ABSTRACT

England has been a plural society, in religious terms, since the Reformation, and an increasingly secular one since the introduction, during the last century, of radical alternatives to religion. The teacher of religious education, if he is unable to suspend his own convictions and adopt an alternative approach, is in a dilemma. Many who have entered this field from sincerely held Christian convictions experience this dilemma vividly. The religious educator must not only make the bricks of reason, but also gather the straw of experience for his children. Phenomenology of religion is concerned with a ‘presuppositionless’ approach to that which is essential and unique to the essence and manifestation of religion. The religious educator will no longer rely on the child coming to him with an initial understanding.