Review: International Knowledge Transfer in Religious Education

Abstract

In the spring of 2019, a manifesto for discussion was published on international knowledge transfer [IKT] in religious education. It was the result of a meeting between scholars in the field of religious education [RE]. According to the authors, although international knowledge transfer is an ideal in all fields of knowledge, it is not clear that the field of religious education is an integrated field of research which produces common, cumulative knowledge. There seems, they argue, to be a general presumption that research results concerning religious education from one country would either not be of interest or importance, or that said results would not be transferable due to context-dependency. Through the Manifesto, the authors want to address the issue; they offer suggestions of what could be done, how, and invite colleagues “from the field of religious education (and beyond)” to contribute. It is not clear from the Manifesto nor the description of its background why the particular format of a “Manifesto” was chosen, instead of a research article or some such. Perhaps it enabled the text to be spread more readily—as it was, in various national channels for research on religious education. It was later published verbatim in the journal of Religious Education, and was followed up by an article where some matters are elaborated further; background, the question of validity, as well as a suggestion for typology of shared knowledge for the field of religious education. This has sparked some academic replies, as well as the main topic of this text: International Knowledge Transfer in Religious Education. The editors claim that it is “the first book on international knowledge transfer in religious education in the history of this discipline”. It should be said that there have been numerous international publications on religious education; the REDCo project comes to mind, as well as titles on religious education in various countries, such as REL-EDU, The Routledge international handbook of religious education, Religious education in the European context; and methodologies developed for the specific purpose of discussing and analyzing religious education from an international perspective. Many more titles could be mentioned; indeed, some are, in the chapters of the book. However, the editors do seem to have a point; no book has previously been published on the specific topic of international knowledge transfer of religious education.