A Study of Interreligious Communication Through Sharing Ascetic Practices

ABSTRACT

The problems of religious education today derive from the schooling instruction paradigm itself. The object of religious education is not simply to understand and accumulate knowledge, but to realize and act on the realization. So religious education should avoid schooling instruction paradigm and adopt a paradigm for experiential, relational, and reflective education. Such a religious education requires a praxis paradigm whereby one acts while reflecting and reflects while acting. This requirement for special religious education can be met by ascetic practices. The ascetic practice can be divided into separation phase, transition phase, and reentry phase. Religions usually have their own idiosyncratic ascetic practice, but it is also true that most religions take one of the three phases as part of their ascetic practice.This study assumes that the object of ascetic practice is general cultivation of humanity and formation of faith community, and that different religions can share phases of ascetic practice under the general object, and finally that interreligious communication can be made possible through such shared phases of ascetic practice.