Religious education and culture in Zambia

ABSTRACT

Religious Education in Zambia and perhaps more widely needs to become more aware of how religion is expressed culturally. ‘Learning about’ religion or religions, which is a common practice, has limited value. It needs a ‘learning from’ dimension. It will be contended that this ‘learning from’ has been extensively neglected in Zambia. A key reason for this is Religious Education’s embodiment in a Western cultural framework. With movement towards ‘learning from’, but approached though Lonergan’s intellectual conversion, Religious Education should enable the student to become more sensitive to different forms of the cultural expression of religion and so enhance his/her capacity to understand religion authentically.

KEYWORDS:

• culture
• intellectual conversion
• learning from deculturation

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Brendan Carmody

Brendan Carmody worked as a Jesuit missionary in Zambia for thirty years during which he was a teacher in various capacities--at secondary, teacher education and university levels. He has written on Zambian educational topics.