Beyond Essentialist Interreligious Education: Insights with a Whiteheadian Perspective of Multiplicity

• Main Author: Joung Chul Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: Religions
• Subjects: interreligious education; essentialism; relationalism; Whitehead; multiplicity
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/7/404

In the late twentieth century, interreligious education emerged as a way to transform one&#8217;s attitude toward other religions and reduce religious prejudice. This article addresses the philosophical aspects of this practice, in particular the problems that arise when an essentialist approach is accommodated. The problems include the <i>why</i> (philosophical rationale), the <i>who</i> (subject and participant), the <i>what</i> (content), and the <i>future</i> (purpose). In response, the author explores how a relational approach grounded in a Whiteheadian philosophy of multiplicity would allow us to understand interreligious education differently. The article finds that a relational approach can help us imagine and embody interreligious education in a more humanizing, inclusive, and transformative way.