Constructing God : educational implications of two framings of religion

Many discussions of the relations between religion and education develop critical accounts either of certain religious ideas or educational assumptions. This paper takes a different tack by resisting assessment of particular religious views or framings of religion within education. Rather the paper attempts to elaborate some of the educational implications that certain views of religion entail. The discussion focuses on two conceptions of religion: one a propositional or worldview framing of religion, and the other characterised here as a hermeneutic or aesthetic view of religion. Many of the typical problems of religions influence on education, such as indoctrination and the competing rights between various agents, are solved if we shift from the former view of religion to the latter. Furthermore, the implications of the two are suggestive of a particular conception of subjectivity as a free agent that make choices. It is that conception of subjectivity that is influential both within religion and education: within religion as the idea of a subject who chooses to believe certain religious doctrines, and within education as the ultimate goal being understood as the development of rational autonomy