What is this thing called RE: a decade on?

2nd ed

The agony and the ecstasy of phenomenology as method: the contribution to Australian religious education

The development of religious education in Australia in the past fifteen years has been profound. When I first wrote What Is This Thing Called RE? in 1989, the question implied in the title was symptomatic of the lack of appreciation of a role for religious education anywhere outside a religious school. There had been,- by that time, a report in each State of Australia proposing a form of religious education for the public curriculum but there was little evidence of change in the traditional arrangement that saw this subject being exclusively the preserve of the religious system

Bonhoeffer: interfaith theologian and practical mystic

The article draws on key theological tenets of Bonhoeffer in making the case that he is rightly regarded as one of the architects of modern interfaith theology and also as a practical mystic. His prison theology will be argued to offer the grounding for the former claim and a wider Abrahamic tradition of practical mysticism will be used to analyse the validity of the latter claim. Furthermore, it will be argued that the ideas of Bonhoeffer as interfaith theologian and practical mystic are related and helpful in understanding the uniqueness of his contribution

What is this thing called religious education?

This third edition offers a distinction between different approaches to religious education, ranging from Enfaithing models, designed principally to encourage and induct students into a particular faith tradition, through to Interfaith models that are designed to offer literacy about religions across their various types and traditions. In the middle, the author offers a compromise model, designed essentially for education about religions but also providing pedagogical moments for personal search and exploration of particular faith traditions. This third edition suggests that religious education is a more mature curriculum area than was the case in 1989, having a more prestigious and central role in mainstream education. In the twenty years that have passed, the matter of religious education has become more urgent, especially around the prevalence of religious misunderstanding and conflict, much of which threatens the future of societies and of peaceful civilization generally. The author explores these themes in a new final section of the book.3rd ed

The agony and the ecstasy of phenomenology as method: the contribution to Australian religious education

The development of religious education in Australia in the past fifteen years has been profound. When I first wrote What Is This Thing Called RE? in 1989, the question implied in the title was symptomatic of the lack of appreciation of a role for religious education anywhere outside a religious school. There had been,- by that time, a report in each State of Australia proposing a form of religious education for the public curriculum but there was little evidence of change in the traditional arrangement that saw this subject being exclusively the preserve of the religious system

Interfaith education and phenomenological method.

Interfaith education is increasingly being construed as an effective way to enhance inter-religious literacy, strengthen cross-cultural communication and hence fortify the cohesiveness of multicultural societies. The chapter will explore phenomenology as an educational method with special suitability to the goals of interfaith education curricula, both in general and especially with respect to their capacity to function across public and religious school sectors. It will establish the credentials of phenomenological method by confirming its affinity with some of the most important thinking in modern education. It will seek to demonstrate how the two ends of phenomenology, termed descriptive and eidetic science, serve well the broader objectives of much of this thinking, especially around the capacity to enhance understanding of 'other minds' and so instill positive attitudes and practices across cultural boundaries. It will furthermore argue that these same two ends impel a methodological approach that allows for the balance between the objectivity and subjectivity required of interfaith education, especially when functioning in diverse school settings. On the one hand, the public school is able to follow an interfaith curriculum that is grounded in the non-enfaithing ethos of public education while, at the same time, allowing for enriched personalized learning. On the other hand, the religious school is able to follow the same curriculum, grounding its interfaith education in a formidable public syllabus, while allowing for the personalized learning to include a measure of enfaithing suitable to such a school's mission. In other words, through movement across the spectrum from objectivity to informed subjectivity, the same course of study is able to be stretched to cover a range of curricular goals and satisfy the interfaith education intentions implicit in a variety of school settings

Ethics and ethics education: professional and curricular best practice

Ethical thinking can be done in a variety of ways and draw quite different conclusions. People of upright intention disagree about the 'moral ought' associated with particular issues, and difference is evident along several lines', .;. including, most importantly, those of culture. Taylor contrasts the values positions of ancient and modern cultures, while King spoke eloquently of the challenge of drawing the various cultures of contemporary USA together in a common push for justice. Charlesworth suggests that, beyond the most primary values related to autonomy and justice, it is impossible for the modern multicultural society to come to a consensus on most of the practical values that guide everyday living. These are important issues for teachers, especially in multicultural settings. While it is beyond the scope of this raper to provide a full analysis of cultural difference in values perspectives, it may be helpful to identify a number of clearly different ethical cultures which, history shows, have managed to survive and thrive even in the same society. Here I will draw deliberately on the most prominent ethical cultures of the most important ancient society for those searching out the roots of Western thought, namely, the society of ancient Greece. In this sense, the analysis is limited to a Western perspective. The exemplar nonetheless underlines the point that different ethical cultures have existed and competed throughout recorded history, and have done so even within apparently homogeneous societies. In other words, multi-ethnicity is only one feature of multi-culture, albeit a particularly defining one in our own time

Synergies and balance between values education and quality teaching

The article will focus on the implicit values dimension that is evident in research findings concerning quality teaching. Furthermore, it sets out to demonstrate that maximizing the effects of quality teaching requires explicit attention to this values dimension and that this can be achieved through a well-crafted values education program. Evidence for this latter claim will come from international studies as well as from the Australian Government’s Values Education Program and, especially from the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project Stage 1 Report