Religious Education at Schools in Europe: Parts 4–6—Review

Kvifor KRLE? Forhandling og forståing av føremåla for det norske religions- og livssynsfaget i læreplan og lærebøker

There are many perceptions of and priorities for religious education (RE), both in Norway and across Europe. Norwegian RE is called upon to simultaneously promote national values and facilitate intercultural education. I explore how this is negotiated in and between, first, the national curriculum and a selection of RE textbooks, and then in the ongoing curricular revisions (20172020). While the outgoing curriculum stresses identity and heritage, the textbooks promote diversity and tolerance. Thus, the textbook authors appear to rely on more recent, international academic developments rather than the political priorities of the national curriculum, in what Oddrun M. H. Bråten has called a b…

Introduction: Using Placebo Research to Explore Belief and Healing in Late Antiquity

Abstract This special issue explores belief and healing in Late Antiquity, through insight and terminology developed in modern placebo research. My introduction outlines the history of placebo research and its use in historical studies of medicine and healing. It has helped historians pose new questions to their sources and discuss them in light of modern medical research. Most studies analyse various descriptions or records of symptoms or diagnoses, but some researchers also extend their work to include social or anthropological studies of healing. Summarizing insights from such efforts in medical research and the history of medicine, I propose a selection of questions and perspectives fro…

A Double Bypass? Tracing How the Aims of Religious Education Are Negotiated Across Different Dimensions of the Curriculum in Norway

Religious education (RE) across Europe is drawn between promoting intercultural education and fostering national community. Examining the national curriculum and three RE textbooks in Norway, I fin...