Diversified Religion Studies In The Classroom: A Comparative Analysis

(1950)Diversified Religion Studies in the Classroom: A Compare and Contrast Analysis of the Emergence of Erasmus’ Secular Humanistic Education Theory and the Calvin’s Religious Theory of Education

This comparison and contrast study of educational theory will define the educational methodology of Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1515) and John Calvin (1509-1564). Erasmus’ theory of humanistic education defines a theoretical shift away from a “god-centered” approach to learning, which relies in classical philosophy and teaching basic learning skills in the renaissance classroom. In contrast to this theory, Calvin often relied on a “god-centered” model of education, which moved away from classical natural philosophy to a more religious style of teaching.

In a historical context, the founding of the Puritan school system had a major effect on how Calvinistic theory promoted religious values and the humanistic method of education. However, the dominance of a single religious value system became a serious issue of diversity as the United States came into being under the Founding Fathers. Certainly, I agree that humanistic education provides a more diverse understanding of natural and law and natural philosophy, but religion could be taught through the vantage point of pluralism as a tradition within the United

To avoid the pitfalls of a Christian-centered educational system, I would teach a “world religions” class, not unlike what I had learned in a collegiate educational environment. In fact, it was a basic course requirement to take a religious course, which could expose the individual to a wide range of belief systems. This could also be accomplished within the high school educational system, which could defer criticism of Christianity being the dominant religion to be taught in a course of this kind. Religious education, therefore, would demand that students learn a variety of religions through a pluralistic format, so that the there is no preferential treatment for any single religion. Historically, this would alleviate fears of a Christian focus becoming the dominant source of educational policy. This type of educational policy would be my choice , but it would have to be formatted with diversity and pluralism as the focus of the curriculum. The clash between Erasmus and Calvinist theory define the necessity of blending religion and humanism into a constructive and cooperative format that does not alienate any particular religious group in teaching religion in American public