Changing "Diffuse" to "Profiled" Positions by Facing Religious Truth-Claims? Contexts of Belonging as Conditions of Religious "Matching-Processes".
Abstract
This paper presents some results of a research dedicated to the problem of religious “decision-making” as a questionable part of Religious Education. In this article, I analyse what kind of situational conditions are suited to stimulate changing young adults’ (mostly distanced) positions of “religion” and religious commitment. This empirically-based research is situated within a German theoretical discussion about the aims of Religious Education in pluralistic contexts. I start with a brief overview of “undecided” or “diffuse” religiosity as a widespread phenomenon. Second, I give two prominent examples that I consider as representative of the German way of treating this phenomenon of a “diffuse” or “soft” pluralistic stance in didactical theory. Diagnosing a lack of empirical evidence concerning the processes of existential engagement and transformation of attitudes, I give one example of my research that focuses on the concept of social “density” as a condition of further “matching-processes” concerning religion. The analysis also shows that the concept of “belief” as a condition of partaking in “religious” groups can be a severe obstacle for enabling young adults to identify with religious traditions.
Date Issued
2017
Publication Type
Book Section
Language(s)
en
Editor(s)
Gearon, Liam | |
Kuusisto, Arniika |
Publisher
Waxmann Verlag
ISBN
978-3-8309-3658-9
Access(Rights)
metadata.only