Education in Swedish religious education is, as argued by Niemi (2018), Berglund (2013), Enstedt & Plank (2018), Halvarson Britton (2019), and others steeped in both the World Religions Paradigm (cf. Owen, 2011; Masuzawa, 2005) and a Protestant, Lutheran perception. It impacts both how religion is perceived, and what is taught about religion. It is furthermore limited by a notion of secularity and a “cramp of objectivity” (Hartman, 2011). This view is articulated in the national curriculum of the school subject of RE, and is enacted by teachers (Dalevi & Niemi, 2016). Research on Swedish RE classrooms has shown, that more often than not religion is depicted as something strange, and adherents as “others” (cf. Kittelmann Flensner, 2015). The question at this juncture concerns the role of the school and religious education, and, most importantly, what the school, given this context, ought to do. In this article, we will explore what religious education could look like, and what purposes it could fulfil. In our view, the research direction focusing on Lived Religion is of particular significance, where elements such as the student’s own life world, materiality, practices, and access to narratives are utilised in a way that does not see religion as a separate entity, but as an integral part of everyone’s life (Enstedt & Plank, 2018). This bottom-up rather than top-down approach, which has been previously overlooked and even disparaged, has recently undergone a renaissance (cf. Rosa 2023). This way, rather than focusing on “the world religions”, the actual practices and materiality can be focused, on that not only religions share, but secular worldviews as well. Thus, a better understanding of religion as a phenomenon can be fostered, and perhaps of life as well. Making sense of religion, rather than portraying those belonging to religions as “others”.

Barnens bibel (The Children’s Bible) by Anne de Vries is the best-selling children’s Bible in Northern Europe, with a circulation of nearly 900,000 copies in Sweden alone. Written in a language adapted to children it came to dominate the market from the 1960s onwards, not only in Swedish homes and churches but also in schools. This study uses the narratological tools narrator and fokalization to analyze how and in what way the biblical texts on Judas have been adapted to children in Barnens bibel. The study shows how Barnens bibel by changes in narration and fokalization develops a strong antipathy towards Judas, and that the character of Judas has a significantly more important and expanded role in Barnens bibel than he has in the biblical text.

In Sweden, the didactics of religious education is perceived as a rel- atively new field of research. In this study we show that, in fact, the field has very old roots and that there were the beginnings of an aca- demic field of research in the 1970:s. The latter has in large parts been neglected or forgotten. We suggest that there currently is a lack of debate concerning the fundamental views of what the subject should be, as well overarching goals -- the lack of a “big picture”, if you will -- and that active teachers might lack a professional vocabulary. One might even question if there indeed is a field of didactics of religious education in Sweden. In this essay, we seek to look at that question. The main material is an overview of titles used in RE-teacher’s edu- cation, which illustrate the debate among scholars of religious educa- tion, as well as academic reviews of the subject. This is supplemented by interviews with three teachers. The study shows a fragmented field. No serious attempt is made at defining what the didactics of religious education is in a Swedish context. Few insights are imple- mented from the international field, such as Germany and England, nor even from the neighbouring countries Norway and Finland. This has repercussions for the teacher’s reflection on their practice. 

In recent years, scholars in the field of Religious Education have noted a tendency to theorize and intellectualize in the teaching of this school subject in Sweden and Norway. The consequence of the theorization is that many who belong to a religious tradition do not recognize themselves when their religion is presented in class. This study is based on texts and images that pupils in a Swedish primary school class (ages 11-12) made after visiting a church. The study shows how the German method Kirchenpädagogik (Church pedagogy) can give primary school pupils a broader understanding of and insights into what religion can be. By visiting a holy place, pupils acquire knowledge of other aspects of the religion in question. The article shows that the learning the pupils themselves emphasize after meeting with a religious place primarily is of aesthetic nature.

Svenska kyrkor och kyrkogårdar bär ofta på ett unikt arv av bygdens kulturella och religiösa historia. Men frågan är om och i så fall hur svenska skolelever kan tillgodogöra sig kyrkorum?

Under åren 2009 till 2011 arbetade Thomas Pfitzinger-Drewes och ett arbetslag i Svenska kyrkan, Munkfors församling i Värmland, med att inhämta kunskap om och omsätta den tyska kyrkopedagogiska metoden till svenska förhållanden. De arbetade kontinuerligt i nära samarbete med skolor i Munkfors kommun. Kyrkopedagogikens målsättning är att ge människor möjlighet att få en relation till och förståelse av kyrkorummet utan att för den skull behöva bekänna sig till någon tro. I den här boken beskriver Sören Dalevi och Christina Osbeck hur framförallt elever på de skolor som deltog upplevde dessa kyrkopedagogiska visningar men också lärares och skolledares perspektiv synliggörs.

I ett avslutande kapitel diskuteras projektet i relation till den svenska skolans läroplan. Erfarenheterna från projektet, exempelvis om förarbetets betydelse för deltagarnas upplevelse, är intressanta att uppmärksamma både då det gäller studiebesöksmetodik generellt och för skolans relation till andra trossamfund.