A Level Digest December 2024
December 2024: Snuggle up and dive in
A bit of hygge? A holiday including rest, recreation and perhaps time to research is almost upon us. I hope the suggestions below are useful. Do let us know if there are things that we should be adding.
Watch: God, Evil and Suffering in Islam- Oxford Interfaith Forum
This longer watch (50 minutes) explores the problem of evil and suffering in Islamic theology along with the questions that both religious and non-religious people alike perennially ask:
- Why is there evil and suffering?
- What is God’s role in both natural and moral evil?
- If God is loving, just, powerful, why is there innocent suffering?
- Do humans have free will or are they predestined to act in a certain way?
Improve your teacher subject knowledge with this fascinating webinar.
Listen: Empire Podcast- The great conversion: How Iran became Shia
How did the great divide within Islam, the split between Sunni and Shia, develop? A historical lens on the development of Islam. This is one you will enjoy but might share with your students too.
Link: University and school links- what works
During the excellent RExChange panel session on the different ways in which schools can connect, work together and support one another in promoting the study of religion and worldviews lots of links were shared. Click on the link above and scroll down to watch again. Also take time to explore the links which were shared during the session. A selection can be found below.
- A series of videos from Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education (TRS-UK) showing the careers followed by those who have studied theology and religious studies
- The Shared Space project, exploring contact theory and whether it can be used in RE settings. A joint project between NATRE and the University of Bristol.
- Explore suggestions of school and university links, email and possible visits and visitors on this NATRE and this TRS-UK page
Connect: Research and resources connected to Radio 4s Beyond Belief
Going Beyond Belief from the University of Manchester Religions and Theology Department means the BBC Beyond Belief archive has the potential to enhance the learning of A level students in religious Studies. Learning activity pages and research linked to key topics such as free will, roboethics, sexuality and gender, climate and much more are explored. A veritable treasure trove…
Research: Worldviews, religious literacy and interfaith readiness-Bridging the gap between school and university
Did you miss the policy paper from Researchers from Coventry University, Durham University and the Woolf Institute? They explored how the experience of school- based RE prepares young people for the religious diversity of University life. The research explores the relationships between UK university students’ religious literacy, their experiences of religious education (RE) at school, and what the researchers call their ‘interfaith learning and development’, a multidimensional concept representing students’ ability to engage with, and relate across, religion and worldview difference.
Read: God is not a white man: and other revelations by Chine McDonald
This is an amazing book that was shortlisted for the 2023 Michael Ramsey prize. It explores the images that Christians and others have constructed over the years. Chine, director of Theos thinktank, explores:
- What does it mean when God is presented as man?
- What does it mean when, from our internal assumptions to our shared cultural imaginings, God is presented as white?
Written by Fiona Moss, Education and Programmes Manager, Culham St Gabriel’s