Varje dag möts barn från olika kulturella och religiösa traditioner i förskola, i klassrum och på skolgårdar. Barns möte med religion är både komplext och dynamiskt – och i ett mångkulturellt samhälle är grundläggande kunskaper om religionernas värld nödvändigt för alla.Barn i religionernas värld lyfter fram perspektiv och frågeställningar som är relevanta för att förstå hur religion kan påverka barns liv i olika traditioner och delar av världen. Boken behandlar både barns plats inom några av världens större religioner, som kristendom, islam, judendom, buddhism och hinduism, och frågor om traditionsförmedling, etik och religionsfrihet. Genom en unik inblick i hur religioner uttrycks, tolkas och översätts i barns liv – i hemmet, i skolan, i vardagen och under årets högtider – ges perspektiv från stora världsreligioner och samtida andlighet. Författarna behandlar teman som traditionsförmedling, religionsfrihet, etik, undervisning och identitet.I denna andra upplaga har samtliga kapitel reviderats och nya kapitel har tillkommit. Boken vänder sig till lärare, lärarstudenter och alla som vill fördjupa sig i barns plats i religion och religionsundervisning. Den erbjuder både teoretiska perspektiv och konkreta exempel, och fungerar som en introduktion till vidare studier om barn i religionernas värld.

Religious education (RE) in the Swedish school context is supposed to teach students primarily about religions, and to promote a continuous learning from religions. Following the Swedish curriculum, RE needs to be non-denominational. Previous research shows that the knowledge students receive in school contexts about religions and religious people tends to become knowledge about the ‘strange other’. Moreover, the risk has been observed that students will be unable to relate to the content of the RE they receive, regardless of whether they describe themselves as religious or not. The aim of the chapter is to present the reader with two concepts that can play a significant role in bringing a knowledge about meaning-making to the RE classroom that includes all students—a knowledge that can contribute to ‘good’ religious education and enable students to learn about religion in a relevant and significant way. These concepts are existential configurations and shared configurations. Throughout the chapter, it is argued that these concepts can make a significant contribution to the pedagogical practice of diverse forms of RE, including non-denominational RE.

This article explores the declining role of the Church of Sweden through an in-depth analysis of its contemporary Church language. Drawing on previously collected empirical material, the study shows how Christian language today often fails to connect with people’s everyday lives. The analysis identifies three core problems, each contributing to a gap between abstract expressions and lived experience. The findings challenge earlier research that primarily attributes the church’s decline to a lack of knowledge about Christian doctrine. Instead, the article suggests that secularization may partly stem from a distancing from a dysfunctional religious language, rather than from societal modernization alone. 

No Abstract Available

This article aims to discuss how young people in the Church of Sweden describe what they have learned and experienced during confirmation, using Gert Biesta’s educational framework: socialization, subjectification, and qualification. Interviews with 28 confirmands reveal that while confirmation fosters self-exploration and ethical discussions, integration into the broader church community is weak, and qualifying content is notably absent. Many confirmands struggle to articulate what they have learned about Christianity, raising concerns about long-term faith engagement. The study questions whether one can truly choose something without having a language to talk about it.