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Research

RE: knowledge, wisdom and truth

Andrew Wright

Research Summary

This is an explanation of critical religious education. Three key ideas are presented. The search for knowledge requires a rigorous academic study of religion; the search for wisdom demands the personal engagement of the learner in this study; and the search for truth draws knowledge and wisdom together. For the writer, the argument is encapsulated in Iris Murdoch’s observation that ‘to do philosophy is to explore one’s own temperament, and yet at the same time to attempt to discover the truth’. Regarding knowledge, RE must have a rigorous and systematic academic grounding. This has value for pupils, in the broader context of their striving for personal formation or the cultivation of wisdom. The key driver of critical RE is the search for ultimate truth. When the search for truth pulls together the study of religion and the personal formation of learners, critical RE is able to overcome the polarity between ‘learning about’ and ‘learning from’ religion. These ideas set excellent challenges to RE teachers: how rigorous is the study of religion in our classrooms? To what extent are learners engaged personally? Are they genuinely enabled to search for truth?

Researcher

Andrew Wright

Research Institution

University College London Institute of Education and London School of Theology

What is this about?

  • From the 1970s on, phenomenological approaches to RE tended to be limited to narrow descriptions of religions, not addressing pupils’ concerns.
  • Critical RE is one attempt to overcome this problem, enabling pupils to enter into a rationale critique of religion. Religion should be scrutinised, to build pupils’ religious literacy. It does not involve being cynical about religion: more, debating the truth issues raised by religion, building reasoned thought.
  • It is not a technique that can be trained, but a disposition for teachers and pupils, based on asking intelligent questions. It can be developed: it is needed in university theology or philosophy, the only difference at school being the need for it to be practised at levels appropriate to age or ability.
  • Critical RE makes the subject more intellectually rigorous, which may help to motivate pupils more fully (see Main findings and outputs, below).

What was done?

This is a scholarly essay, examining the background to and the nature of an approach to RE – critical RE – and offering arguments for the suitability and strength of this approach.

Main findings and outputs

  • Knowledge. RE must have a rigorous academic grounding. Critical thinking requires both distance from religion (in order to think and reflect), and engagement with religion (to experience its potential value). Rather than being taught religious ‘facts’, children should learn to think critically in the manner of philosophers or theologians.
  • There are potential dangers in this approach, that RE should become detached from religious adherents’ life-worlds, or too dry for pupils. However, an emphasis on wisdom helps overcome these dangers.
  • Wisdom. The modern divide between rational theology and experiential religion may be reflected in RE’s model of ‘learning about religion’ and ‘learning from religion’. Yet critical realist philosophy may help to bridge the divide: the search for knowledge of the world can be seen as a personal pursuit, helping to make us wiser, more responsible people. In RE this involves rigorously weighing religious truth claims and scrutining one’s own opinions in the light of the search for truth.
  • Truth. The core focus of critical RE is to be found in the question of ultimate truth. Is there an ultimate religious truth? Is there an ultimate order of things, which exists independently of our ability to perceive it? The question is unresolved. The aim of critical RE is to equip pupils with the skills to engage intelligently with the question for themselves. The choices between atheism, theism and agnosticism are unavoidable; the more critically and reflectively they are made, the better. The questions are simultaneously academic and personal.

Relevance to RE

There are strong messages for RE teachers in this article, that have the potential for positive impact on pedagogy. Rigour in RE, for example, does not mean the learning of more and more ‘facts’ about religion: the author offers a model according to which rigorous teaching enables pupils to gain progressively in theological and philosophical reasoning ability. This means that they will benefit personally from the process of critical RE. Teachers should focus lessons on ultimate questions arising out of religion, be prepared to discuss and debate these with pupils and encourage pupils to discuss and debate with one another. The process should be driven by concern for truth. Is this true? How do we know? What evidence and arguments can be given in support? What other points of view might be taken, and why? What do I think about this? Are my own reasons supported by good evidence or arguments?

Generalisability and potential limitations

Whilst not presenting data that could be viewed as generalisable or otherwise, the article certainly raises profound and important questions that ought to be considered seriously by RE teachers and other RE professionals in general. The approach explained in the article has been influential, rightly, and continues to be so.

Find out more

The Contours of Critical Religious Education: Knowledge, Wisdom, Truth, British Journal of Religious Education 25,4, pages 279-291 (published online 6 July 2006), 10.1080/0141620030250403

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0141620030250403

 

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