Religious Education in a Post-Secular Age

Olof Franck is Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Peder Thalén is Professor at the University of Gävle, Sweden.

This book analyzes the changes and shifts in religious education in Europe over the past 50 years. In a post-secular age, it has become increasingly difficult to make sharp distinctions between what is religious and non-religious, confessional and non-confessional. Reforms in religious education in Sweden in the 1960s appeared as part of a process of wider secular liberalization, giving more credence to the idea of absolute neutrality in religious education. However drastic shifts in society, culture and the European religious landscape raise the need for a reevaluation of the foundations of religious education. Drawing on a range of case studies from across Europe, this book will appeal to students and scholars of religious education as well as post-secular education more generally.

Examines shifts in religious education in Europe over the past 50 years

Chapter 1. Introduction: Religious Education and the Notion of the Post-Secular; Olof Franck and Peder Thalén.- Chapter 2. Religious Education, Postsecularity and Neoliberalism; Nigel Fancourt.- Chapter 3. Dealing with Religion in Education in Post-Religious and Post-Secular Times; Geir Skeie.- Chapter 4. Curriculum Constructions in Northern and Western Europe - A Three-Country Analysis; Kerstin von Brömssen and Graeme Nixon.- Chapter 5. What about Transformative Religious Education?; Gunnar j. Gunnarsson.- Chapter 6. Transition in RE in Finland; Martin Ubani, Saila Poulter and Inkeri Rissanen.- Chapter 7. Uncertainty and Mortality: Two Stubborn Particulars of Religious Education; Julian Stern.- Chapter 8. Changing the Game in English Religious Education: 1971 and 2018; Denise Cush.- Chapter 9. World View Instead of Religion?; Peder Thalén.- Chapter 10. A Study-of-Religion(s) Based RE: A Must for All Times, - Post-Modern, PostSecular or Not!; Tim Jensen.- Chapter 11. Autonomy and Shared Citizenship: a 'Neutral' Justification for RE?; Leni Franken.- Chapter 12. Facing Religious Ethical Claims in Post-Secular Ethics Education: Challenges and Contributions; Olof Franck.