The theology of education and religious education in schools

Abstract

In a recent article in Theology (Vol. 125, no. 1, pp. 3–11), Professors Trevor Cooling and Robert A. Bowie discussed the Final Report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) and identified two ways in which Christian theology can become a ‘conversation partner’ with a worldview approach to religious education: first, through theological interaction with the concept of worldview; and second, by showing the potential of biblical hermeneutics to teaching about a Christian worldview. It is argued that the concept of a worldview finds its origins outside Christian theology and fails to capture the nature of Christianity and that the highly abstract, philosophical character of the concept of worldview makes it an unsuitable vehicle for religious education in schools. It is accepted, however, that biblical hermeneutics has a contribution to make to religious education, albeit as a component within the broader subject of (general) hermeneutics, although this positive contribution is not supported or anticipated by CoRE, but rather expresses the views of Cooling and Bowie, who are contributing to a long-running debate on the role and form of hermeneutics in religious education.