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Participants will reflect on the ways in which factors such as secularisation, pluralisation, detraditionalisation and loss of communal memory have changed the ways in which individuals engage with institutional religions. Participants will then engage with research in Australia about religious identity, before examining the implications for Catholic institutions.

Participants examine the distinctiveness of Christian revelation, especially as it is articulated at Vatican II. The document Gaudium et spes is considered in light of its emphasis on the importance of reflecting on the context of the modern world. Dei verbum will then be examined in order to draw out two important lines of thought about revelation in the Church.

(Pre: 202 Vatican II: Perspectives on Revelation)

Participants consider the way in which tradition is understood in the context of Catholic faith and its connection with scripture as witness to God’s revelation. They then examine the teaching on tradition from the Vatican II document, Dei verbum, and consider three understandings of the content of tradition expressed in the document: apostolic preaching, what was handed on by the apostles, and the growth in understanding that has taken place through the history of the Church. Finally, they look at the contextual processes of detraditionalisation and individualisation to the extent that they affect the handing on of tradition and consider the ways in which these processes are reflected in their own contexts.

Participants explore the aims and purposes of the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) research and examine in detail the PCB Scale, a tool that measures the typical believing styles or attitudes towards belief that people hold. They will be invited to think about their own attitude towards belief (where they stand on the PCB Scale), and what this means for how they engage with the contents of faith. Participants will be encouraged to think about the challenges that their attitude towards belief might pose for them in their professional role, particularly if they are working in a Catholic school or diocesan Catholic Education Office.

(Pre: 204 The PCB Scale: How do we believe?)

Participants examine in detail the second scale in the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) Research, namely, the Melbourne Scale. They will be invited to think about theological perspectives on Catholic identity and to consider how these theological perspectives shape their personal identity and that of their school or workplace. Additionally, they will be asked to consider the challenges that their learning poses for them in their professional role, particularly if they are working in a Catholic school or diocesan Catholic Education Office.

(Pre: 205 The Melbourne Scale: Who do you say that I am?)

Participants will examine in detail the third scale in the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) Research, namely, the Victoria Scale. They will be invited to think about the pedagogical identity options for Catholic schools and to consider how these pedagogical identity options shape their personal and professional identity. Additionally, participants will be invited to think about the challenges that their learning poses for them in their professional role, particularly if they are working in a Catholic school or diocesan Catholic Education Office.

Participants examine the relationships between symbols and their contexts, considering how different contexts can cause the symbol to resonate differently. They will also compare the differences between updating and recontextualising.

(Pre: 207 What is Recontextualisation?)

Participants undertake two guided recontextualisations using a tool developed by the authors: “Four Steps to Recontextualisation.” The first recontextualisation is of Genesis 8:9-15, and the second is of Deuteronomy 30:15- 20.

(Pre: 208 Practising Recontextualisation)

Participants examine the Christian belief in salvation through Christ—its biblical basis and a variety of interpretations in tradition of how salvation is effected.

Participants practise recontextualisation through application of the four-step approach to the Gospel story of the Woman Caught in Adultery, John 8:1-11.

Participants engage critically with the Lukan account of the Pentecost in Acts 2. They are taken through a four-step approach to recontextualisation, which allows for an exploration and consideration of different perspectives, and are invited to bring these perspectives into dialogue with their own perspectives. Moreover, they are asked to consider the ways in which a recognition of the pluralising contemporary context might interrupt particular interpretations of the meaning of the narrative. At the end of the module, participants are invited to think about the hermeneutical processes they use for thinking and reflection, and to name explicitly the impact that the use of these processes have had on their engagement with the text.

Participants engage with a recent article on Catholic schools: Didier Pollefeyt & Michael Richards, “Catholic Dialogue Schools, Enhancing Catholic School Identity in Contemporary Contexts of Religious Pluralisation and Social and Individual Secularisation,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 91, no. 1 (2020): 77-113. The module consists of completing a Reading Scaffolding Process (RSP) as participants read the article (for the second time), then meeting with a group of participants in this course for a facilitated discussion.

Participants engage with a recent article on Religious Education: Didier Pollefeyt, “Religious Education as Opening the Hermeneutical Space,” Journal of Religious Education 68, no. 2 (2020): 115-24.

Participants engage with Annemie Dillen’s work on Catholic Religious Education: Dillen, Annemie. “Theologizing with Children: A New Paradigm for Catholic Religious Education in Belgium.” In International Handbook of Catholic Education: Challenges for School Systems in the 21st Century, edited by Gerald Grace and Joseph O’Keefe, 347-66.

(This module takes approximately 4 hours to complete)

This module recapitulates learning from earlier modules (especially 204, 205 and 206) and asks participants to take that learning further by introducing the notion of “the three shifts”.