Religion, Education, and Social Transformation: With Reference to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania

Three key concepts, namely religion, education and social-transformation are discussed together in this paper. The main idea is to identify the contribution of religion, through education, to the transformation of Tanzanian society. For preciseness, this paper narrows to the only one body of denomination; that is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). This does not disqualify the massive contributions from other religions, organizations as well as the government to the social transformation. An actual fact is that transformation is a complex phenomenon, since it is a process and a product of various internal and external factors. Which means; it is not easy to confine transformation to only one agent or factor or period. Although a great work is being done by religion to transform society; still the same critical questions are swinging in the whole discussion: How relevant is education in impacting a sustainable transformation? Is a seemingly transformation a product of education or a natural transformation that comes with globally related advancement? How do we rate transformation in the society where spiritualism overrules reason?  All these questions are aimed to create awareness to both religions and other bodies that play a role for social transformation; to re-evaluate their system and methods of education for a more sustainable outcome.  Este artigo discute tres conceitos-chave: religiao, educacao e transformacao social. Sua ideia principal e identificar a contribuicao da religiao, atraves da educacao, para a transformacao social na Tanzania. Para ser mais preciso, trata apenas de uma denominacao: a Igreja Evangelica Luterana na Tanzania (IELT). Isto nao desqualifica as contribuicoes massivas de outras religioes, organizacoes e o governo para transformacao social. Um fato real e que a transformacao e fenomeno complexo, pois e um processo e produto de varios fatores internos e externos. Isto significa que nao facil reduzir a transformacao a apenas um agente, fator ou periodo. Muito trabalho esta sendo feito para transformar a sociedade, mas ainda as mesmas questoes criticas estao presentes em todas as discussoes: Qual a relevância da educacao para impactar uma transformacao sustentavel? A transformacao e um produto da educacao ou uma transformacao natural que vem com o avanco globalmente relacionado? Como podemos avaliar a transformacao numa sociedade em que o espiritualismo prevalece sobre a razao?  Todas estas questoes visam criar uma consciencia tanto para a religiao quanto os outros corpos que tem um papel na transformacao social e reavaliar seu sistema e metodo de educacao para um resultado mais sustentavel.