In Russia a new school subject has been introduced in order to facilitate educators in shaping the enculturation process of the autonomous student into the cumulative tradition. In this article the Russian societal and educational context is described and the concepts "religion" and "culture" are clarified. Together they build the concentric structural model in which a distinction is drawn between different layers representing various influential factors related to RE, not only in Russia but also in the western world. In our view this concentric structural model is constitutive for the new school subject of religious culture. The presentation of the model and its application is central in this article. (Contains 1 figure.)