Reimagining the Landscape of Religious Education : Challenges and Opportunities

This book brings together new thinking and research on religious education’s complex and evolving role in the multicultural, diverse postmodern era. It facilitates new realism and understanding of the current situation from empirical and reflective accounts relating to a variety of countries and political contexts, as well as providing innovative methodological approaches to the study of education and religion. In different contexts around the world, at different levels of education, and from different theoretical lenses, religious education occupies a contested space. The ongoing, changing nature of the world due to increasing secularization, rapid technological change, mass immigration, globalization processes, conflict and challenging security issues, from inter to intra state levels, and with shifting geopolitical power balances, generates the need to reconceptualize where religious education is positioned. It claims that religious education on its own can be an agent of moral, social and spiritual transformation are disputed. There is significant controversy about whether special religious education, that is in-faith education, still has a role within the post-modern world. Contents About the Editor 1 Introduction: Changing Perspectives and Themes of the Landscape of Religious Education 1.1 Aim and Scope 1.2 The Need to Provide a Conceptual Mosaic 1.3 The Collapse of Traditional Categories and Definitions 1.4 Mapping the Religious Ecological Landscape 1.5 The Challenges of Religion in a Globalized Alienated World 1.6 Four Major Current Debates in Religious Education Scholarship: The Scope and Structure of the Book References Part I The Ongoing Debate: Enhancement of Worldviews and Life Orientation in Religious Education 2 The Study of Religious and Worldview Diversity in Public Schools: Contributions from the Council of Europe 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Council of Europe 2.3 Towards the 2008 Council of Europe Recommendation 2.4 The Development of Signposts 2.5 Using REDCo Research 2.6 Signposts as a Discussion Tool 2.7 Representing Religious and Cultural Plurality 2.8 Religions and Non-religious Convictions 2.9 Education and Extremism 2.10 Council of Europe Declaration and Action Plan 2.11 Signposts International Research Network (SIRN) References 3 ‘Playful Searching Truth’: An Exploration of the Role of ‘Life Orientation’ in a Plural World 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Secularisation 3.3 Teaching and Learning Life Orientation in the Plural Classroom 3.4 Examples of ‘Good Practice’ 3.4.1 Medical Truths in Dialogue with Theology 3.4.2 Orthodox Christian Truth in Dialogue with Society 3.4.3 Narratives Bridging the Truth of ‘I’ and ‘You’ into a ‘We’ 3.5 Reflection on the Examples—In Search of Truth in a Plural World 3.6 RE in an Era of Plurality of Truth Claims References 4 Worldview Identity Discourses in Finnish Religious and Worldview Education: Mechanisms of Inclusion and Exclusion 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Theoretical and Methodological Considerations 4.3 Results 4.3.1 Discourse 1: Hegemonic, ‘Normal’ 4.3.2 Discourse 2: Similar and Different Others 4.3.3 Discourse 3: Organized View or Own Voice 4.4 Discussion References 5 Reflections of Preservice Teacher Identity from Christian-based Institutions: What Matters? 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Theoretical Perspectives 5.3 Literature Review 5.3.1 Identity and Christian Institutions 5.3.2 Relationship of Religion to Teacher Identity, Behavior, and Dispositions 5.3.3 Professional Identity 5.4 Methods and Data Sources 5.5 Findings 5.6 Discussion 5.7 Conclusion References 6 The Outrageous Idea of Christian Student Affairs: How Christian Chief Student Affairs Officers Envision Their Practice 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Review of the Literature 6.3 Methods 6.3.1 Identifying Christian Colleges and Universities 6.3.2 The Survey Instrument 6.3.3 Limitations 6.3.4 Analysis 6.4 Findings 6.4.1 Aims 6.4.2 Means 6.5 Discussion 6.5.1 Conclusion #1: Church Words and Practices 6.5.2 Conclusion #2: Professional Words and Practices 6.5.3 Conclusion #3: Discrete Foci 6.6 Conclusion References Part II Minorities, Education and Alienation 7 Multicultural Learning Environments in Turkey: A New Challenge About Refugee Education 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Refugees and Education in Turkey 7.3 The Research 7.4 Findings 7.4.1 Learning the Language and Communication 7.4.2 Finding Myself in the School 7.4.3 Talking About Faith 7.5 The Need for a Multicultural Education 7.6 Can Religious Education Respond to the Multicultural Education Needs? 7.7 Conclusion References 8 Anti-religious Education or Preventing Religious Extremism?—An Examination of the Re-education Camps in the Uyghur Region of China 8.1 Introduction 8.2 The Uyghurs and Their Homeland 8.3 Theoretical Perspectives and Methods 8.4 Findings 8.4.1 Islam, as a Whole, is Targeted as the Source of Extremism 8.4.2 Islam is Seen as a Polar Opposite to Science as Well as the Chinese Communism 8.4.3 Mandarin Chinese and Chinese Culture Are Highlighted as Signs of Progress 8.4.4 The Children of the Detainees Are Facing the Similar Fate 8.5 Conclusion References 9 The Integral Link Between Islamic Education and Religious Education: A Bonhoeffer Reflection on the Urgent Task of Countering Jihadist Pedagogy 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Bonhoeffer on Islam: Perceiving the Integration Between Religion and Life 9.3 Islamic Education as Religious Education: Medieval and Contemporary Scholarship 9.4 What Goal for Islamic Religious Education in Our Times? 9.5 Conclusion References 10 Testing the Contact Hypothesis in Interfaith Encounters: Personal Friendships with Sikhs Countering Anti-Sikh Attitudes? 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Research Aim 10.3 Method 10.3.1 Procedure 10.3.2 Participants 10.3.3 Measures 10.4 Analysis 10.5 Results and Discussion 10.6 Conclusion References 11 Disgust and the Limits of Reason: Countering the Fear of Contamination and Resistance to Education in a Post-modern Climate 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The Disgust Studies 11.3 Disgust as Truth 11.4 Religion and Purity 11.5 Religious Education in a Post-Truth Era 11.6 Summary References Part III Critical Thinking, Social Justice and Enlightened Autocracy 12 Teaching About the Religious and Non-religious Other: Three Paradigms and an Islamic Perspective 12.1 The Exclusivist Paradigm of Religious Education 12.2 The Inclusivist/Liberal Paradigm of Religious Education 12.3 Critical Paradigm of Religious Education 12.4 Summary and Educational Implications References 13 Muslim Education and Claims of Justice in a Global Post-modern World 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Towards Ta’arruf (Associational Knowing) as a Theory of Muslim Education 13.3 Ta’arruf and the Pursuit of Global Justice for All 13.4 Ta’arruf and the Cultivation of World Citizenship 13.5 Towards a Conclusion References 14 The Totalitarian Imagination Revisited: State Religious Education at the ‘Worldviews’ Watershed 14.1 Introduction 14.2 The Totalitarian Imagination Revisited 14.3 The Landscape Ahead: State Religious Education at the ‘Worldviews’ Watershed 14.4 Conclusion References Part IV Spirituality, Prayer, and Affective Learning 15 Prayer in Schools: In Search of a New Paradigm 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Some Mundane Spirituality: Kook, Buber, Macmurray and Hay 15.3 How is Mundane Spirituality Expressed in Prayer in School? 15.4 Implications for Prayer in School 15.5 Conclusion: Implications for Religion and Education References 16 The Holocaust as a Source for Religious Education and Reflection Among Adolescents in Israel 16.1 The Role of Remembrance in Jewish Tradition 16.2 The Relationship Between Holocaust Memory and Religious Education 16.3 Stages of the Development of Holocaust Memory and Holocaust Education in the Educational System in Israel 16.3.1 The Ontological Level 16.3.2 The Epistemological Level 16.3.3 Transitions and Shifts: From Ontology to Epistemology 16.3.4 The Implementation of the Typology in Religious Education 16.4 The Reflective Culture of Holocaust Remembrance (RCoHR) as a Major Challenge for Religious Education 16.5 Methodology 16.6 Findings 16.6.1 The Descriptive Stage 16.6.2 The Second Stage: The Reflective Stage 16.7 Discussion 16.8 Summation References 17 Religious Education for the Mexican Immigrant Community in Albuquerque: The Vital Role of Compassion 17.1 Some Background on Escuela Luz del Mundo 17.2 The Legacy of Classism and Racism in U.S. Public Education 17.3 Research Methodology 17.4 Lessons Learned at Escuela Luz del Mundo 17.4.1 Freed from Teaching to “the Test,” Teachers Could Focus on Student Learning 17.4.2 There Are no Shortcuts to Learning 17.4.3 The Value of Paying Attention to Students’ Non-Academic Needs 17.4.4 At ELM, the Real Issues that Affected Students Were not “Swept Under the Rug” 17.5 The Need for Compassion in Education 17.6 ELM is no More—Now What? 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