Personal statement
I am Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at Strathclyde University. With a background in Theology and Religious Studies, as well as a brief but significant career in Computer Science, my work engages with topics at the intersections between philosophy of education, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of technology. My current research focuses on notions of didactical and pedagogical representation and reduction. I co-lead the ‘Experiments in Educational Theory’ research group based at the University of Strathclyde (www.exet.org).
I teach across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within the School of Education. I am the Course Leader for Joint Honours Education, and students on that programme are welcome to contact me at any time by email. My office is also on the 2nd floor of Lord Hope and students are also welcome to come along to talk with me (best to make an appointment in case I am out).
Research interests
David has published around 50 articles, chapters and books on such interdisciplinary notions as ‘Silence and Attention’, ‘The Pharmacological nature of Educational Technology,’ and ‘Post-secularism’ as well as on figures such as Meister Eckhart, Martin Heidegger, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Paul Ricoeur. David is the sole author of two books: Technology and the Philosophy of Religion (Cambridge Scholars, 2011) and Educational Philosophy for a Post-secular Age (Routledge, 2016). David’s current research focuses on notions of didactical and pedagogical representation and reduction (see: After World Religions Discussion)
David co-leads the ‘Experiments in Educational Theory’ research group based at the University of Strathclyde (www.exet.org).
- Review work (Journals):
- Reviewer for British Educational Research Association, Philosophy of Education Special Interest Group
- Reviewer for The Journal of the Philosophy of Education
- Reviewer for Educational Philosophy and Theory
- Reviewer for Journal of Education and Christian Belief
- Reviewer for Angelaki: The Journal of the Theoretical Humanities
- Book Review Editor for Medieval Mystical Theology: The Journal of the Eckhart Society
- Review work (books):
- Routledge (Philosophy of Technology)
- Routledge (Philosophy of Education)
Professional activities
- Association of University Lecturers of Religious Education
- Participant
- 18/5/2023
- Laying the Foundations. Schleiermacher’s Theory of Education. A Symposium
- Invited speaker
- 1/4/2023
- Education, Lockdown, and Becoming Human
- Recipient
- 9/2022
- The Varieties of Pedagogical Reduction. A Symposium
- Invited speaker
- 19/8/2022
- International Network of Philosophy of Education
- Participant
- 17/8/2022
- International Network of Philosophy of Education
- Participant
- 17/8/2022
More professional activities
Projects
- After Religious Education: Curricula Principles for education in Religion and Worldviews
- Lewin, David (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2023
- Development of collaboration between The School of Education, Strathclyde University and The Education University of Hong Kong
- Adams, Paul (Principal Investigator) Kenklies, Karsten (Principal Investigator) Lewin, David (Principal Investigator)
- Faculty and School funding to develop further collaborative links with EduHK
- 01-Jan-2019
- Global Engagements Fund Collaborative Visit to The Education Univerrsity of Hong Kong
- Adams, Paul (Co-investigator) Hunter, Sharon (Principal Investigator) Kenklies, Karsten (Co-investigator) Lewin, David (Co-investigator)
- Visit by four members of The School of Education, Strathclyde University to the Department for Policy and Leadership, The Education University of Hong Kong
- 05-Jan-2018
- Nanjing Strathclyde (School of Education) joint symposium 2017
- Roxburgh, David (Principal Investigator) Lewin, David (Principal Investigator)
- Joint organiser of 2 day research event on a range of educational themes of interest in Uk/ Chinese Education.
- 26-Jan-2017 - 27-Jan-2017
- Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain Large Grant: 'Educational Philosophy for a Post-secular Age
- Lewin, David (Principal Investigator)
- This research project involves the completion of a monograph entitled ‘Educational Philosophy for a Post-secular Age’. The book explores the significance of the post-secular turn in philosophy, theology, and religious studies for educational theory. Like the term ‘postmodern’, there are many conceptual issues with the framing of the ‘post-secular’. Firstly, have we ever really been secular? Some philosophers suggest that the secular and the emergence of the post-secular reflect a rather Western Christian conception of being religious, a conception that too readily allows for the division of the public and private. Some religious cultures would find this distinction problematic or even meaningless. This conceptual confusion arises in part because we have a view of religion as having faith in a set of doctrines or truth claims. Again this is a rather limited view of what it means to be religious.
The post-secular age acknowledges that religion has an ongoing important influence on culture and on education particularly. Straightforward secularization theories have to be reexamined in light of what some scholars have called the ‘return of religion’. Furthermore, critical thinking itself must be uncoupled from assumptions around secularization. I will suggest that the post-secular gives form to the spaces between the secular and the confessional, avoiding any simplistic notion of a return of traditional patterns of religious life. As Habermas put it, “a postsecular self-understanding of society as a whole (is one) in which the vigorous continuation of religion in a continually secularizing environment must be reckoned with.” Post-secularism complicates rather than denies the secularization thesis.
The grant runs from 1st October until Christmas 2015. I would like to express my thanks to PESGB and Liverpool Hope University for the generous support for this project. - 01-Jan-2015 - 18-Jan-2015
- Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain Large Grant: 'Educational Philosophy for a Post-secular Age
- Lewin, David (Principal Investigator)
- This research project involves the completion of a monograph entitled ‘Educational Philosophy for a Post-secular Age’. The book explores the significance of the post-secular turn in philosophy, theology, and religious studies for educational theory. Like the term ‘postmodern’, there are many conceptual issues with the framing of the ‘post-secular’. Firstly, have we ever really been secular? Some philosophers suggest that the secular and the emergence of the post-secular reflect a rather Western Christian conception of being religious, a conception that too readily allows for the division of the public and private. Some religious cultures would find this distinction problematic or even meaningless. This conceptual confusion arises in part because we have a view of religion as having faith in a set of doctrines or truth claims. Again this is a rather limited view of what it means to be religious.
The post-secular age acknowledges that religion has an ongoing important influence on culture and on education particularly. Straightforward secularization theories have to be reexamined in light of what some scholars have called the ‘return of religion’. Furthermore, critical thinking itself must be uncoupled from assumptions around secularization. I will suggest that the post-secular gives form to the spaces between the secular and the confessional, avoiding any simplistic notion of a return of traditional patterns of religious life. As Habermas put it, “a postsecular self-understanding of society as a whole (is one) in which the vigorous continuation of religion in a continually secularizing environment must be reckoned with.” Post-secularism complicates rather than denies the secularization thesis.
The grant runs from 1st October until Christmas 2015. I would like to express my thanks to PESGB and Liverpool Hope University for the generous support for this project. - 01-Jan-2015 - 18-Jan-2015
More projects