Swedish religion education: Objective but Marinated in Lutheran Protestantism?

Authors

  • Jenny Berglund Södertörn University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.9545

Keywords:

Religion Education, Sweden, Non-confessional Religion Education, Syllabus, Church of Sweden, Lutheran Protestantism

Abstract

In this article, I use the experience of a Czech doctoral student to discuss why religion education in Sweden can be understood as both deeply Lutheran and at the same time neutral and objective. In doing this, I look at the present syllabus in religion education, point to some of the changes that have been made in relation to the previous syllabus, and highlight some of the controversies that arose when it was written in 2010. I also put Swedish religion education and Swedish educational system in a historical context, pointing to its relation to liberal theology and cultural Protestantism. In addition, I present how teacher education is organized for religion education teachers and how the academic Study of Religions has been an important part of this during recent decades. At the end of the article I reflect upon the protestant taste of Sweden’s ‘non-denominational and neutral’ religion education.

Author Biography

Jenny Berglund, Södertörn University

Jenny Berglund is Associate Professor at the Department of the Study of Religions, School of History and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University.

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Published

2014-01-23

How to Cite

Berglund, J. (2014). Swedish religion education: Objective but Marinated in Lutheran Protestantism?. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 49(2), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.9545

Issue

Vol. 49 No. 2 (2013)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2014 Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion

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