Protestant Religion Classes in Germany are provided by the EKD, or in Berlin, the EKBO. The Evangelische Church in Germany is not the evangelical Christianity of the USA, but rather the reformation protestants, mainly the Lutheran Church. Protestant Religious Education is taught from a standard curriculum for grades 1-10 provided by the EKBO and approved by the Berlin Senat. Click here for a sample page from a work book used in grades 1-3.
In Protestant Religion Class, students explore questions about life, God, and their self-identity while gaining an understanding and appreciation of world religions and different beliefs. From the first grade on, World Religions are explored in a respectful and playful manner, especially as different religious holidays intersect in our yearly calendar (ex., Hanukkah/ Diwali/ Advent or as in this year, Ramadan/ Lent/ Passover). All students are welcome, regardless of their church or religious affiliation or non-religious adherence.
In Protestant Religion Class, students are not given answers, but are encouraged to explore and discuss the questions they have about life, God, different religions and religious beliefs. Protestant Education allows time and space for these questions. Its contents also have relevance for other school subjects, such as understanding how culture and history intersect, improving writing skills, speaking skills, self-reflection and cooperative learning skills.
In Protestant Religion Class, students learn about how people historically, from the Bible, and from a modern standpoint of their world view, imagine God to be. The students have the chance to talk about their positions and to present them with imagination and creativity. Students are introduced to the biblical stories from both the Jewish and Christian scriptures and are encouraged to look for the meaning they had for people in the past as well as discover their meaning for people today. From these stories, students learn about how to deal with everyday situations – such as working through big emotions, choices and consequences, tolerance and acceptance, loving oneself and others. In class, we explore how this search for meaning is reflected throughout the centuries in literature, architecture, art and music.
In Protestant Religion Class, students speak about their own experiences and emotions: what makes them happy, sad or hurt and what gives them hope and comforts them. They are given time to ask the questions they find important / relevant and look for answers as a group. Social, emotional learning is a major focus of protest religion class combined with a focus on creativity, writing and linguistic skills. Our goal is to help students become more confident in themselves, self-reflected in their interpersonal relationships, and courteous and respectful of others. The students are given the opportunity to implement their social, emotional skills as they learn about the Christian tradition of helping others through social service projects and grade specific projects such as the “Generationsbrücke” / Generational Bridge, yearly seasonal aid collections/actions, self-imagined and implemented gratitude projects around the school, field trips to religious sites/museums and Anne Frank Action Days.
See Staff List for teachers of Protestant Religion at JFKS.
