Writing, Religious Faith, and Rooted Cosmopolitan Dialogue

Abstract

Some literacy scholars have embraced rooted cosmopolitanism as a framework for educating in today's globalized and pluralistic world, where communicating across difference is an important individual and societal good. But how is the "cosmopolitan turn" in writing complicated by considering the religiosity of writing teachers and student writers? Is it possible for writing instructors and student writers to stay rooted in their own faith traditions, while maintaining openness to other ethical vantage points? What new questions are raised for cosmopolitan-minded writing pedagogy by these considerations? Through portraiture, we present complex pictures of how an American evangelical Christian teacher, Sam, and one of his evangelical Christian students, Charlie, engaged with a writing unit focused on "This I Believe" essay writing. The portraitures suggest that Sam, a more cosmopolitan evangelical, envisioned the unit as an invitation to (a) articulate one's own beliefs in the wide universe of moral possibility and (b) get used to the beliefs of others who are ethically different from oneself. Charlie,

Adolescent Multilinguals’ Engagement With Religion in a Book Club

“…He was saying the same thing over and over again. (June 20, 2008) The study's findings confirmed previous studies that illustrated how the inclusion of religious talk in literacy practices creates conflict among youths with different religious orientations (Juzwik & McKenzie, 2015;Reyes, 2009;Skerrett, 2014). The discomfort that the adolescent multilinguals felt in light of engaging with religious identities in literature discussions does not suggest that teachers need to avoid these topics.…”

“…I just tell them that's wrong because it's my responsibility….In my religion, if somebody is doing wrong stuff, you have toyou cannot ignore them" (interview 2). Null's response to religious differences is congruent with how Charlie, in Juzwik and McKenzie's (2015) study, considered convincing nonbelievers about their error as a competition that he had to win. As Juzwik and McKenzie stated, it is difficult to pinpoint what teachers should do to promote religious plurality among students with "deeply rooted resistance to open dialogue across difference" (p. 145) without ascribing "a discourse of moral deficiency" (p. 144) to them.…”

“…which high school students with mostly Christian faiths tapped into their religious practices and beliefs when interpreting secular texts and writing and experienced conflict and uneasiness when contrasting religious beliefs were presented by other peers at the literacy sites (Juzwik & McKenzie, 2015;Reyes, 2009;Skerrett, 2014). We subsequently review the three most pertinent studies to the current study in more detail.…”

“…We subsequently review the three most pertinent studies to the current study in more detail. Juzwik and McKenzie (2015) explored how a teacher, Sam, an Evangelical Christian, created opportunities for his students to engage in exploratory essay writing about their beliefs, including religious faiths, in a 12thgrade English composition class in a predominantly white and Christian high school. The study focused on one student, Charlie, a populist Evangelical, who openly wrote about his devout faith in God in his essay called "I Believe in Faith."…”

“…These talks about religion greatly interested us, both EAL literacy educators and researchers who believe that all faith values and orientations should be respected. We particularly wondered about the implications of such engagements with religion in literate acts given that religion is often taboo in school curricula, including language and literacy classes (Bruce & Bailey, 2014;Juzwik & McKenzie, 2015).…”