Religious Worlds of New York: Teaching the Everyday Life of American Religious Diversity

FAIN: ES-231108-15

Interfaith Center of New York (New York, NY 10115-0081)
Henry Goldschmidt (Project Director: February 2015 to May 2017)

A three-week summer institute for twenty-five school teachers on religious diversity in America, exemplified by six religious traditions.

This three week institute will offer school teachers an advanced introduction to the religious diversity of the United States, through a rigorous engagement with religious studies scholarship, and with the religious life of New York City. Participants will explore six major religious traditions. They will discuss the constitutional and pedagogic issues surrounding the study of religion in public and private schools. They will meet with diverse religious leaders, visit local houses of worship, and conduct field research to trace the presence of “religion” in a New York neighborhood. In addition to these community-based pedagogies, they will also explore a number of classroom strategies for teaching about religious life, including the use of literature and film. The institute will thus give participants the pedagogic tools they need to teach their students about lived religion – that is, about the everyday lives of their fellow Americans from diverse religious traditions.