Global terms: Religion and Worldviews

Y12 understandings of Christianity’s internal diversity: enhancement through ethnography?

Research Summary: Y12 understandings of Christianity’s internal diversity: enhancement through ethnography?

Religious Education in British schools seeks to help students learn critically about, and from, a wide range of religious phenomena. Yet, how do we ensure that these religious traditions, in all their rich diversity, are authentically represented within the Religious Education classroom? Many will do so without ever interacting with these faith communities personally. Building on the work of Robert Jackson, this research thus explores the extent to which ethnographic material can be used to invite diverse religious perspectives into the classroom, to ensure that generalised understandings of religious communities are debunked and not perpetuated.

Researchers

Zoë Grainger

Research Institution

University of Cambridge

What is this about?

  • How do Y12 students develop understanding of the diversity within Christianity?
  • To what extent can an ethnographic approach help them to do this?

What was done?

There was a review of relevant literature, followed by action research on two questions: What prior knowledge did the class have of Christianity’s internal diversity? What insights did students gain through engaging with the ethnographic material? Jackson’s interpretive approach was adapted in a Y12 scheme of work, using various materials and methods to bring diverse Christian insider voices into the classroom. The students completed questionnaires, the teacher-researcher and her mentor made observation notes, the students’ classwork was analysed and visitors from the different Christian communities were interviewed.

Main findings and outputs

  1. Ethnographic content does clarify and consolidate subject knowledge.
  2. It also aids deconstruction of stereotypes.
  3. Further, it also enables critical engagement with subject matter.
  4. Attention is also needed to how students’ understanding of religion is shaped by social media.
  5. The interpretive approach is best used alongside complementary pedagogical models, e.g. hermeneutical examination of sacred texts.

Relevance to RE

The research has various forms of relevance to RE. The original article gives a useful introduction to the interpretive approach, including practical applications and criticisms, and takes the approach into KS5 for the first documented time. It shows the value to KS5 students of interactions with religious insiders. The main findings suggest potentially useful classroom teaching strategies.

Generalisability and potential limitations

As an action research study, the research does not aim for generalisibility, but the findings certainly suggest promising avenues for other teachers to explore in their own classrooms; and the background and context of the study are very well accounted.

Find out more

The original article is: Zoë Grainger. 2023. Seeing the kaleidoscope: Investigating whether Year 12 understandings of Christianity’s internal diversity can be enhanced through an ethnographic approach. Journal of Trainee Teacher Education Research.

It can be freely downloaded from https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.96937

What does it mean to be a Muslim young woman in Britain today?

Research Summary: What Can RE Teachers Learn From Contemporary Biblical Studies?

What does it mean to be a Muslim young woman in Britain today? With which religious and social values do these young women identify? This research tests the idea that Muslim identity involves having particular values, among female adolescents (13 to 15 years of age). The data demonstrate that for these female adolescents, self-identification as Muslim meant a distinctive profile in terms both of religiosity and social values.

Researchers

Ursula McKenna & Leslie Francis

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

  • What values do young Muslim women in Britain have?
  • How can their religiosity be described?
  • Do young Muslim women in Britain have a particular profile, in relation to values and religiosity?

What was done?

The young Muslim women participated in a survey conducted across the four nations of the United Kingdom. From the 11,809 participants in the survey, the research compares the responses of 177 female students who self-identified as Muslim with the responses of 1183 female students who self-identified as religiously unaffiliated. Comparisons are drawn across two themes,
religiosity and social values.

Main findings and outputs

  • Religious identity is important to young Muslim women in Britain: 84% agreed that this is so, and 88% said that being Muslim was the most important factor in their identity.
  • Further, they tend to be surrounded by family and friends who think religion to be important.
  • Nearly three quarters regarded themselves as a religious person (71%) but only one quarter regarded themselves as a spiritual person (26%).
  • At least three in every five often talked about religion with their mother (66%) and slightly less frequently with their father (49%).
  • Studying religion at school had helped 90% to understand people from other religions and 81% to understand people from different racial backgrounds. 78% found learning about different religions in school interesting, and 68% found studying religion at school had shaped their views about religion.
  • 89% believed in God, 94% believed in heaven, and 89% believed in hell.
  • The majority supported the views that we must respect all religions (94%) and that all religious groups in Britain should have equal rights (90%).
  • 82% agreed that having people from different religious backgrounds made their school an interesting place.

Relevance to RE

There are two main ways in which this research is relevant to RE. Firstly, the findings can help teachers to be accurate when teaching about Islam in Britain today. Secondly, they can help teachers to understand the values and views likely to be held by their own female Muslim pupils.

Generalisability and potential limitations

These findings are generalisable, arising from a large survey analysed with high expertise.

Find out more

Ursula McKenna & Leslie J. Francis (2019) Growing up female and Muslim in the UK: an empirical enquiry into the distinctive religious and social values of young Muslims, British Journal of Religious Education, 41:4, 388-401.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2018.1437393 (open access)

What does it mean to be Jewish today?

Research Summary: What does it mean to be Jewish today?

This research is about how US Jews engage with Judaism today. It shows the importance of considering different dimensions of Jewish life and identity. The key finding is that ‘cultural Jews’ (who do not regularly practice Jewish rituals or join with synagogues) still feel strong connections to the Jewish community. The research suggests a new way to understand Jewish identity.

Researchers

Janet Krasner Aronson (et al)

Research Institution

Brandeis University

What is this about?

  • Judaism
  • How Jewish people identify as Jewish
  • Jewish communities in the US

What was done?

Survey data on the Greater Boston Jewish community were used. Fourteen measures of behaviour were analysed, to identify a series of types of Jewish identity.

Main findings and outputs

  • You cannot (as many studies do) really typify Jews as ‘religious’ or ‘unreligious’. It isn’t that simple.
  • Instead, you have to consider different factors of Jewish identity and how they interact, especially as increasing numbers of Jews do not affiliate to any denomination such as Orthodox or Reform.
  • (From related studies) 62% of US Jews report that their Jewish identity is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture – only 15% name it as mainly religion.
  • Formal affiliation with Jewish institutions, particularly synagogues, is not necessarily as strong a marker of Jewish identity as it is often considered. It does not appear to translate into bringing Judaism into the home or developing emotional connections to the Jewish community.
  • But ‘cultural’ Jews, though less likely to be members of synagogues, feel far more connected to the local and worldwide Jewish communities and to Israel.

Relevance to RE

The research can certainly be of use in developing teachers’ knowledge of contemporary Judaism. It also opens up wider questions, that can be discussed as part of RE lessons in order to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of religion as a conceptual category: what are some of the different forms that religious identity takes? Can you be religious without participating in worship or rituals? Can you even be religious without believing in God?

Generalisability and potential limitations

The survey analysis methodology sets out to be generalisable and has evidently been applied with great care. Whether the findings would be repeated in the UK is an open question. The analysis is very detailed, much more so than can be reflected here – those interested are strongly encouraged to refer to the original article.

Find out more

The original article is Janet Krasner Aronson et al, A New Approach to Understanding Contemporary Jewish Engagement, Contemporary Jewry (2019) 39:91–113. It can be freely accessed via the link below.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-018-9271-8

Understanding Christianity

Research Summary: Understanding Christianity

Disagreements about how Christianity should be taught in state-funded school RE have a long history. In this article are considered debates that have arisen about theologically-based pedagogy. The focus is Understanding Christianity, a resource inspired by recent developments in hermeneutics. When studying the Bible, should pupils should be viewed as insiders or outsiders? The argument is that hermeneutics offers a robust model for an academically rigorous approach that enables pupils to be both insiders and outsiders. There is explanation of how Understanding Christianity has attempted to embody this aspiration.

Researchers

Stephen Pett & Professor Trevor Cooling

Research Institution

RE Today Services / Canterbury Christ Church University

What is this about?

  • How should Christianity be approached in state-funded school RE? Especially, how should the Bible be approached?
  • Are theological approaches to Christianity appropriate in state-funded school RE?
  • Hermeneutical approaches to Christianity are argued to be appropriate: academically rigorous, requiring pupils to examine the nature of the text but also attending to their own backgrounds and responses.
  • It is shown how the Understanding Christianity resource puts this approach into practice.

What was done?

The article is a scholarly essay on theological approaches to RE, examining the different arguments for and against and presenting the strengths of a hermeneutical theological approach, as exemplified in the Understanding Christianity resource.

Main findings and outputs

  • There is suspicion that using theology as a pedagogy of RE is hijacking RE for faith formation.
  • However, Understanding Christianity and its hermeneutical approach answers this concern.
  • Julia Ipgrave’s work is cited, whereby it is possible for students as academic outsiders to learn from the Bible as insiders with personal integrity, without being treated as Christian insiders.
  • Pupils should ask what their ‘pre-understanding’ of texts is; from what point of view do they interpret?
  • They should try to discern its originally intended meaning, through study of the various background factors, then ask about its significance (if any) for themselves.
  • In these ways, there can be responsible interpretation and awareness of diversity.
  • The selection of material for and pedagogy of Understanding Christianity reflect these priorities.

Relevance to RE

The article presents and defends the merits of an increasingly known though contested approach to Christianity in RE. It offers thought-provoking points for teachers to consider when preparing lessons (e.g. on page 265 where we are asked to consider the effect of offering pupils various titles for the same parable: Prodigal Son, Wasteful Son, Lost Son, Foolish Father, Careless Country, Forgiving Father or Two Lost Sons). Many RE teachers will be familiar with the Understanding Christianity materials and readers are encouraged to read the original BJRE article.

Generalisability and potential limitations

Because this is a scholarly essay, the question of generalisability does not really apply. Rather, readers are encouraged to try out and evaluate the approach in their own classrooms.

Find out more

Stephen Pett & Trevor Cooling (2018) Understanding Christianity: exploring a hermeneutical pedagogy for teaching Christianity, British Journal of Religious Education, 40:3, 257-267.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01416200.2018.1493268?journalCode=cbre20

What are the effects of migration on religion? Polish Catholics in the UK and Ireland

Research Summary: What are the effects of migration on religion? Polish Catholics in the UK and Ireland

The question is often asked, how does migration affect religion? The number of Polish Catholics in the UK and Ireland has grown rapidly, but little is known about the religious aspects of their journey. This report is based on the researchers’ fieldwork with Polish migrants in the UK and Ireland. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with Polish migrants of various ages and class backgrounds, three possible outcomes are identified for Catholics transplanted to a new context. Firstly, they continue to practise in the same way as they did in their home country. Secondly, they begin to question their faith and leave the church altogether. Thirdly, they take the opportunity to explore their faith in a flexible and relatively independent manner.

Researchers

Kerry Gallagher & Marta Trzebiatowska

Research Institution

University of Maynooth, University of Aberdeen

What is this about?

  • When people migrate, how does it effect their religion.
  • Specifically, when Catholics migrate from Poland to the UK or Ireland, how does it affect their religion?
  • What kinds of continuities and changes can be found in their religious views and practices? How are these religious views and practices affected by the transplantation of themselves and their Catholicism to the new country?

What was done?

The data come from two research projects conducted between 2008 and 2013. The interview material from England and Scotland is drawn from a larger study of Polish priests and parishioners in Great Britain, carried out simultaneously in London, Nottingham, and Aberdeen. The Irish portion of the data comes from a project based in County Dublin. Both projects comprised interviews with Polish migrants as well as participant observation at masses and social and cultural events. Overall, data from 71 interviews inform this research: 10 from Scotland, 20 from England, 41 from the Republic of Ireland. All participants had been residents in the UK and Ireland for at least a year. Of the 71 interviewees, 58 were female.

Main findings and outputs

  • Polish migration into the UK and Ireland has been significant. Official statistics from 2011 and 2008 show that Polish is the second most spoken language in the UK, 600,000 people of Polish background live in the UK, and 200,000 in Ireland.
  • There is a deep link between Polish identity and Catholicism. The presence of Polish migrants has ‘transformed’ Catholic parishes in the UK, with comparable effects in Ireland.
  • But little is known of the effect of the journey on migrants’ religion. Does it strengthen or weaken it, for instance? Faiths moving from one place to another has always been part of the religious landscape.
  • There is some evidence that the migrants’ Catholic identity is unchanged by the move. Masses are in Polish, people stay connected to the Church, or their connectedness increases and helps negotiate the change to the new country.
  • Yet there is also evidence that migrants feel freer in the new setting, presented with new choices and opportunities including the decision not to stay part of the faith community.
  • There is also evidence that some people use the change as a way to explore their faith in a more individual, open, personal manner, which has also altered the status of priests.

Relevance to RE

RE sets out to prepare young people for life in twenty-first century Britain, and the research is an example of how the country’s social and religious make-up changes all the time; teachers need to keep in touch with this. The relationship between migration and religion is a significant one but is perhaps under-explored in RE. Young people can sometimes express prejudices about it. Perhaps the researchers’ methodology offers a good model for a community or lived religion RE topic where pupils meet members of different communities and talk with them about how the experience of moving countries has affected their religious beliefs and practices.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The data are drawn from two fairly large-scale quantitative studies. The researchers acknowledge that their ‘snowball’ (spreading via networks) sample is not representative, but does reflect different settings and chime with other relevant literature.

Find out more

The full article is: Kerry Gallagher & Marta Trzebiatowska (2017) Becoming a ‘real’ Catholic: Polish migrants and lived religiosity in the UK and Ireland, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 32:3, 431-445.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2017.1362883?journalCode=cjcr20

What Can RE Teachers Learn From Contemporary Biblical Studies?

Research Summary: What Can RE Teachers Learn From Contemporary Biblical Studies?

Religious Education naturally draws on various aspects of the academic study of religions to ensure the accuracy and currency of its content and pedagogy. This paper sets out the case for a more intense dialogue between RE and the field of biblical studies, by explaining two recent major shifts within biblical scholarship: a greater understanding of the first century Jewish context within which Christianity was formed, and the emergence of new forms of biblical interpretation which draw on the perspectives of previously marginalised groups, including women, people of colour, and the disabled. It then shows how these might fruitfully be applied to the teaching of RE in schools.

Researcher

Susan Docherty

Research Institution

Newman University Birmingham

What is this about?

The paper brings perspectives from current biblical scholarship to bear on teaching the bible in RE in schools.

What was done?

Some recent trends in academic biblical scholarship were identified and explained. It was then shown how they might be applied to topics commonly taught in secondary school RE, such as the identity of Jesus, the problem of evil, or ethical issues.

Main findings and outputs

Lesser known primary texts are analysed to reveal: the common roots of Judaism and Christianity; the variety and historical development of these religions; and the plurality of interpretation of texts and issues possible within them. Contemporary works of biblical scholarship are then investigated to draw out some ways in which the use of the bible in schools can be enhanced by attending to previously neglected interpretative voices and to global perspectives.

Relevance to RE

This paper sets out to address weaknesses highlighted by recent Exam Board reports and other studies in the teaching of Christianity in UK schools, and specifically in the use of biblical material in the classroom. It discusses developments in academic biblical studies which potentially have important and positive implications for RE: demonstrating the breadth and variety of the religions of early Judaism and Christianity; offering new information about central topics on current RE syllabi; raising important wider questions about the plurality and ‘ownership’ of the interpretation of sacred texts; encouraging greater nuance in applying biblical texts to contemporary theological and ethical debates; and providing space for people from varied backgrounds to engage directly with the biblical texts in informed and innovative ways.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research aims to support all teachers in making effective use of the primary texts of the Christian scriptures (the New Testament) in their teaching and in preparing students for public exams in RE. It is therefore more useful for those working with syllabi which cover Christianity in detail.

Find out more

Susan Docherty (2018) A new dialogue between biblical scholarship and Religious Education, British Journal of Religious Education, 40:3, 298-307, DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2018.1493272

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Yup26q3NkKDaPIbSqye6/full

Worlds Apart

Research Spotlight: Worlds Apart

December 2022

Emily Downe & Nick Spencer

Worlds Apart

Science and religion’ is one of the most interesting discussions it is possible to have in the classroom – not that you would necessarily know that from the wider public debate.

That debate has often treated science and religion as different (and competing) theories about the way the world is, and so reduced the ensuing conversations to an either/or: evolution or creation? God or the Big Bang? Religious experience or brain chemistry? Science and religion become worlds apart – and even worlds at war. Discussion slides into debate and debate slides into argument.

This animation is based on a three-year research project conducted by Theos and The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. The researchers conducted over a hundred in-depth interviews with experts (scientists, philosophers, theologians, etc.) and commissioned a 5,000+ national survey of the general public, to get an unprecedentedly deep understanding of how people, at different ‘locations’ in society, conceive of science and of religion.

The research made it clear that the topic was huge and sprawling. Indeed, it is more of a series of topics than just one. Much of this was drawn out in the research report Moving away from the shallow end, and more will emerge in two books on the topic that are due for publication in 2023 and 2024.

However, we are conscious that only a comparatively small number of people read books or research reports on these topics, and we wanted a way to reach a wider audience. Hence the animation.

Worlds Apart sweeps us through a universe of questions surrounding the science and religion debate. Dynamic, fluid visuals illustrate topics such as cosmology, evolution, anthropology, neuroscience, and ethics in a way that engages the imagination and brings the words to life. This allows a young audience to connect with these important concepts in a different way. The overarching idea is moving from seeing things from far off to looking closer at the details of the conversations. The film is bookended with being above the clouds, which acts as the metaphor for how things look different from a distance, and the film takes the audience below the clouds into the details of the conversations. The purpose is to inspire interest in the questions about science and religion, seeing that they are not simply in conflict with each other, and to invite people to join the conversation.

The overall intention of Worlds Apart is to inspire interest, provoke questions, open horizons, and improve conversations. We hope that the resource– along with the on-line Science and Religion Compass which is be launched in autumn 2023 – will (re)kindle students’ interest in a topic that encompasses some of the most important questions in life.

Some discussion questions from the animation follow below. Regarding how to use them, we imagine that teachers will show the animation and then discuss some or all of the questions with pupils, so that the film and questions work together. We would emphasise that the animation should be used to inform and steer the discussion, rather than just being a launch point: the animation serves as an interpretation of what each question means – the bad science vs. good poetry one being a particularly good example of this.The animation and questions seem suited to the secondary phase, but teachers will need to modify the questions depending on the age of pupils within this phase and their state of readiness: in this light, the animation and questions could also usefully guide a department meeting or CPD session during which their use in the classroom is being planned or discussed.

Discussion Questions

  • When did we become recognisably human, and what makes us different from other animals?
  • How should we read holy books? Are creation stories bad science or good poetry?
  • Are spiritual experiences a sign of something deeper, or are they simply an illusion of the brain?
  • If nature obeys laws, does that mean there is a lawgiver?
  • Is altruism just an evolutionary trick or a glimpse of who we were meant to be?

Emily Downe and Nick Spencer