Where does the power come from, to see the race to the end?

And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.” If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.

Eric Liddell in ‘Chariots of Fire’

This quote from the 1981 film Chariots of Fire is one of the most famous examples of the great sport/religion metaphor. If you are under 45 and haven’t seen the film – I recommend a watch. If you have seen it – always bears a re-view!

Invite a discussion amongst sports folk (and pupils) about where ‘the power comes from’ and the answers are likely to be highly diverse. Depends on the sport (compare snooker and rugby); depends on the perspective (ask a nutritionist and a sports psych); depends on the person.

Where does the power to succeed come from? Let’s try a range of options (stick with me, we get to RE soon!).

• It comes from the body: muscles, lungs and heart
• It comes from the mind: commitment, drive, self-belief
• It comes from the life style: healthy eating, exercise, disciplined sleep
• It comes from the training: skill practice, fitness programmes,
• It comes from the team: the camaraderie, the spirit of the group, the collective will

All of these can be seen as ways of explaining ‘where the power comes from’. And different people in different sports will probably identify more strongly with some rather than others. Try it out with the pupils.

All fairly obvious stuff – but does the analogy with religion have legs?

We talk a lot in RE about the impact of religion – and rush off to look for examples, positive and negative. Do we take enough time to explore different ways of analysing where the power comes from to generate the impact? Or whether the power comes from quite different places for different people.

Where does the ‘power’ in religion come from? Again let’s try a range of options:

-Liddell expresses one typical response: the power comes from inner experience. The sense of having contact with an inner invisible world which brings power and energy.

-The power comes from the rituals of religious life: the discipline and re-assurance of routine; the sense of order; the way ritual focuses the mind.

-The power comes from the narratives of the religion: the re-telling of stories and myths to inspire and help focus thought.

-The power comes from the intellectual doctrinal life of the religion: the setting out of a coherent systematic set of ideas and the process of reflecting on those ideas.

-The power comes from the ethical teachings of the religion: the teachings and core values which shape behaviour and moral life.

-The power comes from the social and communal life of the religion: the sense of belonging; the protection and security of the group; the sense of loyalty; the inspiration of others; the authority of the institution.

If religions (and non-religious world views) contain these dimensions (and of course Ninian Smart’s typology is lingering here); then one way of investigating the highly diverse lived reality of religion is to explore the way these dimensions of religious power play out in different people’s lives.

Ask any religious person: “where does the power come from, to see the race to its end?” and my guess is that you will find a complex of diverse answers playing across these six dimensions. The parallel with sport suggested by Liddell is obvious.

I am expecting 2016 to be The Year of the Big ideas in RE. I will leave others better equipped to develop this thread of thinking – but watch out for the discussions. In the meanwhile, I would stake an early claim that two of the biggest ideas in RE will be:

• Religions and non-religious world views (NRWV) are complex networks of beliefs, myths, stories, symbols, experiences, ethical teachings and social institutions
• The lived reality of religions and NRWV shows that beliefs, practices and identities are highly diverse and complex and often diverge significantly from the orthodoxy of the religious establishment.