Su gentile richiesta dei Proff. Giorgia Pinelli e Tommaso Rompianesi, segnaliamo la Call for Papers Special Issue della Rivista “Religions” sul tema “The Challenges and Future of Religious Education”.
The Special Issue of the journal Religions (indexed in Scopus), entitled The Challenges and Future of Religious Education and edited by Professor Giorgia Pinelli and Dr Tommaso Rompianesi, aims to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of religious education in contemporary societies, with particular attention to ongoing challenges and emerging opportunities. Religious education does not constitute a specialised or marginal field, but structurally engages the educational question as such. Every religious tradition possesses its own formative frameworks, symbolic languages, and practices of transmission; however, its pedagogical relevance extends beyond the confessional dimension, as it raises fundamental questions concerning identity formation, the symbolic elaboration of experience, and the relationship between belonging, autonomy, and freedom.
From this perspective, education and religion appear deeply interconnected. Education does not consist merely in the transmission of doctrinal or moral content, nor in the acquisition of technical competences; rather, it is a process of the gradual shaping of identity through the individual’s insertion into shared horizons of meaning. Every educational practice implies a vision of the human person and of the good; likewise, religious experience cannot be reduced to a set of beliefs, but is expressed through symbolic, narrative, and ritual forms that structure how individuals interpret themselves and the world. Religious education therefore operates at the deeper levels of meaning, shaping trust, imagination, symbolic capacity, and moral consciousness, and contributing to the formation of interior configurations through which individuals orient their choices. In contexts marked by cultural and religious pluralism, processes of secularisation, and increasing demands for neutrality, it becomes essential to reflect on the very idea of education at stake: whether education should be conceived as the delivery of “neutral” content, or recognised as always involving engagement with the symbolic and value-laden dimensions that structure human existence.
Across different national contexts, educators encounter environments characterised by religious pluralism, cultural diversity, and growing secularisation, requiring pedagogical approaches capable of mediating between tradition and contemporaneity, while fostering critical and relational competences, ethical awareness, empathy, and intercultural dialogue. Religious education thus emerges as a fundamental dimension of the integral formation of the person, offering resources for navigating complex contexts and for developing reflective and responsible identities. Original contributions and critical reviews in English are welcome.
Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes: –
- the nature of religious experience and its educational significance; the pedagogical contribution of narratives in religious education and their role in moral formation;
- symbols, rituals, and sacred texts as formative resources in dialogue with contemporary pedagogical contexts;
- religious education in multicultural and multireligious societies, including related challenges and effective practices;
- initial and in-service teacher education; distinctive pedagogical models across religious traditions;
- and the role of religious education in secularised societies, in relation to pluralism, neutrality, and the public relevance of religious knowledge.
Interested authors are invited to submit an abstract (200–300 words) by 30.04.2026.
The deadline for full paper submission is 31.10.2026.
For further information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/9CNJW1ROGP
