Enacting critical hermeneutics in religious education

Epistemological tensions, contextual realities, and teachers’ challenges

Bibliographic Data

ID20503149
AuthorsM Zembylas (0000-0001-6896-7347, Educational Studies, Open University of Cyprus, Latsia, Cyprus, corresponding author), Loizos Loukaidis (0000-0001-8920-2554, Association for Historical Dialogue and Research, Nicosia, Cyprus), Marios Antoniou (0000-0003-0744-7465, Educational Studies, Open University of Cyprus, Latsia, Cyprus)
Year2018
Volume39
Issue4
Pages399-415
Publication date2018-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Beliefs and Values (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1361-7672 • E-ISSN: 1469-9362
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13617672.2018.1468701
OpenAlexW2799811588
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited32

This article investigates Greek-Cypriot primary school teachers' challenges to enact critical hermeneutics in religious education (RE) within a confessional context. Critical hermeneutics combines elements from critical and hermeneutical theories, emphasising the importance of grounding the conceptualisation of religious and secular truth-claims in historical and cultural interpretation. The data comes from a collaborative action research study with six teachers. The findings show how teachers engage with and respond to critical hermeneutics in their teaching practices, particularly their difficulties but also the transformative potential of critical hermeneutics. Finally, the article discusses how this study may inform present knowledge about critical and interpretive approaches of teaching RE at the levels of theory/research, teaching practice, and teacher professional development

Confessional · Critical theory · Epistemology · Hermeneutics · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Transformative learning · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious Education and Schools