Transcript Teaching Religious Education in the Midst of Diversity

Professor Peta Goldburg rsm
Professor of Religious Education
Associate Dean Catholic Identity and Partnerships
Australian Catholic University
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Global village now a reality
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Diversity within and among religions not new
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Balance our teaching so that it does not
restrict the tradition nor relativise the
tradition
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Religion not a private matter
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Religion is matter for public square
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Religion is important cultural, social and political
phenomenon
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Teaching about religions is central to intercultural education
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300,000 Aboriginal people, 600 language
groups, many spiritualities
First Fleet: 8 -14 Jews
Convicts: Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians,
Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists
1850s Gold Rushes: Buddhists
1860s: Afghan Muslim camel drivers
Post 1945: European immigrants
Post 1960s: Asian, Middle Eastern immigrants
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Religious symbols
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Religious clothing
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Ritual requirements – praying
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Dietary requirements
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Stephen Prothero
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What, how, and why of religion
Critical Religious Literacy
Mary Boys - self-critical scholarship
It does not refer “to one’s attitude toward the
content, but to ways of thinking that enable us to
recognise the assumptions and bias that we
might impose” (Boys 2004, p. 150).
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Recognition literacy
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Reproduction literacy
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Reflection literacy
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Paulo Freire – evaluate and critique received
ideas
Ask:
◦ What view of knowledge am I presenting?
◦ What or whose knowledge is seen as valuable?
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Dialectical teacher-student relationship
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Student agency
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Student subject of learning rather than
object of learning
Dialogic methodology
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Think about what you have heard
◦ One point of interest
◦ One question
Religious
Education in the
Catholic Tradition
Religious
Education Beyond
the Tradition
Inter-religious
Education &
Engagement
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Sacred Texts
◦ (Old and New Testament; Christian Spiritual Writings &
Wisdom)
Beliefs
◦ (Trinity: God, Jesus the Christ, Spirit; Human Existence; World
Religions)
Church
◦ (Liturgy & Sacraments; People of God; Church History)
Christian Life
◦ (Moral Formation; Mission & Justice; Prayer & Spirituality)
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characterised by a deep religious selfunderstanding and a desire to learn from
differences without adopting or absorbing the
other
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We need to know and be able to teach about the
exterior diversity of religions and the interior
complexity of religious traditions.
In learning about the religious other we develop
the ability to enter another’s religious tradition
without losing our own boundaries.
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Sound knowledge of religion as a foundation
for dialogue
Does not compare religions
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do we educate within our
communities of faith so that
people can engage with
religious diversity and with the
religious other?
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Religious literacy
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Firm foundation in Catholic Christianity
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Introduces students to major world religions
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Foundation for inter-religious relations in
religiously diverse world