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LECTURE XXXVI, March 13, [?] 1956

We are in the discussion of religion and the problems of education^a, and last time I spoke about the problem of initiation into something which has the power of the Spiritual center or ultimate^b meaning. Today I want to deal with two problems, as far as we can go, namely the general problem of religious education^c, and then the special problem of the university^d and its relationship to religion and to the fact of a theological faculty^e.

First a few words, only--not a few words, but very little--about the problem of religious education, because this is a theological department by itself and I can only discuss it in the context of what I said last time generally, about the religious implications of education.

The first and perhaps the most important point is that religious education^f, if it's under- stood as introduction--and you remember we had these three forms: introducing the humanistic, the skill, and the introductory form^g of education^h--and if religious education is understood (as it must be) as introduction, introducing into a reality, then this has the following consequences, that the child, who is an object of religious education, has to be introduced into the reality of religion, and that means three things: 1) a community in which religion is the content of life; 2) a set of symbolsⁱ, mythological^j and ritual, which express the ultimate^k meaning of this group IN which religion is alive. In a humanistic^l type of education, the child would not be introduced but taught. I remember how in a progressive religious-education school, my own daughter had to receive religious education, Sunday School, and what happened was that she was introduced into the cave paintings^m of the