Spirituality-Related Policies: on Religion, Values and Education

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleПолитики на духовността: за религията, ценностите и възпитанието
3. Language term Bulgarian
4. lemma author Nachev, Ivaylo
5. lemma category Education, Science and Orthodoxy
6. Publication date 13-12-2018
7. lemma work Сапунджиева, Клавдия [Author]. Политики на духовността: за религията, ценностите и възпитанието
8. lemma manifestations Публични политики (PublicPolicies.bg)
9. Keywords Bulgarian educational system - Bulgarian Orthodox Church - religious education
10. Url Click Here
11. Lemma body

    1. In this article Sapundjieva makes a broad overview of Bulgarian policies related to the spiritual culture throughout the modern history and looks in particular at the place of religious education in Bulgarian schools. The historical links between religion and schools are discussed since the second half of the 19^th century. The author emphasizes the traditional role of the schools for teaching Christian values. Hundreds of textbooks on religious education were published and it the first half of the 20^th century the Bulgarian Orthodox Church started closely supervising the process. The quality of the textbooks improved and some prominent intellectuals took part in their making. The article also presents contemporary debates on religious education. Religious institutions and some academic circles advocate for more attention to the subject in the school curriculum. The changing role of religious education is examined in the context of transformation of values, education and social practices in the modern and post-modern situation posing various challenges to the individual and the family. The author touches upon challenges to the specialists who will be involved in religious education.  Sapundjieva also suggests  measures to deal with deficits in the dialogue between the educational system and the media.