Educating for Meaningful Lives

Webster, Scott

doi:10.1163/9789460910043

Cited by 12 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…This is why sometimes spirituality is referred to as a philosophy of life (Hartman 2018) because it involves engaging with the existential questions that children have. As a consequence of these parameters, we argue that the adoption of an existential understanding of spirituality is most appropriate (Statham and Webster 2019;Webster 2004Webster , 2009). An existential understanding of spirituality places each individual in a responsible stance for giving meaning and purpose to her/his existence.…”

Section: Children's Spiritualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging with Dewey’s Valuation in Religious Education to Enhance Children’s Spirituality for Democratic Life

Statham

Webster

2021

Religions

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In this paper, we want to address how the educative growth of children’s spirituality within religious education can be better understood through Dewey’s theory of valuation. We would like to draw attention to the link between an education for authentic spirituality and the pursuit of a genuine democratic life, because education, even religious education, is always political. In doing so, we point to the urgency and importance of fostering spiritual education for children in the face of the current rise of authoritarianism throughout the world and the demise of authentic democratic life. In order for genuine democracies to survive and thrive, their citizens must be educated. Unlike indoctrination and propaganda, which control populations through manufacturing public opinion by which individuals are compelled to comply to an officially approved consensus, education is emancipatory by offering opportunity for dissensus. Emancipatory education enables individual citizens to initiate and participate in activities at the grass-roots level that pursue public and global goods, without waiting to be led by various authorities. Such an educated way of being, which is essential for democratic life, requires young people to be educated spiritually so that they are able to transcend the pressures to conform to public consensus and the will of authoritarianism, and instead to actively live their spirituality by undertaking activities that pursue the good, even when such activities are deemed to dissent from public opinion.

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Section: Children's Spiritualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging with Dewey’s Valuation in Religious Education to Enhance Children’s Spirituality for Democratic Life

Statham

Webster

2021

Religions

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“…In addition to avoiding reification in order to take spirituality more seriously, it is also important to recognise that spirituality is not dependent upon religion (Webster, 2009). Spirituality refers to the ultimate meaning and purpose for life and it can often appear religious.…”

Section: Spirit Spirituality and The Religiousmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making the Unbearable Bearable through Existential Spirituality

Webster

Multiculturalism and the Convergence of Faith and Practical Wisdom in Modern Society

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In this chapter the case is made that spirituality can indeed have a significant impact upon practical life. Existential spirituality refers to the way one gives meaning and purpose to one's life. The value of spirituality is best appreciated when one's life undergoes an existential crisis, particularly when a worldview, which was assumed to give sense to one's life, no longer has the legitimacy it once had. When a religious, traditional or customary doctrine or worldview loses its authority through an existential crisis, the individual often experiences nihilism. This can often make an experience of hardship quite unbearable because one's suffering is unable to reference any grand narrative or framework of meaning to give sense to one's situation. Using Kierkegaard's three stages of existence, it is argued that making one's spirituality more authentic by taking personal responsibility on an individual level, might be able to make unbearable experiences more bearable.

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Rehumanising Education Policies

Webster

2022

Humanizing Education in the 3rd Millennium

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Educating for Meaningful Lives

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Engaging with Dewey’s Valuation in Religious Education to Enhance Children’s Spirituality for Democratic Life

Engaging with Dewey’s Valuation in Religious Education to Enhance Children’s Spirituality for Democratic Life

Making the Unbearable Bearable through Existential Spirituality

Rehumanising Education Policies

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