Courage to Act: Societal Transformation through the Church and Education, distans

The place of religion in the public life of society has been questioned since the rise of the secular realm and anti-religious politics. Today, Religion is back in academic discussions, but it is entering a world in which secular reason and post-totalitarian societies have become the challenges. In this new situation, the discussion of religion enters.

The course explores how religious education and church-based practices can contribute to the strengthening of civil society in post-totalitarian contexts. The primary case explored in the course is Ukraine and Orthodox Christianity, with particular attention to the ways religious narratives, institutions, and educational practices respond to experiences of repression, war, and social transformation.

Detta förväntas kursdeltagaren kunna efter avslutad kurs

• discuss in an informed way how totalitarian regimes function (according to Arendt) and contribute with their own perspectives how religious education can foster the courage to act within the structures of education itself;
• reflect on their personal and collective responsibility, exploring their own capacity to act courageously and ethically in societal, community, and educational contexts;
• employ collaborative practices in church-society relations, and
• reflect on their own contexts and together with others design ideas or projects  whereby the Church can promote democracy, participation in civil society, and representative governance