Religious education is a key concept in religious education, which can be defined as the scientific reflection of religious education. As the concept of religious education has different contours depending on the context, historical location and religious frame of reference, the following explanations focus on the current German-language discourse on (religious) education from a Christian perspective and name selected current religious education considerations on religious education.
Clarification of the concept of education
The term education is used today in various areas of life such as politics, business, the public sphere and in the education system and has different meanings depending on the context. A distinction can be made between a descriptive use, such as in the education system or school education, and a standardising use, as is the case with educational standards or lifelong education. The word Bildung encompasses both the process (Bildung) and the result, which can be expressed in the development of skills, an increase in knowledge or cognitive abilities and the shaping of an attitude. Since its first heyday in the 18th century, the German-language term Bildung has emphasised different aspects of its content, some of which I would like to name as relevant to my understanding of religious education:
Every person is educable and in need of education. The emphasis of education is on self-education and self-reflection, as this can be realised independently by each person. Every person can only educate themselves; the process of motivated, self-organised personal development is at the forefront. Accordingly, a degree of freedom is a prerequisite for educational processes. Education includes a reflective moment, whereby people become aware of facts, processes or situations and place themselves in a relationship to them.
Education as a process includes learning and is related to tradition, historical knowledge, etc., which can be learnt and critically reflected upon. Education points beyond this, as it encompasses being human as a whole, i.e. becoming a subject, transforming one's understanding of oneself and the world, assuming responsibility, etc. It refers to the multidimensionality of life, as different dimensions such as cognitive, emotional, aesthetic, ethical and political dimensions are developed in the process of education. At the same time, education is more than the sum of the unfolded dimensions. There is also the task of giving life a form, a life-promoting order. Education does not refer to the enhancement and supplementation of world and self-development, but encompasses a fundamental change in the way we relate to ourselves, to others and to the world. It is life-accompanying and transformative, it is characterised by an element of the indeterminate and ideal and is often attributed a visionary power.
Furthermore, education aims to help people become subjects, which is also an incomplete process. This process of becoming a subject takes place in relationships with others. Education is therefore always dependent on personal relationships. Among other things, people learn to recognise and communicate with other people. Education can be understood as an existential project in which people develop a consciousness and a relationship to people, things and themselves and become capable of acting with others within the horizon of history and life. Interwoven with this is the critical-solidary task and the socio-political-critical potential of education. According to Helmut Peukert, one aim of education is to enable each other to live in a shared world. This includes the preservation of living space, sustainability, a responsible approach to culture and technology as well as the question of justice and peace, taking into account social coexistence and solidarity. This makes it clear that education involves dealing with imperfection, criticism and borderline experiences. On the one hand, educational processes can take place in the confrontation with imperfection, borderline experiences and crises; on the other hand, education confronts people with their own borderline experiences and unavailability. Moreover, education itself is always fragmentary and incomplete.
Firstly, this outlined understanding of education contradicts current tendencies to utilise education in an appropriative way, in which it is reduced to usability due to economic constraints and economic growth in the respective country is to be increased through education. Secondly, this understanding of education is opposed to tendencies that utilise the concept of education in order to distinguish the elite of the "educated" from the "uneducated". Criticism of education is necessary in order to prevent the concept of education from being truncated - also in order to repeatedly and critically question the belief in progress. Religious education in particular can make it clear that a process of self-development cannot be strategically utilised.
Connection between religious education and faith?
Taking into account the understanding of education outlined above, the question arises as to the connection between religious education and faith: What does this understanding of education mean for the transmission of faith, as formulated as a question in the first part of the title?
It is clear from the breadth of the formulated understanding of education that religious education does not end with the passing on of faith. The concept of passing on addresses the person who passes on and not the self-activity of the person being educated. For example, the aspects of becoming a subject, the importance of the reflective element and the free assumption of responsibility by individuals show that the concern to pass on faith does not do justice to the broad concern of religious education, both conceptually and in terms of the claim. Where would the reflection, the critical examination of the traditional and exogenous impulses be in a passing on?
Nevertheless, education and faith are interrelated in the understanding of this concept of religious education: the distinction of the word "faith" into the content of faith (fides quae creditur) and the act of faith (fides qua creditur) can be used here, whereby these are related to each other. There is no question that the content of faith (fides quae creditur) can be taught and learnt, that it can be mentally acquired and processed. It is therefore realistic for people to know and understand the faith of people in the past and present. The question of teachability and learnability, of the transmission of faith, is focussed on the aspect of existential fulfilment, i.e. on fides qua creditur, on the act of faith. In the sense of fides quae creditur, religious learning can open up opportunities to familiarise oneself with specific religions and thus create the conditions for existentially affirming a specific faith. Fides qua is dependent on fides quae, whereby at the same time fides quae refers to fides qua, because the content of faith is God himself.
Since faith is interwoven with experiences, reflection on them, understanding language and knowing the content of faith, we can speak of learning in connection with faith. Faith and religious education have a reciprocal relationship. Faith is dependent on education, as faith itself must be formed and integrated into personal identity. Through religious education, people acquire the ability to reflect and form judgements, enabling them to make conscious decisions of faith. At the same time, in the context of religious education, it is important to remain aware of the unavailability of faith decisions. This unavailability of faith reveals the limits that characterise every educational activity, which becomes particularly clear in complex learning processes. The effectiveness of pedagogical action is beyond external influence, as is also fundamental to the concept of religious education. Religious teaching and learning processes cannot turn people into believers, faith cannot be produced and therefore cannot be passed on. Accordingly, the passing on of faith cannot be the concern and objective of today's religious education.
But what then is the aim and objective of religious education? Educational practice can open up spaces in which people can reflect on their approach to faith and religion and communicate with other people about their experiences and attitudes. If the transformational aspect that is inscribed in the concept of education is taken into account, religious education aims to question and challenge people's own understanding of the world and themselves. To this end, it is important to take into account the different lifeworlds, individual prerequisites and religious and ideological attitudes. In addition to individual factors, social and institutional factors influence religious education processes. Taking the institutional framework conditions into account, it becomes clear that different forms of religious education are offered depending on the place of learning. Places of learning to which religious education considerations are dedicated are primarily schools and parish catechesis, but also adult education, family, elementary educational institutions, church youth work or digital media. As different forms of religious education are offered in each context, based on the underlying concern of religious education, the following considerations from the religious education discourse focus on the school as a place of learning.
School as a place of learning - objectives and forms of religious education today
School is a place of education that is subject to a wide range of expectations with different intentions. Religious education is therefore also confronted with different expectations, not all of which it can fulfil. If the broad understanding of education is taken as a basis, religious education must distance itself from functionalisation, for example in the sense of economisation or the gaining of church members or the passing on of faith. Rather, the overriding concern of religious education in schools, as stated in the document "Religious Education in Schools" in 1974 as part of the Würzburg Synod (1971-1975), is that it should "enable responsible thinking and behaviour with regard to religion and faith".
The aim of religious education at school is therefore to provide pupils with opportunities to engage with faith and religion and to be able to relate to them in a reflective manner. This is linked to the concern that people should take responsibility for their decisions - also in religious matters. The way in which religious education is taught is characterised by a variety of religious education concepts and forms of learning which, in their diversity, focus on different dimensions of religious education in order to provide pupils with multidimensional religious education. This multidimensionality of (religious) education is attempted to be guaranteed in the current religious education discourse by referring to religious competence. If religious competence is interpreted in this sense, it corresponds to the outlined understanding of religious education, even if the discourses on the orientation towards religious competence are controversial in terms of religious education.
Religious education in its multidimensionality
For religious education, a distinction is made in competence models between dimensions that attempt to define what is meant by religious competence using different terminology and emphases: process-related competences are summarised as perceptual competence, interpretative competence, judgement competence,
A distinction is made between language/dialogue/communication skills and design and participation skills. Perceptual competence means that pupils perceive what happens, what touches them, what appeals to them. This includes being able to perceive religiously significant phenomena as such and also includes the affective dimension. Interpretative competence refers to the ability to understand and interpret religiously significant language and content and to uncover connections. In the context of judgement competence, students are able to evaluate and make well-founded judgements on religious and ethical issues, which can strengthen or irritate their own approaches and views. Language/dialogue/communication competence describes the ability of learners to speak and express their own ideas and mutual respect. The ability to speak in interactions includes speaking about religion as well as speaking religiously. In creative competence, learners can use meaningful forms of expression and organisation, and participation competence enables them to act responsibly for themselves and others. Pupils can (not) participate in societal, social and church life in a well-founded manner. These process-related competences are developed by dealing with specific content areas. For example, the PLUS curriculum for Catholic religious education in Bavaria differentiates between the content areas of people and the world, the question of God, the Bible and tradition, Jesus Christ, church and community as well as religions and world views.
The competences mentioned can only be acquired by the persons being educated. How religious education should be conducted in order to enable pupils to acquire religious education in its multidimensionality is widely discussed in religious education. Here I would like to highlight a few points that characterise current forms of religious education today.
Religious education as an interplay between subject and content
In the aforementioned synod resolution on religious education, the interrelationship between the Christian message and current experiences, between tradition and the world we live in, is recognised as essential. The concern that religious education should be organised in such a way that the religious tradition and its testimonies as well as the current lifeworld and experiences of the pupils are related to each other is discussed in terms of religious didactics with the concept of correlation. Theologians Paul Tillich, Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx are regarded as pioneers of the understanding of correlation.
Paul Tillich, for example, believes that God answers man's questions and that man asks his questions under the impression of God's answers. Accordingly, theology should deal with human questions and the content of revelation in such a way that their interrelationship becomes clear. Paul Tillich tries to emphasise the relationship between God and human beings without giving up the otherness of God or the peculiarity of the world. Karl Rahner, a key pioneer of correlation, also broke down the static relationship between revelation and experience. Man is a free partner "for the self-communication of God" and is enabled by God to enter into a genuine dialogue with biblical revelation. This anthropological orientation was taken up by the Second Vatican Council, which is fundamental for correlative thinking in Catholic religious education. Edward Schillebeeckx emphasises, among other things, the difference between faith tradition and contemporary experience and points out that correlations can fail and thus to the fragility of correlations.
The aim of correlative processes is to enable a dialogue between content and one's own lifeworld. Religious education can open up options for learners to correlate the tradition of faith with their own experiences and lifeworld. For example, elements of the faith tradition can be made available to young people for critical discussion. Correlations can be favoured by certain methods, but not created. The process of correlating can only be carried out by the person themselves and, accordingly, whether and how students learn correlatively varies from person to person.
The process of correlating is seen as an open, fragile and dynamic process and can fail. Correlative learning is repeatedly criticised. For example, it is noted that the two elements of tradition and lifeworld are thought of as two poles, which artificially separates them. It can also be critically questioned how the two poles of faith tradition and contemporary experience are weighted and what significance is attributed to each. This is linked to the question of whether one pole is given priority, for example how the thematisation of experiences can be used to promote content accordingly. It also becomes clear that some content finds little or no correspondence in the lifeworld of pupils, which is why we do not generally speak of correlative teaching, but of correlative learning within religious education. Despite various requests, correlative learning in religious education is an essential approach in the context of religious didactics.
One model that didactically substantiates the relationship to the world and the content is that of elementarisation. Roughly summarised, elementarisation means that lesson content is concentrated on the essential and elementary, taking into account the respective students. Within the framework of elementarisation, a distinction is made between five dimensions, two of which focus on the learners, two on the content and one on the method, whereby the dimensions are interlinked. Elementary experiences are understood to be the experiences that students have already had in relation to certain learning content that pre-structure their understanding. Elementary approaches take into account the learning prerequisites of students as well as developmental psychological prerequisites. In terms of content, elementary structures include the selection and structuring of a topic, whereas elementary truths ask the question of the extent to which truths are negotiated in the respective content and what significance the respective topic has. The fifth dimension, forms of learning, refers to the appropriate methodological design that takes into account both the content and the students.
In both correlation and elementalisation, the lifeworld and experiences of children and young people are given significant consideration. The consideration of experiences seems to be of particular importance for religious education. Depending on the content of the discussion, pupils have different experiences that they can reflect on in the context of religious education or, based on these, request content. In some cases, children and young people have had no or few religious experiences, if a narrow concept of religion is taken as a basis, such as attending a church service, saying a prayer or experiencing an act of blessing. The extent to which religious experiences should be made possible in religious education so that pupils can reflect on them is dealt with in religious education under the concept of performative learning.
Religious education as a reflection of experiences
Dietrich Benner states that learning requires experiences and emphasises that fundamental experiences of the world and interaction must be secured artificially if these are not given. As pupils today are often barely familiar with Christian tradition and its forms of expression, performative approaches are concerned with how religion can be experienced and understood in the classroom. Discourses on performative religious education sensitise students to the fact that praying, celebrating a church service, etc. is by no means a matter of course in religious education. If pupils are given the opportunity to have experiences in the context of religious education, these are to be understood as voluntary offers. Here, too, the personal responsibility of students is strongly taken into account.
An approach to performative learning, which was coined by Hans Mendl, understands religious experiences in the context of religious education as "temporary participation". This enables temporary, authentic experiences with religion that learners can voluntarily engage in without striving for a permanent existential attitude. Accordingly, it cannot be predicted what significance learners will attach to the experience. It is fundamental for performative learning that students can reflect on their experiences in a distanced manner and enter into an exchange with the group. In Hans Mendl's approach, three components of performative learning can be distinguished: In the discursive introduction, students receive instructions on what to expect, how they can behave and the voluntary nature of the experience is made clear to them. The performative experience provides learners with thematically focussed experience options, which can also include moments of intermediate reflection that allow for distancing. In the concluding discursive reflection, the experience is subsequently reflected upon, opportunities are opened up to exchange ideas with others and to place oneself in relation to the experience.
Religious education through communication
Both in the discussion of correlation and elementarisation as well as in performative learning, the consideration of experiences and the lifeworld of pupils is emphasised. Religious education lessons in which experiences are reflected upon and different lifeworlds are taken into account open up multi-perspective communication spaces in which pupils can enter into dialogue with each other. In conversations and encounters, people can get to know different attitudes and articulate their own, thereby developing an understanding of different approaches as well as reflecting on and, if necessary, changing their own ideas.
Theologising with children and young people is a religious didactic approach that focuses on communication with one another and is methodically designed. The aim is to take children and young people seriously as subjects and to give them space to discuss their thoughts on various (religious) topics with other children and young people. This is designed in such a way that children's and young people's everyday experiences and questions and their potential to theologise are taken seriously. Children's theology encompasses children's ability to reflect on theological questions. Theology with children describes the dialogue between children and takes into account the children's ability to talk to each other about their attitudes. In theology for children, children are offered theological impulses and content for further reflection. In the process of theologising, these three aspects are considered by taking children's theological reflections seriously, valuing children as dialogue partners and at the same time offering them impulses for further reflection. Open questions are asked, which are dealt with communicatively. This theological communication practice does not require faith, but rather the openness to think about different topics and enter into dialogue with others, in which religious education can take place.
Other didactic forms of religious education
In addition to the considerations on religious education in schools mentioned here, various forms of religious education are used to enable multidimensional religious education. For this purpose, there are extensive religious didactic considerations such as symbolic learning, biblical learning, aesthetic learning, ethical learning, interreligious learning, global learning, learning about church history and education for sustainable development. There are different concepts and religious didactic considerations for all of these forms.
The variety of different approaches and religious didactic considerations on religious education shows the complexity and ambiguity of the concept of religious education and the struggle to offer religious education in the present in forms that do justice to the lifeworld and experiences of the pupils while taking social developments into account and also taking theological content and traditions into account appropriately. How religious education is opened up differs depending on the place of learning, but also on the social context, which is why the question of forms of religious education must be asked again and again in both theory and practice and reflected on scientifically.
