Nested Narratives and Layers of Learning in Religious Education: A Research Story

This story begins with the Biblos project (2004), led by a master storyteller, Terence Copley. In Biblos, we investigated how the Bible is, and should be, taught in Religious Education (RE). We dealt with:

1. Biblical stories to exemplify the selected themes of encounter, vulnerability and destiny
2. The overarching Bible’s story from covenant to re-call and promise in the Jewish Bible, and from Creation and Fall to Redemption and Restoration in the Christian Bible
3. The story of the Bible, referring to how the Bible as a collection of books, and each book therein, came to be.

Biblos

Biblos was influenced by historical-critical approaches, seeking to put the text in context: what did the original text say, what sources did the author(s) use, from what oral traditions and social settings did the text emerge, and how did the author(s) edit the material?

These ‘stories within stories’ can be called ‘nested narratives’. Nested like a Russian (Matryoshka) doll in which hollow figures of decreasing size are stacked. Pupils can engage in layers of learning associated with each nested narrative and the connections between them.

In hindsight, stories of the Bible’s reception throughout history could have received greater emphasis: how biblical narratives have been interpreted, appropriated and used in different ways, both inside and outside the Christian tradition (e.g. in liturgy, music, art, prose, poetry, drama and film). Such stories seek to put the reader in context.

The Art of Narrative Theology

Stories of how the Bible has shaped, and continues to shape, identities and life-histories also merited closer examination. To rectify this, I worked with theologians on the Art of Narrative Theology project (2013). We considered narrative philosophy and the idea that individuals and communities are ‘formed’ by reading, sharing and living ‘within’ stories which tell of their convictions about the way the world is and where truth is to be found. We also reflected upon narrative theology which sees the Bible as a set of stories about God’s revelation and redemptive love, and sees Christian communities as being informed by, and dwelling within, the Christian story of salvation.

We wondered whether pupils could understand:

• themselves and others narratively, reflecting upon their identities and life-histories, and the communities, traditions and worldviews of which they are a part
• how such narrative positioning plays out in stories of how individuals and communities read and relate to the Bible.

The Art of Bible reading

To assist this, we incorporated the quirky, contemporary biblical paintings of British artist Brian J. Turner into The Art of Bible Reading (2014). This textbook promotes four layers of learning:

1. Encountering narrative: pupils learn about the story, characters, setting and plot of a biblical story, and how it has been represented in a painting by Turner
2. Interpreting narrative: pupils view Turner’s painting as his own personal reading of the story, and consider how his life-story (e.g. beliefs, experiences and encounters) has influenced his interpretation and how his interpretation has influenced his life-story
3. Understanding narrative in community contexts: pupils consider the significance of the story for different Christian communities, including how their interpretations have shaped, and been shaped by, those communities and their contexts
4. Reflecting on narratives of self and others: pupils consider whether they would interpret and portray the biblical story in the same way as Turner, and whether their response is a consequence of the narratives forming their own identities (e.g. ideas, beliefs, people and experiences).

Through these layers of learning, pupils reflect on the relationship between their narrative sense of self and the narratives of the Christian tradition whether they perceive themselves as part of, or in relation to, Christian narratives. They learn that biblical stories and the Bible’s story can be understood in different ways, by different people, with different identities and life-stories, at different times and places.

Who is Jesus?

This insight inspired our textbook, Who is Jesus? (2018), which examines the figure of Jesus using the sources, methods, theories and perspectives of a variety of real and fictional ‘academics’ (e.g. a biblical scholar, theologian, church historian, and scholar of Islam). In each chapter, these researchers engage with answers to the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ from historians, gospel writers, Muslims, feminists, the visually-impaired, different cultures, today’s Church, and a contemporary artist. Thereby, pupils encounter a study of stories and a story of studies.

The textbook’s ‘multi-story’ exploration of stories, story-tellers, story-recipients, story-interpreters, and so forth, exemplifies the nested nature of narratives in RE and the diversity of disciplinary, methodological and interpretative approaches to their study. By navigating these layers of learning, pupils become critically aware of the varied, complex and changeable characters, settings and plots in the subject-discipline of RE. They also become reflective and reflexive about their dual role within the subject’s story as both central characters and co-authors with their peers and their teachers.

In advocating the benefits of thinking narratively about RE as a subject-discipline, those who study and teach it, and the ways in which they do so, I bring this story-themed story of research to an end.