Turning to practice in academic theology and religious studies

Abstract

This article takes as its starting point the changing cultural, social and academic landscape in Sweden which has created a need for new ways of teaching and doing research in theology and religious studies. Against this backdrop, the article explores concrete work with a research circle, at Uppsala University, with upper secondary religious education teachers, as a way of working closer to practice and thereby including non-academic actors in knowledge production. The research circle, as a form of action research, where a group of teachers formulate a problem or research questions built on actual research and challenges they have met in their practice, is described and preliminary results are elaborated. Furthermore, the article expands on the possibility of transferring the method of research circles into other areas within theology and religious studies. Finally, the feasibility of the method for transforming an academic discipline and renegotiating the understanding and role of theory and practice is explored. The article concludes that research circles offer an interesting and fruitful method, among others, that blurs the borders, not only between theory and practice, but also between research and education, and calls for a suitable practice theory.