The social science approach to religious instruction: The case of James Michael Lee

Religious instruction consists of two basic contents, religion and instruction. In terms of its scope, religion, which constitutes the substantive content of religious instruction, is located within the theological sciences whereas instruction that constitutes the structural content of religious instruction is in the field of social sciences. This multi-content dimension of religious instruction has caused controversy about which sciences are the right place for religious instruction and consequently, various approaches have emerged in the West. According to James Michael Lee, these approaches divide into two as the theological approach and the social science approach. This study aims to reveal the theoretical framework of the social science approach from the perspective of Lee, also seeks answers to these questions: What are Lee's contributions to the field of religious education? What is the nature of "religion" and "instruction" in Lee's approach? At which points social scientific religious instruction and theological education differ from each other? What are Lee's basic criticisms of the theological approach and theological-oriented theories? What aspects of Lee's approach have been criticized by the advocates of the theological-science? In this study, which is based on a literature review, descriptive analysis, and analytical methodology, Lee's views on religious instruction have been examined and criticized from the perspective of opposing theories. The study concludes that Lee built his approach on theology criticism, claimed that social science is prone to teaching activity and the teaching is not the work of theology which is a speculative science, and asserted that social science, not theology is a sufficient and valid macro theory for religious instruction. Therefore, he asserted that the norms of religious instruction should be derived from the empirical analysis of the teaching process and the key point of religious instruction is to examine how to facilitate religious behavior in learners more effectively and to practice according to the results of this review.