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This thesis examines traditional and contemporary perspectives on the nature of spirituality. Its aim is to provide a basis for a programme or course on spirituality that would be relevant and meaningful for students in multicultural settings. The main theme unifying the diverse traditions and perspectives examined in the thesis relates to the interconnectivity of all life within the Universe. Other related themes include: the importance of living in the present, the unity between body, spirit, and earth, and the importance of contemplative solitude and silence.

This study opens with an exploration of the philosophical theories of two recognized scholars in the field of religious education with a view to providing a basis or jumping-off-point from which to present what the author sees as a development of a more advanced and freeing procedure for the religious development of the young. / Thomas Groome proposes a Shared Praxis Approach to Christian religious education. He emphasizes the need for appropriation, by the student, of that which he calls the Christian Story. / Sam Keen's stance is then examined wherein he contends that the basic Christian Story might well be supplanted as a shaper of personal identity by a growing, developmental autobiography. / The third and closing section of the thesis allows the writer to expose a personal proposal towards a more effective approach to religious education for the young, and this for a lifetime. The new proposal focuses on an examination of each student's personal experience with that which we call God, experiences within the framework of the child's initial orientation and then, progressively taking into account other major religious orientations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

1. The problem: In order to be able to confront the modern child with a meaningful and intelligible interpretation of Holy Scripture, the teacher in religious education munt have a sound knowledge of contemporary issues regarding Biblical interpretation, as well as of the situation of the modern child. Uncertainty prevails in theology and radicalism and nee-positivism have led some theologians to announce the death of God. Characteristics of the milieu of the modern child are absurdity, chaos, secularism and horizontalism, loneliness, materialism and industrialism tend to depersonalize modern man. Relativism leads to a hyperdynamic and pluriform culture. Prevailing philosophies (existentialism and neo-positivism on one hand and nee-empiricism and nee-realism on the other) determine and dominate contemporary thought. This is the background against which children have to receive religious education nowadays. Contemporary tendencies confront teacher, parent and catechist with problems which demand an answer. 2. The origin of modern existentialist theology: Modern existentialist theology has its origin in the old Gnostics and the "Aufklarung", especially the positivism of Lessing and the anti-metaphysical conclusions of Kant. The search for a concept of reality developed into phenomenology, nee-positivism, neo-realism and secularism. Hegelian dialectics and existentialism with their anti-metaphysical tendencies and anthropocentrism were the cradle of the "new" theology. Contributory factors are the emerging natural and technical sciences, historical criticism, Barthianism, Bible criticism, pietism, nineteenth century modernism, contemporary problems of Biblical interpretation for modern man and the relative neglect by the church of "secular" matters. 3. The nature of ecistentialist theology: The Bible is regarded as mythological writing that needs to be interpreted existentially in order to be comprehensible to modern man. Jesus is conceived of as a human model and not as Saviour. Radicalists plead for the abandonment of religion by the church. For them the church is an altruistic institution for the advancement of human happiness and welfare in this world. Love for one's fellowman is considered to be the sole standard of morality. 4. The implications of existentialist theology for religious education: Recent years have seen the publication of some text-books and educational articles on religious education, which reveal undeniable features of existentialist theology. In Chapter 4 of this thesis a few of these books and articles are discussed as examples of the influence on religious education of the "new" theology. 5. Critical evaluation of existentialist tendencies: in theology and religious education. Modern theology has many valuable contributions to make to religious education, summoning us to responsicle faith in God, demanding a greater interest in man and his world, giving Christ a central position in religion, opening up new perspectives of the human element in Holy Scripture and disclosing the dangers of a purely conventional religious attitude. On the other hand, modern theology contains many negative and dangerous elements. It is humanistic, dualistic and superficial. Atheism is a direct result of the abandonment of religion. Religion disappears in love of one's fellow man and for Christology and Pneumatology the "new" theologians substitute anthropology. The authority of the Bible is denied while the concrete is absolutized and; idolized. If the church agreed to become merely a welfare organisation, it would lose the true message of the Gospel. 6. The correct understanding and interpretation of Holy Scripture: Modern theology compels the teacher to ascertain what the writers of the Bible were saying to the people of their own day. Modern theology also requires the teacher to declare the eternal truths contained in Holy Scripture and to expound its character as the Word of the living God for the present time. To aid the teacher in interpreting the Bible intelligibly to modern children, Chapter 6 of this thesis presents some hermeneutic principles which take into account the socio-historical background as well as the purpose and real meaning of the respective pericopes. 7. Other methodological and didactic guidelines for an intelligible religious education for the present time: Chapter 7 of this thesis presents methodological and didactic guidelines for the teacher in religious education, such as will help him to avoid the adverse and will enable him to utilise the beneficial elements in the new theological tendencies. The author pleads for real Christian emphasis in the teaching of all school subjects, for purposeful religious education, for actuality and existential experience of the Biblical subject matter for education towards responsibility for stimulation of independent thinking, for implementation of meaningful exercises, for accentuation of perceptivity rather than objective knowledge and memory, for involvement of the scholar in the truths he is learning, for development of a proper conception of the unity of Scripture, for understanding of the child in his situation, for cogent proclamation of the risen Christ (also to be seen in the lives of his modern disciples) and for education in compassion for one's suffering fellow man. / Proefskrif--PU vir CHO

Proefskrif--PU vir CHO

1. The problem: In order to be able to confront the modern child with a meaningful and intelligible interpretation of Holy Scripture, the teacher in religious education munt have a sound knowledge of contemporary issues regarding Biblical interpretation, as well as of the situation of the modern child. Uncertainty prevails in theology and radicalism and nee-positivism have led some theologians to announce the death of God. Characteristics of the milieu of the modern child are absurdity, chaos, secularism and horizontalism, loneliness, materialism and industrialism tend to depersonalize modern man. Relativism leads to a hyperdynamic and pluriform culture. Prevailing philosophies (existentialism and neo-positivism on one hand and nee-empiricism and nee-realism on the other) determine and dominate contemporary thought. This is the background against which children have to receive religious education nowadays. Contemporary tendencies confront teacher, parent and catechist with problems which demand an answer. 2. The origin of modern existentialist theology: Modern existentialist theology has its origin in the old Gnostics and the "Aufklarung", especially the positivism of Lessing and the anti-metaphysical conclusions of Kant. The search for a concept of reality developed into phenomenology, nee-positivism, neo-realism and secularism. Hegelian dialectics and existentialism with their anti-metaphysical tendencies and anthropocentrism were the cradle of the "new" theology. Contributory factors are the emerging natural and technical sciences, historical criticism, Barthianism, Bible criticism, pietism, nineteenth century modernism, contemporary problems of Biblical interpretation for modern man and the relative neglect by the church of "secular" matters. 3. The nature of ecistentialist theology: The Bible is regarded as mythological writing that needs to be interpreted existentially in order to be comprehensible to modern man. Jesus is conceived of as a human model and not as Saviour. Radicalists plead for the abandonment of religion by the church. For them the church is an altruistic institution for the advancement of human happiness and welfare in this world. Love for one's fellowman is considered to be the sole standard of morality. 4. The implications of existentialist theology for religious education: Recent years have seen the publication of some text-books and educational articles on religious education, which reveal undeniable features of existentialist theology. In Chapter 4 of this thesis a few of these books and articles are discussed as examples of the influence on religious education of the "new" theology. 5. Critical evaluation of existentialist tendencies: in theology and religious education. Modern theology has many valuable contributions to make to religious education, summoning us to responsicle faith in God, demanding a greater interest in man and his world, giving Christ a central position in religion, opening up new perspectives of the human element in Holy Scripture and disclosing the dangers of a purely conventional religious attitude. On the other hand, modern theology contains many negative and dangerous elements. It is humanistic, dualistic and superficial. Atheism is a direct result of the abandonment of religion. Religion disappears in love of one's fellow man and for Christology and Pneumatology the "new" theologians substitute anthropology. The authority of the Bible is denied while the concrete is absolutized and; idolized. If the church agreed to become merely a welfare organisation, it would lose the true message of the Gospel. 6. The correct understanding and interpretation of Holy Scripture: Modern theology compels the teacher to ascertain what the writers of the Bible were saying to the people of their own day. Modern theology also requires the teacher to declare the eternal truths contained in Holy Scripture and to expound its character as the Word of the living God for the present time. To aid the teacher in interpreting the Bible intelligibly to modern children, Chapter 6 of this thesis presents some hermeneutic principles which take into account the socio-historical background as well as the purpose and real meaning of the respective pericopes. 7. Other methodological and didactic guidelines for an intelligible religious education for the present time: Chapter 7 of this thesis presents methodological and didactic guidelines for the teacher in religious education, such as will help him to avoid the adverse and will enable him to utilise the beneficial elements in the new theological tendencies. The author pleads for real Christian emphasis in the teaching of all school subjects, for purposeful religious education, for actuality and existential experience of the Biblical subject matter for education towards responsibility for stimulation of independent thinking, for implementation of meaningful exercises, for accentuation of perceptivity rather than objective knowledge and memory, for involvement of the scholar in the truths he is learning, for development of a proper conception of the unity of Scripture, for understanding of the child in his situation, for cogent proclamation of the risen Christ (also to be seen in the lives of his modern disciples) and for education in compassion for one's suffering fellow man. / Proefskrif--PU vir CHO

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This is a report of research that sets out to find the expressed views of child care and education students using storytelling as a teaching method to understand Confucian values in kindergarten-aged children in Hong Kong. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008.

This study asks the question 'How does religion education racialise its subjects'. It examines discursive cultural practices, including pedagogical practices, through the lens of whiteness as a way of understanding how teaching and learning about a religious tradition other than white Christianity might act to reproduce white race dominance in secondary religious education curricula in the Australian context. The study draws on a number of key theoretical insights from the work of the French post structuralist Jacques Derrida including his critique of the metaphysics of presence, his reply in 'difference', and his general 'strategy' of deconstruction. The study argues that 'whiteness', as a racialised position of institutional power and privilege exists as an absent presence in religion education curricula and that its dominance and privilege is reproduced through its (regulated) invisibility. This argument is illustrated through an examination of some of the literature that informs the teaching and learning of religion education in schools, an examination of the history of public religion education in South Australia, and principally through an examination of the history of discursive cultural practices that occurred during the teaching of a unit of work on Buddhism under the SACE Stage 1 'Studies in Religion' Extended Subject Framework within four religion education classrooms in metropolitan Adelaide. The study is a multi-sited micro-ethnography in which some of the discursive cultural practices of white race dominance that circulate throughout broader white Australian society are examined across and within the specificities of four different religion education sites. A number of methodological considerations are involved in a study such as this. The problems of race identification between a researcher and participants, power differentials between a researcher and participants, particularly when many of those participants are school children, and the issue of representation is discussed. Written portraits of each of the class sites are given as a way of signalling the heterogeneity of the cultural field in which religion education occurs. A selection of narratives from teachers and students, and some of the storylines that circulated throughout each of the classrooms, is examined for the ways in which the invisibility of whiteness acts to limit and enable the ways in which teachers and students are able to engage with Buddhism and Buddhists as the object of their study. The study highlights that in spite of good intentions and good will, religion educators and students of religion are implicated in the maintenance of white race privilege through practices that are often re-articulations of a colonial past that continues to structure the world through strict binaries of opposition. The study argues that there is a need for religion educators to begin to 'see' the invisibility of whiteness in religion education. Following Miedema and Biesta I argue for the need for religion educators to ???take responsibility for an otherness that can never become fully present???, that can never be fully known and with whom dialogue can only ever be incomplete. I suggest that what is required for a more socially just religion education curriculum and more socially just religion practices is a willingness on the part of religion educators to open ourselves to the ???unforeseeable in-coming of the other??? (Miedema & Biesta). / Thesis (PhDEducation)--University of South Australia, 2005