Allah, God, YHWH, Gott*: Language-Aware Perspectives on References to God in Religious and Worldview Education. A Comparative Study of Finnish and German School Textbooks

Abstract

Language awareness is part of religious and worldview education. In this study, we understand religious and worldview education as language-sensitive and argue that it is necessary to investigate the perspectives on religious language in language-aware school pedagogy. In our view, religious language can be an identity marker which navigates and reflects one’s position. We analysed the language used in Finnish and German secondary school textbooks for the Lutheran religion, the Roman Catholic religion and for Islam as well as for the subject culture, worldview and ethics (Finland) and practical philosophy (Germany). Using discourse analysis, we examined the representations of God in the textbooks’ chapters about Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which are characterized as monotheistic religions. According to the findings in this study, representations of God in the textbooks refer to the self-understanding of the studied religion in RE. This study also shows that the use of the name of God in textbooks illustrates similarities and differences in Abrahamic religions. We argue that inter-worldview learning in the context of religious and worldview education enables participation, dialogue and encounter, and that language awareness is part of inter-worldview learning.