Spirituality Amid Dogma? Some Approaches to Educating for Religious Belief within in a State Religious School in Israel

Abstract

The religious school, where young people are brought into religious life and practice, the development of a religious belief system is often neglected. Religiousness is often instilled as a linear end product, a monolithic corpus of ideas to be singularly transmitted and subsequently owned by youth. However, educational research by Gareth Matthews, Nel Noddings, and others suggests that youth are thirsting for opportunities to grapple, question, and wrestle with profound theological and philosophical issues—a process that leads to a richer religious identity. This article, based on three years of ethnographic research, looks at the way in which four teachers from one religious girls' high school in Israel executed theological education, from indoctrination with a pretty face, to the theological Bunsen burner. The dynamic between teachers' voices and students' voices sheds light on adolescent religious identity, and offers vital insights for religious education.

Notes

¹This research was done in the context of my doctoral work at Hebrew University in Jeursalem with the guidance of advisers and teachers.

²Zvia is also a girls' state religious high school whose image here is “more religious.”