Common Ground With A Common Faith: Dewey’s Idea of the “Religious”

Authors

Bradley Baurain, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Education & Culture 27 (2) (2011): 74-91

Comments

Published by Purdue University Press. Used by permission.

Abstract

In A Common Faith, Dewey rejects organized religion and belief in the supernatural, instead arguing for an authentically “religious” attitude which this interpretive essay analyzes in terms of four propositions: 1) Knowledge is unifi ed. 2) Knowledge is democratic. 3) Th e pursuit of moral ideals requires moral faith. 4) Th e authority for moral ideals is experience as explored via inquiry. Th e author responds from the perspective of his own religious faith and outlines conceptual relationships with modern spirituality in education writers. Th e common ground is that the “religious” must be seen as a signifi cant way of being and becoming in education.