Teaching about religion in France. The role of works of art and iconography

  • Isabelle Saint-Martin École Pratique des Hautes Études, EPHE, PSL
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7410/1392
Keywords: Education and Religion, Public School and Religious Pluralism, Secularisation, Art and Religion, Éducation et religion, École publique et pluralité religieuse, Laïcité, Art et Religion

Abstract

The lack of understanding of our cultural heritage was one of the major reasons raised twenty years ago to justify teaching about religions in schools. Though the issue went on to reach other subjects, works of art offer a privileged means by which to talk about how religion affects the lives of people in other civilisations, as they are as concrete as you can get. Taking a look, through examples, at how the place of art as a vector of teaching about religions evolved in the debate can shed some light on the assets and limits of this approach.

La perte de compréhension du patrimoine culturel fut parmi les premiers motifs invoqués en faveur d’un enseignement des faits religieux à l’école laïque, il y a une vingtaine d’années. Si l’argumentation s’est par la suite appuyée sur d’autres aspects, les œuvres d’art offrent une perspective privilégiée pour aborder, par la médiation d’un support concret, diverses facettes de la dimension du religieux dans une civilisation. Examiner la place de cette référence dans les évolutions du débat, à travers quelques exemples, peut éclairer les atouts et les limites d’une telle approche.

 

Author Biography

Isabelle Saint-Martin, École Pratique des Hautes Études, EPHE, PSL

Isabelle Saint-Martin is a professor (DE) at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE, PSL) and a member of the HISTARA research team. From 2010 to 2018, she was the director of the IESR (Institut européen en sciences des religions), a center of expertise and advice on current and historical issues involving secularity and religious questions formed in 2002, after the Debray’s Report on teaching about religions in public schools, as an institute within the EPHE). She has recently published Peut-on parler des religions à l’école ? (Albin Michel 2019).

Published
2019-12-30
Issue
Vol. 5/I n. s. (December 2019)
Section
Articles / Articoli
Copyright (c) 2019 Isabelle Saint-Martin

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