Germany Jahrgangsstufe 11 Protestant Religious Education

Chapters: 4

1. Faith and reason

Faith and reason

The Enlightenment – The Enlightenment (about 1680–1800) was a movement in Europe that said people should use reason and evidence, not only tradition, to understand the world and to run society. It grew out of the Scientific Revolution. Thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant and Mary Wollstonecraft argued for natural rights, separation of powers, freedom of speech and religion, and government by consent. Ideas spread through books, newspapers, salons and the Encyclopédie. Some monarchs tried reforms (enlightened absolutism); the ideas also fed the American (1776) and French (1789) revolutions and later movements everywhere, including reformers in India.

Living freedom

Freedom: What It Means and Where It Stops – Freedom means few outside limits on our choices and also the real chance to grow our talents. Constraints on freedom can come from force (a ruler or government), from social customs such as caste and gender rules, and from poverty. Some limits are needed so that people can live together, but they must be fair. J. S. Mill's harm principle says the state may limit a person's freedom only to prevent harm to others; acts that affect only oneself should be left free, and small harms need only social disapproval. Negative liberty is freedom from interference in a protected zone; positive liberty is freedom to grow, which needs conditions like education, health and jobs. Freedom of expression is basic, but has reasonable limits.

Approaches to reading the Bible

Coming soon

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Coming soon