On Holy Ground: The Theory and Practice of Religious Education

Abstract

On holy ground 1 2 Philosophy, theology and religious education 16 3 The natural sciences and religious education 44 4 The social sciences and religious education 58 5 Psychology, spirituality and religious education 76 6 Phenomenology and religious education 100 7 The politics of religious education 111 8 The aesthetics of religious education 132 9 The holy and the idea of the holy 149

Religions constructed as similar or different by teachers of religious education from a citizenship education perspective

“…From a perspective of educating citizens living in a plural society, the teachers deal with complex issues such as prejudice and segregation. Even though the 'secular' role of RE has already been pointed out (Gearon 2013(Gearon , 2014, the ways in which RE teachers approach the social role of RE is nevertheless important to highlight. Further, the teachers' constructions of religion imply consequences for acting as a citizen when they are relied on in the classroom.…”

Why is the Relationship Between Philosophy and Literature of Significance for the Philosophy of Education?

“…Our framing encompasses both the formal situatedness of learning in schools and universities, but is also cognisant of the wider areas and contexts of intellectual formation. Our previous work has, for example, incorporated analyses of the textual forms of a range of disciplines, which include works of traditional philosophy, and close readings of diverse literary, political and theological canons (Gearon, 1999(Gearon, , 2002(Gearon, , 2015a(Gearon, , 2015bWilliams, 2016).…”

Faith-Based Schools in Contexts of Religious Diversity: An Introduction

“…3 The role of the school in socializing pupils in civic values, identities, and beliefs explains why so much controversy surrounds this relation. 4 As a result, religious education appears to be a battlefield for different kinds of struggles: One of them refers to the secularizing trends of liberal states and the resistance of certain religious groups to their loss of space in the public sphere, with arguments that are sometimes grounded in theological motives; 5 another one relates to education and the right to choose school, as the parental freedom to choose between a diversity of educational models. 6 Both secular and faith-based schools have to deal with, and operate within, increasingly secular and religiously diverse contexts, as is the case of Western Europe and Canada, the geographical focus of the articles in this focused section.…”