Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the life trajectories and journeys of educators and public intellectuals as they navigate through this changing terrain. It offers perspectives on how educators adopt and create new directions in religious education, from their personal experiences over a long period of time. The book explores the immediate school context, into the important role played by religious representatives in Hamburg. It proposes teachers in Finnish schools who share their views and life stories on the changing social and political context in which religion education is re-imagined. Teachers are expected to re-examine their values and traditions, and also their former training in confessional religious education. Many are nurtured and trained in their own specific traditions, but expected to expose their students to diversity, pluralism, and sometimes conflict among cultural and religious groups.