Binding Things Together

Teaching as a Religious Activity

By Ronald Noone

‘There is something mysterious and wonderful about the act of teaching someone how to do something. Good teaching can lead to personal and social transformation.’ 

 In Binding Things Together, author Ronald Noone contends that religion and education remain indispensible vehicles for living authentic, rewarding and valuable lives so long as these terms are not confined by the institutions that seek to claim ownership of them. 

One of the many definitions of religion, from the Latin ‘religio’ means, ‘to consider carefully’ while re ligare means to ‘re-connect’ following Saint Augustine. 

 Noone’s preferred definition for religion is ‘that which binds things together’; that religion helps makes sense of existence or gives a purpose. Teaching is the act where showing someone how to do something can also give a sense of purpose to both the teacher and the learner. 

The author addresses the new gods appearing in schooling and education. The god of technology, the pursuit of ‘wellness’ in school settings, the obsession with data and metrics and the influence of business on education with the corporatisation of school boards and the demand that schools’ chief responsibility is to prepare students for the workforce. 

Binding Things Together addresses the cultural questions of the day that are facing parents, teachers, school administrators, clergy and religious laity. Noone argues that the broad range of teaching is at a fundamental level, a religious activity.

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