This book brings together a group of teachers and teacher educators who have researched their own students’ learning in schools and universities as part of the REDCo project. Combining the methods of action and practitioner research with the key concepts of Robert Jackson’s interpretive approach, the book illustrates the collaborative research of a group of professionals working together. The book is highly relevant for teachers and teacher trainers in the field of religions and education, to researchers, and to all interested in action research, practitioner research and communities of practice.

All contributions to the volume were developed in the context of the European Network for Religious Education through Contextual Approaches (ENRECA). In the 20 year history of the research community of ENRECA several times books are published on contextual factors of Religious Education. This volume has a special focus on different perspectives of ‘time’ in relation to the tradition, present and future perspectives of Religious Education in Europe.

Urban spaces throughout Europe are increasingly characterised by a mixture of different religions and worldviews. Being home to a wide range of religious and non-religious groups and individuals does not mean that cities are automatically also spaces of interreligious and interfaith encounters. This volume presents selected findings of the international research project ‘Religion and Dialogue in Modern Societies’ (ReDi) which investigated dialogical practice in the five metropolitan cities Oslo, Stockholm, London, Hamburg and Duisburg. It offers a range of case studies addressing two fields of activity: dialogue and interreligious encounters in the urban space and dialogue in education.

People form attachments to their home, their neighbourhood and environment, to the region and nation to which they belong. They express feelings about space and place, especially so in ‘globalized times’. In religious studies, in theology, and in education, there is a growing interest in spatial theories either as constructed within national borders, or within international and transnational spaces. The “spatial turn” has become an acknowledged term in interdisciplinary discourses. Although every practice of religious education is situated and contextually dependent, religious education (RE) research until now has not systematically paid attention to this fundamental insight. This volume is devoted specifically to clarifying the close relationship between RE practice and spatial and situational conditions.

The intention of the book is to contribute to debates and policy decisions about the inclusion of plural theologies in higher education institutions. It will do this by bringing together case studies from institutions in six European countries and offering reflections on and comparisons of these. The publication is part of a comparative research study on university responses to the plurality of religions and of religious and non-religious worldviews within Europe today.