ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book has been written as a contribution to debates over how religion should be studied in schools. It arises from a career spent teaching and researching in England. The book title reflects its conception of religious education (RE) as a dialogue with difference. It explained in the term ‘dialogue with difference’ emerged through analysis of empirical data in our doctoral study, especially those gained through interviews with pupils about their motivation to engage in my RE lessons. The book shows how an initial series of action research studies, supported over time by subsequent related projects, stimulated a gradually deepened theoretical discussion relevant to debates about religion, education, religious literacy and democratic citizenship. It shows how the data were developed in other ways and directions, in relation to subsequent studies that took place under the auspices of the REDCo project.
