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Religious Education: Theofficial journal of the ReligiousEducation AssociationPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/urea20

Editorial: “Educating forIdentity”Jack L. SeymourPublished online: 06 Apr 2009.

To cite this article: Jack L. Seymour (2009) Editorial: “Educating for Identity”,Religious Education: The official journal of the Religious Education Association, 104:2,111-112, DOI: 10.1080/00344080902794533

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00344080902794533

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EDITORIAL: “EDUCATING FOR IDENTITY”

Religious identity is a focus of the following articles. Today, we carrymultiple identities within us. The identity of family names us. Forexample, I remember many afternoons on my grandmother’s frontporch where she told me again and again the stories of our family.She wanted me to know that our family consisted of “working peo-ple.” Our national identities are reinforced through public rituals andholidays. Each nation has its own rhythm of days that remind a peo-ple of deep values and perspectives. Our ethnicities in multi-culturalcommunities remind us of “our people”—our heritages, values, andcustoms. Moreover, religions through formal teaching, faith procla-mations, daily and seasonal rituals, and community gatherings remindthe faithful of values, meanings, and commitments.

In contrast to this world of multiple identities, in pre-moderntimes, identity seemed more secure and unified. Families had partic-ular and enduring roles within tribes. And families and tribes were setin the midst of religious universes. Forming and maintaining identityseemed easier. Yet, even here, current research is showing us thatidentity was often complicated by multiple communities. For exam-ple, Philip Jenkins in his provocative Lost History of Christianity:The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East,Africa, and Asia—and How It Died (2008) tells how religious iden-tity of Christians (primarily Nestorian and Jacobite), and also Jews,Muslims, and even Buddhists developed alongside and in interactionwith each other while at the same time embodying commitments tonation-states in what is present Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and India.

Significant questions we religious educators ask are the following:How do persons weave a meaningful story among those multiple iden-tities and how does religion affect personal and corporate living? Thefollowing articles offer responses. Kent Donlevy and A. Mac Crimmonshow us how public education has embodied and supported the devel-opment of multiple religious identities. Two historians of educationthen tell fascinating stories of the development of religious and Amer-ican identities: John Elias tells of the creative work of George Johnsonto educate for identity that was Catholic and American in the midst ofthe conflict of war, and Benjamin Jacobs tells how Mordecai Kaplanenvisioned educating for identity that was simultaneously Jewish andAmerican. Lars Naeslund then interprets a qualitative study of how

Religious Education Copyright C© The Religious Education AssociationVol. 104 No. 2 March–April ISSN: 0034–4087 print

DOI: 10.1080/00344080902794533

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112 EDITORIAL

students in Sweden make meaning when encountering persons ofother faith traditions and Theresa O’Keefe examines the educationalpractices of inter-faith learning in a project among persons from Ro-man Catholic and Conservative Jewish communities.

These articles suggestively open the conversation about educatingfor meaning among multiple identities. Moreover, they demonstratehow Religious Education has formed personal and corporate patternsof meaning and living in this multi-cultural and multi-faith world.

In addition to these scholars of religion and education, I alsothank our four reviewers who present us important books—again onthe formation of identity in religious communities.

Jack L. Seymour, Editor

REFERENCE

Jenkins, Philip. 2008. The thousand-year golden age of the church in the Middle East, Africa,and Asia—and how it died. New York: HarperCollins.

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