Religion and Education: The Forgotten Dimensions of Religious Education?

As diversity increases across the world, there is renewed interest in the place of religion in the public sphere. Is religion a private matter or of concern to everyone - even if they are not religious? What should religious education look like in the public sphere? Is religious education something for everyone, in all schools? What is educational about religious education? What is the justification for religious education? How do we make sense of religion itself, bearing in mind the wide variety of views and traditions?

The chapters in Religion and Education: The Forgotten Dimensions of Religious Education? deal with these questions, focusing particularly on the two constituting elements of religious education: religion and education. Rather than discussing curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, the authors delve into more fundamental questions and concerns. Through this they provide a range of different responses to the question of whether religion and education may have become the ’forgotten dimensions’ of contemporary religious education.

Covering different educational views and traditions, and exploring a range of different religious ideas, traditions, and practices, whilst connecting this all to the challenge of religious education in the public sphere, this book seeks to make a contribution to the ongoing conversation about the importance of religious education for all.

Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education at Maynooth University, Ireland, and Professorial Fellow in Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He writes about educational theory and policy, including Obstinate Education: Reconnecting School and Society (Brill - Sense, 2019).

Patricia Hannam is County Inspector/Adviser for Religious Education, History and Philosophy in Hampshire, UK. Her research and writing interests include religious education, history education and educational theory, including Religious Education in the Public Sphere (Routledge, 2018).