Editorial for the documentation of the GwR annual conference 2023 in Halle: Ethics/philosophy didactics and religious education in dialogue
Thematic instructions on the conference topic and introduction to the conference documentation
Susanne Schwarz & Ulrike Witten & David Käbisch & Laura Weidlich
Thematic instructions on the conference topic and introduction to the conference documentation
Bernd Schröder
The article situates religious education and philosophy/ethics didactics - as well as the teaching subjects they open up - into a field of tension between competition and co-operation. On the one hand, both subjects are more established than ever before and are therefore able to enter into dialogue with each other (see section 1). On the other hand, although the didactics of religion has a considerable thematic, methodological and perspectival breadth (see section 2), it does not pay particular attention to the relationship with the didactics of ethics/philosophy - rather, this is to be seen as a "special subject" (see section 3). This is problematic insofar as the didactics of religion could learn a lot from the didactics of ethics, and the question of whether and what ethics and religion(s) can contribute to the interpretation and guidance of life in a modern society is of great importance (see section 4).
Arne Moritz
The article examines three examples from the discourse on the cooperation between the subjects of moral education (“Ethikunterricht”) and religious education (“Religionsunterricht”) with regard to the shaping of learners’ speaking: learning in the so-called “Fächergruppe”, an observation on subject- and learning group-related “othering”, and an interreligious encounter pedagogy that includes moral education. From a critical perspective, the article elaborates peculiar restrictions in the learners’ approach to the subject of learning and to other learners that are related to the aforementioned “modalities of expression” (Foucault). Thus, the article attempts to draw attention to the investigation of the shaping of learners’ speaking as a relevant aspect in the conception and reflection of formats suggested for the co-operation of subjects.
Fahimah Ulfat
Islamic religious education in Germany is confronted with high expectations and demanding challenges from various societal actors, including politics, civil society and Muslim communities. Against this background, this article deals with heterogeneous learning groups in ethics, Christian and Islamic (religious) education and the mutual resentment between these subjects. Based on recent empirical studies (including the 18th Shell Youth Study 2019 and Sinus Study 2020), the focus is on the question of how these resentments can be dealt with. As a result of the study, it can be stated that, as in other subject cultures, the promotion of maturity should be the focus of all educational efforts in Islamic religious education. One conclusion for the training and continuing education of teachers is therefore to promote corresponding key competencies such as the reflective presentation of one's own positionality.
Alexander Kenneth Nagel
The article explores to what extent the pluralization of religion and world views could be an impetus for cooperation between the didactics of religion and ethics. The subject of values and norms in Lower Saxony serves as a case study. After a brief look at the diversity of the religious and non-denominational field, the layout of the subject of values and norms between the academic reference disciplines of philosophy, religious studies and social sciences is outlined. Subsequently, the self-images and external images of the subject and the resulting possibilities and limits of cooperation with religious education are discussed. The article concludes with an outlook on the mutual dependence of both subjects in the context of the post-secular constellation and a plea for selective cooperation.
Karlo Meyer
The relationship between the subjects mentioned in the heading is complex, not least because of clearly differing perspectives and hermeneutic approaches. Constructive cooperation in a group of subjects requires working through these fundamental differences in advance of didactic clarifications, which may be on a theoretical level, but can also have their origins in social constellations. The article explores some of the possible fault lines and disturbances, analyses selected passages from framework guidelines and materials, structures them according to a suggestion from Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) and, in the end, pleads for using the dynamics of differences and tensions constructively.
Christina Osbeck
Underlying the focusses of this article concerning 1) Swedish curricula, 2) different kinds of EE internationally and 3) empirical EE research, are the questions concerning what constitutes central content in ethics, and how ethics and religion as parts of an RE subject can be related to each other. It has been shown how EE can be of different kinds where some constructions place EE within RE, like the Swedish one, even if EE in the form of general values education or as hidden curriculum should not be forgotten. The analyses of Swedish RE curricula show a development where ethics in the beginning of the 1960s almost exclusively was liked to Christian faith but later became a knowledge area rather separated from religions. The different areas demand different activities of the students. While EE requires active reasoning and position taking, the content concerning religions is limited to be put in comparison to the student’s own ethical perspectives. Moreover, empirical Swedish research has shown how EE within the RE subject tends to be marginalized and understood as having rather unclear knowledge character. It can be interpreted as rather one-dimensional, focussing on an argumentative competence, when a multidimensional understanding seems to be more common in current research. Based on ethics theory and socio-cultural learning theory, competence in the field can be understood as depending on acquired and contextually privileged moral discourses, which means that narratives – secular as well as religious – seem to be of great value.
René Torkler & Uta Pohl-Patalong
The relationship between the teaching of religion and philosophy is complex and by no means free of tension, not least because of the construction of a 'substitute subject'. The understanding and significance of the teachers' positionality and neutrality in the two subjects allows for a more contoured perception of commonalities and differences. Apparently, 'positionality' and 'neutrality' cannot be divided between the subjects, but teachers of both disciplines are challenged to position themselves on different levels, albeit partly in different ways. The article discusses these variants of positionality for both subjects and identifies mutual learning potentials.
Hanna Roose
The article comparatively asks about the form of subject orientation in children's theology and children's philosophy. Central to this is the respective understanding of the subject, which is located in the matrix of strong - weak and static - dynamic. Both children's theology and children's philosophy work with a strong concept of the subject. However, this is more static in children's theology than in children's philosophy. On the strong - weak axis, it becomes clear that children's philosophy is more explicit about the contextuality and interconnectedness of subjects than children's theology. The orientation towards the strong, rather static subject in children's theology proves to be didactically ambivalent. It endangers the goal-orientation, but protects against a didactics of images. The different forms of subject orientation in children's theology and children's philosophy are explained by specific competitive relations.
Eva-Maria Kenngott
Ethical problems are popular in ethics and religious (studies) lessons. According to the thesis of the following article, a different approach to ethical argumentation is at the center of the respective teaching formats. First of all, the main features of ethical argumentation are outlined. Based on the example of abortion, the resources of different argumentation strategies, including a religiously based statement, are examined. The different subjects not only deal with ethical topics differently, they also have to overcome different challenges in order to make students "fit" for dealing with ethical and religious plurality.
Johanna Hock & David Käbisch
The suspicion that religion is one of the key factors in conflicts arises repeatedly. This study utilizes existing quantitative data from the sixth Church Membership Survey (2022) to examine potential conflicts at the micro-level of social interaction. Although a detailed discussion of this data would go beyond the scope of this study, it becomes evident that the value orientations and ethical attitudes of Protestants, Catholics, and the non-religious are closely aligned. Therefore, conflicts do not originate in thought but in specific practical contexts where a religious and a non-religious life orientation cannot be simultaneously realized. The article concludes with considerations stemming from the "religious-secular competition" for the tasks in Ethics and Religious Education at public schools in Germany.
Peter Bubmann
This article discusses the extent to which the concept of the art of living could be a useful bridge between ethics lessons and the RE or their respective theorizations, and how ethical topics of life can be dealt with by both subjects in a complementary way and also in direct cooperation. To this end, the discourse on the art of living in recent German-language philosophy and theology is briefly outlined.
Christian Hild
The article discusses the (religious) pedagogical and didactical efficiency of a cooperation project designed for 12 school lessons, whose pedagogical framework is oriented towards the concepts of “transdifference” (Ephraim Meir) and "relational reason" (Pierpaolo Donati); both attempt to gain opportunities for a common hermeneutical potential from different poles precisely because of their distance. Their didactic catalyst – according to the thesis – is formed by relevance-oriented learning movements, in which students self-determinedly and self-effectively collect and develop topics. Following the presentation of the theoretical foundations, the author presents and critically reflects on tried and tested practice-oriented concretions.
Thomas Heller
The popular Christmas commercials of important German food retail brands that have been produced for the Advent and Christmas seasons for almost ten years can be understood as a reaction to the secularization tendencies of the present. For example, while the membership numbers of the two large churches are currently falling significantly, a ‚re-enchantment of the world‘ (in reversal of Max Weber's famous dictum) is being sought and implemented here. The celebration of Christmas is given by it a sense of meaning that competes with the principles underlying Christianity in general and also with the biblical Christmas message in particular. Against this background, the article provides an overview of the Christmas commercials of important food retail brands, identifies the underlying message of these clips and discusses challenges and opportunities for ethics and religious education.
Christian Cebulj & Eric Petrini
In German-speaking Switzerland, the non-denominational religious education in "Ethics-Religions-Community" (ERG) was introduced in 2017/18 as part of the Swiss Curriculum “Lehrplan 21”. Five years on, this article looks at how the new subject has been designed and what opportunities and limitations have emerged from the initial evaluations. Particular attention is paid to the didactic concept of language sensitivity, which supports pupils in practising a change of perspective with regard to religion and worldview. The article provides insights into a current laboratory situation in the Swiss religious education landscape
Janine Hoffmann
The ethical discussion about farm animals hast to consider more aspects than the discussion about other animals like wildlife animals or pets, because economically interests, no direct contact and advertising influence this part of animal ethics. So the ethical judgment in handling with farm animals is a special challenge. For this reason it’s necessary, to include this aspects when material of animal ethics schould be assessed. In the workshop best practice examples were presented of religious and ethics school books. The criteria of it were created in the qualitative analyse of the dissertation animal ethics in religious education by Janine Hoffmann. The basis of the criteria were the parts of ethical judgment by Heinz Eduard Tödt and the Oldenburger model.
Christian Hild
The field of religious education discourse on translations of a language understood as religious has produced a number of theoretical approaches on a macro level and numerous different individual methods on a micro level. A desideratum is a didactically spelled out meso level in the form of a practical teaching-learning arrangement that sensitises students to a language understood as religious in both factual and subject-oriented respects as well as to translations in this respect. This article addresses this issue and discusses the hurdles and opportunities of intralingual and intersemiotic translations of God and concepts linked to faith in God from a theological-translatological perspective as well as from the perspective of religious education and didactics.
Johanna Hock & David Käbisch
This paper aims to address the question of contributing factors to educational inequality in the perceived effectiveness of religious education, drawing on Bourdieu's theory of capital. A multiple linear regression model was calculated to examine the influence of 'religious capital', comprising religious affiliation, childhood experiences with religion, and church religiosity. The results highlight the significant impact of religious capital on the perceived effectiveness of religious education. Notably, the findings gain relevance given the context that not only students affiliated with a specific religion attend religious education, but also the number of non-religiously socialized children and those with no religious affiliation is steadily increasing.
Johanna Hock & David Käbisch
Central to the ongoing deliberations concerning the future of religious education are inquiries situated within the macro-level realm of church and educational policy actions. Considering the dynamics associated with religious pluralization, individualization, and dechurching, the primary objective of this study is to explore whether differences exist at the micro-level of religious education in Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and Brandenburg. The computation of a one-way ANOVA indicates no significant differences in the perceived instructional-related pluralism of religious education among these federal states. Given this context, the paper advocates for a heightened focus on the quality of religious education at the micro-level of specific task formats and didactic settings, rather than shifting the discourse to the macro-level of organizational formats.
Ulrike Sallandt
In this article, I outline (my) theological thinking that has to constantly re-orientate itself in the space given by God. Placing the dimension of space and spatiality in the focus of my consideration in terms of theology of creation makes it possible to take a more differentiated look at the challenge to theology and religious education today in encounter with cultural alterities and the task of religious education. In Global Christianity, religious education is not limited to the European context, but must critically reflect the change in consciousness in the second half of the 20th century in connection with cultural spaces. In doing so, my primary concern is not only to remove cultural hermeneutics from religious understanding and to open up intercultural places of learning, but also to justify this opening theologically.
Melanie Binder