Catholic-themed literature in the secondary language arts classroom : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

While multicultural education is a popular topic among contemporary scholars, little substantial research exists regarding methods for incorporating religious examinations of literature into public school classrooms. In the secondary language arts classroom, educators tend to either ignore or do a disservice to works of literature whose mere existence and rhetorical purposes stem from the religious concerns of the author. Catholic literature is one subgenera of religious literature that has been largely ignored or improperly examined in the language arts classroom. Prose by writers such as James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, and Evelyn Waugh and poems by poets such as Gerard Manley Hopkins and Denise Levertov are often taught without due attention to the religious perspectives on which the novels and poems hinge. Therefore, this project takes aim at the current problem of omitting religious examinations of text from the language arts classroom by providing (1) a review of literature that explores the research supporting religious literature in the classroom, (2) discussions of methodology, findings, and legal and pedagogical cautions of teaching religious texts in public schools, and (3) appendices which contain instructional guides for specific works of Catholic-themed literature in the language arts classroom.