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ISREV 2008 - PLENARY AND SYMPOSIUM PAPER ABSTRACTS

Monday 28th July: Recep Kaymakcan - Is Modern Islam Compatible with Modern Religious Education?
                                                            Critical Evaluation of Teaching Islam in Turkish Religious Education

Tuesday 29th July: Cornelia Roux - Hermeneutics and Religious Literacy as Prerequisites for Religious Teaching and Learning

Wednesday 30th July: Jeff Astley - On Teaching the Truth ‘in’ and ‘about’ Religion: A Theological Reflection

Thursday 31st July: Yaacov Yablon - The Meaning and Characteristics of Religious Education in Israel: Barriers, Limitations and Advantages

Friday 1st August: Gloria Durka - Through the Looking Glass: A Roman Catholic View from the United States

Sherry Blumberg - Face to Face: The Need for Technology-free Space in Religious Education

Karlo Meyer - Teaching Liturgy: Observations of Processes of Learning

Reinhold Mokrosch - Right-wing Extremism Amongst Turkish and German Young Adults in Europe: Is it Based on Religious Motivation?

Ulrich Schwab - Coming Together? Young People and Adults in the Churches

Nam Song - Stories of Korean-Canadian Youth: Implications for Youth Ministry

Monday 28th July: Recep Kaymakcan - Is Modern Islam Compatible with Modern Religious Education? Critical Evaluation of Teaching Islam in Turkish Religious Education

Officially Turkey has been a secular country since 1937. It is also a predominantly Muslim country. Religious education in schools is a compulsory subject since 1982. It is argued that there is a close relationship between theological understanding of a religion and teaching religion in schools. The Turkish case is not exceptional. In this paper, I will try to examine the connection between the model of Islamic teaching and the religious education curriculum in Turkish schools. I shall define the traditional teaching of Islam as the ‘ilmihal-centred approach’. This understanding of teaching Islam, developed during Turkish-Islamic cultural history, has had a great impact on religious education in schools. This traditional approach is confessional, informative, educationally weak, and theological; it attempts to be consistent with the Turkish state’s secular policy.

Turkish experts on religious education have reached a general agreement that the traditional way of teaching Islam in schools is inadequate to meet the needs of pupils in society from the pedagogical and theological point of view. The new curriculum for RE in primary (2000 and 2006) and secondary (2005) schools was introduced to respond to new changes and challenges in religious education. The new curriculum seems to promote ‘modern Islam’. In this paper, I will address the following issues from a critical perspective:
1. The establishment of a connection between an ‘ilmihal-centred approach’ and the former RE curriculum and textbooks in schools.
2. The evaluation of the relationship between the teaching of modern Islam and the new RE curriculum.
3. The discussion regarding the kind of Islam that is more compatible with modern and pluralistic RE in a western sense.

Recep Kaymakcan is a professor of religious education at the University of Sakarya, Turkey, and the editor of Journal of Values Education.
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Tuesday 29th July: Cornelia Roux - Hermeneutics and Religious Literacy as Prerequisites for Religious Teaching and Learning

Religion teaching and learning has the propensity to influence individuals’ interpretations and perceptions of their own and other religions. Multireligion education in particular, and the understanding of one’s own and the other, can also be described as a productive process with the potential that interpretations and perceptions can fluctuate continuously. This fluctuation of one’s own and the other can also influence the self-identity of the teacher or the learner in religion teaching and learning. Therefore, the importance of developing religious literacy, as part of the self-identity process, imposes a hermeneutical learning process by asking original questions and generating information which can be used to broaden one’s own knowledge and open discussion or dialogue with the other. Religious literacy requires processes of religious conscience in order to participate, with understanding in discourses of diverse religious and social environments. I would further like to argue that understanding is always an interpretative process and one’s own preconceptions and prejudices influence these interpretations. Therefore the art of understanding lies in the object of the otherness that must appeal to us in order for understanding to be possible.

This paper argues from a theoretical and descriptive point of view that in order to understand religion teaching and learning, a hermeneutical framework and the development of religious literacy may have the propensity to contribute to religion education. It will further be argued that hermeneutics and religious literacy are key elements in religion teaching and learning, and I would like to elaborate on the relationship between one’s self-identity and the understanding of one’s own and other religions.

Cornelia Roux is a full professor and Chair of the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Her current research agenda focuses on Social Construct Curriculum Theory; Diversity and Inclusivity in Education (Cultures, Religions, Beliefs and Value systems) and Life Orientation and Curriculum Development.
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Wednesday 30th July: Jeff Astley - On Teaching the Truth ‘in’ and ‘about’ Religion: A Theological Reflection

The paper will attempt to explore at least some of the several senses in which the word ‘truth’ is applied within religious traditions, and how this might affect the different relationships that obtain between the task of teaching and the processes of education, on the one hand, and the self-understanding and practices of the religions, on the other.

Along the way, some attention will be paid to: (a) distinctions between the concept of religious understanding and what might be meant by understanding a religion, and how these distinctions map onto the contrast between participating in a religion and studying it; (b) claims about a distinctively religious or spiritual notion of truth; (c) the importance of recognizing the range of functions of religious language and the differing understandings of the nature of faith; and (d) the ways in which a recognition of the variety of the religions, and attempts to negotiate pathways through this variety, might impact on these discussions.

The approach of the paper will be broadly theological in the sense that it will evaluate both the diverse notions of truth, and our perception of religion, from the standpoint of an ultimate salvific concern that is the touchstone of meaning in life. It will be argued that it is the ubiquity and universal relevance of this concern that is the fundamental justification for religious teaching in its two main forms.

Jeff Astley is the Founding Director of the ecumenical North of England Institute for Christian Education, and Honorary Professorial Fellow in Practical Theology and Christian Education in the University of Durham. He is an Anglican priest and has also worked in parish ministry and university chaplaincy.
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Thursday 31st July: Yaacov Yablon - The Meaning and Characteristics of Religious Education in Israel: Barriers, Limitations and Advantages

In 1953 the Israeli government established by law its national educational system and passed the State Public Education Act. This legislation brought to the fore the question of religion and religious education in the state system. The national school system offers public education to all children regardless of their parents’ religious, political or ideological backgrounds. The new law created two official national educational tracks - state secular and state religious - and parents are able to choose either one for their children. Yet, in order to respond to the different needs of the many groups that create the mosaic of Israeli society, parents have the option to send their children to schools accredited by the Minister of Education outside of the two ‘official’ tracks.

Consequently, the formal public education system in Israel today consists of three main types of Jewish schools: Jewish state schools (also referred to as state-secular or ‘general’ schools), Jewish state-religious schools, and Jewish independent (mostly ultra-orthodox) schools. All of these schools differentially cater to the multifarious needs of the different population groups within Jewish society, formulate their own curricula and appoint their own teachers.

In this paper I will describe the different meanings that religious education has in each of the different sectors and educational tracks and its contribution to the social relationships between the groups. Furthermore, the inherent deliberation on the nature of religious education and the role of religious education in Israel will be addressed. Both social and ideological consequences will be discussed.

Yaacov (Koby) Yablon is a lecturer at the School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His research interests include religious education, peace education, and prevention programs. In addition to his work at Bar-Ilan University he has served as a research director at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
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Friday 1st August: Gloria Durka - Through the Looking Glass: A Roman Catholic View from the United States

The Catholic Church has had a complex history worldwide and a unique history in the United States. Catholics have shared the stress of preserving their integrity in the midst of pluralism and its countervailing forces. All religions are challenged to respond to the ‘signs of the times’ such as secularization, economic disparity among people, ecological disasters, globalization, immigration, the rapid proliferation of information technology, and war. Although religious memory is dangerous because it includes confronting heartbreaking events and experiences, it is necessary in order to foster interreligious dialogue and cultivate theological exploration and educational collaboration. This session will consider whether there is anything specific that U.S. Catholic history can suggest to others about the shared common task of repairing the world and promoting human flourishing.

Through the lens of critical theory, what can religious educators learn about the convergence and divergence of the theology of religions within trans-cultural and multicultural contexts? How has the influence of societal and political factors shaped religious development and education in the United States such that it might contribute to the relationship between self-understanding of religion and religious education today?

In highlighting the contradiction and complementarity of tradition and modernity within Catholicism, a few tentative and modest proposals for international and interreligious settings will be proposed.

Gloria Durka is Professor of Religious Education in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, where she directs the Ph.D. Program in Religious Education. She is also co-director of the Adult, Family, and Community Concentration in graduate studies.
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Sherry Blumberg - Face to Face: The Need for Technology-free Space in Religious Education

The teacher and other students may be the spiritual model for a student. The students learn to struggle with belief, faith, doubt, joy and sorrow through the relationships they develop with the teacher, the other students and with God. Thus, for teaching the content of the religious tradition, technology may be effective. But to help develop the religious experience, the covenantal relationships needed for the human to commit to the religious tradition, technology may hinder.

This research was practical research done in three different settings (young teens in a religious school, two adults in a tutorial class, and a mentor/new educator relationship). The findings, while preliminary, show the need for face to face, non-technological learning. Experiences of personal sharing, finding purposefulness and hope in the struggles of daily living, and the encouragement of reflective thinking were the most helpful. The use of imagination and play, studying together, and sharing the spiritual and religious moments of each other’s lives were also important.

These findings are especially important for younger children, in an attempt to develop their spiritual and religious openness. Further research is being done in this area.
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Karlo Meyer - Teaching Liturgy: Observations of Processes of Learning

The weekly service or the mass is one of the major pillars in the life of a Christian parish. Children and youngsters should be acquainted with the rituals which are practised every Sunday. Therefore the teaching of liturgy should be among the major fields of teaching youngsters in their own tradition. Nevertheless, there is rather little written about wider concepts on this topic in Christian (German) pedagogical literature. And there are almost no empirical studies about this educational matter.

This means: In Germany, educators in protestant parishes try to teach 13 year-old youngsters, what a service is for and how to follow its procedure. But the educators fulfil their task more or less ‘learning by doing’ and with their pedagogical intuition. A new didactical approach like the German so-called ‘performativ didactic’ could give hints in this matter, but has received only limited recognition in parishes.

This paper explains the German educational background, and reports on the procedure of field studies on this theme. The research is based on the ‘grounded theory’ (Strauss/Corbin). It includes quantitative and qualitative methods, such as questionnaires and interviews. Some of the questions are: Facing the difficult age of 13 year old boys and girls and a secular society, which basic strategies do the trails of the educators show? How do educators deal with this situation concerning the wider frame of services, parishes and lessons? The paper will present the general procedure of the research. First outlines of the results will be given. After presenting the experiences of the pre-tests, general outlines are drawn for teaching Christian youngsters the rituals of their own tradition.
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Reinhold Mokrosch - Right-wing Extremism Amongst Turkish and German Young Adults in Europe: Is it Based on Religious Motivation?

Surveys show that right-wing extremist Turkish young adults in Germany and other European member states employ violence in order to ‘defend Islam, the one and only orthodox religion, against its enemies and those who hold it in contempt.’ The Islamic and national sense of honour is the main cause of the daily deeds of violence carried out by Turkish young adults. Everywhere in Europe Turkish young people are aware of the ‘concept of the enemy of Islam’, and they fight against it. Fear, feelings of inferiority, and at the same time of superiority, an awareness of non-integration, non-acceptance, and other factors, may also play a part in the background, but the defence of Islam remains the principal motive.

The case of German right-wing extremist young adults is completely different. For them, religion does not play any part at all. What counts for them are the values of being German, male, young, antidemocratic, authoritarian, to be subordinate and to obey a leader. These values are regarded as being inherent and as requiring no defence. They provide the passions which lead to the beating-up of those who think differently and are different. Nevertheless, is it possible that the roots of Turkish and German right extremists are similar in spite of their differences? Do both defend inherent qualities, whether being German or being Muslim? In neither case is it necessary to struggle for these values. They are regarded as inherent possessions which the others do not have.

What response should education and religious education make to this phenomenon? Is it possible to educate right-wing extremists? The paper will conclude by analysing this question.
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Ulrich Schwab - Coming Together? Young People and Adults in the Churches

This paper offers some reflections on the relation between adults and young people in the churches in Germany. Youth Ministry was founded in Germany in the early 19th century as a project of adults for the social care of young people. In the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the 1920’s, young people began to demand that youth work should offer them their own independent space, but this was seldom realised before the 1960’s. The emergence of youth churches in many parts of the world is another expression of this desire for autonomy. What is the significance of this for church practice? Will we have specialised churches in the future: one for the young, one for the old, one for parents, one for singles, one for lesbians and so on? Is the concept of bringing congregations together obsolete as far as youth are concerned? What factors might lead the churches in this direction? Is it just that different groups have different interests, or is there a conflict of power and authority?

First the paper will discuss some historical developments and recent empirical results about the relation between generations in Germany. Some recent projects will be presented, some springing from past experience, and others describing particular efforts to bring congregations together. The final part of the paper will discuss future prospects for youth ministry in Germany.
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Nam Song - Stories of Korean-Canadian Youth: Implications for Youth Ministry

Although the Korean church has been growing in Canada for forty years, no studies in youth ministry have been carried out from the perspective of the Korean young people themselves. This is surprising in view of the fact that the culture of the Korean-Canadian church is quite distinct, even when compared with that of the Korean church in its homeland. Korean-Canadian Churches have been using all the theories and materials for youth ministry written and produced for the majority churches in North America, together with some materials imported from Korea. Nevertheless, there has been no cultural reflection upon the problems of teaching these young people, who are at a critical stage in the development of their identity, and from a distinctive culture. Perhaps what we do in youth ministry in the Korean-Canadian churches might not correspond to the thoughts, needs and desires of these young people. This research is based upon the belief that by listening to their voices, a more effective ministry might be possible. Moreover, what they say might have a wider application, not only in Canada, but in other multicultural contexts.

A qualitative research, collecting data by interviewing five to ten Korean-Canadian young people between thirteen and nineteen years of age in the Toronto area, will be conducted. During the interview they will be asked to talk about their life stories in Canada, their Christian church life, especially their youth ministry experiences, and their dreams for Korean-Canadian youth ministry.

The paper will present selections from the interviews and will draw conclusions for Youth Ministry, not only for minority but also for majority churches.
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