Research project Educational Perspectives on Religion and Science

The relationship between religion and science is a topic lively discussed in several school subjects. The upper-secondary syllabus for Religious Education in Sweden states that teaching should give students knowledge of different understandings of the relationship between religion and science, and the ability to analyse them. How this is to be done in the classroom, however, is left open, and both content and specific learning goals, as well as teaching methods, may vary considerably. Religion and science is thus a subject area with extensive educational potential, one that can be interpreted and made concrete in many different ways. Research and experience from surveys and professional development courses show, however, that teachers often perceive religion and science as a challenging and elusive area within Religious Education.

The project examines the field of tension between religion and science from the perspectives of religious studies, philosophy and education. Drawing on both historical and contemporary examples, we study where religions and religious expressions meet and interact with different scientific disciplines or with specific scientific findings, how such interactions may take shape, and what consequences they may have – as well as how these insights can be translated into teaching practice in various ways. We also examine the field as a discourse: why the discussion of “religion and science” looks the way it does today, and what it has looked like historically – and how the subject area has been understood and taken its place within the Swedish school subject of Religious Education.

The primary aim of the project is to give teachers research-based material for their teaching and for reflecting on their own practice, and to contribute to teacher education. Beyond this, it also seeks to contribute to the discussion of the orientation and character of the school subject, and to fundamental theory and concept development within the research in religious education.