Bildung-gospels and adult education

Abstract

The online pre-seminar ‘Bildung-gospel: a salvation to wicked problems?’ was organized on February 9th, 2022, as part of the Finnish adult education research conference in Tampere University. Due to the exploding fashionability of the word ‘Bildung’ in adult education practice and politics, the organizers asked in the pre-seminar questions on ‘What is the distinctive intellectual content and educational mission of (Nordic) Bildung and of the current initiatives of Bildung-gospel?’, ‘How does the current Bildung-gospel relate to intellectual and educational traditions of (Nordic) Bildung?’, ‘What might be reasons and drives behind the rise of the Bildung-gospel? With what kind of (educational) implications?’ Invited experts provided their responses on each question, followed by group and plenary discussions. The paper briefly describes key issues raised by the presenters and other participants, and authors’ interpretation on responses to the preliminary questions.