Religious education or education about religion?

ABSTRACT

In this reply to Agbaria’s reflections on religious authority I first make a distinction between three forms of authority: theological, sociological and educational. Defending the need for a purely educational account of authority, I develop with Arendt a thing-centered approach towards education. This allows me to transcend the traditional opposition between teacher – and student-centered views in education. From this perspective I argue for making a further distinction, viz. between religious education and education about religion. I will defend the last approach towards teaching about religion and conclude this reply by making some suggestions regarding what this teaching entails with reference to religious painting.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious authority
• thing-centered pedagogy
• religious education
• Arendt
• attention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.