Crossings and Crosses

Description

Dealing with different regions and cases, the contributions in this volume address and critically explore the theme of borders, educations, and religions in northern Europe. As shown in different ways, and contrary to popular ideas, there seems to be little reason to believe that religious and civic identity formation through public education is becoming less parochial and more culturally open. Even where state borders are porous, where commerce, culture, and trade as well as associative, personal, and social life display stronger liminal traits, normative education remains surprisingly national. This situation is remarkable and goes against the grain of current notions of both accelerating globalisation and a European regional renaissance. The book also takes issue with the foundational tenet that liberal democracies are by definition uninvolved in matters concerning faith and belief. Instead, an implied conclusion is that secular liberal democracy is less than secular and liberal - at least in education, which is a major arena for political-cultural-ethical socialisation, as it aims to confer worldviews and frameworks of identity on young people who will eventually become full citizens and bearers/sharers of prevailing normative communities. Preface Table of Contents Introduction: On crossings and crosses The Russian Orthodox Church, its domains and borders Intertwining identities: The politics of language and nationality in the Estonian-Russian borderlands Multireligious and multiethnic public schooling in the Polish-Ukrainian borderland Visible conflicts on invisible borders: Religious antagonisms in the eastern borderland of Poland Shifting borders in religious education in Estonia Religious education on the borders Religion in contemporary public education in Russia Religious education in the European context Unpacking postnormativity in religious and civic education: Coming to an early end? Society, proximity, and education on the border The spatiality of religion Religious education (RE) in other kinds of bordertowns: Denmark as an extreme and exemplary case Index