Ecclesiastical Policies for Confessional Education in a Postsecular Age: A comparison

• Today, in many western secular countries there is an ongoing public debate on the educational role of religiousinstitutions. This debate has been much examined in previous research. But, the religious institutions own policiesregarding education has received little focus in research, even less from a comparative perspective. Therefore, thispaper aims at analysing and comparing four such ecclesiastical policies on religion: the “Veritas Gaudium” (2018),issued by Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church; the Church of England’s “Vision for Education” (2016), and theGerman Evangelische Kirche’s “Kirche und Bildung” (2009); and finally from Sweden, the Lutheran Church of Sweden’supcoming policy on education.This paper, being part of research project “Confessional Education in Secular Contexts” at the University of Borås, aimsat analysing these four ecclesiastical policies on education focusing on how the churches present the need for theireducational perspectives in a secular context. Questions such as, how the denominations view themselves in terms ofeducational institutions, and how they argue from a theological perspective on the needs for education, will beinvestigated. The paper position itself in the juxtaposition fields of Practical Theology and Religious education. Policyanalysis is a methodology seldom used in Practical Theology, albeit commonly used in Religious Education, still,ecclesiastical policies are more frequently analysed in Practical Theology than in Religious Education. With thecombination, important aspects of understanding Christian denominations effort of position themselves aseducational agents in a secular context, can be identified and understood.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

religious education

denominations

policy

critical discourse analysis (CDA)

Lärarutbildning och pedagogisk yrkesverksamhet

Teacher Education and Education Work

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)