A Mosaic of Secularization through the Lens of Education:

A Review of “Educational Secularization within Europe and Beyond. The Political Projects of Modernizing Religion through Education Reform”

Abstract

This review examines the interdisciplinary volume “Educational Secularization within Europe and Beyond: The Political Projects of Modernizing Religion through Education Reform” (edited by Mette Buchardt, 2025), which explores processes of educational secularization from historical and cultural standpoints. The contributions to the volume emphasize the political dimension of secularization, not merely as the institutional separation of religion from the state, but as a mechanism for shaping civic consciousness through the reconfiguration of educational frameworks. The volume spans a broad geographical scope – from Western Europe to the Middle East, Africa, and the post-Soviet space – and covers a wide temporal range, from the early modern period to the early twenty-first century. The studies engage with a variety of actors, including religious orders, state authorities, secularist movements, and pedagogical reformers, thereby capturing the multifaceted interplay between religious and secular influences in education. Particular attention is given to moral instruction, textbook content, didactic methods, and evolving frameworks of values and identity within national and ideological projects. Theoretically, the volume is grounded in a distinction between institutional and cultural secularization, foregrounding the ideological negotiations and compromises that emerge in specific historical contexts. Rather than presenting secularization as a linear or universal process, the contributions demonstrate its contingent, often contested character, oscillating between emancipatory aspirations and normative control. As such, the volume constitutes a significant contribution to contemporary debates on secularism, offering new perspectives and methodological tools for analyzing religion in educational settings amid shifting political and cultural paradigms.