Religious education and teaching young people about humanity: Suggesting a new role for RE and for the academic study of religions in Sweden

This article is a suggestion for the rethinking of the role and purpose of religious education (RE) in Swedish public schools, in relation to two major recent reforms: of teachers training (2012) and of syllabi for RE (2011). Based on a notion of the ‘humanistic’ study of religions as he study of re...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Svensson, Jonas (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: [publisher not identified] [2015]
In: Temenos
Year: 2015, Volume: 51, Issue: 2, Pages: 177-199
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Swedes / Religious instruction / Humanity / Science of Religion
IxTheo Classification:AH Religious education
KBE Northern Europe; Scandinavia
Further subjects:B Sweden
B Religious Education
B syllabi
B educational reforms
B humanistic study of religions
B didactics of religion
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:This article is a suggestion for the rethinking of the role and purpose of religious education (RE) in Swedish public schools, in relation to two major recent reforms: of teachers training (2012) and of syllabi for RE (2011). Based on a notion of the ‘humanistic’ study of religions as he study of religion as a human cultural product, the article argues that a RE - mainly in lower and upper secondary school - informed by contemporary theoretical development, better than any other school subject can cater for the important task of educating young people about who they, as human beings, are and why. To substantiate this claim, the content of the above mentioned reforms are presented, and placed in historical context. Furthermore, the article provides a set of examples of how actual teaching may be structured to fulfil its proposed new task, with a basis in the current syllabi for lower and upper secondary school.
ISSN:2342-7256
Contains:Enthalten in: Temenos