The objective to teach Christianity is stated in the Swedish national syllabus for RE since the very beginning of compulsory school. Actually, the syllabus from a century ago states teaching both about, and in, the Lutheran catechesis – a mission that was successively replaced by biblical studies and later developed into the subject “Religionskunskap”. The latter in which Christianity was only one of several (foremost world-)religions and prominent views of life. However, the mission to pay a certain weight to Christianity has survived although in a new and (post)secular context. The privilege of Christianity is today typically motivated by its cultural position rather than from a religious or moral rationale. 

In the Swedish context, in which Religionskunskap is a mandatory school subject, students are engaged in teaching and learning Christianity back and forth during their compulsory period of school. Widening the context from the school system, there has been debates regarding the status of Christianity in the Swedish RE syllabus. A common argument in defence of the privileged position of Christianity is the importance of a “Christian common heritage”. One way to address how students are engaged with Christianity on the arena of compulsory education is to investigate teaching materials currently used in school. The purpose of our paper is to investigate the depiction of Christianity in current and widely used Swedish teaching materials. Using discourse analysis, prominent and dominating discourses will be revealed. The results from the analysis will be used to reflect on and discuss the position of Christianity in Swedish schools within a cultural-historical context in Sweden and Europe.