Stories and Religious Education
In teaching religious beliefs many religions rely on story texts to teach about their
beliefs, including values. The Jews place particular emphasis on the importance of the Torah
(Smart, 1989, p. 264), while Moslems preach the importance of the Koran/Quran (Cragg,
1975, p. 6) and other religions preach the importance of their own sacred texts or scriptures.
The reasons for the use of stories in teaching religious values are the same reasons for their
use in teaching secular values. Religious stories help religious communities to identify and
clarify their values, to explain a certain perspective on human life. Religious people, of all
persuasions, have used their experiences and the reflections of other people to assist their
followers to reflect on their own experiences. Many people often compare situations that they
find themselves in with situations familiar to them from religious texts. Many readers have
come to identify with the characters that they have heard and read about in religious texts.
This is because religious texts centre on the questions of life that haunt most of us and are
relevant to the human situation: Why am I here? What happens to me when I die? Why am I
jealous of that person? Why don’t riches make me happy? What is love? etc.
Stories have always been central to the Roman Catholic faith. It is from the scriptures,
the Old and New Testament or Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and the interpretation of
those scriptures, that the Catholic faith is founded on. The stories about Jesus as well as the
stories Jesus told provide a guide as to how Catholics should lead their lives. The scriptures,
along with the sacraments, are the cornerstones of the Church but they are interrelated as the
sacraments arose from the scriptures (Moore, 2004, p. 45).
Over many centuries the scriptural stories have been interpreted to suit the desires of
those in leadership positions. In past times most people did not read the scriptures so that they
had little chance of understanding them (Lawson, 2004, p. 52). However, in recent years, since Vatican Council II, there has been a return to reading the scriptures as they are written
and to reflect deeply on what Jesus meant rather than what the hierarchy of the Church
thought He meant (Lawson, p. 57). While there can never be a completely correct
interpretation of the scriptures, because they were written down to suit the needs of their
authors and because we understand that we interpret our own meanings based on our own
ideologies, we can gather some reasonable understanding of Christ’s beliefs through the
Gospel stories.
From our studies of the scriptures we see that Jesus chose stories as one of his key
teaching tools along with his actions. Jesus’ stories told of happenings around him, of
violence and injustice, and he used his imagination to create stories that taught particular
values. His parables illustrate the power of his imagination and the value of stories as a
teaching tool. Stories such as the Good Samaritan, the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son are
common to a large number of the world’s population. They are familiar with the actual story
and they are familiar with the deeper meaning in these stories.
The Roman Catholic faith has made use of non-Gospel stories to teach about its faith.
These are often stories that illustrate people living out their faith. These include the Acts of
the Apostles and stories about the saints. Religious Education has always drawn heavily from
these types of stories but in recent years we have seen an increasing use by Religious
Education teachers of fictional stories that draw from the Christian tradition. This may be
because, as Carroll (2004) remarks, “the Gospel stories are not artistic or imaginative enough
to compare with modern stories” (p. 73). These ‘modern’ stories are often allegories of the
scriptures such as the novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Lewis, 1950), which
deals with the death and resurrection of Jesus through the character of Aslan, the lion. In
recent years Religious Education teachers have been using fictional stories in their teaching
that contain Christian values and are not allegorical in nature. These include books such as Enora and the black crane by Arone Meeks (2001), which examines the need to protect and
care for the creatures found in nature, and The rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan,
(1998), which looks at the treatment of Indigenous Australians and the Australian
environment by the “settlement” of Australia and asks the question what can we do to assist
the Aboriginal people to survive. From this basis the author feels that the Harry Potter series
can also be a valued resource in teaching religious values.
In teaching religious beliefs many religions rely on story texts to teach about their
beliefs, including values. The Jews place particular emphasis on the importance of the Torah
(Smart, 1989, p. 264), while Moslems preach the importance of the Koran/Quran (Cragg,
1975, p. 6) and other religions preach the importance of their own sacred texts or scriptures.
The reasons for the use of stories in teaching religious values are the same reasons for their
use in teaching secular values. Religious stories help religious communities to identify and
clarify their values, to explain a certain perspective on human life. Religious people, of all
persuasions, have used their experiences and the reflections of other people to assist their
followers to reflect on their own experiences. Many people often compare situations that they
find themselves in with situations familiar to them from religious texts. Many readers have
come to identify with the characters that they have heard and read about in religious texts.
This is because religious texts centre on the questions of life that haunt most of us and are
relevant to the human situation: Why am I here? What happens to me when I die? Why am I
jealous of that person? Why don’t riches make me happy? What is love? etc.
Stories have always been central to the Roman Catholic faith. It is from the scriptures,
the Old and New Testament or Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and the interpretation of
those scriptures, that the Catholic faith is founded on. The stories about Jesus as well as the
stories Jesus told provide a guide as to how Catholics should lead their lives. The scriptures,
along with the sacraments, are the cornerstones of the Church but they are interrelated as the
sacraments arose from the scriptures (Moore, 2004, p. 45).
Over many centuries the scriptural stories have been interpreted to suit the desires of
those in leadership positions. In past times most people did not read the scriptures so that they
had little chance of understanding them (Lawson, 2004, p. 52). However, in recent years, since Vatican Council II, there has been a return to reading the scriptures as they are written
and to reflect deeply on what Jesus meant rather than what the hierarchy of the Church
thought He meant (Lawson, p. 57). While there can never be a completely correct
interpretation of the scriptures, because they were written down to suit the needs of their
authors and because we understand that we interpret our own meanings based on our own
ideologies, we can gather some reasonable understanding of Christ’s beliefs through the
Gospel stories.
From our studies of the scriptures we see that Jesus chose stories as one of his key
teaching tools along with his actions. Jesus’ stories told of happenings around him, of
violence and injustice, and he used his imagination to create stories that taught particular
values. His parables illustrate the power of his imagination and the value of stories as a
teaching tool. Stories such as the Good Samaritan, the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son are
common to a large number of the world’s population. They are familiar with the actual story
and they are familiar with the deeper meaning in these stories.
The Roman Catholic faith has made use of non-Gospel stories to teach about its faith.
These are often stories that illustrate people living out their faith. These include the Acts of
the Apostles and stories about the saints. Religious Education has always drawn heavily from
these types of stories but in recent years we have seen an increasing use by Religious
Education teachers of fictional stories that draw from the Christian tradition. This may be
because, as Carroll (2004) remarks, “the Gospel stories are not artistic or imaginative enough
to compare with modern stories” (p. 73). These ‘modern’ stories are often allegories of the
scriptures such as the novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Lewis, 1950), which
deals with the death and resurrection of Jesus through the character of Aslan, the lion. In
recent years Religious Education teachers have been using fictional stories in their teaching
that contain Christian values and are not allegorical in nature. These include books such as Enora and the black crane by Arone Meeks (2001), which examines the need to protect and
care for the creatures found in nature, and The rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan,
(1998), which looks at the treatment of Indigenous Australians and the Australian
environment by the “settlement” of Australia and asks the question what can we do to assist
the Aboriginal people to survive. From this basis the author feels that the Harry Potter series
can also be a valued resource in teaching religious values.
No comments:
Post a Comment