2005:29 R

Religious studies and breadth of education - a teacher-trainer's point of view

In a period when religion is most often described as fundamentalism there are good reasons for paying attention to the way in which religion embodies culture. Good examples are how the classical heritage has survived in Arabic-Islamic cultural circles and how the universities evolved under the patronage of the Church. In this publication, however, it is the links between religion and our obligations to our fellow-beings, our humane traditions and not least our linguistic usages and our cultural heritage that are central. Björn Skogar wants to draw our attention to “the indissoluble links between language" and religion. He takes a broad view of language, seeing it as an amalgam of the traditions to which individuals belong, development and capacity for creating new combinations. Skogar believes that teachers of religion undertake a great responsibility for transmitting the fundamental human narratives critically and perceptively to new generations.

In a modern secularised society there is often a dearth of places where we can meet to discuss the traditions to which we belong and our deepest values. Björn Skogar suggests that religious studies can provide one such meeting place in our schools. Multicultural schools make new demands of the subject and of its teachers and therefore of the teacher training programmes in higher education as well. Björn Skogar offers us a new way of looking at the subject in relation to the discussion of educational breadth.