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Contextual religious education and the interpretive approach

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Jackson, Robert, 1945-. (2008) Contextual religious education and the interpretive approach. British Journal of Religious Education, Vol.30 (No.1). pp. 13-24. ISSN 0141-6200

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200701711675

Abstract

This article responds to Andrew Wright's critique of my views on the representation of religions. Using various literary devices - associating my work closely with that of others whose views are in some ways different from my own, referring very selectively to published texts and exaggerating, and sometimes misrepresenting, what I actually say - Wright presents my work as dualistic, nominalist and as not genuinely hermeneutical. Wright contrasts what he sees as my extreme idea of religions as 'constructions' with his own view of them as 'social facts'. My reply illustrates and responds to Wright's account of my work, clarifies my own position and raises questions about Wright's views, especially in relation to those of Gavin Flood, whom he cites with favour. My conclusion includes the suggestion that, although our epistemological positions are different in some ways, they spawn pedagogies utilising some common principles and values.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BV Practical Theology > BV1460 Religious Education
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute of Education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Wright, Andrew, 1958-, Religious education -- Teaching methods, Religious education -- Philosophy, Religion and sociology -- Great Britain, Knowledge, Theory of (Religion)
Journal or Publication Title:	British Journal of Religious Education
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	0141-6200
Date:	January 2008
Volume:	Vol.30
Number:	No.1
Page Range:	pp. 13-24
Identification Number:	10.1080/01416200701711675
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Version or Related Resource:	Written as a response to: Wright, A. (2008) Contextual religious education and the actuality of religions. British Journal of Religious Education 30:1 , pp. 3-12.
References:	Arweck, E., Nesbitt, E. & Jackson, R. (2005) Common values for the common school? Using two values education programmes to promote „spiritual and moral development‟, Journal of Moral Education, 34 (3), 325-42. Beckford, J. A. (2003) Social Theory & Religion (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press). Berger, P. (1969) The Social Reality of Religion (London, Faber). Fitzgerald, T. (2000) The Ideology of Religious Studies (New York, Oxford University Press). Flood, G. (1999) Beyond Phenomenology: Rethinking the Study of Religion (London, Cassell). Francis, L. J. (1984) Teenagers and the Church (London, Collins). Fujiwara, S. (2007) Problems of teaching about religion in Japan: Another textbook controversy against peace? British Journal of Religious Education, 29 (1), 31–46. Gergen, K. J. (1999) An Invitation to Social Construction (London, Sage). Heimbrock, H.-G., Scheilke, C. & Schreiner, P. (Eds.) (2001) Towards Religious Competence: Diversity as a Challenge for Education in Europe (Münster, Lit Verlag). Jackson, R. (1996) The construction of “Hinduism” and its impact on religious education in England and Wales, Panorama: International Journal of Comparative Religious Education and Values, 8 (2), 86-104. Jackson, R. (1997) Religious Education: An Interpretive Approach (London, Hodder & Stoughton). Jackson, R. (2003) Citizenship as a replacement for religious education or RE as complementary to citizenship education?, in: R. Jackson (Ed.) International Perspectives on Citizenship, Education and Religious Diversity (London, RoutledgeFalmer), 67-92. Jackson, R. (2004a) Editorial, British Journal of Religious Education, 26 (3), 219-221. Jackson, R. (2004b) Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality: Issues in Diversity and Pedagogy (London, RoutledgeFalmer). Jackson, R. (2006) Understanding religious diversity in a plural world: the interpretive approach, in: M. de Souza, K. Engebretson, G. Durka, R. Jackson and A. McGrady (Eds) International Handbook of the Religious, Moral and Spiritual Dimensions of Education (Vol. 1) (Dordrecht, the Netherlands, Springer Academic Publishers), 399-414. Jackson, R. (2007a) European institutions and the contribution of studies of religious diversity to education for democratic citizenship, in: R. Jackson, S. Miedema, W. Weisse, & J.-P. Willaime (Eds.) Religion and Education in Europe: Developments, Contexts and Debates (Münster, Waxmann), 27-55. Jackson, R. (2007b) Religion in the educational system of England and Wales: law, policy and representation, in: John R. Hinnells (Ed.) Religious Reconstruction in the South Asian Diasporas: From one generation to another (London, Palgrave Macmillan), 192-219. Jackson, R. and Killingley, D. (1988) Approaches to Hinduism (London, John Murray). Jackson, R. and Nesbitt, E. (1993) Hindu Children in Britain (Stoke on Trent, Trentham). Jackson, R. and Nesbitt, E. (1996) Orthodoxy and openness: The experience of Hindu children, in: B. E. Gates (Ed.) Freedom and Authority in Religions and Religious Education (London, Cassell), 138-148. Nelson, J. (2004) Uniformity and diversity in religious education in Northern Ireland, British Journal of Religious Education, 26 (3), 249-258. Nesbitt, E. and Jackson, R. (1995) Sikh children‟s use of „God‟: ethnographic fieldwork and religious education, British Journal of Religious Education, 17 (2), 108-20. Said, E. (1978) Orientalism (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul). Searle, J. (1995) The Construction of Social Reality (New York, Free Press). Smith, W. C. (1978) The Meaning and End of Religion (London: SPCK). Velody, I. & Williams, R. (Eds.) (1998) The Politics of Constructionism (London, Sage). Willems, J. (2007) Fundamentals of Orthodox culture (FOC): a new subject in Russia‟s schools, British Journal of Religious Education, 29 (3), 229-243. Wright, A. (1996) Language and experience in the hermeneutics of religious understanding, British Journal of Religious Education, 18 (3), 166-80. Wright, A. (2006) Critical realism as a tool for the interpretation of cultural diversity in liberal religious education, in: M. de Souza, K. Engebretson, G. Durka, R. Jackson and A. McGrady (Eds.), International Handbook of the Religious, Moral and Spiritual Dimensions of Education (Vol. 1) (Dordrecht, the Netherlands, Springer Academic Publishers), 333-347. Wright, A. (2008) Contextual religious education and the actuality of religions, British Journal of Religious Education, 30 (1).
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/2811