Abstract Title
Mapping the field: Mindfulness and ethos in the Irish Catholic primary school
Abstract
Name: Thomas Carroll B.Ed, M.A.
Title: Mapping the field: Mindfulness and ethos in the Irish Catholic primary school
The phenomenon of mindfulness has become ever more popular in an increasingly pluralist Western society. Mindfulness is practised in various contexts, including schools and colleges with a religious ethos. This project will explore how these two concepts can interact with each other. The contemporary understanding of mindfulness has its origins in Buddhist meditation. However, the concept has developed and sometimes mutated into various forms of practice which are disembedded from their original spiritual philosophy. This will be examined through dialogue with two interlocutors. Further, this will allow for a frame to examine how this relationship influences religious education in Ireland. The first interlocutor is the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor whose seminal work, ‘A Secular Age’, outlines three distinct modes of secularity. Taylor examines how the conditions of belief have changed and how the self seeks meaning in an age where belief in the divine is no longer axiomatic. Irish theologian Michael Paul Gallagher offers a theological perspective on how the Christian faith can be translated into dialogue with Irish secular culture, we well as addressing the crisis of culture and religious imagination rather than the crisis of faith in Ireland.
Mapping the field: Mindfulness and ethos in the Irish Catholic primary school
Name: Thomas Carroll B.Ed, M.A.
Title: Mapping the field: Mindfulness and ethos in the Irish Catholic primary school
The phenomenon of mindfulness has become ever more popular in an increasingly pluralist Western society. Mindfulness is practised in various contexts, including schools and colleges with a religious ethos. This project will explore how these two concepts can interact with each other. The contemporary understanding of mindfulness has its origins in Buddhist meditation. However, the concept has developed and sometimes mutated into various forms of practice which are disembedded from their original spiritual philosophy. This will be examined through dialogue with two interlocutors. Further, this will allow for a frame to examine how this relationship influences religious education in Ireland. The first interlocutor is the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor whose seminal work, ‘A Secular Age’, outlines three distinct modes of secularity. Taylor examines how the conditions of belief have changed and how the self seeks meaning in an age where belief in the divine is no longer axiomatic. Irish theologian Michael Paul Gallagher offers a theological perspective on how the Christian faith can be translated into dialogue with Irish secular culture, we well as addressing the crisis of culture and religious imagination rather than the crisis of faith in Ireland.