Difficult Knowledge(s) and the False Religion(s) of Schooling

Publication Date

2019

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The Journal of Educational Foundations

Volume

32

Issue

2022-01-04

First Page

5

Last Page

23

Abstract

This analytic essay builds on recent work examining the ways religiosity in U.S. education is manifest in the particular discourses that come to shape popular understandings of the possible in and through schooling. The authors analyze the function of four concepts, in light of recent constructions of religions and their relative positioning as 'true' or 'false,' in order to make a larger point about the ways in which religious understandings of difficult knowledge (Pitt & Britzman, 2003), falsehood, truth, and risk underline that which is im/possible in the U.S. educational project. Building from an "exorbitant moment" (Gallop, 2002) in a Catholic school, and putting it in conversation with recent discourses about ISIS/ISIL, Christianity, and the possibility of a true (and thus, false) religion, the work argues that ultimately schooling, averse to the risk of falsehood, continues to posit a single road to what is true and who has access to truth. This orientation, the authors suggest, is especially manifest in the ongoing moment of educational reform.

Keywords

Religious Education, Catholic Schools, Epistemology, Educational Change, Religious Factors, Islam, Discourse Analysis

Department

English and Comparative Literature

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