Link zur Manuskiptversion: homepage.univie.ac.at/henning.schluss/Publikationen/wissart/B-064-Religionssensible-Paedagogik-Kompetenz-manuskript.pdf

Published as "Prager, Christian M., 2010 Die kognitionswissenschaftliche Erforschung von Religion. In: Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 135:219-232" The purpose of this review paper is to discuss the relevance of cognitive science to the field of cultural anthropology with special emphasis on religious studies. Cognition as the mental capacity to represent and process information is a striking part the mental apparatus. It is concerned with the manner in which people represent and interpret their natural, social and cultural environment. According to the standard model in the social sciences only socio-cultural factors could explain cultural and religious phenomena - its natural foundations, however, have been largely ignored so far and mark the focus of the cognitive science of cultural studies. According to this view culture can also be regarded as constellations of mental and public representations communicated and regulated by human minds. Thus, a cognitive science of culture and religion differs from the social science standard model by insisting that both domains are to be understood by-products of ordinary cognitive processes and a cognitive science of culture and religion seeks to explain the natural foundations of culture that also includes religious phenomena.

Im Rahmen der Analytischen Philosophie hat sich seit einiger Zeit ein sehr lebendiger religionsphilosophischer Zweig entwickelt, der die klassischen Fragen der natürlichen Theologie aufgreift und im Lichte der neuen Theorien in Ontologie und Erkenntnistheorie auf neue Weise interpretiert. Diese Anthologie versammelt zentrale, gut verständliche Beiträge der letzten Jahre zu den Fragen des Selbstverständnisses der Analytischen Religionsphilosophie, der Begründbarkeit der Existenz Gottes, der Interpretation seiner Attribute und dem Theodizeeproblem.

This paper outlines the discipline “Religionsaisthetik” (Aisthetics of Religion) as a program for the comparative study of religion. Based on the complex discursive reasonings of religious studies’, it argues for a heuristic approach to religion. The scientific concept of describing religion should be separated from any specific religious and/or social discourse. The aim is to pursue a purely scientific approach. “Religionsaisthetik” begins its research with the sensory perception of religion. It analyzes communication and multimedia “Sign Processes”. Order, Orientation and Meaning will be used for the description of religion as a “Perceptual Space”. Further analytical concepts include Symbol, Myth, Narration and Ritual.

Bildungs- und Bildungsorganisationsevaluation, Edition: 1, Chapter: Evaluation (inter-)religiöser Kompetenz / Evaluation (inter-)religious competence, Publisher: De Gryter, Editors: Thomas Müller, Christiane Giese, Helga Marburger, pp.295-312. Der Beitrag diskutiert die Frage, ob und inwiefern eine Evaluation religiöser Bildung im schulischen Zusammenhang möglich, sinnvoll und zulässig ist. Der Zusammenhang von religiöser Bildung und interreligiöser Bildung wird erörtert. Darüber hinaus stellt er die (insbesondere im evangelischen Bereich) probatesten Konzepte zur Evaluation religiöser Kompetenz vor und diskutiert diese im Vergleich. Abschließend werden weiterführende Probleme erörtert. The article discusses the question of whether and to what extent is an evaluation of religious education in the school context possible, appropriate and permissible. The relationship between religious education and inter-religious education will be discussed. It also introduces the (especially in Protestant area) probatesten concepts for the evaluation of religious competence and discussed these in comparison. Finally, further problems are discussed.