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Aren’t They Too Young? The Challenge of Hermeneutical and Interreligious Learning in Catholic Religious Education: A Flemish Perspective

  • Annemie DillenEmail author
Chapter

Abstract

One of the contemporary discussions in Flanders (Belgium) concerning religious education centres on the question how much diversity children can cope with. Do they first have to be initiated into one religion, especially the Catholic one, before they can be brought into contact with other religions? Is interreligious education preferable in a de-traditionalised country where most children following Catholic Religious Education, both in catholic and in public schools, do not know a lot about Catholicism as such? I will argue that both on theological and on pedagogical grounds, it is important to take children seriously as agents and as subjects who are not just empty vessels. Further, within the Belgian context, children come into contact with religious and philosophical diversity from an early age, by watching neighbours, watching television or listening to other pupil’s world views. Therefore, it is important to search for methods that stimulate children in critical, hermeneutical thinking and communication about religion in dialogue with each other and with materials from other religions and world views. At the same time a profound introduction in the catholic religion is necessary in order to stimulate a communicative attitude.

Keywords

Religious Tradition Religious Education Economic Profit Socialisation Paradigm Liberal Market Economy 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of Theology and Religious StudiesK.U. LeuvenLeuvenBelgium

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