics and Religious Culture while de-confessionalising it; Patrice Brodeur
16. Learning to Live Together; Agneta Ucko
Conclusion. Religion, Spirituality and Human Flourishing