This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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History of Religions
History of the 3 Monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and of the main different Christianity confessions (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism and Protestantism)
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Pedagogical Approaches
New pedagogical approaches to teach history of religion
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Role of Religions in Civilization
How to didactically promote among students of different confessions, the capacity of a critical analysis and understanding of the role played by religions in the history of mankind
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Interreligious Students’ Competences
Set of teaching contents, to be used by teachers to highlight and valorize the universal values of tolerance and universalisms that all Monotheistic religions and religious texts contain to promote and sustain mutual understanding among students
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Managing Multi-Religious Classes
Teaching Sources to help teachers dealing with multicultural and multi-religious classes
Map
An interactive didactical map interactive didactical map giving access to sites with a religious relevance.-
Introduction
A comparative review of the liturgical celebrations, ceremonies and dietary rules existing in the different religions.
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Celebrations
Description and comparative analysis of the celebrations of different religions and confessions
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Ceremonies
Description and comparative analysis of the ceremonies of different religions and confessions
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Dietary Rules
Description and comparative analysis of the dietary rules of different religions and confessions
Events
The Pathway through Religions project has been promoted trough conferences and articles.
Conferences
The Pathway through Religions project was presented in a number of events in order to report about the activities carried out and the results achieved
Press Review
The Pathway through Religions project partnership made contacts with web sites focusing on the fields of educationPartnership
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Contractual Partners
From this section it is possible to access to a description of each contractual partner of the Pathway through Religions project.
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Schools
From this section it is possible to access to the information about the schools involved in the Pathway through Religions Project in the European countries involved.
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Associated Partners
As a result of the exploitation activity a number of associated partners officially joined the project in order to contribute to the improvement of the project impact on their target groups and to ensure the project sustainability by continuing using the project deliverables in the next years.
This section of the Pathway through Religions portal provides administrative information for the project contractual partners and for the European Commission and it is password protected.
Pedagogical Approaches
Homepage > Teachers’ Guide > Pedagogical Approaches
New pedagogical approaches to teach history of religion
Multidisciplinary Pedagogical Approaches to Teach History of Religions
2. Teaching Religion through the Personal Experiences of Prophets and Saints
Religious texts can be also taught through the life of prophets and saints. This methodological approach of teaching religion is to be used to show students that common people can follow the morals and the values sacred books teach. Teaching religion through the experiences of prophets and saints can be built around discussions that cover the following topics:
- What is the role of a prophet? Here the teacher can explain that the prophets are the messengers between God and the common people; that through the lives and revelations of prophets, people can find a deeper meaning of what is happening around them. Some relative texts from sacred books can be cited: in the Bible NKJV (New King James Version), Hosea 12:10, “I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.”
- Why does God send prophets? Here the teacher can explain that by studying the life of prophets we can be guided to live in a way that embraces all human values – to respect other people’s beliefs, to love each other, not to harm living things and to value life.
- Prophets are not necessarily popular and not necessarily “perfect”. It is said that prophecy is a gift and prophets may speak words that the others might not want to hear. The teacher can explain about what is true and false, about how other people determine what is true and false, about what is accepted and not accepted between people. Here the teacher may quote the story of Yusuf (Surah Yusuf in the Holy Quran) - Yusuf is one of the sons of Ya'qub (known as Jacob in the English translation) who has the talent of interpreting dreams. One day Yusuf has a dream and he narrates his dream to his father who immediately knows that Yusuf will be a prophet. His father tells him not to tell his brothers to avoid any harm. Yusuf's brothers felt jealous. They wanted to get rid of Yusuf, etc.
- What is the role of a saint in the sacred books? Here the teacher can explain that the saints are role models and we can turn to them when we want to develop a certain quality in our character. For example, one asks for someone’s help when one knows the other person has the necessary quality and also opportunity to help. Here the teacher can relate the lives of saints to patience, or some other quality they know children had to struggle with.
Online Resources
- Stories of prophets in IslamThe resource presents the stories of prophets in Islam in different languages
- Prophets in ChristianityThe resource presents the stories of prophets in Christianity
- Prophets in Christianity 2The resource also presents the stories of prophets in Christianity but they are structured by name of the prophet and historical context
- Prophets in JudaismThe resource presents the major prophets in Judaism and also presents a lot of information about Jewish culture, explanations of the Torah, traditions, etc.
- Kenneth L. Woodward, The Book of Miracles: The Meaning of the Miracle Stories in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam The article presents a comparative study of how the lives of prophets and saints are depicted in the different religions.
Practical Activity
- The Story of Abraham – comparative analysis of how the life of the prophet Abraham is shown in the different monotheistic religionsThis resource presents an introduction to the person of Abraham and the significant position he holds in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike.
