The Oneiro- and the Hagio-: Teaching about Dreams from the Standpoint of Comparative Hagiology
Religions March 27, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/rel15030332 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Post-secondary pedagogy Hagiology Hagiography |
| Key points | Proposes that the comparative study of hagiography and dream narratives in religious education can create a productive learning environment that addresses contemporary educational challenges. |
Abstract
This paper explores the potentially fruitful interplay between a set of practical and theoretical approaches developed to teach post-secondary students about accounts of dreams and of exemplars, in cases where these phenomena have been deemed significant by specific religious discourse communities. Incorporating insights from his participation in the Comparative Hagiology group, the author suggests—in particular—that the expanded perspective on hagiography proposed by Rondolino, Hollander, and others can serve as a fruitful vantage from which to survey both of these phenomena in the classroom, revealing some intriguing correspondences between them. The author concludes by proposing some ways that the comparative hagiological classroom could be a particularly productive learning environment, and one that directly addresses some of the challenges of contemporary post-secondary education (from both the instructors’ and students’ perspectives).