{"title":"讨论RE中的争议问题是促进社会凝聚力的灵丹妙药吗?基于以往研究的机遇与挑战映射","authors":"Jan-Hendrik Herbst","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20231147","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\nIn the public debate, it is often argued that RE is important because it promotes social cohesion. In the academic debate, however, this position is controversial because, firstly, this goal is associated with a politicization of RE and, secondly, empirical evidence on whether or how RE causes this effect seems to be lacking. In this article, I argue first that cohesion is an adequate subgoal of RE, assuming a social rather than a state-political understanding of cohesion. Second, I refer to international studies on teaching controversial issues (CIs), which show that students can learn participation, tolerance, and common good orientation through high-quality exploration of CIs in class. However, due to methodological difficulties and negative side effects, the discussion of CIs in RE cannot be assumed to be a magic bullet for achieving cohesion. For instance, uncertainties and ambiguities accompany forms of dissent in the classroom, which may lead to authoritarian dispositions and political intolerance. In addition, there are particular challenges for inclusive and especially denominational RE in terms of teachers, issues, students, and external factors.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Is Discussing Controversial Issues in RE a Magic Bullet to Promote Social Cohesion? Mapping Opportunities and Challenges Based on Previous Research\",\"authors\":\"Jan-Hendrik Herbst\",\"doi\":\"10.1163/15709256-20231147\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"\\nIn the public debate, it is often argued that RE is important because it promotes social cohesion. In the academic debate, however, this position is controversial because, firstly, this goal is associated with a politicization of RE and, secondly, empirical evidence on whether or how RE causes this effect seems to be lacking. In this article, I argue first that cohesion is an adequate subgoal of RE, assuming a social rather than a state-political understanding of cohesion. Second, I refer to international studies on teaching controversial issues (CIs), which show that students can learn participation, tolerance, and common good orientation through high-quality exploration of CIs in class. However, due to methodological difficulties and negative side effects, the discussion of CIs in RE cannot be assumed to be a magic bullet for achieving cohesion. For instance, uncertainties and ambiguities accompany forms of dissent in the classroom, which may lead to authoritarian dispositions and political intolerance. In addition, there are particular challenges for inclusive and especially denominational RE in terms of teachers, issues, students, and external factors.\",\"PeriodicalId\":42786,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Empirical Theology\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":1.4000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-08-29\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Empirical Theology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20231147\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"RELIGION\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Empirical Theology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20231147","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
Is Discussing Controversial Issues in RE a Magic Bullet to Promote Social Cohesion? Mapping Opportunities and Challenges Based on Previous Research
In the public debate, it is often argued that RE is important because it promotes social cohesion. In the academic debate, however, this position is controversial because, firstly, this goal is associated with a politicization of RE and, secondly, empirical evidence on whether or how RE causes this effect seems to be lacking. In this article, I argue first that cohesion is an adequate subgoal of RE, assuming a social rather than a state-political understanding of cohesion. Second, I refer to international studies on teaching controversial issues (CIs), which show that students can learn participation, tolerance, and common good orientation through high-quality exploration of CIs in class. However, due to methodological difficulties and negative side effects, the discussion of CIs in RE cannot be assumed to be a magic bullet for achieving cohesion. For instance, uncertainties and ambiguities accompany forms of dissent in the classroom, which may lead to authoritarian dispositions and political intolerance. In addition, there are particular challenges for inclusive and especially denominational RE in terms of teachers, issues, students, and external factors.