Liam Gearon#146;s MasterClass in Religious Education is a comprehensive and polymath tome -- polymath in the sense that it draws on so many disciplines, perspectives and political realities in providing for an entirely original, indeed unique coverage of the scope, purpose and usefulness of religious education. There are many outstanding features of the book that contribute to the distinctive understanding wrought by it. Principal among these, in my view, is that it elevates the often marginalized, taken for granted and much maligned religious education to having a status that is arguably of greater centrality, pedagogically and indeed politically, than any other area of modern education. Certainly, anyone who reads this book and retains the tired view that religious education has a place only in the religious square, but not the public one, has not understood what Gearon is saying. Granted the world the way it is, the potential of religious education to forge distinctive and helpful communication across the religious divide, as well as that between religion and non-religion is unmatched by comparison with any other educational field. Gearon#146;s work will stand the test of time in underlining the central importance of religious education to the modern public curriculum.