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Shared Religious Foundations of Education: Islam & Christianity

Shared Religious Foundations of Education: Islam & Christianity

Author:
Publisher: Ansariyan Publications – Qum
English

Note:

This book is taken from www.al-islam.org

Shared Religious Foundations of Education: Islam & Christianity

Author(s):Hamid RezaAlavi

Publisher(s):Ansariyan Publications - Qum

www.alhassanain.org/english

This book explores the religious foundations of educational system found in Islam & Christianity and the relation between each other.

Miscellaneous information:

Shared Religious Foundations of Education: Islam & Christianity Author:Hamid RezaAlavi Associate professor ofShahid Bahonar University of Kerman Publisher:Ansariyan Publications - Qum First Edition 1426-1385-2006Negheen Press Quantity: 2000 Number of Pages: 128 Size: 143X205 mm ISBN: 964-438--

Notice:

Thiswork is published on behalf of www.alhassanain.org/english

The typing errors aren’t corrected.

Table of Contents

Dedication 6

Introduction 7

Ontology 9

Anthropology 13

Goals of Man’s Creation 14

Man’s Personality 16

Determinism and Free Will 21

Man’s Responsibility 23

Effect of Ontology on Education 25

Definition of Education 25

Goals of Education 26

Is Religious Education Pupil - Oriented or Teacher - Oriented? 33

Epistemology 36

Status of Knowledge and Cognition 36

Tools and Ranks of Knowledge 45

Sources of knowledge and Cognition 50

Obstacles of Knowledge and Cognition 51

Effect of Epistemology on Education 54

Status of Teacher 54

Teaching Methods 55

Instructional Contents 60

Axiology 65

Effect of Axiology on Education 75

Conclusion 80

References 82

Dedication

In The Name Of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

To my parents,

Who taughtme , the alphabet of “education” for the, first time.

Introduction

Islam and Christianity are two important religions upon which educationcan be based . By “Islam” and “Christianity” we mean both Islamic texts such as the Holy Qur’an, and “traditions” (narrations) and the viewpoints of Islamic scholars, and Christian texts (i.e. the Holy Bible) and the viewpoints of Christian scholars. Since Islam and Christianityhave been considered religious schools, their similarities, not differences, have been emphasized in this book.

Religious foundation of education in this book includes:

1. Ontology

2. Effect of ontology on education (ontology and education)

3. Epistemology

4. Effect of epistemology on education (epistemology and education)

5. Axiology

6. Effect of axiology on education (axiology and education).

Ontology consists of such topics like God, world, anthropology (which in itself consists of topics like, the goals of man’s creation, man’s personality, man’s freewill and determinism, and man’s responsibility). The effect of ontology on education consists of such topics like definition of education, goals of education, teacher-oriented or pupil-centered education.

Epistemology consists of such topics like status of knowledge and cognition, tools and stages of knowledge and cognition, sources of knowledge and cognitions, and obstacles of knowledge and cognition. The effect of epistemology on education consists of topics like teaching methods and instructional contents.

Axiology consists of the meanings of values,virtues and happiness, the hierarchy of values, and discussions about absolute or relative being of the values. The effect of axiology on education consists of discussion about educational values and the role of the teacher and student in teaching them.

We can consider the six above-mentioned branches for each philosophical educational school. A philosophical educational school is in fact a collection ofideas which have similarities from philosophy and education points of view.

As said, each philosophical educational schoolcan be based on different foundations, the most important of which can be the religious foundations. In other words, we can extract some points from Islamic and Christian texts, whichcan be considered the basis or foundation of education, i.e. the mentioned six branches, and this will form a very important religious foundation of education.

It should be noted that it is very difficult to find some quite similar ideas in the sixabove mentioned branches. That’s the reason why there is a great difference between the writers of different books regarding which scholar or philosopher belongs to which school (for example, see:Ozmon & Craver, 2000; Kneller, 2001;Ebrahim Zadeh , 1990;Gutek , 2001;Khalili Shavarini , 1999;Amuzeger , 2000;Sheari Nejad , 1998;Nikzad , 1992;Popkin & Stroll, 1991;Forughi , 1996;Shariatmadari , 1998;Shariatmadari , 1985).

This differentiation is sometimes so difficult that some writers have rarely tried to mention the names of several philosophers under a particular philosophical school; rather, they, in most cases, have tried to describe the viewpoints of the philosophers independently (e.g.Naqib Zadeh , 1996, 1999 has mentioned only “pragmatism”).

It is probably due to this difficulty in the differentiation of various philosophers from various schools that there has been a great difference among the viewpoints of the writers (e.g. seeAmuzegar , 2000;Ozmon & Craver, 2000;Gutek , 2001;Shariatmadari , 1998; Kneller, 2001;Ebrahim Zadeh , 1990;Sheari Nejad , 1995), i.e. one philosopher has been attributed to different schools in different books.

It is also probably due to the above fact that some writers believe that the educational views represented by some educational philosophers are not directly resulted from their philosophical views. Therefore, such writers have not used titles such as “effects of ontology,epistemology and axiology on education” (such writers asGutek , 2001;Amuzegar , 2000;Nikzad , 1002;Shariatmadari , 1998;Shariatmadari , 1985;Naqib Zadeh , 1996;Naqib Zadeh , 1999; Kneller, 2001;Ozmon & Craver, 2000).

But, there are also some writers that have used the phrase “effect of ontology, epistemology and axiology on education” (e.g.Ebrahim Zadeh , 1990;Khalili Shavarini , 1999), although the educational views of educational philosophers can’t be completely and accurately considered as the result of their philosophical view concerning ontology, epistemology and axiology, on the other hand we can’t deny the effect of each of these on education completely, or, at least, deny the relationship between ontology, epistemology, axiology and education for every educational philosopher or religion.

That has been the reason why we have used both phrases and items: “effect of ontology on education” and “ontology and education”, etc.

Ontology

Ontology in Greekmeans “on being.” Its other meaning is, “being qua being.” The word ontologywas coined in the early seventeenth century to avoid some ambiguities of “metaphysic” - Leibniz was the first philosopher to adopt the word.

The terminology introduced by Christian Wolf in the early eighteenth century came to be widely adopted: ontology is the general theory of being as such, and forms the general part of metaphysics, or theoretical philosophy.

The three special parts are general cosmology, rationalpsychology and natural theology, i.e. the theory of the world, the soul, and God. It is on the ontological question that modern materialism,physical and naturalism differ sharply from their opponents: the question of what there is (Maunter , 2005).

In Islam, itis believed that the world outside the mind has a real being. The original fact in everything is its “being” (Tabataba’i , 1971) and the “being” is considered as the most evidentialthings which do not need to be proved (Ebrahim Zadeh , 1990). The worldis not only summarized in the material aspect, but also immaterial facts have reality.

The reality of the being, in spite of having different forms, is unique and one (Tabatabaie , undated). Infirmity of the effect is inherent in it and dependent being will never be needless of the “cause.” In other words, the being and existence of the effect is the very belonging and dependence to the creatorcause (Mesbah Yazdi , 1986).

Thus, the being of the world is the very belonging and dependence on God, that is, the entire world is as an effect, the cause of which is God. Each particle of the world owes its being to God. In other words, God is absolute and complete being who has encompassed the world, andthat’s why the entire universe manifests the existence of the creator.

Therefore, Godcan’t be considered as an existing for example, “in the sky”, who is creating the being and the creatures.

TheGod which the Glorious Qur’an defines is peerless and unique, creator of all things and the worlds, and all other things are created by Him (Goreshi , 1985). The origin of the world, i.e. the creator or God, should possess the necessary conditions and merits for creating the world.

The creator of discipline and general movement should have continuous knowledge, intellect, episteme, innovation,life and management. The main origin of the world should possess originality and should be pre-existing and eternal (Dashti , 1981).

The world is a goal-centered. There is resurrection or eternal life and then a new birth as an undeniable principle in the whole of the being and existence system. The appearance of creatures is possible through cooperation and unity of diverse forces and elements of the world.

A new creatureis created by combination of different elements that this birth is very principle of resurrection, and so the world is created based on this dynamic and productive principle (Dashti , 1981).

Change and transformation are from the characteristics of matter, thus each material “being” takes part in this process. According to this, absolute destruction and annihilationcan only be considered as a relative interpretation that measures each stage of the change process against its previous one, because all material things are always confronting frequent changes and transformations in the route of their continuity.

In other words, the being goes through stages in a goal - centered style and flows dynamically in the way to accomplish the creation goals. For example, a seedis dropped in the earth. This very seed will grow into a corpulent and giant tree having many branches,leaves and fruits, that is, a collection possessing millions of cells each of which has thousands of particles and ingredients.

The seed in the very beginningcan’t be compared with the greatest computers and the most complicated programs of the world. That seed possessing such a program has a potential power to go through the highest stages of transformation. Such a program is definitely governing the universe and its events.

On the other hand, if the leaves of that tree are fallen on the earth they will fall to decay by passing of time and will turn into other particles in the soil…. This is an unlimited process and it is a transformation.It is a process in which there is no sign of destruction .

That is the reason why the Holy Qur’an has not used even for one time in its verses the word “fout ”= (passing away, dying) for man; rather it has used the word “vafat ” = (departure) because in the Arabic language the word “fout ” indicates absolute destruction and the word “vafat ” = (departure) indicates transformation and change from one stage to another.

The first and the most important belief in Islam is the doctrine of the oneness of Allah (God). This beliefis called the “Tawhid .” Thisis made clear in theshahadah , the first pillar of Islam, which states that, “There is no God except Allah the One God &“Muhammad” is the Messenger of Allah.

A Muslim is someone who has submitted himself or herself to the will of Allah. Since Allah (God) is beyond all human understanding, so human beings cannot describe Him: “Say: He is Allah, the One and the only; Allah, the eternal, Absolute; He beget not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him” (quoted in Keene, 2005).

The first statement of the Holy Bible describes God as the creator of the heaven and the earth whose command encompasses the entire world, “God said, let there be light and there was light… And let the dry land appear: and it was so…” (Genesis 1: 2 & 7).

God is the central subject of the Bible and always presented in relationship with the world, with that which is not God. God’s existence is assumed from the first verse of Genesis, God’s core character and most basic purposes are very constant across two testaments, and the divine speaking and acting are always in service of those purposes, whether in creation, judgment, or salvation.

God is a character in every biblical tradition (except Esther). God is presented as one who speaks, is spoken to, and is spoken about (though God’s direct peaking is rare in the NT), and one who acts and is affected by the action of others (e.g. provoked to anger).

Most commonly, God is presented as a character in a narrative, whose presence may be depicted as both intense (Sinai, Jesus Christ) and unobtrusive (the Joseph story). Narratives provide depth to God’s character without bringing closure to the depiction of God; they present God as a complexity.

The following claims are central regarding the biblical understanding of God; texts are cited from both OT and NT and are significantly represented across various genres and traditions: living and eternal, unity, unique and incomparable, present, active, relational, intentional, interactive, situational, effective, vulnerable, use of agents, mighty acts, extraordinary events (Fretheim , cited from Freedman, Myers & Beck, 2000)

Christians believe that God is omnipotent (the all - powerful creator of everything) who has a plan and purpose for all things, omniscient - the Being Who knows everything and everyone, perfect - the perfectly good and all-loving Being, eternal - outside and beyond all space and time, the Judge - the one who decides what happens to us when we die, the Father - the one who cares for us all.

Christians believe that God is one but is known or experienced through Holy Spirit. They call this belief the Trinity (Keene, 2005).

From the viewpoint of the Bible, God is not only “one” in an absolute sense, but also contains “within himself”, so to speak, a plurality of characteristics and personhood (Renn , 2005).

In the Bible, God has been variously defined as “God most high” or “most high God” (Gen. 14:1377; Dan. 3:6; Num. 24:16; Deut. 32:8; Dan 5:13,2), “almighty” (cf. Gen.17:11;35:11; Exod. 6:3, Num. 24:4&16; Ruth 1:20, 21; ps. 63:14; Isa. 13:6; Joe 11:15) “holy one” (cf. 2Kgs. 19:22; ps. 89:12; Isa. 5:19; Hab. 3:3), “mighty God ”(cf. Isa. 9:6; 10:21; Jer. 32:12), “righteous” (cf.exod . 9: 27; 2chr .12: 6;pss . 129:4; 145:17; Lam. 1:13), “King” (e.g.pss . 24:8010; 29:10; 89:13; Isa. 6:5; 43:15; Jet. 10:10; 48:15; Zech. 14:9, 16, 17; Mal. 1:14), and such other names and propertiesas: father, judge, redeemer,saviour , deliverer, shield, strength (Renn , 2005).

“God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1). “God is my salvation” (Is. 12:2). “Beside me there is no God” (Is. 44:6). “There is one God” (Mk. 12:32). “Heavens declare the Glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). “All the earth bows down to you, they sing Praise to you, they sing the Praises of your name” (Psalm 66:4). “Tremble before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9).

Therefore, as for man as a particle of the universe: “come, let us bow down in worship, and let us kneel before the Lord our maker” (Psalm 95:6).

Then, the dutiesof mankind and bondman before such God are referred to: “Ask of God, God will give it thee” (In. 11: 22). “You believe in God” (Acts 5: 29). “Fear God” (rev. 14: 7). “Follow him” (I King 13: 21). “In God I have put my trust” (Psalm 56: 4). “Give thank unto the God of Gods” (Psalm 136: 2). “Hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146: 5), etc.

One of the oldest and the most important Christian statements of belief is the Nicene Creed, which goes back to the fourth century C.E. It opens with the words: “I believe in one God…Maker of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible…” This is the point at which the Bible also begins.

The universe, theworld and human beings are not divine - as God is. Theyare created , God is the creator. That is the real message behind the two Creation Stories in Genesis (Keene, 2005).

Jesus came into the world to share its hopes and sadness - and to show just what God was like. He left behind the teachings that would allow people who followed also to know what God is like - as they can read theBible: “The word (Jesus) became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory of the one God and the only, which came from the father, full of grace and truth” (John 1.14) (cited from Keene, 2005).

According to the Bible, the worldwas created with purpose in mind, and God is closely involved in this purpose (Dewar, 2002).That’s because He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things the universe finds its purpose and meaning only in Him (Perks, 1992).

Therefore, since the universehas not been created in vain, there will surely be an eternal life after this worldly life: “The gift of God is eternal life” (6:23). “About the resurrection of the dead - have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and God of Jacob’, He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31-32).

The story of the creation of the universe and all forms of life, both animal and human,is told in the opening chapter of the book of Genesis. The description there speaks of the essential goodness of God’s creation: “God looked at everything he had made and he was very pleased” (Genesis 1.31). The creation was perfect and God wastotally satisfied with all that He had made (Keene, 2005).

The idea that everything strives towards the ultimate goodis based on Aristotle’s Four Causes. This striving towards ultimate reality is also the basis of Augustine’s theodicy (Dewar 2002). Unlike the Greek idea of God being associated with the world of humans, He intervenes directly in events. In other words, the Bible shows God’s involvement in the world to be dynamic (Dewar, 2002).