Research Area I: Religious and Interreligious Education

1.1.1 Introduction

1.1.1.1 Education in school as a part of international peace education

By far most of all national and cultural conflicts and banishments are influenced by religious and cultural misunderstanding and prejudices. This escalation of unconscious animosity can be prevented by a training in religious and cultural meeting. This experience shall stimulate a willingness for reciprocal confidence, tolerance and truthfulness. Strategies in conflict-solution shall also be practised. Therefore Peace Education is a main topic for the WCRP and the UNESCO.

Beside the tradition of the own family and the religious community basic cultural knowledge and social behaviour is imparted to the growing generation by the education in school. Education in school is also representing the common educational aim of a society and the national educational standard. Schoolbooks concentrate educational aims in basic messages, offer demonstrations of social action and form the first emotional attitude to foreign cultures. In addition to this they help teachers to orientate in preparing school-lessons.

1.1.1.2 International schoolbook-research for an intercultural and interreligious meeting

The international schoolbook-research explores the essence and the pedagogical methods of schoolbooks. In the eighties the Georg-Eckert-Institut für Schulbuchforschung in Braunschweig investigated German schoolbooks in regard of their representation of Polish and Jewish culture and religion. This inquiry was continued by the Islamic Scientific Academy in Cologne under the direction of the Muslim scientist Prof. A. Falaturi and the Christian religion-educationalist and -scientist Prof. U. Tworuschka as an analysis of the representation of Islam in German schoolbooks (‘Der Islam in den Schulbüchern der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’, 6 vols., Braunschweig 1986-1988). 

In this connection the methodical foundation of an general intercultural schoolbook-research was created: a) the quantifiable method shows the space of islamic topics in proportion to other religious statements of the text; b) the qualitative analysis evaluates the assertions relating to Islam by the help of the criteria of comparative religious science, cultural anthropology, islamic and pedagogical sciences; c) a third criterion considers the audio-visual arrangement and the function of the complete statement within the scope of an interreligious Peace Education. 

This analysis of German schoolbooks ascertained numerous substantial abridgements and an inadequate knowledge of the Islam in coincidency with an apologetical and contrastive intention.

On the basis of this analysis a complete reconception of the representation of Islam in German schoolbooks was required: Each religion ought to be represented in a comprehensive manner. And as well the religious scientific external perspective as the different Islamic traditions ought to be considered. Christian pupils shall recognize the interreligious experience as an enrichment for their own religiousness, and Muslim classmates shall recognize themselves in this representation. In this connection divergent declarations of the different religions and cultures have to be considered and treated in a conflict-resolving manner.

1.1.1.3 Preliminary examinations in the representation of Christianity in Islamic schoolbooks

Independent of this analysis first separate researches on the representation of Christianity in Islamic schoolbooks were conducted by the Christian religion-scientist Prof. P. Antes (‘Die Darstellung des Christentums in ägyptischen Schulbüchern von 1981/82’, ZMR 1983/1, pp. 1-18) and the religion-scientist M. Tworuschka (‘Das Bild des Christentums in türkischen Religionsbüchern’, in ‘Gottes ist der Orient – Gottes ist der Okzident’, ed. U. Tworuschka, 1991, pp. 58-73).

1.1.2 International Textbook Research at the Chair for Religious Education at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

1.1.2.1 The evaluation of the former explorations

At the Chair for religious pedagogy and didactics of the Protestant religious instruction at the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg these former investigations were compared to another and evaluated for the first time. Prof. J. Lähnemann initiated the first pilot project for a general method of interreligious Peace Education in schoolbooks. Also the high demands on this intercultural research were elaborated under his guidance. This first pilot project has also shown the great deficiency in researches in the representation of Christianity in Islamic textbooks.

The project groups in Nürnberg received financial support by the German Protestant Church and the VI. Nürnberger Forum zur Religions- und Kulturbegegnung (1997). The Chair for religious pedagogy and didactics of the Protestant religious instruction at the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg is exceptionally appropriate for an intensive research in this field because of its performance of the ‘Nürnberger Foren’ with its focus on peace education. At the ‘Nürnberger Foren’ the international schoolbook-research has been discussed and developed since 1982. Results of these projects are published in German and English. Likewise the intensive cooperation with WCRP and the numerous international contacts sustain this schoolbook-research project in Nürnberg.

1.1.2.2 The complex difficulties in intercultural research and the extended research-methods

Especially the intense influence of the sociocultural context to the structure and substance of the school-lessons can only be ascertained by dialogues on the spot. The spatial distance between the research institute and the field of research is the reason for the great expense. Moreover an embrace idiomatic knowledge for the researchers is necessary. The different conceptions of religious education and pedagogic methods have also be elaborated before.

In most of the Islamic countries the intercultural and interreligious dynamic is regarded as an risk for public security. An identification of the research group as affected with the defective Islamic description of Christians has to be avoided. It is also necessary to pay attention to the self-understandig and the political influence of the different Islamic and Christian communities, and to get their approval respectively their cooperation to interreligious working groups.

The main cognition of this pilot-study is the insufficiency of a quantifiable and substantial analysis of singular schoolbook sections for an comprehension of the complexe educational process in Islamic countries. That is the reason why the interpretation of schoolbooks has to be extended by the analysis of the educational policy and the educational substances in school. Therefore long-time expeditions are necessary. Based on cultural anthroplogy research those social components which determine the representation of Christianity ought to be defined. 

1.1.2.3 The aim of international schoolbook-research in Peace Education

The analysis of schoolbooks should help to explain the partly different religious truth of Christian communities to Islamic textbook-authors, and should help to improve the atmosphere of reciprocal acceptance. The essential aim is the differentation between religious self- and foreign-perception and their didactic transposition in school. Further the factors which form the impression of Christianity in the Islamic World should be determinated; for example: statements from the Quran, historic experiences, personal meetings with native Christians or European tourists.

A succesful analysis requires an intensive contact to ministries, Islamic and Christian pedagogues and representatives. Moreover new approaches in education could be explained especially in personal meetings. So Muslim and Christian pedagogues and theologian receive the possibility for a better understandig and a constructive dialogue on Peace Education.

1.1.2.4 Turkey and Egypt as exemplary countries for research

The existing preliminary studies should be concreted in the next years by the analysis of schoolbooks of two Islamic countries. During a period of one year two scientific fellows of the Chair for religious pedagogy and didactics of the Protestant religious instruction at the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Patrick Bartsch and Christian Schäfer, will exemplarily analyse Egyptian and Turkish schoolbooks, find interlocutors and develop extensive questions of further research.

In Turkey (Patrick Bartsch) Osmanic traditions, Laizism and the different forms of modern Islam are in a permanent conflict. So different pedagogic concepts can be found at Turkish universities. Further more secular expectations to the Turkish school-system are brought by the returnees from European countries. This dynamic educational policy, the geographical vicinity to Europe and Turkey as a first rank home country of foreign workers for the Federal Republic of Germany are the reasons for an intensive analyse of the Turkish schoolbooks. These textbooks are also used in Western countries for education in Turkish as mother tongue and in Islam as native religion of foreign-workers children.

In Egypt (Christian Schäfer) the long tradition of Islamic education and science at the Al-Azhar-University in Cairo impresses the society and the national educational policy. Further more Al-Azhar possess a mighty influence on culture and policy of the Middle East. In Egypt remains also an extensive autonomous and self-confident Christian church. So members of the Koptic Church should also be acquired for this project. In Cairo exist even more different international institutes of socio-cultural research, with whom cooperation is aspired. Therefore, a detailed analysis of the Egyptian schoolbooks has to include the social plurality and the reception in Jordan or Palestine/ Israel.

1.1.2.5 The perspective of future research in Peace Education

These two projects should receive essential informations for a continued international schoolbook-research in Peace Education and intercultural meeting. The Chair for Religious Pedagogy and Didactics of the Protestant Religious Education at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg proposes to transfer the specified methods to the other Islamic countries and to get a complete description of interreligious education in Islamic countries. In this way an international and interreligious cooperation for Peace Education renders possible. 

Because of the importance of international schoolbook-research in Peace Education, WCRP and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) were ready to support these two projects financially.