How contexts determine concepts

Important theological terms such as guilt, reconciliation, redemption, but also sacrifice/victim (Opfer) are not used exclusively in theological contexts. They are also used in decidedly everyday settings, i.e. they are used in both everyday and theological contexts. This publication explores how specific contexts influence and determine juveniles concepts, specifically to what extent ideas remain stable or change when the context changes. With a focus on religious education and teaching, the attention is primarily on everyday and theological settings. In order to analyse this in a differentiated manner, the conceptual change-approach, which is well established in science education, is used. A conceptual change in vertical dimension describes a change as a result of a learning process. In contrast, conceptual change in horizontal dimension distinguishes between different but equally important concepts that are activated depending on the context. In the sense of a conceptual change in horizontal dimension, juvenile conceptual stability and conceptual change are examined in light of the shift from an everyday to a theological framework. The study examines juvenile concepts of sacrifice/victim (Opfer), as this proves to be a highly relevant and multifaceted notion in both social and theological terms. Socially, victim is used on the one hand as a swearword or to describe a passive victim who suffers something. Paradoxically, however, the status of a victim in the Western world also brings with it advantages at least of a moral nature because it is associated with attention and recognition. On the other hand, the motif of sacrifice is encountered as the active offering of a sacrifice for someone or something else. In literature and film, it is present in many ways in this sense as the devotion of one`s own life for others. Theologically, the notion of sacrifice/victim (Opfer) is also highly relevant. At the same time, it can be counted among the least clarified and most controversially discussed ideas in Christianity. Based on research into juvenile conceptual stability and change with regard to the notion of sacrifice/victim (Opfer) in everyday and theological contexts, the potential of the conceptual change-approach for religious education is explored and didactic perspectives are developed in light of the specific conceptual changes made by juveniles.