Showing papers on "Religious education published in 1980"

Humanists, Puritans and the Spiritualized Household

Abstract: The stress of Elizabethan and early Stuart Puritans on the significance of the family as the fundamental spiritual unit of society has led historians to the apparent but perhaps simplistic conclusion that the origins of this doctrine are to be found in Protestant theology. The concomitants of the doctrine—an exaltation of the marriage relationship, a demand for household religious education and discipline and a slight but noteworthy elevation of the position of women within the household—are therefore attributed to Protestantism and particularly to Protestantism of “the hotter sort.” We are told, for example, that “the Reformation, by reducing the authority of the priest in society, simultaneously elevated the authority of lay heads of households” and that the stress on household religious instruction and discipline “was part of the protestant inheritance.”

Traditional Islamic Education in Morocco: Sociohistorical and Psychological Perspectives.

Abstract: As in many parts of the Muslim world, traditional Islamic schooling1 in Morocco predates modern formal schooling by almost a millennium. It has played a crucial historical role in the training of the nation's youth and continues to reach a higher percentage of school-age children than has the modern school system. Although such traditional Quranic schooling may have touched the lives of most Moroccans, its impact--relative to the modern school system--is not yet fully understood. Probably the most difficult aspect of analyzing the impact of traditional Quranic education is that there are several "types" of Quranic schools, and there are a number of levels of analysis upon which such education may be observed and discussed. Any discussion of the consequences of traditional Quranic schooling will, therefore, depend on an adequate understanding of the varieties of this type of traditional education. This paper will discuss present forms of traditional Quranic education in Morocco in the light of modernization. More specifically, discussion will center on the potential impact of such traditional pedagogy on various cognitive abilities, whose growth is sometimes said to have been stunted by such experiences. Quranic schooling, as used in this paper, refers specifically to the elementary and intermediate levels of traditional Quranic education, which provide the learner with the basic skills of reading, writing, elementary notions of grammar, and knowledge of Islamic law. Also, Quranic schooling requires the student to memorize part or all of the Quran itself. In this paper we will not, therefore, focus attention on advanced training in both religious and secular sciences (which were often taught only at the more prestigious mosque-universities), but will instead concentrate on schooling for younger children and adolescents.

Church aided secondary schools, religious education as an examination subject and pupil attitude towards religion

Abstract: Summary. Attitudes towards religion of 802 fifth-year secondary pupils were studied in relationship to whether they attended a church voluntary aided or Local Education Authority school and whether they belonged to a CSE/GCE examination group in religious education. Comparisons were made between pupils in Local Education Authority schools taking RE as an examination subject, pupils in Local Education Authority schools not taking RE, pupils in Church of England voluntary aided schools taking RE, pupils of Church of England voluntary aided schools not taking RE and pupils in Roman Catholic voluntary aided schools taking RE. It was found that there was no difference in pupil attitude in the Church of England RE and non-RE groups, the Roman Catholic group and the Local Education Authority non-RE group. The Local Education Authority RE group scored significantly higher on the attitude scale. These findings provide no support for the notion that church voluntary aided secondary schools exert a positive influence on their pupils' attitudes towards religion.

Towards an integrated curriculum for the jewish school

Abstract: (1980). TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM FOR THE JEWISH SCHOOL. Religious Education: Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 546-557.

Religion, education and the constitution

Abstract: (1980). RELIGION, EDUCATION AND THE CONSTITUTION. Religious Education: Vol. 75, No. 6, pp. 619-630.

Montessori and religious education 1

Abstract: 1 This paper is a revised version of the keynote address presented to the International Convention of the Religious Education Association, November 25, 1979, in Toronto, Canada. The research on which this paper is based was supported by grants to the author and Institute of Religion by the Lillian Kaiser Lewis Foundation and St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, both of Houston, Texas

Faith and Reason: a False Antithesis?

Abstract: This familiar passage presents a common view of faith, especially religious faith, and no doubt the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, when he wrote it, was well aware of its theological applications. We tend to think of faith as involving effort, the effort required to believe things that are inherently difficult to believe; and the paradigm case of such faith is religious faith. So it becomes almost part of the definition of faith that it is contrary to reason. For the reasonable man bases his beliefs upon evidence and the degree of conviction he allows himself is strictly in proportion to the strength of the evidence. It 'rises and falls' with the evidence. It follows that there is an inevitable opposition between religion and reason; and, since the rational enterprisepar excellence is science, this becomes an opposition between religion and science, not at least primarily in the sense that thefindings of religion and science are opposed, but that their methods are. Science is a matter of reason; religion is a matter of faith. If this way of thinking is correct, it has important implications for education. Scientific education will involve the cultivation of the scientific temper, that is to say, the readiness to approach experience with an entirely open mind and the habit of reaching a conclusion only when the evidence clearly supports it. Since, ex hypothesi, religious faith is not based on, and does not appeal to, reason, the only way it could be communicated would be by some form of non-rational persuasion or 'indoctrination'. Religious education ought, therefore, either to be abandoned or to be undertaken in an entirely 'objective' or 'phenomenological' way. Children should not be taught Judaism or Christianity or any other religion but rather taught about them. Contemporary theologians and educational theorists generally respond to this position in one of two ways. The first is to assimilate Christianity (or any other religion) to the scientic model and to insist that theology should be an

Moral Education in South Africa

Abstract: Moral education in South Africa has always been a matter of priority to parents and educationalists alike. Although it is not taught as a separate subject in the schooling process, much attention is paid to it throughout the school curriculum. Particularly in religious education and in social studies time is devoted to matters of moral conduct. The basis for moral education has almost right through been a Christian approach to life. This is the case in schools for black and for white pupils. A great number of devoted teachers go to great lengths to prepare young people for life in such a way that they may become steadfast citizens of the country. The role of parents, youth organizations, churches and ‐‐ in the case of black youths ‐‐ tribal customs, should, however, not be underestimated in the moral training of young people.

Can the Experiential and the Phenomenological Approaches be Reconciled

Abstract: This paper suggests a way in which the apparently conflicting experiential and phenomenological approaches to religious education can be reconciled. After a brief characterization of the two approaches, it examines the roles of experience and of the phenomenological method in religious education. Using some ideas of Paul Tillich it suggests how the two approaches can be reconciled. Finally, some objections to such a reconciliation are considered.

Discussing Religious Education: A Conceptual Framework for the Consideration of Curricular Issues

Abstract: David W. Gooderham is Senior Lecturer in Curriculum Studies in the Department of Educational Studies at Teesside Polytechnic, Flatts Lane Centre, Normanby, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS6 0QS.

Research in jewish religious education

Abstract: (1980). RESEARCH IN JEWISH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Religious Education: Vol. 75, No. 6, pp. 692-697.

The role of play in religious education

Abstract: (1980). THE ROLE OF PLAY IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Religious Education: Vol. 75, No. 3, pp. 282-293.

Moral Education in the Victorian Sunday School.

Abstract: ONE REASON that educational institutions are of interest to the historian is that they provide direct access to values and beliefs, both explicit and implicit, that are deemed worthy of transmission from one generation to the next. (1) A case in point is the Victorian Sunday school. (2) As a product of the evangelical revival, its primary purpose was the inculcation of religious and moral principles. Yet the moral education that it offered was by no means limited to Christian doctrine. The teachings of the Sunday school comprised a number of disparate and intertwined elements, each the product of a different history. At the core of the instructional program was the moral theology of evangelicalism, affirming the Christian faith against the competing claims of "the world." Alongside orthodox doctrines that remained formally intact, however, were other beliefs and attitudes characteristic of the surrounding culture. Juxtaposed with the doctrine of original sin, so fundamental to evangelical theology, was a distinctly Pelagian view of man. In a number of other ways also the teachings of the Sunday school reflected an evangelical subculture that had in fact become comfortably adapted to the world around it. Conceptions of God and Providence had a Victorian coloration. The social values of the middle and lower middle classes took their place beside such traditional virtues as piety, charity, and honesty. Also conspicuously present were the consensus ideals of Palmerston's England. The moral teachings of the Victorian Sunday School were the end product of a long process of acculturation that had gradually changed the character of evangelicalism. In the course of an ambiguous and ironic encounter with the world, the evangelical tradition had drifted steadily in the very direction that it had been determined to avoid. It had developed into a form of cultural Christianity, imbued with the "finest ideals" of the secular culture. (3) While successfully defending its religious integrity

Curriculum Retardation and its Treatment: The Case of Religious Education in Scotland

Abstract: Summary This paper begins by observing that religious education in Scottish schools has until recently languished in a state of chronic underdevelopment A diagnosis is made in terms of RE's unusual position in the Scottish educational system, and attention is drawn to new conditions which seem likely to foster the subject's growth

The German Evangelical Churches and the Struggle for the Schools in the Weimar Republic

Abstract: It is a well-known fact that the German Evangelical churches did not hold the Weimar Republic in the highest esteem. This lack of church affection for the republic cannot be wholly explained with reference only to the monarchist, authoritarian intellectual and theological heritage of the German churches. Research in the Evangelical newspaper press and in official church proceedings and proclamations reveals that the republic's treatment of issues of vital concern to the churches played a crucial role in shaping church political opinion.' Among the most important of these issues was the question of religious instruction in the schools. German children had always received such instruction as a regular part of their elementary school curriculum. Also, the overwhelming majority of school children before 1918 had attended confessional schools; that is, Protestant children attended Protestant schools, Catholics went to Catholic schools, and Jews to Jewish schools. Only three states, Baden, Hesse, and Nassau, had systematically established interconfessional or "simultaneous" schools (Simultanschulen).2 With the coming of the Revolution of 1918, the anticlerical forces of the radical left sought to abolish, or at least to severely restrict, religious instruction in the schools. Evangelical churchmen, on the other hand, saw the preservation of religious instruction as indispensable for both the spiritual welfare of Germany and the very existence of the churches themselves. As will be shown, the school settlement of the Weimer Constitution represented a sort of middle ground between these two positions. The constitution, however, did not speak definitively on the matter but rather left the details to a future national school law. Until the passage of such a law, school policy was largely in the hands of the individual states, some of which were notorious for their radical anticlericalism. Without the national school law, therefore, a vital concern of the churches could not be secured, and any real

A further study of opinions of Essex primary teachers about religious education and school assembly in the context of contemporary controversy

Abstract: This study of opinions of Essex Primary teachers in 1977 about religious education and assembly arises from and partly incorporates an earlier study carried out in Essex and Walsall in 1968-69 (B.G. Burgess, 1975). The work begins with a study of the legal provisions of the 1944 Education Act concerning religious education and with the controversies that have since arisen. Recent developments in the philosophy and practice of religious education are examined and an assessment is made of previous relevant research, including the 1968-69 research which provided the starting point for the present study.. A number of methodological research difficulties are explored. The two main hypotheses concern the relation of teachers' opinions about assembly, religious education and teaching aims to their age and religious co~~itment, but six subsidiary hypotheses involve the relation of some other variables (sex; teaching responsibilities and duties; size, status a...~d situation of school) to teachers' opinions. Furrowing a pilot study a 20% sample survey of Essex Primary teachers' opinions is undertaken by means of a question..."1.aire, and the hypotheses are tested statistically. Finally, the findings are interpreted L"1. the light of contemporary social, educational and political trends. It is argued that the legal compulsions of the 1944 Act regarding assembly and religious education should be relaxed, and that responsibility should be devolved to teachers, who should be adequately educated in religious, moral and philosophical concepts.

The family, feminism and religious education 1

Abstract: 1 The Family: The term is restricted here to the bond between parents and children. Feminism: The term is ambiguous due to a number of referents for it. In this work, it is used to denote the quest for full social, sexual, political and religious equality

Fashion me a people: a new ecumenical caribbean curriculum

Abstract: (1980). FASHION ME A PEOPLE: A NEW ECUMENICAL CARIBBEAN CURRICULUM. Religious Education: Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 577-591.

Torah-True and Feminist Too: A Psychotherapist's View of the Conflict Between Orthodox Judaism and the Women's Movement

Abstract: "May she sew, spin, weave, and be brought up to a life of good deeds." Such is the prayer which a pious father inscribed, on the birth of a baby girl, in an old Hebrew book which was used as the family register. This prayer sums up the ideal of womanhood as cherished by the Orthodox Jewish parents of a new-born daughter. The end-all of her education was to make the girl into a competent housewife and, at the same time, to build within her a character that would fit her for a life of "good deeds." Today, while secular society has opened up a new range of roles and psychological expectations to women, the status and life of Orthodox Jewish women remain circumscribed by Jewish religious law. Orthodox women face inequality in four areas: ( 1 ) the synagogue and in participation in prayer; (2) religious education; (3) legal areas such as status in the religious courts and divorce proceedings; and ( 4 ) communal leadership. When confronted with criticism, Orthodox religious spokes­ persons often resort to apologetics and defensiveness. The result is resistance by some Orthodox Jewish women, anger, and con­ fusion in the minds of many. The Women's Movement, the most pro­ found, bloodless revolution in modern history, has challenged traditions, mores and vested interests with a depth and intensity never before felt. Its major impact has been to raise

Religious Education in Scotland: A critical review of the SCCORE Report

Abstract: Summary This article outlines the situation in Scotland in regard to religious education with particular reference to the SCCORE Report of 1978. It gives a detailed resume of the main points in the SCCORE Report and offers a critique of that report. * Scottish Central Committee on Religious Education.

The Bicentenary of the Sunday School

Abstract: To a contemporary, Sunday school connotes a program of religious instruction offered one day a week by a church. As such, it is frequently regarded by historians and educators as of minor significance, especially in comparison with other educational institutions. Yet the Sunday school has considerable importance.