L. Philip Barnes

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.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

In this article the phenomenological approach to religious education is subjected to careful analysis and criticism. Something of the contemporary debate on the nature of religious education between liberals and conservatives is sketched in, before the origins and nature of the phenomenological approach to the study of religion are considered. This is followed by an account of the way in which the phenomenology of religion proper has been appropriated by educationalists and developed into what is regarded as a suitable methodology for religious education. Finally, it is argued that certain features of a phenomenological approach to religion are untenable in the light of recent work in the philosophy of language and mind.

Ninian Smart and the Phenomenological Approach to Religious Education

Abstract This essay reviews and assesses Ninian Smarts contribution to religious education. Attention is given to his account of the nature and purpose of religious education as expressed and developed in a series of works published between the late 1960s and the early 1970s, beginning with The Teacher and Christian Belief (1966) and ending with Schools Council Working Paper 36, Religious Education in the Secondary School (1971), which was produced under his direction. Continuities and tensions in his thought are identified and discussed in the context of recent debates within religious education and the academic study of religion. Smarts case for non-confessional religious education is considered, as is his support for a phenomenological approach to religious education. Although serious criticisms are raised, it is concluded that his work is of abiding significance and relevance to both British education and beyond.

Was the Northern Ireland Conflict Religious

This article considers the claim that the conflict in Northern Ireland was irreducibly religious. After a brief account of the history of the Northern Ireland conflict, the different arguments and counter arguments that bear on the role of religion in causing and sustaining the conflict are considered. An examination of the relationship of Islam to terrorism and the events of 9/11 provides a comparative perspective that is used both to identify similarities and differences between the situation in Ireland and elsewhere and to distinguish and discriminate between different ways in which religious sanction is given to violence. The implications of our findings are then explored with regard to our understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict and with regard to our understanding of the nature of religion more generally.

Developing a new post‐liberal paradigm for British religious education 1

The aim of this paper is to articulate a new ‘post‐liberal’ paradigm for religious education in Britain. As criticisms of British religious education have mounted over the last few decades, it is becoming increasingly obvious that familiar inherited ways of conceptualising the nature and practice of religious education in schools are inappropriate to contemporary educational needs. A new model is required to structure, justify and direct learning and teaching in religious education. This paper reviews the commitments, assumptions and beliefs that together constitute the current ruling ‘liberal’ paradigm, identifies and exposes its weakness and concludes by providing a tentative first draft of a new ‘post‐liberal’ paradigm for religious education, which holds more promise of realising socially positive educational aims than the current paradigm.The aim of this paper is to articulate a new ‘post‐liberal’ paradigm for religious education in Britain. As criticisms of British religious education have mounted over the last few decades, it is becoming increasingly obvious that familiar inherited ways of conceptualising the nature and practice of religious education in schools are inappropriate to contemporary educational needs. A new model is required to structure, justify and direct learning and teaching in religious education. This paper reviews the commitments, assumptions and beliefs that together constitute the current ruling ‘liberal’ paradigm, identifies and exposes its weakness and concludes by providing a tentative first draft of a new ‘post‐liberal’ paradigm for religious education, which holds more promise of realising socially positive educational aims than the current paradigm.

World Religions and the Northern Ireland Curriculum

The aim of this article is to assess the arguments for and against the inclusion of a study of world religions within the religious education provision of schools in Northern Ireland. The point of departure for our discussion is the Inter-Faith Forums recent claim that exclusively Christian content may be in breach of equality and human rights legislation. It is concluded that there should be teaching about world religions but that multi-faith religious education of the form espoused in England and Wales, whereby a wide range of religions is covered, is inappropriate to the Northern Irish educational and cultural context.

Prayer and psychological health: A study among sixth-form pupils attending Catholic and Protestant schools in Northern Ireland

Eysencks dimensional model of personality includes two indicators of psychological health, defined as neuroticism and psychoticism. In order to examine the association between psychological health and prayer, two samples of sixth-form pupils in Northern Ireland (16- to 18-year-olds) attending Catholic (N = 1246) and Protestant (N = 1060) schools completed the abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire alongside a simple measure of prayer frequency. The data demonstrated a positive association between prayer frequency and better levels of psychological health as assessed by Eysencks notion of psychoticism. Among pupils attending both Catholic and Protestant schools, higher levels of prayer were associated with lower psychoticism scores. Among pupils attending Catholic schools, however, higher levels of prayer were also associated with higher neuroticism scores.

The disputed legacy of Ninian Smart and phenomenological religious education: a critical response to Kevin O’Grady

The aim of this article is to respond to Kevin O’Grady’s critique (in BJRE, 27, 2005, pp. 227–37) of my interpretation and assessment of Ninian Smart’s contribution to religious education. I begin by dealing with a range of issues that lend themselves to fairly summary discussion and then address two further aspects of his critique in more detail. First, the nature of the influence of the phenomenology of religion over phenomenological religious education is considered within the context of recent critical discussions of the fundamental assumptions of religious phenomenology. Secondly, O’Grady’s positive account of the continuing relevance of Smart’s thought to the issue of hermeneutics in religious education is both qualified by attention to its limitations and complemented by reference to the work of the French hermeneutical philosopher, Paul Ricoeur.

Religion, education and conflict in Northern Ireland

The aim of this article is to re‐evaluate and reaffirm the contribution of the churches and of Christianity to the realization in Northern Ireland schools of legitimate and progressive educational values such as the cultivation of tolerance, moral integrity and civic virtue. Implicit in this is a critique of educational initiatives that seek to undermine the influence of Christianity in schools. There is also discussion of the reasons why the increasing secularization of education in Northern Ireland should be resisted. The paper begins with a brief historical overview of the ongoing tension between religious and secular influences in education and notes the ways in which developments in education have tended to marginalize religion and to denude public education of Christian religious content and influence. Critical attention is then given to the role of religion in the Northern Ireland conflict, for it is the conviction that the conflict is religious that provides much of the stimulus for efforts to secularize education and schools. This is followed by some brief comments on the positive role that religion can play in religious education and in schools. The article concludes with a brief review of the reasons why a proper balance between secular and religious influences in schools in Northern Ireland should be maintained.

The Representation of Religion in Education: A Critique of John Hull’s Interpretation of Religionism and Religious Intolerance

This essay evaluates the recent, important response of Professor John M. Hull, of the University of Birmingham, to the question of what schools should do to foster harmonious relations between the disparate religious and non-religious groupings that constitute the population in most of our liberal, democratic Western nations. In a series of influential articles, Hull has articulated both an interpretation of the nature of religious intolerance and a proposed strategy for challenging intolerance in schools. In this paper Hulls position is carefully set out and then critically assessed. In the light of weaknesses in his account, a different understanding of the nature of religious intolerance is pursued along with a brief outline of a different educational strategy for responding to religious and cultural differences in schools.