Which religious knowledge in the public school? From the European horizon to the Italy case

Abstract

The treatment of the religious subject in the curricula is different according to a vast range of variables. From a epistemological point of view, four models of religious knowledge can be inventoried: a teaching founding in church theology(ies), another founding in theological sciences and at the same time in religious secular studies, a third teaching founded in non-theological religious studies, and finally an approach to religious heritage done into the curricular secular teaching. This models are contextualised in sociological and religious conditions in evolution. The Italian educational system, dependent on a agreement law, is asked today to changing toward a religious instruction profile less dependent on a only confessional tradition and more attentive to the interaction with the religious diversity, with the “knowledge society”, with the appropriate methodologies of the intercultural didactics.