EDRE632 - Educating for Inter-Religious Understanding

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

The Congregation for Catholic Education (2013) reminds schools of their great responsibility for participating in intercultural education based on dialogue (para 50). In recent years, Australian dioceses have responded to this by recognising the multi-faith nature of the Catholic school today. The learning area of Religious Education has embraced the importance of developing dialogical approaches to the teaching of religion that respect the backgrounds of all students. In this unit, students are introduced to the Church’s history of relations with other world faiths with a particular focus on the post-Conciliar period. Opportunities are provided for students to examine various methodological approaches to educating for inter-religious literacy and understanding. In this way, the unit aims to equip teachers with skills for implementing pedagogical approaches that promote inter-religious understanding.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Explain and reflect on contemporary Catholic theology of inter-religious understanding from foundational Church documents and contemporary theologians (GA5; APST 2.1 LEAD and HA)

LO2 - Demonstrate knowledge of the history of inter-religious relations across the major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism) (GA8; APST 2.1 HA)

LO3 - Evaluate a range of methodological approaches to educating for inter-religious literacy and understanding (GA6; APST 3.1 HA)

LO4 - Demonstrate skills and approaches in curriculum development for educating for inter-religious understanding for specific teaching/learning contexts (GA5, GA10; APST 3.1, HA).

Graduate attributes

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Highly Accomplished

On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence towards the following standards:

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Lead

On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence towards the following standards:

Content

Topics will include:

• The interpretation and evaluation of the Catholic Church’s theology of inter-religious engagement including the study of key Church documents that deal with inter-religious engagement.
• Comparisons and contrasts between the work of theologians of inter-religious understanding e.g. Knitter, D’Costa, Dupuis, Kung, Phan, Clooney.
• Foundational issues in religious diversity and education. (Hermans, Boys, REDCO)
• Historical and cultural issues in the study of religions
• A range of methodological approaches which develop inter-religious understanding: e.g. Phenomenology; Typology; Hermeneutics; Dialogical approaches, Comparative theology.
• The interpretation and implementation of approaches and methodologies for teaching for inter-religious understanding.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

The learning and teaching strategy in this unit is informed by various principles that are enunciated in the University’s Strategic Plan (2020 – 2023). In particular, the unit adopts a “student-centric approach that ensures every student has the opportunity and support they need to succeed and graduate at ACU” (Australian Catholic University, 2020, p. 7) (Priority 2.5)

EDRE632 is taught in numerous modes (i.e. face to face, intensive, online, mixed) and involves 150 hours of focused learning. This consists of lectures and tutorials in the face-to-face mode, and recorded lectures (for asynchronous use), videoconferencing and webinars in the online mode. The remaining hours are reserved for private research and cooperative learning through forums and reflective journals, leading to the completion of the required assessment tasks.

In the unit, students are introduced to the history of relations between the Catholic Church and other world faiths with a particular focus on relations with Judaism. Students also investigate a variety of theological and educational perspectives pertaining to promoting inter-religious understanding. Based on the theological and educational perspectives that are investigated, students then develop pedagogical skills for embedding inter-religious understanding into classroom practices for learning and teaching.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to progressively demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome. For this reason, a range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. Such procedures may include, but are not limited to: essays, reports, examinations, student presentations or case studies. In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit all assessment tasks and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50/100.

Task 1 requires students to analyse the shift in the Catholic Church’s position related to inter-religious engagement by examining foundational Church documents and the views of contemporary theologians (LO1). In doing so, students are required to demonstrate knowledge of the history of inter-religious relations across the major world religions, especially Judaism (LO2).

Task 2 then requires students to analysis one or more approaches which contribute to inter-religious learning and engagement in school classrooms with application to their local context. In doing so, the students are required to evaluate a range of methodological approaches to educating for inter-religious literacy and understanding (LO3) and demonstrate understanding of the skills and approaches in curriculum development required for educating for inter-religious understanding in specific teaching/learning contexts (LO4).

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Boys, M. C. (2010). The promise and perils of inter-religious education. Toronto Journal of Theology, 26(1), 21-32.

Carmody, B. (2013). Pedagogy for inter-religious education. The Heythrop Journal, 54(5), 813–824.

Chia, E. K.-F. (Ed.). (2016). Interfaith dialogue: Global perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan.

Clooney, F. X. (2011). Comparative theology: Deep learning across religious borders. Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Engebretson, K., de Souza, M., Durka, G., & Gearon, L. (2010). International handbook of inter-religious education. Springer.

Gill, S. (2016). Universities as spaces for engaging the other: A pedagogy of encounter for intercultural and interreligious education. International Review of Education, 62(4), 483-500.

Lane, D. (2011). Stepping stones to other religions: A Christian theology of inter-religious dialogue. Veritas.

Parker, S., Freathy, R., & Francis, L., (Eds.). (2012). Religious education: A foundation for freedom of religion and belief. Peter Lang

Phan, P. (2016). Pathways for inter-religious dialogue in the twenty-first century. Springer.

Pollefeyt, D. (Ed). 2007). Inter-religious learning. Leuven University Press.

Tan, J. Y. (2013). An Asian theology of migration and its interreligious implications: Insights from the documents of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC). In E. Padilla & P. C. Phan (Eds.), Contemporary Issues of Migration and Theology (pp. 121-138). Springer.

Pollefeyt, D. (Ed). 2007). Inter-religious learning. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Sonn, R., Morreall, J. (2012). The religion toolkit: A complete guide to religious studies. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Appropriate Journals and Websites

Websites

Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/commissione-per-i-rapporti-religiosi-con-l-ebraismo/commissione-per-i-rapporti-religiosi-con-l-ebraismo-crre.html

Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre. https://www.yadvashem.org/