Religious Education

The official journal of the Religious Education Association

ISSN: 0034-4087 (Print) 1547-3201 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/urea20

Textbook Religion and Lived Religion: A

Comparison of the Christian Faith as Expressed in
Textbooks and by Young Church Members

Jon Magne Vestøl

To cite this article: Jon Magne Vestøl (2016) Textbook Religion and Lived Religion: A
Comparison of the Christian Faith as Expressed in Textbooks and by Young Church Members,
Religious Education, 111:1, 95-110, DOI: 10.1080/00344087.2016.1124015

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2016.1124015

Published online: 12 Feb 2016.

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 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION:
A COMPARISON OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AS
EXPRESSED IN TEXTBOOKS AND BY YOUNG
CHURCH MEMBERS

Jon Magne Vestøl

University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Abstract
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Drawing on perspectives from sociocultural theory, this arti-

cle investigates how Christian denominations are represented in
Norwegian textbooks of religious education and by young believers.
The main finding is that textbooks and young adherents present
religion in substantially different ways. While textbooks relate re-
ligion to global and national space using rational and general de-
scriptions, young informants relate religion to local and personal
space through emotional and relational descriptions. Based on these
findings, this article discusses how textbooks and religious educa-
tion can present religion in a way that includes both etic and emic
perspectives.

INTRODUCTION

In response to the challenges posed by multicultural diversity,

some countries, including Norway, have introduced a multi-faith re-
ligious education in order to promote knowledge and mutual under-
standing among young citizens. While the syllabi focus on religions as
historic traditions, recent developments in religious education have
emphasized possible differences between such a systemic approach
to religion and pupils’ perception of religion. Recent work by Za-
ver (2013) and by Freathy and Aylward (2010) has shown how the
construction of religion within a school context can pose challenges
both to pupils who are practicing believers and to pupils who are
non-believers struggling to develop an understanding of what religion
means to the believer.
While Zaver (2013) focuses on pupils’ need for a safe space
to talk about religion and Freathy and Aylward (2010) emphasize
pupils’ need for critical self-awareness of the assumptions that shape
their talk about religion, this article investigates the constructions or
Religious Education Copyright 
C The Religious Education Association

Vol. 111 No. 1 January–February ISSN: 0034-4087 print / 1547-3201 online

DOI: 10.1080/00344087.2016.1124015

95
 96 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

mediations of Catholic and Lutheran Christianity as objects in text-

books and among young adherents. This study then discusses the
possible implications of these differences for religious education.
Focusing on the mediation of religion as an object, the study draws
on the sociocultural tradition beginning with the work of Russian
psychologist Lev Vygotsky (Daniels 2001; Vygotsky 1978; Wertsch
1985). In this tradition, humans develop knowledge using mediating
tools, including signs and language. While such mediated actions might
be understood as individual acts, they also can be related to broader
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historical and institutional contexts, or activities, as is done in the strain

of the sociocultural tradition labeled activity theory (Daniels 2001;
Engeström 1987, 1999). Recently, perspectives from activity theory
have been introduced to the field of religious education (Afdal 2008,
2010, 2013). According to Afdal, humans who engage in religious and
moral education are involved in a variety of activities and draw on a
variety of cultural tools when they mediate religion as an object.
Activity theory has been applied recently to develop an under-
standing of teaching and learning as design (Lund and Hauge 2011).
In this understanding, teachers and students are regarded as actors
engaged in joint activities in which educational objects are processed
through the use of a range of cultural tools. This perspective has been
extended to the field of religious education (Vestøl 2012, 2014). Draw-
ing on a distinction between the formulation and the instantiation of a
mediated object (Kaptelinin and Nardi 2006), it has been shown that
educational resources, such as textbooks, contain formulations of edu-
cational objects and suggest artifacts or cultural tools for instantiating
and processing these objects in classroom activities.
The textbooks investigated in the present study were produced
for the multi-faith course Religion and Ethics taught in the final year
of Norwegian upper secondary school. The course syllabus states that
the course objectives are to develop pupils’ knowledge, awareness
and attitudes in order to create tolerance and peaceful, multireligious
co-existence and to “contribute to knowledge on and respect for vari-
ous religions, views on life and ethical standpoints” (Utdanningsdirek-
toratet 2006).
Among the topics in the curriculum is “confessional forms of
Christianity” (Utdanningsdirektoratet 2006). The related textbook
presentations are the focus of the present study, along with interviews
with young adherents of the Catholic and Lutheran churches.
As will be shown, textbooks mediate religion through a range
of cultural tools or artifacts, including texts, concepts, illustrations,
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 97

and assignments. Drawing on Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006), textbook

presentations of religion can be understood as formulations of objects
that subsequently are instantiated in classroom activity. Similarly, the
young informants’ descriptions of their own religious faith and practice
can be regarded as instantiated objects within the informants’ religious
communities. Object constructions that cross the borders of activity
can be understood as “boundary objects” (Star and Griesemer 1989)
that have the potential to be recognized by actors across separate
but interacting activities and to serve as channels for cooperation and
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understanding. As religious education aims to develop respect for

religion among pupils, the development of a shared understanding of
religion across activities, both religious and secular, could be of vital
importance.
Drawing on the interpretive approach to religious education de-
veloped by Robert Jackson and colleagues (Jackson 1997, 2004a,
2004b, 2009, 2011; Jackson and Nesbitt 1993), this study understands
religions as multilayered, diverse entities represented on the individ-
ual level and the level of historical traditions, with the group level
acting as an intermediary. Religions are regarded as dynamic and in-
ternally contested, with non-fixed borders, with an emphasis on “the
relationship between individuals in the context of their religio-cultural
groups and the wider religious tradition to which they relate” (Jackson
2004b, 4).
Research has shown that religious education struggles to ade-
quately represent the historical, individual, and group levels of reli-
gion. British Hindu and Christian pupils struggle with differences be-
tween classroom presentations of religious traditions and their own ex-
periences of religion (Jackson and Nesbitt 1993; Moulin 2011; Nesbitt
2004). Moulin (2011) reported that Christian and Jewish informants
(ages 12–19) typically experienced religious education as stereotyping
their faith and failing to account for the diversity within their religious
tradition.
Similar findings have been reported in Norway (Nicolaisen 2009,
2012; Østberg 2003). Nicolaisen (2009, 2012) has described tensions
between young Norwegian Hindus’ inclusive understanding of reli-
gion and the national curriculum’s presentation of religions as sepa-
rate belief systems. Other studies, however, have shown more mixed or
positive experiences with religious education (Brunstad 1998; Østberg
2003). While the degree of misrepresentation varies, these studies nev-
ertheless point to possible discrepancies in the construction of religion
as an object within different contexts.
 98 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

To distinguish between different mediations of religion it might

be useful to employ the distinction between insiders’ and outsiders’
perspectives of religion. McCutcheon (1999) describes this distinc-
tion in terms of emic and etic perspectives. He emphasizes that the
emic perspective “is not simply to be equated with the insider’s own
viewpoint,” but rather, represents the “outsider’s attempt to produce
as faithfully as possible” the insider’s perspective (McCutcheon 1999,
17). In contrast, the etic perspective is the observer’s attempt to “re-
describe” the information in a systematic way (McCutcheon 1999,
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17).
It is disputed among scholars how close an outsider can get to
an understanding of the insider’s perspective (McCutcheon 1999).
Geertz (1999, 51) distinguishes between “experience-near” and
“experience-distant” concepts, which indicates that the transition from
an emic to an etic perspective is gradual. For this research, what steps
textbooks have taken to facilitate pupils’ understanding of religion in
light of such perspectives is of particular interest.

METHOD

Qualitative and exploratory by nature, this study is not in-

tended to produce generalizable findings but seeks for a way to
understand the relationship between two different mediations of
religion.
Included in the study are all religious education textbooks used
in Norwegian upper secondary schools (Aronsen, Bomann-Larsen,
and Notaker 2008; Heiene et al. 2008; Kvamme, Lindhardt, and Stei-
neger 2008). Text passages, pictures, and assignments dealing with
the Catholic and Lutheran churches were analyzed. The textbooks’
more general presentations of Christianity were also investigated but
not analyzed at the same depth.
The interview data were collected from September to November
2012 at two 90-minute group sessions with members of the Catholic
Church and the Lutheran Church of Norway. The informants were
17 or 18 years old, from a major Norwegian city, and recruited through
local leaders in the Norwegian Young Catholics group (Norges Unge
Katolikker) and a Christian evangelical student organization (Laget).
All informants were taking a religious education course in their final
year of upper secondary school, except for one participant who had
been graduated recently.
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 99

Although a gender balance was intended, the Lutheran group

had five females, and the Catholic group two male and three fe-
male informants. Particular attention was paid to possible gender-
related differences between the groups, and the need for follow-up
interviews. No gender-related differences, however, were identified
in this investigation. Due to the exploratory nature of the study,
the data generated by these two group interviews were considered
sufficient.
Group interviews were employed to investigate religion on a local
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group level, as well as an individual level, and to gain access to the

reflections of individual believers within a community of faith, a con-
text that differs from the school context of the textbook presentations.
The interviews were conducted as round table conversations in which
the researcher acted as an active moderator, asking questions and
leaving space for comments and reflections by participants. The par-
ticipants acted in a constructive, supportive manner, supplementing
and encouraging each other’s points with short comments throughout
the conversation. The semi-structured interview guide had an intro-
duction focusing on basic values and religious affiliation, a main body
focusing on various dimensions or aspects of faith which are empha-
sized in the textbooks (e.g., rites, community, and experience), and
a final part focusing on textbook excerpts and religious education in
school.
Interview transcripts and textbook passages were analyzed with a
focus on substantial content and concepts instead of the form or func-
tion of utterances. The analysis included sequences of open coding,
and subsequent coding based on the religious dimensions emphasized
by the textbooks.
All the necessary steps were taken to ensure the anonymity of
informants. Accordingly, pseudonyms are used in this article.

RESULTS

From the analysis two different representations of Catholic and

Lutheran religion emerged. Textbooks focused on religion as histor-
ically developed, stable traditions while informants presented reli-
gion as a contextually situated experience. These differences do not
mean that the textbooks and informants had no points of common
understanding; indeed, they had several. Both the textbooks and the
interviewees recognized the Catholic and Lutheran faiths as belong-
ing to a common Christian tradition. Both described Christianity as
 100 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

a faith in one God through Jesus Christ and the church as a com-
munity of believers. Moreover, both the textbooks and the respective
groups of informants saw Catholicism as emphasizing the importance
of Mass and other sacraments and Lutheranism as emphasizing the
importance of individual, personal faith and the Bible as a source of
spiritual inspiration.
Despite these shared descriptions, there were important dif-
ferences between the textbooks and the informants. Generally,
the textbooks and the informants drew on different communica-
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tive means. The textbooks used scientific concepts and descrip-

tions, as well as explanations, pictures, figures, assignments, and
instructions for work. In contrast, the informants relied on el-
ements of spoken language such as everyday concepts and de-
scriptions, as well as examples, narratives, and even nonverbal
gestures of support. The different means of communication cre-
ated different notions of religion, both in formal and substantial
respects.

Frameworks for Understanding Faith: Space and Time

The textbooks and informants framed their presentations differ-

ently with respect to spatial and temporal dimensions. When pre-
senting the doctrinal and ritual characteristics of the Catholic and
Lutheran churches, the textbooks emphasized the churches’ histori-
cal origins, continuity, and development. Selected aspects of the his-
tory of the Catholic Church were presented, including saints and
monastic life, Vatican Councils, and the formulation of dogma. In
presentations of the Lutheran Church, the textbooks paid particular
attention to the Reformation, Martin Luther, and to the role of the
Lutheran Church in Norwegian history. The textbooks also addressed
both churches’ responses to contemporary social and political chal-
lenges, such as the role of women and questions of political liberation.
In short, the textbooks framed the Catholic Church within European
and even global cultural and political development, and the Lutheran
church within Northern European history and the national history of
Norway.
These temporal frameworks were mirrored in the ways that the
textbooks activated spatial frameworks. As indicated, the textbooks
geographically situated both Churches in a European context. While
the Catholic Church had its center in Rome and extensions in Africa
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 101

and Latin America, the Lutheran Church was situated in a Norwegian,

Scandinavian and German context, with some global extensions due
to missionary work.
The textbooks’ use of pictures reflected these temporal and spa-
tial dimensions. Rome and the Vatican were positioned as the his-
torical and geographical center of the Catholic Church, and images
of Catholic Christian art and ritual life over centuries in different
European countries added to the impression of the church’s his-
torical and geographical impact. Pictures illustrating the Lutheran
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Church focused on the historical sites of the Lutheran reforma-

tion and on church life in Norway. One textbook also included
the baptism of a Danish Prince, emphasizing the Scandinavian
royal families’ role as formal leaders of their national Lutheran
Churches.
The informants employed different spatial and temporal frame-
works. They emphasized present time and their personal life history,
instead of European and Norwegian history, and their local social
context, instead of global, continental, and national space. In general,
informants related their descriptions of religious life to their family,
friends, personal ritual and devotional practices, and everyday life.
The Catholic informants placed some emphasis on the spatial connec-
tion between the small, local community and the global community, as
experienced during World Youth Day. The Lutheran informants paid
considerable attention to different social spaces internal and external
to the community of believers, and to the influence of these spaces on
the informants’ faith.
Aspects of personal time also emerged when informants described
the development of their individual, personal faith. While some infor-
mants were raised in families with a strong Christian commitment, oth-
ers had become believers through more independent decision-making
processes related to Confirmation and participation in Christian youth
organizations. References to the historical and institutional aspects of
the denominations were not completely absent in the interviews, but
were sparse.
Within these variant frameworks, the textbooks and infor-
mants presented different notions of religion. While the text-
books positioned religions as global and national phenomena re-
lated to political and cultural development, informants described
their faith as local and personal experiences related to individual
development.
 102 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

Religion as Stable or Disputed

The textbooks’ presentations, to some extent, made visible how

church practices have changed over time and can differ across ge-
ographical sites. However, the textbooks also used terms that sug-
gested that the churches are stable and fixed entities. The textbooks
employed the labels “Christian,” “Catholic,” and “Lutheran” as histor-
ically established, non-disputed global terms. “Christian” referred to
all churches and their common practices and beliefs, while “Catholic”
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and “Lutheran” designated the two specific churches and their prac-
tices and beliefs. However, the textbooks used the term “Catholic” far
more frequently than “Lutheran,” implicitly suggesting that “Catholic”
is the proper term for referring to the Catholic Church, and “Christian”
is the more appropriate term for referring to the Lutheran Church.
In the interviews, informants both reflected and challenged the
textbooks’ use of these terms. Young Catholics called themselves
“Catholic” more frequently than “Christian,” while young Lutherans
never called themselves “Lutheran.” However, the textbooks’ use of
the terms was challenged as the informants demonstrated that these
terms are contextually contested in negotiations between minority and
majority positions. While the young Catholics stated that, in the Nor-
wegian context, “Christian” is used to refer to the Protestant Christian
majority, the young members of the Lutheran Church reported that
young secularized church members might use the term “Christian”
as a marker of cultural adherence in an increasingly multicultural so-
ciety and that non-believers might use the term to indicate negative
stereotypes of believers. Thus, for different reasons, both Catholic and
Lutheran informants used the label “Christian” hesitantly, and some
Lutheran Church members considered calling themselves “followers
of Jesus” in order to avoid misunderstandings.
By omitting such contextual complexity the textbooks do not in-
form their readers of how religious terms can be subject to power
negotiations that indicate unstable and contested understandings of
religion.

Scientific Language and Everyday Language

Another difference concerns the use of scientific and everyday

language. This difference was most explicit in the presentations of
the sacrament of the Eucharist, or Communion. The textbooks com-
bined advanced scientific or theological terminology with factual
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 103

formulations more close to everyday language. For example, one text-

book described the Catholic Eucharist as a sacrament of salvation
where the death and resurrection of Jesus are made “present” in the
bread and wine but also used complex theological terms such as “tran-
substantiation” and “consecration” (Heiene et al. 2008, 210).
The use of scientific and theological terms, such as “consecra-
tion,” “ritual dimension,” “sacrifice of atonement,” and “substance
and accidence” were found mostly in the descriptions of the Catholic
Eucharist. In descriptions of the Lutheran Communion, textbooks
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tended to avoid advanced scientific language, and to focus on the

Communion as the “presence” of Jesus in the bread and wine and a
means of forgiveness.
Informants did not use advanced theological terminology, except
for single occurrences of the words “sacrament” and “communion.”
Focusing on the experiential aspects of this sacrament, the Catholic
informants used such words as “appreciate,” “experience,” “feeling,”
“something special,” “a securing assurance,” “a joyful experience,” and
the Lutheran informants used “meal of fellowship,” “receive forgive-
ness,” “moving forward to meet God.”
While textbooks used scientific and non-scientific language in
largely factual descriptions of the sacrament, the informants used
everyday language to communicate and elaborate on their personal
experience of it.

Insiders’ Perspectives

As indicated, the textbooks focused mostly on the factual aspects of

the faith and practices. One textbook (Aronsen, Bomann-Larsen, and
Notaker 2008), nevertheless, made some efforts to activate a believ-
ers’ perspective, as when describing the meaning of the Catholic Eu-
charist: “Here the believers meet Jesus Christ who is present through
the bread and wine” (Aronsen, Bomann-Larsen, and Notaker 2008,
160).
Except for these more implicit statements, only brief references
to insiders’ perspectives were made in the textbooks’ general introduc-
tions to religion and in some assignments and instructions. The intro-
ductions of two textbooks described how outsiders might observe the
factual aspects of the religion, while insiders experience the presence
of God or the divine (Aronsen, Bomann-Larsen, and Notaker 2008;
Kvamme, Lindhardt, and Steineger 2008). A third textbook encour-
aged pupils to adopt both an outsider’s perspective through analytical
 104 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

investigation and an insider’s perspective through empathy (Heiene

et al. 2008).
Two textbooks included assignments that addressed the insider’s
perspective of the churches. In one assignment, pupils were asked
to compare the textbook’s presentation of the Christian denomina-
tions with the insiders’ perspective expressed on the websites of the
different denominations (Kvamme, Lindhardt, and Steineger 2008,
122). In two other assignments, pupils were asked to imagine how
an insider would perceive the ritual of baptism and the interior of a
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church (Aronsen, Bomann-Larsen, and Notaker 2008, 170f). While

the first assignment suggested a denominations’ websites as informa-
tion sources, the other assignments did not recommend any tools that
might aid in the construction of an insider’s perspective.
In the interviews, an insider’s perspective generally dominated.
Occasional attempts to take more generalized positions were found,
as when the Catholic informant Richard said that “we do not repre-
sent the whole faith.” The overall impression, though, was that the
informants gave insiders’ descriptions of the experiential and rela-
tional aspects of faith and how they relate to the development of
self-understanding or self-relation.
Informants made frequent references to emotions and relations.
All respondents addressed these topics, although to different de-
grees. The emotional aspects of religion were described with a wide
range of verbal expressions, from more general and predominant
terms—”feel/feeling,” “experience,” and “nice/good”—to more spe-
cific terms—”consoling,” “delightful,” “inspiring,” and “vulnerable.”
Although positive emotions dominated, the informants addressed even
issues such as fear, hardship, strangeness, and vulnerability. They also
described how their faith was relationally embedded and mentioned
relations to family and friends, to religious and other types of commu-
nities, to God and Jesus, to mates, and to persons from other churches
and religions.
While most references to emotions and relations were explicitly re-
lated to aspects of faith and community practices, some informants also
reflected on emotions and relations as part of their self-understanding
and self-awareness. Catholic informant Richard described the inner
calmness that he could obtain through prayer and stated that he
“bases himself” a lot in feelings, because “the feeling is yourself.”
Catholic Maria talked about how the pronunciation of her deeds in the
confession makes her more conscious of herself, while Lutheran Marte
described how faith had been integrated into her personality to the
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 105

extent that she could not distinguish between doing “Christian deeds”
and doing “Marte deeds.” Several informants also reported that their
self-awareness as believers was sharpened when they encountered the
secular community surrounding them.
In these ways the informants communicated an insider’s under-
standing of how religion is embedded in personal experiences and
social life and integrated into self-understanding and self-awareness.
While the textbooks did not completely neglect such aspects of reli-
gion, an outsider’s perspective tended to dominate in them.
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Informants’ Comments on Religious Education and Religious

Education Textbooks

Both groups of informants were given excerpts from a textbook

presentation of Mass or church service specific to their denomina-
tion. The excerpt presented to the Catholic informants described the
Catholic Mass, focusing on the structure and ritual elements: “the
Eucharist, the communion, which has its own ritual with the Conse-
cration as its climax; in this act the bread and wine is transformed into
the body and blood of Jesus” (Heiene et al. 2008, 210). The excerpt
presented to the Lutheran informants reviewed the main elements
of a Lutheran service, including a description of a Lutheran infant
baptism: “After the creed the baptismal procession approaches the
baptismal font [ . . . ] The minister asks the parents and the godpar-
ents to confirm that the child is to be baptized in the name of the
triune God and be raised in the Christian faith” (Kvamme, Lindhardt,
and Steineger 2008, 104).
The informants gave critical comments on these excerpts, stating
that the textbook presented an outsider’s perspective, focusing on the
rituals’ physical elements and failing to grasp their inner meaning or
experience.
In further conversation, the two groups of informants followed
somewhat different patterns. The Catholic group focused on religious
education and the challenge of communicating spiritual aspects of
faith to their classmates. Describing how non-Catholic classmates ar-
gued that bread and wine are not physically changed into the body
and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the Catholic informants ex-
pressed some doubt as to whether a classroom atmosphere facilitates
discussing the spiritual aspects of religion. As a conclusion, the in-
formant Carmen suggested that the teacher should repeatedly draw
attention to the limitations of religious education, that it has difficulty
communicating some aspects of religion.
 106 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

TABLE 1. Mediations of Religion as Objects in Textbooks and Among the

Informants
Textbooks mediate Informants mediate
religion religion
Within global and Within local and personal
national space space
Within historical time Within personal time
(political and cultural) (personal lifespan)
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Through scientific Through everyday

language and factual concepts and language
concepts
Through rational and Through emotional and
general descriptions relational descriptions
As generalized and As unique individualized
factual knowledge experiences, including a
communicable to readers spiritual dimension
difficult to communicate
to outsiders
As seen from an As seen from an insider’s
outsider’s perspective perspective (with
(with references to an criticism of the
insider’s perspective) limitations of the
outsider’s perspective in
textbooks)

The Lutheran group paid attention to the purpose of religious

education, which is to develop pupils’ respect for religious believers.
The informants questioned whether the textbooks could promote such
respect, as their presentations provide mostly factual descriptions of
religion. The informant Marte wondered whether the experiential di-
mension of religion can be presented truthfully in a textbook. Religious
experience is individual, she argued, and can hardly be transformed
into a general description of what believers experience without blur-
ring the genuine quality of the experience.

DISCUSSION

This article set out to investigate how the Catholic and Lutheran
versions of Christianity are presented in Norwegian religious educa-
tion textbooks and by young church members. Two relatively distinct
objects emerge from the empirical sources, as illustrated in Table 1.
One object was found in the textbooks, focusing on the systemic,
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 107

theological, sociohistorical, and political aspects of religion, and the

other in the interview data, focusing on religion’s experiential, emo-
tional, relational, and self-expressional elements.
Although the two objects had some overlapping characteristics,
their differences in focus were nevertheless strong enough that some
of the informants challenged the legitimacy of the object formulated
by the textbooks due to its dominant outsider’s perspective.
By identifying such differences, the present study to some extent
confirms the findings from previous studies that pupils are critical of
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textbook and classroom presentations of their religion (Jackson and

Nesbitt 1993; Moulin 2011; Nesbitt 2004; Nicolaisen 2009, 2012).
Informants in the present study questioned the legitimacy of the
textbooks’ presentations in two ways: implicitly, through their con-
struction of an object distinctly different than the textbook object, and
explicitly, through their critical comments on the outsider’s perspec-
tive in the selected textbook passages. By arguing that the textbooks
presented reductionist versions of their faith, the informants ques-
tioned whether these textbooks could fulfill the objective of religious
education to promote respect for religious beliefs. In this way the
informants questioned whether the textbooks’ notion of religion can
become a successful boundary object in classroom activities.
For their part, the textbooks did indicate that the insider’s per-
spective and the emotional and relational aspects of religion are of im-
portance for religious education, and in some assignments had pupils
try to describe religious phenomena from an insider’s perspective.
However, the textbooks did not provide specific instructions of how
pupils should formulate such descriptions.
While textbooks and informants agreed that insiders’ and out-
siders’ perspectives should be included in the understanding of reli-
gion, neither suggested any guidelines for the development of such
an understanding. The informants even wondered whether such an
understanding was possible within a multi-faith religious education.
While the latter matter raises philosophical and theological questions
that exceed the limitations of this study, the search for guidelines can
be partly addressed in light of the results presented.
As stated, McCutcheon (1999) and Geertz (1999) understand the
emic perspective as outsiders’ attempt to move from an etic per-
spective toward the experiential aspects of religion. As a first step
to facilitate such movement toward the emic perspective, textbooks
could include texts and materials which communicate the personal
experiences of practicing believers so that readers can reflect on and
 108 TEXTBOOK RELIGION AND LIVED RELIGION

compare them with the more factual presentations in the textbooks.

Such approaches already have been partly implemented in religious
education in England (Everington 1996; Robson 1995).
While the interview data from this and similar studies provide
experience-near sources, the results presented in this study might also
serve as a basis for the development of analytical tools and guidelines.
Table 1 lists aspects that illustrate differences between insiders’ and
outsiders’ perspectives, descriptions and knowledge presentation:
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• Perspectives: Global/national versus local; political/cultural versus

personal.
• Descriptions: Scientific language versus everyday language; rational
versus emotional; principal versus relational.
• Knowledge presentation: Generalized and factual versus indi-
vidualized and unique; communicable to readers versus non-
communicable.

Guidelines that draw pupils’ attention to such differences might

facilitate their identification and understanding of the etic and emic
aspects of religious texts, art, architecture, and rituals. Due to the
exploratory design of the present study, these identified aspects of
difference are tentative and should be qualified and refined through
further research and practice. As several studies have emphasized
the need for approaches to religious education that mediate respect,
recognition and mutual understanding (Freathy and Aylward 2010;
Moulin 2011; Nicolaisen 2009, 2012; Zaver 2013), particular attention
might be paid to the emotional and relational aspects of religion, and
to how guidelines can include sets of terms that help pupils identify
such aspects.
More research is needed to determine how such guidelines could
be developed. While such guidelines might help pupils to become bet-
ter acquainted with the experiential dimension of religion, the emic
perspective still remains the outsider’s attempt to get as close as pos-
sible to the insider’s perspective. As pointed out by the informant
Marte, there is a danger that even the development and presenta-
tion of emic perspectives could result in generalizations that blur the
genuine nature of experiential religion. Consequently, even an emic
perspective might still be limited to some extent.
Previous studies (Vestøl 2012, 2014) have shown how textbooks
may blur the role and status of external resources that are included in
 JON MAGNE VESTØL 109

textbook presentations and assignments. Critical examination is there-

fore needed to determine whether textbooks can include experience-
near sources in ways that do not reduce their significance by subordi-
nating them to a dominating etic perspective.
As demonstrated by Freathy and Aylward (2010), and Zaver
(2013), the development of religion as a boundary object has to in-
clude the positions and understandings of both religious and secular
pupils. While the present study has suggested guidelines based on
descriptions given by textbooks and religious informants, religion as
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a boundary object in a multi-faith classroom also must include the

perspectives of secular pupils. More research is needed to determine
how and to what extent both etic and emic perspectives can be in-
cluded in textbooks and religious education in ways that contribute to
understanding and respect between secular and religious pupils.

Jon Magne Vestøl is Associate Professor of Religious and Moral Education

at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University
of Oslo, Norway. E-mail: j.m.vestol@ils.uio.no

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