RVS member Audun Toft defended his thesis "Conflict and Entertainment: Media Influence on Religious Education in Upper Secondary School in Norway" at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society Friday 13 September.

For more on the defence and thesis see here.

His thesis explores media influence on religious education (RE) through a case study of an upper secondary school in Norway. Approaching the question of media presence and use in the RE classroom through a mediatization perspective, the thesis studies how various media impact on the conditions for teaching and learning about religion. In addition to a general focus on media and RE, the thesis has a particular focus on contested issues concerning religion and on RE lessons about Islam. The research for the thesis was conducted as part of the Scandinavian research project “Engaging with Conflict in Mediatized Religious Environments” (COMREL)