ABSTRACT
Religious education (RE) offers a space like no other: for encounter, explanation, and empathy; for expression, interpretation, and imagination; for interrogation, questioning, and reflection. It protects a space that equips students to interrogate, negotiate, and dialogue with conflicting interpretations within a particular faith tradition. This chapter explores the diversity of purposes that govern RE. It presents the importance of understanding, rather than affiliation, as the central goal of RE. The chapter highlights various aspects of what might be meant by the 'space' of RE. It addresses the dialectic between formation and agency. The chapter then explains what taking religion seriously entails in an educational setting, with reference to issues of power, advocacy, engagement, and challenge. RE not only challenges learners as they think about their guiding principles and priorities; it also challenges assumptions governing educational practice - assumptions often operating in service to the state, the economy, or marketplace, a particular political ideology, or secular values.
