Spatial dimensions of Christianity and education in Western European history, with legacies for the present

Abstract

This article attempts to illustrate the significance of the geographical dimension of certain connections between Christianity and education in Europe. It does so by initially introducing the nature of the three components of the triangle with special reference to theory. Taking the fundamental geographical issue of scale, the discussion proceeds from continental through regional to national and local examples. The purpose is to illustrate the significance of regulated space in the relationship between Church and state in nation formation, and different ways in which initiative and control in education have impacted on the nature of emergent systems in terms of the legacy of geographical inertia. The examples are necessarily selective and partial, and are intended to illustrate aspects of the formative relationship between geography, Christianity and education rather than any kind of chronological story.