Memory as a Key Concept in Inter-religious Education

Abstract

All religious traditions live from memory. This is true for Asian religions, and it is definitely true for the monotheistic traditions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. To tell the story of the past – the history of suffering as well as the history of salvation – forms a specific religious hermeneutics through which to understand the present and gives a vision for the future. It is particularly in the liturgy that we find forms of celebrated memory (e.g. in the Eucharist in Catholicism and in the Pessach Haggadah in Judaism). For this reason learning from another religious tradition (not only about) must mean learning from its collective memory. First and foremost, it is necessary to teach the “other” religion’s history of suffering to get learners sensitized to its feelings and its wounds, its visions and its hopes. Teaching and learning memory helps learners to change their perspective, makes space for emotional learning besides historical facts, and establishes a relationship with one’s own tradition as well as with the “other”. To study the history of suffering of various religions from the victims’ perspective (e.g. the Holocaust, the Crusades, inter-denominational wars from the perspective of suffering individuals and families) sensitizes learners to situations of oppression and suffering in the present day and leads to their getting involved in work for social justice and peace in today’s world.