Modern Religious Education Research Articles

Discourses of Islamic Philosophy in modern religious education

Education plays a key role in a person’s life, regardless of their beliefs. This valuable perspective stems from the fact that educational development must primarily focus on philosophy, which becomes the foundation for the theoretical and practical components of the entire system. Islamic Philosophy methodologically shapes education throughout all stages of its historical and epistemological development. The purpose of this article is to consider the Islamic Philosophy of education in terms of the fundamentals of the conceptual worldview represented by Metaphysics, Axiology and various philosophical schools that contribute to the achievement of comprehensive and systematic education. Such a cognitive approach to the application of Islamic Philosophy is necessary for understanding the nature of spiritual education in modern society, including the study of social and environmental problems, as well as the meaning and role of emotional, spiritual and critical intelligence in the modern world. By studying Philosophy in Islamic teachings, one can understand its significance in the theoretical and practical aspects of education, and see the systemic connections of religious knowledge with other types of knowledge.

Innovation in Islamic Religious Education for Elementary School Students by Empowering Sophisticated Digital Resources

Modern religious education faces difficult challenges caused by rapid technological advances and changes in the socio-cultural environment. One of its main tasks is to improve the quality of religious education and ensure the effectiveness of religious learning in elementary schools. The dissemination of knowledge through technology is an urgent matter but it is also necessary to develop competencies and adapt to today's world. The aim of the research is to analyze and improve the methodological competence of educators by using digital educational resources for religious education. The research method used was empirical with a total of 360 respondents. Data collection techniques include observation, interviews and surveys, monitoring student learning activities, studying teacher experiences, conducting practical-experimental discussions, and surveys, as well as analyzing and evaluating student work results. Analysis techniques include methodological reflection, critical evaluation, quality revision, and analysis of methods and exercises used in terms of suitability and effectiveness. As a result, digital educational resources were found to be an effective method in forming the professional orientation of future religious educators. These findings encourage the professional training of future educators and to improve professional qualifications in basic education institutions. In conclusion, the importance of integrating digital technology into the educational process to improve the quality of education and develop student competencies.

The problems and the perspectives of modern religious education in Swedish primary schools

Primary school religious education is important and understudied in modern educational practice. Classes on religious education are used to impart knowledge to pupils about the world’s main religions. Knowledge about specific religions, or how to collaborate with representatives of different religions, is mostly absent. Unfortunately, teachers of religious education often do not use their classes as a tool for their students’ moral and spiritual development. It is also one of the problems for Swedish schools and it has to be solved because Sweden is a very multicultural country with representatives of many religions; and one of the tasks of modern schools is to show how to be tolerant of others. This research aims to highlight problems and develop ways of teaching religious education in primary schools through theoretical literature analysis on the research topic. Also, we provide didactic exercises which teachers can use during religion lessons to diversify them and make it more accessible to students.

The possibility of a truth-beyond-being and givenness: engaging the work of Jean-Luc Marion in the hermeneutics of religious education

ABSTRACT This paper argues that an enclosed hermeneutical circle is evident at the centre of modern religious education as a result of its rootedness in the romantic hermeneutical tradition. It argues that modern religious education carries an implicit text-based hermeneutical orientation. It contends that such a hermeneutical approach is limited in terms of its ability to engage with persons’ encounter with truth in life itself as it unfolds historically. This paper attempts to move beyond an enclosed hermeneutical circle at the centre of modern religious education, as well as the restrictive hermeneutics that it implicitly promotes, by recognising the givenness of the other in encounters with truth. This is achieved by considering the phenomenological and theological project of Jean-Luc Marion. It argues that Marion has much to offer hermeneutical discourse in religious education by way of his embrace of the possibility of a God-beyond-being, his notion of givenness, and his discernment of four hermeneutical moments of givenness. By engaging with, and introducing, these aspects of Marion’s work to hermeneutical discourse in religious education, this paper points to the need for a more dynamic hermeneutic that is open to the givenness of the other in encounters with truth or truth-events.

The Mediated Qur’an: Religious Education and Recitation via Online Distance Learning in the Sultanate of Oman

This article considers the role of media in relation to memorization and recitation of the Qur’an and modern religious education. Specifically, it considers the example of the online program of distance learning for recitation and memorization of the Qur’an as developed and maintained under the auspices of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the state of Oman in the Arab Gulf region. The online learning program presents an example of how religious education in Oman both has a long history at the same time that it draws on modern media practices. Even further, it does so in the context of the modern regulation of religion in relation to broader concerns of cultivation of Omani national identity and heritage.The system reflects the broader placement and shifting relationships of religion and secularity across modern development of structures of governance and education in Oman.

Правовое регулирование религиозного образования и обучения религии

Legal regulation of religious education The article deals with the features of legal regulation of religious education, religious education and the Authors reveal the main trends in the development of modern religious education in the Russian Federation and the features of its legal regulation. The article focuses on the fact that the distinction between the concepts of religious education and religious training by the legislator contributes to the improvement of legal regulation in the field of religious education in the Russian Federation.

Text-books for Students by Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali

Abstract: the paper describes two text-books written by Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (11th–12th centuries) to teach students with different levels of education and mentality: Persian-language source Zad-i akhirat and Arabic-language source Bidayat al-Hidaya. The possibility of using these two sources with minimal adaptation in the process of modern religious education in Islamic Universities and Madrasas is justified in this paper. This would enrich the teaching experience of Muslim teachers. The possibility of usage of another work by al-Ghazali Kimiya-yi sa‘adat is also discussed in this article.

ABOUT EDUCATION IN RUSSIAN SUNDAY SCHOOLS

А bstract. The aim of the publication is to show the importance of the system of religious education of the Russian Orthodox Church formed in Russia as the system that forms an outlook of the specific person and society in general. The relevance of the problem discussed in the article is caused by the fact that the ideas, moral ideals and values which are founded by an education system now in several years will be realized in specific affairs and acts. Methods. The methods involve theoretical analysis of scientific literature on the considered problem, system analysis, generalization, modeling, survey. Results and scientific novelty. The history of origin, development, decline and the subsequent revival of Sunday schools in Russia is described. Their positive role in the modern Russian system of religious education is noted; firstly, the forming of spiritual and moral values among younger generation, distribution and strengthening in society of moral standards. The main directions of teaching and educational activities in modern Sun￾day schools and requirements to personal and subject results of training of pupils of schools are stated. These requirements are established by the standard approved by the Sacred Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in the territory of the Russian Federation. The history of spread of Orthodoxy in the Far East and development of the Vladivostok eparchy is briefly presented. The features of the organization of modern religious education and orthodox education of children are considered on the example of Sunday school of the parish of Temple of St. Seraphim of Sarov of the Vladivostok eparchy. Practical significance. Activities of Sunday school are shown as the most available and mass form of studying and preserving orthodox traditions and cultural wealth.

The Role of Egyptian Influences on the Religious Dynamics and the Idea of Progress of Malaya's Kaum Muda (Young Faction) before the Second World War

Egyptian influences related to progress spread in Malaya before the Second World War through the journals published and the religious schools established by the Kaum Muda (The Young Faction). The Kaum Muda traced its origin from the reformist thinking of Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā who published the journal al-Manār from 1898 in Egypt. To disseminate their reformist thought, the Kaum Muda published al-Imām from 23 July 1906, a journal that was directly influenced by al-Manār. Apart from publishing journals, the Kaum Muda, particularly its staunchest exponent, Sayyid Shaykh al-Hadi, also published books and novels with reformist themes, particularly on women’s emancipation. As well as using printed media to convey their messages, the Kaum Muda used modern religious education known as madrasa education, which was associated with reformist thinking, to spread their ideas and bring progress to Malay society.

On Holy Ground: the theory and practice of Religious Education

In On Holy Ground, Liam Gearon argues that ‘[t]he problem of modern religious education [is] how to ground the subject when it is no longer grounded in the religious life, in the life of the holy’ ...

An alternative reading of modern religious education in England and Wales

This paper challenges the overly positive image of the contribution made by religious education in England and Wales to the attainment of liberal educational aims that was recently presented in this journal, in the context of a review symposium on a festschrift celebrating the work and achievements of the influential British religious educator, Professor John Hull. An alternative reading is pursued that provides a more accurate and fair interpretation of the evidence. There is a discussion of the ideological character of British religious education and a consideration of the reasons why assertions of its ‘success’ by religious educators are currently so vocal. Critical attention is focused on two particular issues over which the influence of Hull on contemporary policy and practice is acknowledged: that of his dismissal of the accusation that multi‐faith religious education confuses pupils, and that of current strategies in religious education to promote inter‐religious and intercultural understanding.

‘Dealing with Difference: Religious Education and the Challenge of Democracy in Pakistan’

AbstractWhen is a modern religious education also a modern democratic education? Drawing on research conducted in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (2003–2005), this question is addressed with reference to the views of those who draw upon the resources of local maktabs and madrasas to provide their children with religious and, more specifically, Islamic instruction. Within this group—a group that, I argue, constitutes a clear majority in Pakistan—concerns about religious and sectarian diversity are given special attention. Most parents, stressing the importance of religious unity, conformity, and consensus, believe it's better to ignore these differences ‘for the sake of the nation.’ For those with an interest in combining the terms of Islam, Islamic education, and democracy, however, I argue that these differences cannot be ignored; instead, they must be acknowledged and engaged.

Romanticism, representations of religion and critical religious education

Geoff Teece has recently (in BJRE, 27, 2005, pp. 29–40) come to the defence of modern religious education and contended that many of the criticisms brought against it are based on mistaken interpretations. More particularly, Teece accuses Andrew Wright of misinterpreting the position of Professor John Hick and of failing to appreciate the intellectual resources that Hick provides for the construction of a critical form of religious education. He attempts to correct Wright’s interpretation of Hick, and by extension to undermine Wright’s indictment of the influence of modernity on religious education; and he attempts to illustrate how Hick’s religious pluralism can make a contribution to discussions about critical religious education. The aim of this paper is to advance the case for critical religious education and to outline something of the form and nature it should take. It begins with a short discussion of the nature and commitments of modern religious education, indicating the sense in which they are deficient. It then moves on to consider Teece’s appeal to the thought of John Hick, which is judged to be misinterpreted and inappropriate. The paper concludes with the articulation of a set of four heuristic principles that give substance to the vision of critical religious education.

The Development of State Religious Education in Israel

The eighteenth-century Jewish “enlightenment” movement in Central and Eastern Europe laid the foundations for modern religious education. Schools in which secular subject were taught alongside traditional religious topics were established and served as the model for the modern religious educational system. In Palestine schools based on the “enlightenment” model were founded and during the twentieth century up till the establishment of the State of Israel these schools became popular throughout the length and breadth of the country.Immediately after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the different educational streams which existed under the British Mandate prior to the attainment of independence, continued to function under the aegis of the Israel Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, with the different political parties served as “supervising committees” of each of the streams. The first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, who fought to convince the Israeli leadership that a unified educational system was necessary, succeeded in persuading members of hb own political party to support the call to do away with the “General Stream” and the “Workers' Stream” and to form a united state educational system that would include a track solety devoted to religious education.In the early 1950s the religious political leadership decided to opt for integration within the state educational system, while providing full legitimacy and rights for those preferring religious education as well as internal autonomy for the religious track. Thus the two-track system was adopted by the majority within both the secular and modern orthodox population and functions efficiently up to and including the present

Part One: the hermeneutics of modern religious education

Hermeneutical reflection on the nature, process, and scope of understanding tends to flourish whenever standard procedures of interpretation begin to falter. The contemporary study of religion is a case in point: conflicting results reflect a lack of consensus regarding appropriate methods of investigation. As a result, hermeneutics enjoys an increasingly significant role in religious and theological exploration. The discipline of religious education, despite constant wrestling with the ambiguity of religion, has not followed suit: it possesses no developed and sustained tradition of hermeneutical deliberation. This attempt to open up hermeneutical debate within the field of religious education begins by identifying romanticism, post‐modernism and critical realism as three key perspectives within contemporary hermeneutical theory (Bleicher, 1982; Jeanrond, 1994; Mueller‐Vollmer, 1986; Palmer, 1969; Thiselton, 1980, 1992). This article offers an account of the hermeneutics implicit in religious education from 1960 to the present, arguing that the subject has—at considerable cost to its integrity—drawn uncritically on the traditions of romanticism and post‐modernism. A second article will propose a critical theory for religious education rooted in the hermeneutics of critical realism.

The Epistemological Foundations of Modern Religious Education

The Epistemological Foundations of Modern Religious Education

Child‐evangelism and religious education

Dr Abraham's conception of evangelism as initiating into the kingdom of God by a multi‐dimensional catechesis is described, and its application to the churches’ children is discussed in detail. An analogy with Richard Peters’ conception of education is made to defend the view that there is a substantial overlap between child‐evangelism as conceived here and modern religious education. Both are based on comparable values, taking account of the perspectives of church and school, and should be acceptable to each other.

Objectivity In Modern Religious Education

One of the great strides forward made in religious education in the last fifteen years is the almost universal acceptance of the need for objectivity. This ideal was clearly stated in Schools Council Working Paper 36 where it was said that: ‘Teaching is not objective when one interpretation is presented as though it were absolute and unquestioned fact and as though no alternative explanations were possible or admissible'1