Presenter F

• In Event: 54.035 - Religion and Public Education in the United States: An Interdisciplinary Symposium

Abstract

1. Objectives or purposes. My education research has focused on pedagogical, legal, and political aspects of teaching about religion in public school contexts. I have written about the teaching of world religions in Texas social studies classes and about Bible courses in various states. As a religious studies professor and biblical scholar, I am especially attuned to the importance of variation not only between religions but within them, and to the difficulty of presenting information about religion in a way that is accurate, sensitive to diverse religious sensibilities, and cognizant of the courts’ guidelines.
2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework. The field of religious studies emphasizes themes of commonality and difference between and within religious traditions. It is not a discipline itself so much as an interpretive stance that employs a variety of disciplinary and methodological tools. Philosophically, my work is grounded in democratic theory that thinks religious literacy serves a civic function by allowing diverse groups within American society to better understand other groups’ practices, beliefs, and values and also to understand other cultures around the group.
3. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry. I draw from multiple fields: religious studies, education, American history, and constitutional law.
4. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials. My research relies upon study of various textual sources (textbooks, state standards, government and historical documents, etc.) as well as online, audio, and visual materials (whether news reports or interest groups’ offerings.). One of my recent articles focused on religious aspects of the politicization of the Texas social studies standards in 2009-2010; another explored how religion was treated in Texas’s state-level education publications over the last century. I am currently researching a book on the history of public school Bible courses, drawing on education documents and archival sources.
5. Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view. The voices of religious studies scholars in general and biblical scholars in particular have often been missing or ignored in public discussions about how to teach about religion. Yet precisely because of our specialized focus on the diversity of interpretations of texts and diversity of practices and beliefs between and within traditions, we have much to offer the conversation.
6. Scholarly significance. My work tries to bridge the gap between religious studies, education studies, and church-state studies in new ways.

Author

• Mark Chancey, Southern Methodist University