Abstract:

This book, by the American Catholic religious educationist James Michael Lee, focuses on the issue of the place of religious education among the sciences. It reveals the foundations of a macro-theoretical approach to religious education and clarifies the crucial issues related to its nature, basic principles, methodology, and especially its difference with theology by dealing with it comprehensively, systematically, and scientifically. The book had a wide repercussion in the Christian religious education world in the US when it was first published, mainly because it contained opinions and claims against the dominant theological religious education paradigm at the time. It has a great importance in terms of its content and problem subject and it is the first and only work written in its field. The main thesis of the author is that the place of religious education among the sciences is not theology, but social sciences. The social science approach, founded by different theorists but transformed into a comprehensive macro theory by Lee, defines religious education as an experimental activity related to theology but based on the empirical observation of the teaching-learning process, rather than a branch of theology. The author, who makes a strict theological science critique to ground his approach and makes extensive use of scientific data in accordance with the social science paradigm of his period, analyzes the social science approach and the theological approach thoroughly, which he positions as its antithesis, and gives a unique perspective on why religious education should be positioned as a social science discipline.

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