Apology for the reasonableness of Catholic religious education
Abstract
I outline a prevalent critique of Catholic religious education and attempt to address it. The critique emerges from the culturally hegemonic tradition of contemporary liberalism and alleges the incompatibility of Catholic religious education with the development of the capacity for critical reasoning. I propose to show that not only can Catholic religious education be compatible with the development of critical reasoning but that it is, in principle, substantially more so than the sort of religious education favoured by contemporary liberalism. My argument implies a particular path Catholic religious education ought to take, and in the final section I critique an important version of Catholic religious education that I take to be significantly deficient in this regard.
Apology for the reasonableness of Catholic religious education
I outline a prevalent critique of Catholic religious education and attempt to address it. The critique emerges from the culturally hegemonic tradition of contemporary liberalism and alleges the incompatibility of Catholic religious education with the development of the capacity for critical reasoning. I propose to show that not only can Catholic religious education be compatible with the development of critical reasoning but that it is, in principle, substantially more so than the sort of religious education favoured by contemporary liberalism. My argument implies a particular path Catholic religious education ought to take, and in the final section I critique an important version of Catholic religious education that I take to be significantly deficient in this regard.