Knowledge of Interaction Styles and Dimensions of Interpretation in Interreligious Adult Education : An Empirical Study of the Effects of a Hermeneutic-Communicative Curriculum

At interreligious meetings in the Netherlands, very little attention is paid to interaction. How can people express their experiences, religious images and practices so that others are able to understand them? Religious differences complicate the potential for understanding one another; if there is no common ground, people should communicate in such a way that common ground is created. This study explains the contribution of a curriculum to knowledge of the interaction styles and hermeneutic distinctions that are used to express and interpret views on religious phenomena. We consider knowledge of communication and interpretation conditional for mutual understanding; we refer to this as hermeneutic-communicative learning. The focus of this book is not solely religious phenomena, but the way in which participants express and interpret these phenomena.