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Editorial
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Religious beliefs, rituals, and practices have been
part of all human cultures in nearly every corner of the globe for millennia.
Moreover, religion has structured the lives of men and women in profound
ways right up to the very present. Religious conflict has been at the root
of countless wars for many thousands of years, and religious conviction
has led people of a wide variety of cultures to die for their beliefs or
to fan out across the world to profess the wonders of their faiths. |
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This issue of World History Connected is
devoted to the theme of religion and its many manifestations in world history.
In particular, several of the essays featured here -- those by Moore, Sisisky,
Weber, and Fahey -- address the special problems and issues of teaching about
religion in the world history classroom. As they point out, teaching about
religion can be tricky at both the secondary and university levels. For
example, the discussion of religion can evoke personal reactions among students.
Or, perhaps more importantly, we as teachers are often not as equipped as
we would like to teach about the array of world religions we are confronted
with in the historical record.
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Other essays and columns in this issue address specific
religions and the ways discussion about them might be incorporated into
the world historical classroom. Indeed, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, Sufism,
Shintoism, and even syncretism (which is not a religion itself but rather
a particular blend of religions) are featured here. In addition, for those
wishing to explore the world beyond religions in this issue, we have showcased
a variety of columns, reviews, and a follow-up debate about the "rise of
the West" here as well. |
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Although
we can hardly hope to comprehensively "cover" all, or even most, of the world's
religions in one issue, we do hope to create the space for a dialogue about
the ways in which we go about teaching religion to our students and the ways
we can prepare ourselves to learn about religions. Our goal, as always, is
to provide useful, timely, and practical support to teachers of world history
everywhere.
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Heather Streets, Co-editor
Tom Laichas, Co-editor
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