Rethinking Religiously Responsive Education
Perspectives from Democratic Education and Critical Global Citizenship on a Pedagogy of Difference
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25364/10.34:2026.2.11Keywords:
pedagogy of difference, religious plurality, democratic education, teacher education, critical global citizenship education, religiously responsive educationAbstract
This article develops Religiously Responsive Education (RRE) as a pedagogy of difference for educational contexts characterized by increasing religious and worldview plurality. Building on its anthropological grounding in attentiveness to existential experience, the article examines how RRE can respond to contemporary transformations in plural societies. It argues that plurality must be understood not only as demographic diversity but also in terms of structural inequalities, political contestation in public discourse, and fragmented epistemic environments shaping encounters with religious difference. Against this background, RRE is placed in dialogue with Democratic Education (DE) and Critical Global Citizenship Education (CGCE) as justice-oriented pedagogies of plurality. While DE emphasizes equality, participation, and deliberative engagement in plural democracies, CGCE highlights structural inequalities, global interdependence, and epistemic positioning. In conversation with systematic-theological reflection, these perspectives illuminate the ethical and anthropological assumptions underlying justice-oriented pedagogies. On this basis, the article proposes a development of RRE toward a justice-sensitive pedagogy of difference that integrates existential attentiveness with structural reflexivity, normative discernment, and epistemic responsibility. RRE can thus be understood not only as a concern of religious education but as a broader professional competence for educators working in plural democratic societies.
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