Teaching religious education as if the world mattered

ABSTRACT

We are living in a time of earth systems breakdown. Humankind and other life on our planet are on the brink, most likely the brink of collapse in some form. The task before us as educators is great since this is a time of multiple and complex crises. However, humanity seems paralysed, unable to face the immensity and urgency of the combined challenges before us. At its heart, this paper considers Simone Weil’s proposals regarding rootlessness in light of the present global crises and seeks to address her assertion that education is part of the problem. A religious education which can be concerned not only with matters of the world, but with human connectedness in and to the world is sought. It is proposed that an approach to teaching drawn from Weil, might be able to bring something restorative to education in the public sphere for these times. A practical example of this is included in the closing section. This is one which brings children to attend to, and discern from, what it is to live a religious way of life conceptualised in relation to existence and not only as belief and practice, raising questions for future research consideration.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate crisis
• education
• religious education
• teaching

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patricia Hannam

Patricia Hannam is Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Exeter, UK. Her current research and writing interests are especially in relation to the responsibilities of teachers, and teaching itself, in the public sphere in a time of climate and ecological crisis.