Comparative research in the Didactics of Religion

The following contribution develops the thesis that comparative research in religious didactics is not a uniform and independent format alongside empirical, historical and systematic research, but is governed by their respective reference theories, subject areas and methods. The term "Format of didactic research" as defined by the Gesellschaft für Fachdidaktik (GFD e.V.) is therefore related to the dimensions of reference theories, subject areas and methodology elaborated by Ulrich Riegel and Martin Rothgangel, and to empirical-comparative, historical-comparative and systematic-comparative research in religious didactics. The question of the extent to which it makes sense at all to distinguish between comparative and non-comparative research and to what extent comparative studies has the potential to form an independent religious-didactic research format is also a subject of dis-cussion. In addition to a discussion on the meta-level of scientific theory, a study on "Positioning Tasks in the Teaching of Religion and Ethics" will be examined with regard to the three aspects mentioned above.

comparative didactics of religion, comparative research, research format, didactic research, positioning