By Lauren R. Kerby
At the Religious Literacy Project, a fundamental component of how we teach about religion is what we call the nondevotional approach. For many people, this is a new way of talking about religion. Unless you’ve taken a religious studies class, you may have never been asked to observe and discuss religion in this way. And it can be confusing! But one thing that can help is to focus on what kind of conversation you want to have.
By Sean Radcliff
When I set out to teach a class on the “major world religions,” I knew that so much would have to end up on the cutting room floor. I knew that I’d have to be efficient in order to cover the “most important aspects” of each religion. With that in mind, I planned out my whole year in advance – something I had never done before. I’d have 12 blocks of 90 minutes each to teach about Islam. It still wasn’t a lot of time, but I organized what I thought was a really solid unit. But as we were getting close to finish the 3rd quarter of the student year, COVID-19 disrupted all of my plans.
By Kristofer Rhude
As we prepare for the next school year, it is likely that many teachers will be returning to an online format. Here at HDS, we will be online again ourselves. The RLP has experience creating online classrooms through Harvard Extension and HX for several years, and we are here to support you as you rethink what it means to teach in this new way. We’ve put together a few preliminary thoughts for you to consider as you prepare for next year, and we welcome further conversation.
By Mitchell Rutledge
Mitchell Rutledge is a graduate of Prospect High School in Mount Prospect Illinois, where he was a student of Religious Literacy Project Education Fellow John Camardella. Here he shares an experience of meeting Kahina Bahloul, founder of a women’s mosque in Paris. After learning about her work in his high school world religions class, Mitchell was eager to hear more and what religious literacy looked like beyond the classroom.
By Lauren R. Kerby
This lesson uses two different images of Christopher Columbus to challenge students to move beyond how they may have been taught to think about violence and peace. It asks them to identify cultural violence and cultural peace in images that may challenge what they think of as violent or peaceful. It also offers suggestions for how to connect these ideas to current events, including Black Lives Matter.
Welcome! This blog is a space to showcase teaching materials, resources, and reflections from educators and staff engaged with the Religious Literacy and Education Initiative at Harvard Divinity School.
