A religious approach to religious education : the implications of John Hick’s religious interpretation of religion for religious education

摘要

This thesis is concerned with the question as to how to present the study of religion to students in religious education (RE) in schools that reflects a distinctively religious character but not a confessional one. It recognises that how religion is conceptualised in RE and the search for a distinctive rationale that reflects the subject’s nature and purpose, has been a contested question over the history of the subject in state maintained schools since the Education Act of 1870. More recently, criticism of what has been termed ‘modern liberal RE’ has focused on the claim that, in many instances, the subject has misrepresented religion, by being guilty of essentialism and in denying students opportunities to engage with the ‘truth claims’ of religions. It is within this context that this thesis argues that a nuanced understanding of John Hick’s religious interpretation of religion can positively illuminate these debates by providing a second order explanatory framework for the study of religion in RE.