The living art of religious education: a paradigm of hermeneutics and dialogue for RE at faith schools today

Exploring the beliefs and practices of the hermeneutical communicative model within a Melbourne Catholic primary school

“…The example above further highlights the richness and insights that can be gained through respecting and valuing the contribution of all who make up the Catholic school today. It also highlights and affirms the notion of 'linguistic hospitality' where speakers of other religious or non-religious tongues are empowered and can enter into the dialogue of a 'foreign tongue' (Pollefeyt and Richards 2019). The faith understandings and the willingness of the year five Sikh boy to share his insights and faith further echoes Pollefeyt's idea that the HCM assist all children in their search for meaning:…”

“…It is important to provide experiences, scaffolds and structures in order to assist children and teachers to express their ideas and to be pushed further in their thinking, particularly in an open hermeneutical way. This example further illustrates the capacity of students who, when enculturated within a dialogue school, open up the hermeneutical capacity of others, learning with and from them (Pollefeyt and Richards, 2019).…”

“…Lieven Boeve (2004) highlights that within the context of a secularised and pluralised society, the traditional forms of Religious Education that focus on the mono-correlation of faith and life experience-that is, any single human experience being directly related to the faith tradition-can no longer be an adequate pedagogical or theological approach for Religious Education. Such a position is also held by scholars such as Lombaerts; Dillen and Pollefeyt; Pollefeyt and Bouwens; and Pollefeyt and Richards in their analysis of mono-correlation as a pedagogical and theological approach (Lombaerts 2000;Dillen and Pollefeyt 2011;Pollefeyt and Bouwens 2014;Pollefeyt and Richards 2019).…”

“…Such a view acknowledges the multiplicity of voices and their views on human experience and identity formation. More importantly this learning captures and expands on the learner's understanding of stories and rituals, and through deep learning and exploration, an understanding of religious positions such as respect and care for the earth and actions that make visible fundamental beliefs about the human person (Pollefeyt and Richards 2019).…”

Connotations of Identities in William Kurelek’s Paintings: Typology and Critical Art Analysis

“…One must note the image of a bare leafless winter apple tree, abounding in red fruits. One can often find the image of a leafless tree in the crown of which a man is entangled in his works, for example, in "Atheist", 1963 (Pollefeyt & Richards, 2020), or "Ukrainian Farmer Picnic", 1966. In the first work, the author semantically depicts a lone dried tree in the middle of the prairie Canadian "desert", on which an atheist holds the end of the highest branch with one hand, a moment before falling down.…”