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Research Summary

In this thesis, I explore the introduction of creativity into Religious Education lessons. I will present a mixed methods case study research project focusing on a Year 8 all boys’ class within a large high achieving independent school. This study takes place in a largely secular classroom, in an environment where students are very highly motivated to do well. During this study, the questions I will explore are: What effect does creatively interpreting biblical text have on the students’ intrinsic motivation to work? What effect does the use of iPads with biblical text have on the students’ ability to unlock creativity? What effect does the creative interpretation have on helping students to interpret the meaning of passages?

Researcher

Mr Tom Jenkins

Research Institution

University of Cambridge

What is this about?

The use of creativity and IT to engage students in religious studies. What effect does creativity have on the students’ ability to make meaning?

What was done?

Mixed methods case study. Methods: lesson observation, pupil questionnaires, pupil interviews, and student work analysis.

Main findings and outputs

Research Question 1: What effect does creatively interpreting biblical text have on the students’ intrinsic motivation to work?
I can conclude that in my study creatively interpreting biblical text did have a positive effect on my students’ intrinsic motivation. I did anticipate that this might be so, however I did not anticipate the reasons why creativity would increase their motivation, and for me this was the interesting aspect. Students were motivated by the opportunity to be creative because it gave them a chance to express themselves, and also their viewpoints. It also gave them the freedom of choice to choose their learning, and this proved to be a valuable opportunity to the students.

Research Question 2: What effect does the use of iPads with biblical text have on the students’ ability to unlock creativity?
In response to this RQ I find that I share the view of London Knowledge Lab (Team, 2013), that the effectiveness of the iPad depends on the manner in which it is used, not in anything intrinsic to itself. For some students it was helpful to use an iPad, in particular if they struggled with more traditional ways of being creative (drawing). However, it is also clear that there were times when students would have preferred not to use an iPad, and to return to previous methods of creativity. The iPad can also be restrictive to some students, and using an iPad is as much a skill as drawing is.

Research Question 3: What effect does the creative interpretation have on helping students to interpret the meaning of passages?
This was the most interesting RQ, and I found that creatively interpreting the meaning of passages does have a positive effect on the students’ ability to interpret the meaning. Some of the pieces of work I examined on the Good Samaritan were quite powerful, and they captured the heart of the passage very strongly. It appears that applying the parable to a modern day example helped the students understand the concept of social responsibility, and how to be ‘active’ rather than ‘passive’ members of society. I can also conclude that because the students had to create their own versions of the bible passages, they had to understand them in great detail. This was very clear in even the most basic responses to the task, and it became a clear indicator of ability and progress. The use of creativity also had a final unexpected effect on the students, which was that it made them reflect upon themselves and each other. During the course of creating their own Good Samaritan and Sower parables, the students reflected upon chances they have had to be helpful to one another. Applying the bible passages to the modern world also accomplished a further thing, which was to make religious education relevant to the students of today.

Relevance to RE

This research will help inform RE teachers about the benefits of using creativity in RE lessons, it will also provide some ideas as to how this can be done. This project will also stimulate conversation over how to make RE relevant in today’s society, and it will reference good pieces of literature on this viewpoint.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This was a small scale study, carried out with a small sample number, in a school with a 1:1 iPad scheme.

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Title: Making Meaning. A Critical Examination of the Effects of Creativity on the Meaning Making and Motivation of High Attaining Year 8 Students Studying the Gospels

Research Summary

We Need to Talk about RE (London: Jessica Kingsley, 2017) is a collection of essays by established and emerging RE leaders commenting on theory, practice and policy around RE. The book focuses mainly on the English system, with European and wider global contexts referred to. Each chapter is a grounded, research-informed provocation. The book is edited by Dr Mike Castelli (currently Executive Chair of the Association of University Lectuters in Religion and Education) and Dr Mark Chater (currently Director of a charitable trust supporting RE).

Researchers

Mike Castelli, Mark Chater & Linda Woodhead

Research Institution

Several

What is this about?

The book as a whole promotes public discussion on what is needed from a new model of RE. The book argues that we need to talk about RE for several reasons: because so much is changing in the culture of schools; because teachers of RE are ‘cultural and religious heroes caught up in a conflicted education system’; because the kind of RE practised UK is unique, but gravely in danger of dismemberment and neglect; because of the urgent need to find consensus about the purpose and place of RE; and because wider society needs better ways of dealing with religious and cultural ‘otherness’.

What was done?

Each of the fifteen authors uses a distinctive methodology based on their own professional experience as teachers, researchers, practitioners, policy makers or consultants.

Main findings and outputs

Each chapter, written by a different author, offers a manifesto for change. The postscript, written by a serving teacher of RE, argues passionately for change based on clarity of purpose.

Relevance to RE

Trainee and serving teachers will find the book a stimulating, provocative and hope-inspiring daily companion to their practice.

Generalisability and potential limitations

There is no programmatic set of findings or recommendations.

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Castelli, M. And Chater, M (2017) ed. We Need to Talk about Religious Education: Manifestos for the Future of RE.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishing.

Research Summary

This article provides a reconstruction of the processes leading to the formation of the widely influential Birmingham Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction (1975). This is contextualised within one of the most significant periods in the history of race relations in the United Kingdom. The authors discuss how this syllabus, and other landmark reforms in religious education (RE) in English schools from the late 1960s, responded to ethnic diversity by promoting supposedly culturally pluralist, multi-faith approaches to RE.

Researchers

Prof Stephen Parker & Prof Rob Freathy

Research Institution

University of Worcester

What is this about?

The research inquired into the multiple causes of a crucial moment of curriculum change in religious education. Given the stated importance of this particular syllabus to English RE history, it seemed important to us to understand how it came about.

What was done?

The research utilised historical methodologies to reconstruct a moment in curriculum history.

Main findings and outputs

• That the history of the subject can help us to understand the nature and purpose of RE in the present.
• That curriculum change in RE is often highly controversial, and sometimes bound up with notions of national and religious identity.
• That RE is often seen by policy-makers as a vehicle for social cohesion.
• That the influences upon developments in RE are multiple.

Relevance to RE

As background to a masters level study of RE policy, or to get to grips with how RE came to be as it is.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The paper needs to be read in conjunction with other related work by the authors to contextualise this important period in the recent history of the subject.

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Parker, S.G., Freathy, R.J.K. (2012) Ethnic diversity, Christian hegemony and the emergence of multi-faith religious education in the 1970s, History of Education: journal of the History of Education Society, 41: 3, 381–404.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0046760X.2011.620013

Research Summary

There is growing evidence that Western societies are becoming less religious, though a ‘core’ of religious believers remains. But to what extent are remaining Protestants more religious than before, and compared with remaining Catholics? Analyzing survey data from 1985 to 2012 in the US, Canada, and Great Britain, the researcher finds that, in most cases, Protestant affiliation has declined more significantly than Catholic affiliation. Yet, individuals who declare themselves as belonging to a Protestant denomination have higher rates of regular service attendance, prayer, and Christian beliefs than those previously. They have also surpassed these same rates among Catholics in both the US and Canada and are on track to do so in Britain in the coming years. The research is of interest and use to RE teachers who teach about contemporary Christianity or deal with pupils’ questions about the ‘dying out’ of Christianity or religion – it provides data that show how complex the issue is.

Researcher

Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme

Research Institution

University of Waterloo, Canada

What is this about?

Within the general trend (backed by evidence) that Western societies are becoming less religious:

• To what extent are those who remain Protestant more religious than before?
• To what extent are those who remain Protestant more religious than those who remain Catholic?
• What answers are suggested to these questions by data collected in the USA, Canada and Britain?

What was done?

Large national annual data sets from 1985 to 2012 were analysed: the 1985–2012 American (US GSS) and Canadian General Social Surveys (CAN GSS) as well as the British Social Attitudes Surveys (BSA). These provide indications of levels of religious belief and practice.

Main findings and outputs

• Numbers of people identifying as Protestant have declined more than those identifying as Catholic: e.g. a decline of 28.8% among Protestants in Great Britain, compared with 17.9% among Catholics over 1985–2012.
• Those remaining Protestant have seen an increase in levels of church attendance and prayer, especially compared to remaining Catholics.
• Fewer remain affiliated to Protestantism, but those who do are more practising. Consider Quebec: In 1965, 90% of this Canadian province’s residents identified themselves as Catholics and 87% attended mass at least once a week; in 2012, 77% still identified with Catholicism, but only 12% declared that they attended mass at least once a week; 47% declared that they never attended religious services.
• Something makes non-practising Catholics hold on to their religious identities, in ties that remain for a long period. However, fewer parents attending church and bring children to mass, so this may not last.
• Regarding beliefs, however, increasing levels of believing are found amongst those who remain Protestant or Catholic. Levels of Christian beliefs have increased among both religious groups in the USA and Great Britain between 1991 and 2008 (beliefs in God, in life after death, in Heaven, in Hell, and in miracles).
• Traditional thinking which sees Catholics as more religious as Protestants should be re-considered. General religious decline is changing the picture: in the UK, religious believers are a diverse minority (just under 50% in 2009), differing from the majority who are removed from religion.

Relevance to RE

There are different ways in which this research is relevant to RE pedagogy. Firstly, in dealing directly with the issues – when teaching courses or lessons about Christianity in the contemporary world – teachers may wish to use the data as content. If so, colleagued would be well advised to read the original article in its entirety, as only ‘headline findings’ have been presented here and the original data set and analysis are extremely rich and interesting. Secondly, the data open up questions about the nature of religion and Christianity that could be explored with pupils: why might people hang on to their religious identities even if belief and practice have faded? What does it mean to be religious (might this mean different things)? Why might those who continue to believe and practice do so more strenuously, as a minority in society? Finally, if the researcher is right to suggest that the gap between the non-religious majority and the religious minority is increasing, teachers ought to assume less background knowledge about religion within the majority, even less readiness to engage. Explanation may need to begin from further back and bridges to understanding built more patiently.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The data are characterised by high levels of generalisability and reliability (large sets, finding common trends in different countries and distinct trends over time).

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Protestant and Catholic Distinctions in Secularization, Journal of Contemporary Religion 31.2 pages 165-180 (published online 6 May 2016), 10.1080/13537903.2016.1152660

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537903.2016.1152660

Research Summary

It is widely recognised that Christian belief and belonging have been decreasing in the UK for at least the last few decades (this article touches on non-Christian religions in the UK, but almost all its attention is paid to Christianity). Within the pattern of decline are some puzzles, however. Why do non-religious people tend to be male rather than female, to be better educated than average, and to live in particular areas? The researchers suggest answers, by analysing large data sets such as the Census and British Social Attitudes Survey. Girls are more likely to be identified as religious by their parents, graduates are more likely to ask ‘big questions’ than non-graduates (though there are further complications) and there are various localised factors such as the existence of a ‘British Bible Belt’ in North-West and North-East England. The article repays repeated reading and should be of real interest to RE teachers. In terms of how it might be used, it could inform discussions with pupils, parents and colleagues about the relevance of RE (the facts are not as simple as ‘religion has died out’). The article’s data could be used to teach, on such topics as religion in the UK and religion and gender. Colleagues teaching about secularisation on A level Sociology courses will find the material invaluable.

Researchers

David Voas & Siobhan McAndrew

Research Institution

University of Essex and University of Manchester

What is this about?

• Christianity may, evidently, be decreasing in the UK in general, both in terms of belief and practice, but within this overall trend there are puzzles demanding solutions:
  Why do non-religious people tend to be male rather than female?
  Why do they tend to be better educated than average?
  Why do they tend to live in particular areas?

What was done?

The researchers subjected large data sets including the Census and British Social Attitudes Survey to very close analysis.

Main findings and outputs

• People tend to have partners of the same religious or non-religious category (though there is a tendency for people to see ‘Christian’ as an ethnic category). In survey responses, one parent will often respond on behalf of the family.
•  Women tend to be more religious than men. Parents will therefore have a greater tendency to identify daughters than sons as religious. In the small numbers of families where the mother is Christian and the father is not, the likelihood of a girl rather than a boy being identified as Christian is twice as great as where the parents are in the same category.
•  Less graduates than non-graduates believe in God (29% as opposed to 35%), but graduates are nearly twice as likely to attend religious services. Education appears to increase social connection as well as questioning. As a part of the population, graduates are becoming less distinct (many more people are now graduates than earlier in the twentieth century). These days more graduates identify with a religion than before, and, since 1956, more graduates than non-graduates do so; when higher education is restricted to very high academic achievers, identification with religion decreases.
• Migration from Ireland resulted in a Catholic Bible Belt in North-West and North-East England, whilst urban liberal enclaves in wards of southern cities show greatly lower levels of religious identification.
• Statistics on religion should not be taken simply as indicators of people’s beliefs or behaviour. Social, educational and local contexts also generate them.

Relevance to RE

RE teachers could use the data in various ways. They could help with questions from pupils, parents and colleagues about the relevance of RE (religion has not ‘died out’, and the real picture needs careful study). If teachers are teaching topics or lessons on religion in the UK or religion and gender, data from the research can be used directly. Where RE teachers are also teaching about secularisation on A level Sociology courses, they will find the material invaluable. In such cases, colleagues are recommended to study the original article fully, as it is rich in content, closely reasoned and only presented in outline summary form here.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research is highly generalisable, based on very large data sets that have high levels of reliability.

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Three Puzzles of Non-religion in Britain, Journal of Contemporary Religion 27.1 pages 29-48 (published online 13 January 2012), 10.1080/13537903.2012.642725

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2012.642725

Research Summary

This is a philosophical discussion about the nature of Christian art, and whether a non-religious person would be able to experience a work of Christian art in the same way as a Christian would, for instance, by imagining that he or she is a religious believer, or imagining that he or she believes that what Christianity says is true. The authors argue that it is not possible for a non-religious person to experience a work of Christian art in the same way as a Christian would, because works of Christian art are iconic: Christian works of art offer direct experience of God and dialogue with God; these are matters beyond the experiences of non-religious people, who cannot project into them from their own secular visions of the world. The article is relevant to RE in a series of ways. It poses serious problems for RE at the level of purposes, since if only ‘insiders’ can understand their own traditions, the rationale for the subject is damaged. At the level of pedagogy, however, it indirectly suggests some ways forward for RE teachers, that emphasise the importance of rigorous, imaginative dialogue.

Researchers

David Efird & Daniel Gustafsson

Research Institution

University of York

What was done?

This is a philosophical essay about the nature of Christian art and possible problems of communication between Christians and non-religious people.

Main findings and outputs

• Some people have argued that a non-religious person can experience a work of Christian art in the same way as can a Christian, by imagining himself or herself as a religious believer or imagining that what Christianity is true. For the authors, this is untrue, as for a Christian, an experience of Christian art is an experience of God.
• They give an analogy, to back up the point that the experience of a non-religious person cannot give a basis for imaginatively entering into the experience of a Christian. Mary, a brilliant scientist, has spent all of her life in a black and white room alone, engaging with the world via a black and white TV. She has become an expert on vision, light and colour, but nothing prepares her for the experience of leaving the room and actually encountering the colour red.
• The experience transforms the way in which Mary sees the world. Other experiences are similarly transformative, including having a child and becoming a Christian.
• The point of Christian works of art – the authors discuss the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the poems of William Blake – is to call upon readers to see the world in a new way, with God ever-present and caring. God is working through the artist.
• But a non-religious person cannot approach or see a Christian work of art in this way. For him or her, God may be presented through the work, but is not present.

Relevance to RE

When teaching about religious art, or using religious art-works to teach about religion, teachers can stretch pupils’ understanding and critical skills by asking them to think about how people of different backgrounds might respond to the art-works. The article underlines how different people will respond in fundamentally different ways, and therefore, in terms of thinking about RE as a whole, the article makes some potentially very serious challenges: can one person really understand the religion or world-view of another? Without a ‘yes’ answer to that question, RE is in grave difficulty, but pedagogically, the response might be for teachers to push pupils on the question of what religious objects or rituals mean to believers, trying to find plenty of opportunities for dialogue between those on the ‘inside’ and those on the ‘outside’ of this question (e.g., if Christian sacred art is under study, between Christians and non-Christians). Moreover, perhaps there are different ways for pupils to understand religions, in terms that members of those religions would recognise: see the report of Karen Walshe’s and Geoff Teece’s work that we have reported separately, under the title: Religious understanding. What is it? How do you help pupils to get it?

Generalisability and potential limitations

The strength of the article is in provoking interesting questions. As has been suggested above, these are certainly questions for RE teachers and other professionals to consider carefully, despite the authors’ tendency to imply that throughout Christianity, people will respond to works of Christian art in the same kind of way (when obviously over history this issue has been fraught); or that ‘secular’ people form a homogenous group (when, for example, an atheist raised as an atheist might have a different emotional response to an icon from a lapsed Catholic). The conclusions of the article may not be generalisable in view of these limitations, but this is something for teachers to explore.

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Experiencing Christian art Religious Studies 51.3 pages 431-439 (published online on 14 August 2015)

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religious-studies/article/experiencing-christian-art/7ACD16088199422D6A3729B78E324B45

Research Summary

This research was carried out in a variety of English schools. In primary RE classes, the Bible was seen to be used more positively than was so in secondary RE classes. Primary teachers provided a more positive climate for the development of skills of reading and interpretation. In secondary schools, students (and teachers) often expressed negativity towards books and the Bible in their RE learning. Yet engagement with religious scriptures is necessary for students to develop a comprehensive understanding of religion.In primary schools, the greater scope given to stories, (and their power to provoke new understanding) provides a foundation on which secondary RE teachers could build.

Researcher

Julia Ipgrave

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

• What are the differences between the use of the Bible in primary RE and in secondary RE?
• How do primary teachers create a more positive climate for its use?
• What can secondary teachers learn from their primary colleagues in this respect?

What was done?

The findings emerged from a wider project into the resourcing of RE and examples from related research in the field. There were 20 school case studies in (10 primary and 10 secondary) across England. At each school RE lessons were observed, policy and planning documents were viewed, teachers and pupils were interviewed about the materials they used in the RE class, and the young people participated in focus groups about the merits of selected RE books and resources in their learning.

Main findings and outputs

• Generally, research shows widespread negatitivity to the Bible amongst young people, whose interest in books also seems to be declining.
• However, primary schools seem to work harder at and be more successful in promoting a love of reading.
• Primary pupils often report enjoyment of RE because stories are involved.
• Secondary pupils tend to be more negative: books contain too many words and too much information. Teacher-produced worksheets or power-points are easier to memorise for the examination, with their short lists of ‘key points’.
• For secondary pupils, Bible ‘quotations’ were better when taken out of context for re-insertion into examination answers on a range of topics. Teachers treated books as ‘dated’.
• Primary teachers (when teaching is most thought-provoking) are ready to present Bible stories as representing realities that are different from those of their pupils, and to ask pupils to think about what is strange or puzzling.
• Secondary teachers could build on this unsettling process. In teaching e.g. Shakespeare they do so. In RE, a critical reading of a text need not be so sceptical that pupils are not open to possible different meanings or puzzles, possibly expanding their horizons.

Relevance to RE

• Regarding RE’s curriculum, the research finds that religious texts and stories are a rich but under-appreciated resource, specifically at secondary level.
• In secondary pedagogy, teachers might try to build on the successes of good primary practice.
• Pedagogical principles would include presenting stories ‘whole’, with attention to their original context. and encouraging pupils to be patient and imaginative whilst reading and thinking about them.
• Pedagogical strategies would include asking pupils to consider different possible interpretations of stories, the perspective and roles of different characters in stories and the questions and issues raised, including why the stories are strange or puzzling.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The findings relate to a fairly small number of schools, but secondary colleagues can read them and weigh up whether they apply in their own schools. They could help to strengthen primary-secondary liaison and progression. They focus on the Bible but may apply to other religious texts.

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From storybooks to bullet points: books and the Bible in primary and secondary religious education, British Journal of Religious Education 35.3 pages 264-281 (published online 21 December 2012), http://0-dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2012.750597

https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ces/research/wreru/research/completed/dcsf

Research Summary

Is God male? Or should God be referred to in gender terms at all? This philosophical essay takes issue with the traditionalist practice of referring to God in male terms. A very close and detailed argument is developed, through which it is established that it is not more accurate to characterise God as male rather than female, or vice versa. The argument is based neither on the view that God is a human concept and therefore beyond gender nor the view that God is absolutely transcendent and therefore beyond gender. It is based on two other principles, namely that human beings are created in God’s image and that God is a perfect being. In relation to the ‘image of God’, the argument is that God must be visible as much in female as male characteristics; in relation to God as a perfect being, the argument is that if God has gender attributes at all, God must have these equally. The conclusion of the article is that there should be no problem in describing God as female in settings such as liturgy, moral discussion, etc. Teachers will find the ideas challenging, but of use in responding to questions often posed by children and in preparing A level philosophy and ethics materials and lessons.

Researcher

Michael Rea

Research Institution

University of Notre Dame, Indiana

What is this about?

• Is it right to describe God as male? This appears to be a traditionalist assumption, or even a safe option.
• But the traditional practice has been harmful to women, implying that their characteristics are less ideal, and to men, encouraging a false view of their superiority. It doesn’t seem to be necessary or helpful, so it ought to be questioned.
• It doesn’t appear in the Bible. Jesus may be male, but this is offered as proof of his divinity no more than are his musculature or hair.
• Of course people have challenged the traditionalist view before, but here is a novel argument against it, based purely on analysis of theological principles.
• The argument given will be presented below, but key points are: if people are created in God’s image, equally, characteristics of women are no more or less reflective of God’s image than those of men.
• Also, if God is a perfect being, and has gender attributes, these attributes must be equally female and male, since there is no reason to say that one is better than the other, or vice versa.

What was done?

This is an essay in philosophical theology, reviewing various ideas and practices concerning God and gender from the Christian tradition and arguing for criticism and reform.

Main findings and outputs

• God is most accurately characterised as masculine (say) only if God is masculine and God is not equally feminine.
• However, God is masculine or feminine only if God is equally masculine and feminine. This is because of God’s status as a perfect being. There is no reason to say that masculinity is better than femininity or vice versa, so it would not be perfect for God to have a preponderance of either.
• Therefore, God is not most accurately characterised as masculine.
• All human beings are created equally in the image of God; the characteristics that contribute to making someone a woman are no more or less relevant to her bearing the image of God than those that contribute to making someone a man.
• If the Bible or tradition portray God as masculine, they do not insist that God is masculine in metaphysical terms. In the same way, there is no insistence that God should only be discussed via Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. The ‘Biblical pattern’ should not be taken as evidence of God’s will to be described as male.
• A just God would not insist on unequal gendered description. Gendered forms of speech such as ‘Heavenly Father’ or Julian of Norwich’s ‘as truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother’ are still important, but are metaphors (as the logical arguments prove).
• In conclusion, there is no problem with referring to God as female, though if God is masculine or feminine at all, then God is equally masculine and feminine.

Relevance to RE

• Teachers will find this essay to be demanding and thought-provoking subject reading. Summaries of the key points and arguments could certainly be offered to A level philosophy and ethics students for discussion and debate.
• The essay resonates with questions that children, even relatively younger ones, often raise and are keen to explore in RE. Teachers may find that consideration of the ideas in the essay offers some preparation in dealing with such questions as they arise.
• The essay is also evidence that such questions need to be taken up rather than dismissed. They are evidently relevant to developments and issues within Christianity; and to questions over belief in God, and the nature of God, in general.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The issue of generalisability probably could not apply to an essay such as this; its strength is in its originality, force and capacity to provoke further reflection and debate.

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Gender as a Divine Attribute, Religious Studies 52, 97–115 (published online on 5 February 2015) , doi:10.1017/S0034412514000614

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religious-studies/article/gender-as-a-divine-attribute/A9898720F077356CDF468DB9FB273CBF

Research Summary

This research is about Christians in the UK and how they practice public service (e.g. alcohol and drug rehabilitation, food banks, homeless outreach, soup kitchens, services for sex workers, community work, advice on parenting issues, care for the elderly and vulnerable, etc.). Governments use the services of religious organisations to provide public services; this is one way in which religion is in the public realm. The research is based on interviews with UK Christian service providers, who have to base their appeal on careful language to make their involvement acceptable to the wider public. Instead of talking about God or faith, they have to ‘frame’ their work as love or inclusivity. They understand why this is needed and do it deliberately as a way to continue to express their faith in a way that is credible in a society where there are people of many faiths and none. The findings are of interest for teachers preparing or teaching courses about Christianity, for example in Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies Specification B (Issues of Social Justice, Equality, the way the Church works for social justice), both for direct teaching material and for stimuli to engage with individuals or groups through visits.

Researcher

Nicola Reynolds

Research Institution

University of Loughborough

What is this about?

• This research is about how some Christians are choosing to alter the language they use to account for their faith, in order to maintain public involvement and confidence.
• In the UK, many Christian organisations and individuals are involved in public service work, e.g. with substance misusers, the homeless or other marginalised groups. However, many of them feel that explaining their involvement in overtly religious terms would put off government funders and service users.
• Therefore they ‘frame’ their commitments to public service differently. By using terms such as love, belonging or inclusivity, they can express their faith in a way acceptable to others.
• Thus, there is a shift towards use of ‘profane’ rather than ‘sacred’ terms to describe aspects of the Christian faith. This helps Christianity to keep its credibility as a force in the public sphere.
• Christians understand these processes and are adapting their language deliberately. This shows how the presence of plural religions and secular worldviews is acting upon Christianity.

What was done?

The researcher carried out 25 semi-structured interviews with Christians. Data collection occurred in two stages. In the first stage, representatives of various organisations were asked to give a broad overview of the issues; in the second stage, more in-depth views were sought from a range of people working in Christian public service.

Main findings and outputs

• The UK is becoming more secular and more religiously plural. If faith groups want to maintain wider social involvement, they have to find ways to describe themselves – and their work – which reflect their beliefs but are acceptable to those who do not share them.
• For the Christians interviewed during the research, providing care services to marginalised and disadvantaged people and groups is a way to express their faith. However, in order for such expression of their faith to be acceptable to the wider public, they have to describe it in terms of love, forgiveness, compassion, and belonging, rather than in talk about God and belief directly.
• These Christians are not passive actors: their modification of the language is a strategy they use to maintain communication and involvement in the contemporary UK.
• Interestingly, though members of various denominations were interviewed, for almost all of them, their denomination was insignificant to them.
• There is no difficulty for these Christians in stressing love or compassion rather than God or faith, for these are values they hold to be embodied by God and Jesus.
• They all want to help anyone in need, regardless of religion or background.
• Their faith and their expression of their faith is inextricably linked to belief in God. The reason that they do not want to make belief in God overt in their service provision is because they believe that that would invite suspicion: either suspicion that they hold conservative moral values or are really seeking to convert service users to Christianity.

Relevance to RE

• The research appears to be strongly relevant to RE curriculum and pedagogy.
• Issues of Christian belief and practice, Christian engagement with social issues and attitudes to inequality already form part of many syllabuses / examination board specifications. The research findings provide good teaching points for lessons in these parts of the curriculum. They could be taught directly to GCSE pupils and discussed with them. They are evidence of the challenges faced by religion in adapting to the 21st century.
• Before being told via direct teaching, the research ‘story’ could inform a starter task. Pupils could be asked to imagine a dilemma: a group of Christian homelessness project workers want to publicise their project without discouraging non-Christian possible funders or service users. It is very important for them to do this in a way that nevertheless reflects their own beliefs truly. How do they do it? The task, if successful, would promote recall and deeper understanding of Christian belief and its links to social action. The direct teaching to follow would provide a ‘safety net’ to any pupils who have struggled with the starter activity.
• The research findings also suggest interview questions that might be used by pupils when visiting or receiving visitors from Christian public service groups.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The researcher shows how, within the limits of her study, she has attempted to achieve the broadest possible representation of Christians involved in public service provision.

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Discourses of Love, Compassion, and Belonging: Reframing Christianity for a Secular Audience, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 30:1, 39-54 (published online 23 December 2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2015.986975

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2015.986975

Research Summary

Young Jamaican-background men in Brixton, London use hip-hop as a way to express and confirm their commitment to Christianity. The style used is known as ‘gospel rap’. The research is based on interviews with 13 18–25-year-old second-generation Jamaican males in Brixton. The rich language about religious belief and God that they used surprised the researcher: they told him that they enjoyed writing and performing their own raps and allowed him to record them, at a stage when he had not yet asked them about religion or spirituality. He discusses their ‘gospel rap’ in relation to other research on popular music and religion. He sees hip-hop as part of an African-American musical tradition (spirituals, blues) where it is vitally important that lyrics relate authentically to real-life struggles. Music and religion both affect the body, by causing or including movement or gestures: sometimes repeated rituals such as prayer or fasting produce religious beliefs rather than vice versa, he argues. The research has clear potential to expand teachers’ understanding of Christianity and young people’s spirituality; and ‘gospel rap’ has the potential to be used as a classroom resource. (See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xElU5UBm4rk)

Researcher

Daniel Nilsson Dehanas

Research Institution

University of Kent in Canterbury

What is this about?

• Among young people in Brixton, London, hip-hop is the most popular style of music, also influencing fashion and life-styles in general.
• Often hip-hop would be seen as antithetical to Christian values, but this research is about how young second-generation Jamaican men use hip-hop to explore and express their Christian faith.
• The style is known as ‘gospel rap’. As well as being rich in its lyrics, describing how the young rappers find the strength in Christian faith to cope with sometimes harsh circumstances, it has a range of dance moves, beats, gestures, expressions that involve the body. The confidence needed to perform these strengthens religious beliefs.
• The article offers detailed quotations from ‘gospel rap’, for example this passage from p.302:

Don’t be wise in your own eyes
The devil is a liar
was my downfall
That’s the reason why we backslide
so be careful
Because he comes your way on a sly
roaming through the world
He’ll try to hook you so stay wise
Proverbs in the morning
Psalms in the night

• The researcher recognises that his findings are unusual, not only in relation to the portrayal of hip-hop as a Christian religious practice but (more generally) as a vivid example of how religious practice shapes religious belief, rather than vice versa.

What was done?

13 second-generation Jamaican men of 18-25 years old were interviewed. Examples of their gospel rap compositions were recorded as parts of some of the interviews.

Main findings and outputs

• The gospel rappers engage in much imaginative word-play when developing their lyrics. This attitude of freedom is prized, but does not apply to theological content, where a traditional reading is preferred. Explicit images or words are off-limits.
• The lyrics are made ‘real’ through their performance. Like Bible reading or prayer in ‘traditional’ forms of Christianity, rapping and ‘making moves’ at an open mic or other event imprints the meaning of the words on the body (and on those of the listeners, who participate physically).
• Usually, the ‘gospel rappers’ also have a background in traditional Christianity (e.g. church attendance) and their lyrics show a very detailed famiiarity with the Bible.
• The lyrics have to be grounded in the experience of life as a struggle. The struggle may be against racism or unemployment; but the devil is viewed as a real adversary, capable of leading one away from a righteous path. ‘Backsliding’ from the path might involve drug use or other distractions or dangers presented by street life.
• The ‘gospel rappers’ are active agents, structuring their own religious styles and beliefs. Their involvement in ‘gospel rap’ gives meaning to their everyday lives.
• ‘Gospel rap’ may be unconventional, but it is a vivid example of how bodily ritual or practice provides a basis for religious belief, rather than vice versa.

Relevance to RE

• There are various curricular and pedagogical uses of the research. ‘Gospel rap’ could be the focus of a cross-curricular RE, Music and English project, for instance.
• Within discrete RE, pupils could listen to examples of ‘gospel rap’ and draw out the meaning and importance of the lyrics and the bodily gestures for those participating. They could compare and contrast these to more ‘traditional’ forms of Christian ritual speech, singing and / or gesture. They could speculate about why and how ‘gospel rap’ has arisen.
• In general, teachers could make reference to ‘gospel rap’ in ensuring that Christianity is covered in a broad way that recognises its diversity; and in showing that religious practice and belief sometimes evolve as responses to different cultural forms.

Generalisability and potential limitations

Rather than being widely generalisable, this research is interesting and useful because it illustrates an unusual, thought-provoking aspect of religious practice and belief.

Find out more

Keepin ’ it Real: London Youth Hip Hop as an Authentic Performance of Belief, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 28:2, 295-308 (published online 22 April 2013)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2013.783340