Christian plurality is challenging for a religious education teacher in a classroom of students with different orientations of Christianity, not least due to immigration. As Christianity represents an essential component of the majority culture in many European countries, in this study we examine how it is represented in religious education textbooks used in upper secondary schools in Sweden. The purpose is to examine how liberal Christianity is shaped in the textbooks and the possible implications for educating citizens in a plural society. The selection of books is based on those used by religious education teachers in Sweden. The results show a tendency towards a modernised liberal Christianity, the implications of which are discussed in relation to the significance of religions and worldviews in education for social cohesion.

The binary division between ‘religion’ and ‘secular’ as an analytical tool has long been criticised within the research field of ‘critical religion’ in religious studies. There has also been a parallel critique in the academic discussion about post-secularity. Recently, sociologists have picked up and deepened this criticism, as expressed in Mitsutoshi Horii’s book ‘Religion’ and ‘Secular’ Categories in Sociology: Decolonizing the Modern Myth (2021). Based on a critical processing of Horii’s application to sociology, the aim of this article is to discuss the challenges for non-confessional religious education (RE) that the ongoing dismantling of this binary division entails. In particular, it looks at how a non-confessional RE could be designed that transcends the binary division and how powerful knowledge could be understood in a non-binary context. 

This book unites and explores different approaches to understand and develop knowledge-based religious education. While the importance of methodological issues in RE is understood and acknowledged, the editors and contributors interrogate what kind of knowledge should be explored, how this knowledge is defined and what the consequences would be. Subsequently, the book focuses on the concept of powerful knowledge which transcends students' everyday experiences, and how it can be incorporated into the RE curriculum. Drawing together international research from RE teaching and learning, the book explores various paths to integrate a truly knowledge-based religious education. The book will appeal to students and scholars of religious education, sociology of education and the philosophy of religion.