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Religion has the ability to bring a diversity of people together in a way that crosses political, social, and economic boundaries, but divides them through conflicting worship practices, rituals, and teachings. This is especially true with the three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The unique aspect to the Abrahamic religions is that they all claim Abraham as a common ancestor. Unfortunately, over the two millennia since the founding of these religions, interpretations of each religious text has drastically divided the three religions. Guy Stroumsa, Professor Emeritus of the Study of Abrahamic Religions at the University of Oxford, states that after such a long time the "Jewish Avraham is no more the Christian Abraham than the latter is the Islamic Ibrahim… and there is more than one Jewish (or Christian, or Muslim) Abraham." This project is designed to create a multi-faith building that crosses the religious divides in the Abrahamic faiths and encourages inter-faith dialogue by looking at commonly used ritualistic items. Three basic items - water, a meal, and the scripture – all hold reverence in all three religions, but each religion has its own unique rituals and traditions surrounding them. This building attempts to express the similarities and differences through the built environment in a way that increases communication and understanding between the religions and the surrounding community. / Master of Architecture / Religions divide people. Architecture brings people together. Can architecture help bridge the divide between religions? This project is designed to create a multi-faith building that crosses the religious divides in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and encourages inter-faith dialogue between them by looking at three commonly used sacred items and their rituals and traditions.

“if we do not meet with people from another faith or with another knowledge then we will not be able to integrate with each other. The purpose is to be ourselves, not to change one another but to understand one another…” (No. 1) The main aim of this thesis was to generate the needed knowledge on how interfaith organizations cooperate in their social work to aid help seekers despite the religious differences they may have, as well as to identify the obstacles the interfaith workers face in their cooperation. In addition, this thesis will also discuss the help seekers’ personal opinions concerning the help they get from the interreligious organizations. This research is a qualitative research with a case study design, based on materials collected from eighteen people by the use of semi-structured materials. The eighteen people have been represented by four leaders, two project leaders, one employee, four volunteers and seven help seekers. Both deductive[1] and inductive[2] methods were used in processing the themes used in this research. The research ethic has been considered in this paper. Both the social capital theory and the Allport’s intergroup contact theory were used in this thesis. These theories and former existing research helped in choosing the predetermined themes and in analyzing the results from the collected data which are: Religion and Freedom of religion, Common Goals, Respect- Understanding and acceptance, Responsibility and mission’s orientation, Neutral place, Interreligious dialogue, Applicable working platform, Complementary religion, Political view. The results of this thesis showed that the interfaith organizations can work as a compliment to one another in order to make the society work. This paper showed that interfaith organizations need to create common mutual norms with different roles in order to make the cooperation work. The common goals need to be very clear for both parties and additionally the structure of the system was very complex to explain to others or to introduce to the new workers. Furthermore, this thesis showed that there are people against interfaith cooperation for different reasons. Some of the obstacles the interfaith workers faced during their cooperation will be described more in the analysis part. Some of the barriers were fear from both the church members and the Stockholm Mosque on how the organization will run, which changes and consequences the church members will face and so forth. One of the interfaith organization leaders invited someone from outside the organization who gave a speech that didn’t align with their norms. They had cases which were forced to be taken up with the help of lawyers. It requires time to create and implement a functioning common structure. The common goal was not very clear for both parties and the system were very complex to explain to others or to introduce it to the new workers. Given the demographics, the volunteers had more extensive work experience and were mission oriented, which made them tend to focus on their commitments. The help seekers were very thankful concerning the help they got and wanted to do the same for others. The creation of trust through bonding and bridging was the central element or principles in this thesis, which are the keys to making the interfaith cooperation run. [1] Predetermined themes chosen with the help of theory  [2] Themes resorted from the collected data through coding.

In a world of increasing religious/political tensions and conflicts this study asks, what is the transformative significance of an arts and ritual-based approach to developing and encouraging women’s spiritual and multi-faith leadership? To counter destructive worldviews and practices that have divided people historically, politically, personally and sacredly, the study reinforces the political and spiritual value of women spiritual and multi-faith leaders creating and holding sacred space for truth making and world making. An a/r/tographic and mindful inquiry was engaged to assist self and group reflection within a group of women committed to multi-faith education and leadership in their communities. The objectives of the study were: 1) to explore through collaboration, ritual and art making processes the women’s experience of knowing and not knowing, 2) to articulate a curriculum for multi-faith consciousness raising, and 3) to develop a pedagogy and methodology that can serve as a catalyst for individual and societal change and transformation. The co-participants/co-inquirers (including the lead researcher as a member of the group) are fourteen women, who practice within eleven different religions and/or spiritual backgrounds, and who are part of a volunteer planning team that organizes an annual women’s multi-faith conference (Women’s Spirituality Celebration) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The aesthetic/ritual structure of the labyrinth served as a cross-cultural multi-faith symbol in guiding the dissertation, which includes three art installations and four documentary DVDs of the process and art. New understandings found in the study include: 1) the ethical sanctuary that a/r/tography as ritual enables for personal and collective change to take place within, 2) the addition of synecdoche to the renderings of a/r/tography, assisting a multi-dimensional spiral movement towards a whole a/r/tographic practice, 3) a lived and radically relational curriculum of philetics within loving community that drew forth the women’s erotic life force energy and enhanced the women’s ability to remember the power of the feminine aspect of the Divine, and 4) the decolonization of the Divine, art and education, which took place as a pedagogy of wholeness unfolded, requiring a dialectic relationship between restorative and transformative learning.

In a world of increasing religious/political tensions and conflicts this study asks, what is the transformative significance of an arts and ritual-based approach to developing and encouraging women’s spiritual and multi-faith leadership? To counter destructive worldviews and practices that have divided people historically, politically, personally and sacredly, the study reinforces the political and spiritual value of women spiritual and multi-faith leaders creating and holding sacred space for truth making and world making. An a/r/tographic and mindful inquiry was engaged to assist self and group reflection within a group of women committed to multi-faith education and leadership in their communities. The objectives of the study were: 1) to explore through collaboration, ritual and art making processes the women’s experience of knowing and not knowing, 2) to articulate a curriculum for multi-faith consciousness raising, and 3) to develop a pedagogy and methodology that can serve as a catalyst for individual and societal change and transformation. The co-participants/co-inquirers (including the lead researcher as a member of the group) are fourteen women, who practice within eleven different religions and/or spiritual backgrounds, and who are part of a volunteer planning team that organizes an annual women’s multi-faith conference (Women’s Spirituality Celebration) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The aesthetic/ritual structure of the labyrinth served as a cross-cultural multi-faith symbol in guiding the dissertation, which includes three art installations and four documentary DVDs of the process and art. New understandings found in the study include: 1) the ethical sanctuary that a/r/tography as ritual enables for personal and collective change to take place within, 2) the addition of synecdoche to the renderings of a/r/tography, assisting a multi-dimensional spiral movement towards a whole a/r/tographic practice, 3) a lived and radically relational curriculum of philetics within loving community that drew forth the women’s erotic life force energy and enhanced the women’s ability to remember the power of the feminine aspect of the Divine, and 4) the decolonization of the Divine, art and education, which took place as a pedagogy of wholeness unfolded, requiring a dialectic relationship between restorative and transformative learning.

In a world of increasing religious/political tensions and conflicts this study asks, what is the transformative significance of an arts and ritual-based approach to developing and encouraging women’s spiritual and multi-faith leadership? To counter destructive worldviews and practices that have divided people historically, politically, personally and sacredly, the study reinforces the political and spiritual value of women spiritual and multi-faith leaders creating and holding sacred space for truth making and world making. An a/r/tographic and mindful inquiry was engaged to assist self and group reflection within a group of women committed to multi-faith education and leadership in their communities. The objectives of the study were: 1) to explore through collaboration, ritual and art making processes the women’s experience of knowing and not knowing, 2) to articulate a curriculum for multi-faith consciousness raising, and 3) to develop a pedagogy and methodology that can serve as a catalyst for individual and societal change and transformation. The co-participants/co-inquirers (including the lead researcher as a member of the group) are fourteen women, who practice within eleven different religions and/or spiritual backgrounds, and who are part of a volunteer planning team that organizes an annual women’s multi-faith conference (Women’s Spirituality Celebration) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The aesthetic/ritual structure of the labyrinth served as a cross-cultural multi-faith symbol in guiding the dissertation, which includes three art installations and four documentary DVDs of the process and art. New understandings found in the study include: 1) the ethical sanctuary that a/r/tography as ritual enables for personal and collective change to take place within, 2) the addition of synecdoche to the renderings of a/r/tography, assisting a multi-dimensional spiral movement towards a whole a/r/tographic practice, 3) a lived and radically relational curriculum of philetics within loving community that drew forth the women’s erotic life force energy and enhanced the women’s ability to remember the power of the feminine aspect of the Divine, and 4) the decolonization of the Divine, art and education, which took place as a pedagogy of wholeness unfolded, requiring a dialectic relationship between restorative and transformative learning. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This study explores teachers’ understanding and implementation of the multi-faith Religious Education curriculum in Botswana junior secondary schools. The multi-faith curriculum resulted from an educational policy change in 1996 that saw a move from a Christian-based RE to a multi-faith Religious Education (RE) curriculum. This study is based on qualitative case studies and draws data from classroom observations, interviews with four RE teachers, five RE education officers, eight RE in-service teachers and three groups of RE students. The main participants are two groups of teachers, those who taught the multi-faith curriculum and those who taught both the Christian based RE and the multi-faith Religious Education. In this study, documents such as the syllabus document, end of month tests, end of term examinations and end of three year junior secondary school national examinations papers were used to further highlight the classroom practices of RE teachers. Furthermore, the study adopts the teachers’ professional knowledge landscape as the theoretical framework, a view that is espoused by Clandinin and Connelly (1995), that stresses the importance of teachers’ knowledge. The following themes emerge in the study; teachers’ understanding of the multi-faith RE, teachers’ classroom practices in terms of their content and pedagogical knowledge, their classroom management, and especially discipline. The study reveals that there are no marked differences between these two groups of teachers in terms of their understanding of the curriculum and their classroom practices. It further reveals that there are various factors that impact on the practices of teachers such as their view of the multi-faith philosophy, assessment skills, use of students’ textbooks, mentoring and tracking of RE graduates from teacher training institutions. The study suggests that teachers need to have an adequate understanding of students’ environment, in terms of their personal experiences and social background. The study recommends that teachers in general and RE teachers in particular need to be involved on an occasion of any curriculum change because they are the main implementers. In addition, teachers need extended periods of professional in-service training on occasions of curriculum reforms. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Étudier le système éducatif ou la pédagogie au Liban impose une différenciation de ce qui peut être écrit en France, au Canada ou dans d’autres pays du monde occidental ou oriental. La société libanaise constitue en effet une société pluraliste au niveau politique ainsi qu’au niveau religieux. Au Liban coexistent deux grandes religions, le christianisme et l’islam. Cette coexistence au sein d’un même pays implique, de par son histoire des rapports entre deux grandes religions, deux conceptions de l’homme et deux cultures différentes, dont l’une trouve sa pleine expression dans la civilisation judéo-chrétienne et l’autre dans la civilisation musulmane. Dès lors, l’enseignement religieux est d’une importance majeure pour les écoles catholiques au Liban qui accueillent des élèves non catholiques dans un pourcentage de 40% et sont dirigées par une majorité des religieux (90%).Le statut du chef d’établissement (CE), religieux ou laïc, ses responsabilité et sa façon de les assumer, son style de direction et ses missions pédagogiques, éducatives et missionnaires jouent-ils un rôle important et lequel dans la motivation des parents d’élèves musulmans qui inscrivent leurs enfants au sein de l’école catholique au Liban (ECL) ?La spécificité de cette recherche consiste à caractériser rôles et missions du chef d’établissement scolaire catholique dans un milieu islamo-chrétien, et à déterminer si la direction assurée par un religieux diffère de celle assurée par un laïc au regard des différents acteurs du système. C’est pourquoi nous avons formulé ainsi la problématique de notre recherche : dans un milieu islamo-chrétien, quel genre de chef d’établissement permet à l’école catholique au Liban d’atteindre ses buts éducatifs, pédagogiques et missionnaires dans le respect de la liberté de conscience des élèves et des familles ?Une enquête de terrain a été menée, par questionnaire et par entretiens semi-directifs, auprès des chefs d’établissement scolaire catholique, religieux et laïcs, des directeurs adjoints, des enseignants, des parents d’élèves, chrétiens et musulmans, et des élèves musulmans. Des perspectives d’avenir ont été émises concernant l’éducation religieuse et l’éducation aux valeurs assurées au sein de l’ECL ainsi que la formation et la professionnalisation des futurs chefs d’établissement dans le cadre de leur recrutement. / To study the educational system or pedagogy in Lebanon imposes a differentiation of what can be written in France, Canada or in other countries of the Western or eastern world. Lebanese society is indeed a pluralistic society on both political and religious levels. In Lebanon two great religions co-exist, Christianity and Islam. This coexistence within one country implies something different from the history of relations between the two great religions, two conceptions of man and two different cultures. One finds full expression in the Judeo-Christian civilization and the other in the Muslim civilization. Therefore, religious education is of major importance for Catholic schools in Lebanon that host non-Catholic students with a percentage of 40% and is managed by a majority of religious leaders (90%).Do the status of the head-teacher, whether religious or secular, his role, his leadership style and his educational missions, educational and missionary play a role and which one in motivating parents of Muslim students who enrol their children in Catholic schools in Lebanon?The specificity of this research is to characterize the roles and missions of the Catholic head-teacher in a Muslim-Christian environment and whether the leadership provided by a religious head-teacher differs from that provided by a layman for the different actors of the system. That is why we formulated the problem of our research as such: In a Muslim-Christian environment, what kind of school head allows the Catholic school in Lebanon to achieve its educational, pedagogical and missionary goals, with respect to the freedom of conscience of students and families?A field survey has been conducted through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with heads of Catholic, religious and laic schools, deputy heads, teachers, parents, Christians and Muslims, and Muslim students. Prospects for the future have been made regarding religious education and education to values provided in the ECL as well as the training and professionalization of future school heads as part of their recruitment.

This study explores the problem of a bibliocentric Religious Education curriculum in Zimbabwe amid the quest for a multi-faith curriculum. It traces the history of Religious Education, how it was started and crafted by the so-called missionary propagandists in order to suit their dogmatic interests. Two main aspects of the christianization of the Religious Education curriculum are highlighted, namely cultural alienation and indoctrination. Two post-independence teaching approaches, the life experience approach and the multi-faith approach are discussed in a comprehensive manner as possible solutions to the problem of Religious Education in Zimbabwe. An empirical analysis and evaluation of the views of various stakeholders about post-independence developments in Religious Education is also presented. Finally, relevant findings, conclusions and recommendations critical to successful Religious Education teaching are presented. / Teacher Education / M. Ed. (Didactics)

The objective of the dissertation is to prove that ELCZ contributed religious education in the Western Deanery. It is also to assess the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion, since they are the major religions in the Western Deanery they should be taught at schools. Prior to independence religion meant Christianity. Missionaries and a few chosen local teachers taught it. The aim was to Christianize as many students as possible. the abduction of students at Manama Mission in 1970 disurbed the teaching of religious and secular education. A new Manama was set up in Bulawayo but was not a success in reviving the teaching of religious education. There were numerous problems which hindered progress. After independence religious education was based on the child's personal experience not only Christianity. It accommodated all religions. Dissident disturbance interfered with the teaching of religious and secular education. Religious education gained momentum after signing of the Unity Accord in 1987. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Religious Studies)