JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Contents

EDITORIAL Marian de Souza Religious Education in interesting times..........

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Sandra Ruthven Challenging anti-Semitism in Passion Portrayals

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Kate Adams Searching for connectedness: the role of RE and spirituality in supporting children’s questions about death

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Peter Mudge Two-fold and four-fold learning models – an analysis with implications for religious education and for stretching ways of knowing (Part 1 of 2)

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Michael Maroney An exploration of youth spirituality amongst senior students in three Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney

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Brendan Hyde Dangerous Games: Play and pseudoplay in religious education

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Leslie J Francis & Chris Hermans Psychological health and attitude toward Christianity: A study among pupils attending Catholic Schools in the Netherlands

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Mark A. Maddix Transformational, Experiential, and Non-formal Learning: Foundations for Adult Christian Education

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BOOK REVIEWS Graham Rossiter Gabriel Moran, 2007, Fashioning a people: The educational insights of Maria Harris

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Graham Rossiter Gabriel Moran, 2008, Speaking of teaching: Lessons from history IDEAS FOR PRACTIONERS Antony Luby Evidence-based approach to classroom RE

Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 1

EDITORIAL

Religious Education in interesting times…

In recent weeks I have read and heard the saying “we live in interesting times” more than a few times. Sometimes it has been followed by an explanation that the phrase has derived from a Chinese curse. However, a cursory search of the WWW suggests that the authenticity of this claim is unrealized. Whatever its origins, the application of the phrase usually suggests that the times we live in are difficult. I would suggest that as religious educators, we do, indeed, live in interesting times, and I mean this, not as a curse but in a very positive way. The times we live in may be fraught with challenges and difficulties attached to teaching this subject but the byproduct of this situation means that religious educators are kept on their toes and, without doubt, the problems they encounter stimulate their intellectual and creative vision to discover how they can become more effective in developing and delivering religious education programs that can, at once, raise students’ awareness, maintain their attention and inspire their future actions as religiously literate people. The articles in this issue are, in some ways, evidence of the interesting times in which we live since they are an assortment of topics, generated by various issues that create certain levels of tension in the subject. As such, they should be of interest to most religious educators who try to be responsive and flexible in their classroom practice. Sandra Ruthven begins her article by highlighting the need for Christian educators to be well informed about the roots of Christian anti-Semitism. In particular, she focuses on the various portrayals of the passion of Christ and how these may be used to educate students not only about Christian-Jewish history but also about the relations of Christianity with other faith traditions. Certainly, this has been an ongoing issue in the Christian world and continues to have significance for the contemporary world. The second article by Kate Adams presents some research findings on how to address children’s questions about death in the classroom. In a society besieged by materialistic values, death is often a complex topic that is difficult to discuss and teach. Adams concludes that teachers need to be empathetic, and they need to understand that children's questions about death are a search for connectedness. In this way, they are more able to effectively support children when responding to the children’s questions. Given the interest that many religious educators have about the spiritual dimension of learning, Peter Mudge’s article is timely as he explores two ways of knowing, one of which is intuitive and involving spirituality. Drawing widely from Christian and Jewish traditions to inform his work, Mudge argues that it is essential for the integrated and grounded teaching of religious education to incorporate these different ways of knowing. Accordingly, this article makes a useful contribution to the ongoing conversation about how the spiritual dimension in religious education may be addressed. The article that follows by Michael Maroney recognizes the growing differentiation between the 'spiritual' and the 'religious' particularly for young people. Maroney examines the spirituality of Year 12 students in three Catholic schools located in the Sydney Archdiocese and he presents the findings that identify the various influences on students’ spirituality, and the effect the Catholic school has on their faith, image of God, and attitude to the Church.

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An investigation into the theory and practice of Berryman’s Godly Play as a strategy to teach Scripture in junior primary classrooms is the basis of the following article by Brendan Hyde. Hyde sets out to investigate the intention of Godly Play and what may happen in practice when this intention is not realized. He argues that the basis of Godly Play is invitational and it is about the intrinsic learning possibilities that may be found within genuine play. When this becomes altered, however unintentionally, with activities that derive from a power base that is more concerned with the attainment of predetermined outcomes, the result is pseudoplay, which is understood to be the opposite of play. Ultimately, Hyde argues that when pseudoplay occurs in the early years’ religious education classroom, dangerous games are instigated which can stifle both the spirituality of children and their learning in religious education. The final two articles in this issue relate to other aspects of religious education. Leslie Francis and Chris Hermans offer insights into the association between religion and psychological health among young people and draw on their research in a number of different countries to discuss the implications for religious education. Since, in general, the wellbeing of young people continues to be of concern and the role of religion and spirituality in promoting wellbeing is receiving some attention at the wider societal level, Francis and Herman’s findings should, certainly, be relevant to readers of this journal. A further pertinent perspective is provided by Mark Maddix who scrutinizes how theories in adult education may inform adult Christian education and adult educational ministry in local churches. Maddix concludes that these theories do provide a foundational basis for learning in adult Christian education programs since these programs aim to bring about transformation and change. This can be achieved by renewing old structures of teaching and learning that have inhibited transformation and change and, instead, developing ‘new “wineskins” that address the learning needs of adults and that allow them to engage in the learning process. These experiential, transformational, and non-formal educational theories provide the adult Christian educator with a new structure in which they may house these new “wineskins.”’ The excursion into this range of topics around religious education in this issue of the journal, then, serve to remind us that while religious educators may, indeed, be living in interesting times, there continues to be a wealth of research that has spawned creative ideas and exciting resources which can inform, stimulate and excite new ventures and advances in the subject which aim to respond to the religious and spiritual needs of contemporary students and, hopefully, grow them into religiously literate citizens. Marian de Souza Editor

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Sandra Ruthven* Challenging anti-Semitism in Passion Portrayals

Abstract: This article highlights the need for religious educators to be well informed of the roots of Christian antiSemitism, especially as it is expressed in Passion portrayals. It is vital that religious education teachers in all settings make themselves aware of current scholarship regarding representations of the Passion. There is a wealth of materials and many opportunities for interesting and engaging learning encounters. Teachers have a responsibility to be well informed about Christian anti-Semitism and ensure that their students are made aware of the history of Christian-Jewish relations. Such an issue has important implications for the relationships Christians have, not only with Jews and Judaism but also with other faiths.

Introduction Easter is a hugely important season in the Christian calendar and provides the ideal opportunity for central Church teachings to be described and discussed. Interpretations of the Easter story have in the past been used to denigrate Jews and Judaism culminating in the horrific events of the Shoah (Jones, 1999). “As Connor Cruise O’Brien said, antisemitism is a very light sleeper” (Harries, 2003, p. 215) and there is evidence that it is wakening again: “In France in 1998 there was only one violent attack on Jews. In 1999 there were nine, and in 2000, 116” (Harries, 2003, p. 214). It is the responsibility of all Christians to examine critically attitudes, traditions and theology in order to ensure that Christians are not contributing to this awakening. The recent history of relations between Jews and Christians shows much to be hopeful about, but we cannot afford to become complacent: “Think only of the words the Jewish encounter with Christianity added to the vocabulary of human pain: blood libel, book burnings, disputations, forced conversions, inquisition, auto da fe, expulsion, ghetto and pogrom” (Sacks, 2008, Section VII). There is still much to be done and it is the responsibility of Christian educators across the Church to take every opportunity to improve their own understanding and disseminate that knowledge to others. This article will examine the problems and challenges associated with Christian presentations of the passion of Jesus from the perspective of Jewish-Christian relations and offer some suggestions for how they can be addressed. Dealing with the Deicide Charge Sadly, presentations of the passion of Jesus, either through liturgy or dramatic portrayal have historically been frightening times for Jews. The charge of “deicide”, what Braybrooke (2000, p. 45) calls “the most dangerous aspect of Christian anti-Jewish polemic”, has dominated the minds of Christians since it was explicitly articulated by Melito of Sardis in the late second century (Boys, 2000, p. 251). This particular interpretation of the Gospel accounts of the death of Jesus have persisted until more recent scholarship has thrown light on how such an interpretation distorts the Gospel message. Unfortunately, some rich and deeply loved Christian tradition of Passion plays and liturgies have emerged from this earlier interpretation and such accounts continue to form the focus of Holy Week. There is therefore an urgent need for all those involved in presentations of the Passion to be aware of this scholarship and to firmly, but sensitively, turn around the common misperceptions of centuries which have corrupted interpretations of the Passion to the detriment of Jews and Judaism. This means that Holy Week, which has traditionally been a time for Jews to fear for their safety around Christians fired up by a desire to seek revenge on the “Christ-killers”, must today be an opportunity to critically examine old attitudes and stereotypes. “There is extensive information now available with which to interpret, understand and contextualize a Passion narrative. Those who convey the Passion have a responsibility to do their best to avail themselves of these resources” (Centre for Christian-Jewish Learning, 2004). Ignorance is no longer an excuse. 4 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

Over Forty Years of Christian Teaching on Passion Presentations The biggest challenge for modern Christian educators is to disseminate effectively the changes which have occurred and been widely documented in the Christian churches’ attitudes towards Jews and Judaism over the last 40 years. Specifically in the case of presentations of the Passion, there has been a widespread refutation of the deicide charge. As early as 1947 the International Council of Christians and Jews held in Seeligsberg, Switzerland made specific mention of Passion presentations when it stated: “Avoid presenting the Passion in such a way as to bring the odium of the killing of Jesus upon all Jews or Jews alone” (Boys, 2000, p. 74). Furthermore the important Vatican II document Nostra Aetate (1965) confirms, “Even though the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ (see John 19:6), neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his passion.” (Section 4, para. 6). Other Catholic documents have, since, further expanded and developed strategies and recommendations for maintaining the new relationship between Catholics and Jews expressed in Nostra Aetate (Guidelines and Suggestions, 1974; Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism, 1985; Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion, 1988). Unfortunately, despite these documents and numerous others from Protestant organizations, “most Christians are abysmally ignorant of the long history of anti-Jewish teaching that has left such an open wound in Jewish communities and compromised the integrity of the preaching of the Gospel” (Boys, 2003, para. 18). Of particular concern is an appreciation for how popular dramatizations of the Passion in plays and film and Holy Week liturgies continue to heedlessly misrepresent current Church teaching and so perpetuate what French educator Jules Isaac famously called the Christian “teaching of contempt” against Jews (Sherwin, 2000, p. 142). Passion Plays The history of Passion plays is a long one, going back at least 1000 years (Mork, 2004). Whilst there is widespread evidence of their performance in village squares from the tenth century, extant texts are mainly from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Certainly the most famous Passion play is that performed at Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps. As a pledge for being saved from the plague the townsfolk decided to perform the Passion play every ten years. The tradition began in 1634 and continues to this day, although now it is performed in the year ending with zero, so that the next performance is in 2010. The Oberammergau Passion play is a huge production with a cast of 2,200 (half the town’s inhabitants) and a six hour performance attracting 500,000 people to a season which lasts from May to October (Maier, 2000). Unfortunately, Oberammergau is also famous for the ringing endorsement its Passion play was given by Adolf Hitler. It is vital that the Passion Play be continued at Oberammergau; for never has the menace of Jewry been so convincingly portrayed as in this presentation of what happened in the times of the Romans. There one sees in Pontius Pilate a Roman racially and intellectually so superior, that he stands out like a firm, clean rock in the middle of the whole muck and mire of Jewry. (cited in Sanders, 2006, p.50) Hitler attended the play in 1930 and then four years later for the celebration of its 300 year anniversary. The changes to the play since that time show an interesting adjustment to the concerns of a post-Holocaust world. Revisions have been slow but significant so that the year 2000 performance showed Jesus the Jew wearing a prayer shawl and uttering a blessing in Hebrew and a menorah on the table at the Last Supper (Sherman, 2000). The program notes also point out the troubled history of the play. Nonetheless, the Antidefamation League still have concerns about the Oberammergau production (Anti-defamation League, n.d.) and John Pawlikowski also comments of the 2000 version that “despite the fact that the play has created more of a Jewish context for Jesus’ message, it hasn’t significantly changed the underlying theology” (Sanders, 2006, pp. 61-62). Obviously there is room for further improvements but at least there is an openness to dialogue and a recognition by the organisers that such representations require sensitive handling (Mork, 2004). “The charge that Jews killed Jesus has led to horror and bloodshed. When treading Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 5

on such dangerous ground, one has a moral obligation to step with care” (Sanders, 2006, p. 69). Sadly, such care was not shown by Hollywood’s most recent and well-publicised foray into the Passion story, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. In fact, in an ironic twist, “Christian Stueckl, the director who was instrumental in the reform of the Oberammergau Passion Play, believes there are too many old anti-Jewish clichés in the Gibson film” (Mork, 2005, p. 91). Gibson’s film: The Passion of the Christ (2004) The controversy surrounding Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, released in Holy Week 2004, is a instructive study of the very issues confronting educators who are faithfully trying to dismantle the antiJudaic interpretations of Passion accounts. Adele Reinhartz, in an article surveying the Jesus film genre, notes that “although these movies deal with a subject set in the distant past, they do so in a way that necessarily grapples with the issues and concerns of the filmmakers’ own historical and social contexts” (Reinhartz, 2004, p. 8). Mel Gibson’s context is what some have called “sectarian Catholicism” or more commonly “traditionalist Catholicism” (Lawler, 2004). What this means is that Mel Gibson rejects Vatican II on the grounds that it betrayed true Catholicism and so he is not likely to heed its pronouncements. He maintains a literalistic reading of the Bible and so news of his forthcoming film obviously made a lot of Jews and Christians very nervous. Furthermore, in line with Reinhartz’s observation, the Catholic bishops of France noted that “the face of Christ shows through less than the obsessions of our times – the dread of evil, fascination with violence and the search for the guilty” (Boys, 2003, para. 14). Nonetheless, despite Gibson’s motives for making the film and his astute reading of popular tastes, it has provided an “unparalleled” teaching opportunity and has brought the issues to a wider audience than could otherwise have been reached (Berger, 2008, p. 8; see also Garber, 2005). It has initiated a raft of excellent and widely available teaching resources which outline the challenges which need to be addressed and summarise the issues involved (Paley & Koesters, n.d.; Christian Scholars Group, 2004; Catholic Biblical Association of America, (CBAA), n.d., c.). Furthermore, there have been concerted efforts by many denominations to “inoculate” their parishioners against the anti-Jewish potential of the film (Edelman, 2005). Interpreting Gospel Accounts One issue at the centre of the debate over Gibson’s film and which is pivotal for all presentations of the Passion is the question of how we read the Gospel accounts in particular, and the Bible more generally. There is much confusion and a great deal of ignorance among Christians about when the Gospels were written and the genre of writing they represent. Philip Cunningham, drawing on the work of the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s Instruction on the Historical Truth of the Gospels, points out that in any Gospel account there may be material from three distinct periods of early church history. Stage 1: The Ministry of Jesus Traditions that date from Jesus’ words and deeds during his ministry in the late 20s and early 30s of the first century. Stage 2: The Post-Resurrectional Preaching of the Apostles Ideas about Jesus that arose after the Resurrection, especially consideration about his divine identity, expressed through the exalted use of earlier terms such as “Lord” and “Son of God”. Stage 3: The Writing of the Gospels by the Evangelists The narratives about Jesus that are shaped by the situations, concerns and insights of the Gospel writers themselves. (Cunningham, 2004, p. 2) The Gospels are not simple historical accounts and it is disingenuous to maintain Biblical accuracy whilst ignoring Biblical scholarship. This confusion was further exacerbated by the purported response of John 6 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

Paul II to a private showing of the film. It was widely reported - although later denied - that he said “It is as it was” which Peter Gilmour points out “regretfully, reinforced imaginative expression as historical fact” (Gilmour, 2005, p. 313). Certainly, the Gospel accounts themselves are scarce on detail and there are contradictions between them (Vermes, 2005; Cunningham, 2004). When presenting a version of the Passion, (and they are all only versions, since there is no definitive “true story”) decisions must be made about which versions to highlight or forefront and this has important implications for how Jews are portrayed (Hamm, 2004). “Argumentative words written from a position of weakness can become a license for oppression when read form (sic) positions of dominance” (CBBA, n.d., d., para. 2). We must distinguish between the later polemics of the Gospel writers with the likely events of the arrest and execution of Jesus and then discern what is appropriate today. We are now in a better position to understand that the invective against “the Jews”, especially in John and famously in Matthew’s “blood curse,” must be seen within the context of a desire to underplay Roman responsibility for Jesus’ death and to move it instead to a small group of Jews who were regarded as religious competitors. “The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth is part of history, but it is also the central core of Christian theology, the very nucleus of the Church’s faith” (Vermes, 2005, p. 9). It is the emerging early Christology that helps to polarise this new group from Second Temple Judaism. Without this understanding it is too easy to gloss over the all too human motivations of the Evangelists and in the meantime, castigate the motives of their rivals. “Although Jesus died on a Roman cross on the Roman charge of sedition – Jesus was not killed by “the Jews” but by “the state” – Pontius Pilate became a saint in some Christian traditions while Jews have been vilified, ghettoised, and murdered” (Levine, 2003, para. 4). There is obviously a great deal at stake when depicting the Passion story. The Christian Scholars Group has summarised this as “facts, faith and film-making” (2004). The facts are that Pilate was not a bumbling bureaucrat intimidated by Jewish leaders but “a stubborn, irascible, vindictive, naturally inflexible, selfwilled and obdurate man who committed insults, robberies, outrages and wanton injuries” (Vermes, 2005, p. 120). Similarly the number of the “crowds” of Jews calling “Crucify him” referred to in Mark and Luke are not specified in either of the Gospels and so this is yet another area that calls for sensitivity. Even greater sensitivity is needed when including the famous “blood curse” from Matthew (27:25). Modern scholarship agrees that this is “not a Stage 1 historic event, but is part of Matthew’s Stage 3 polemic against Jewish rivals” (Cunningham, 2004, p. 9; Sanders, 2006, p. 65). So it is that there are important caveats to be considered when delivering representations of the Passion in order that traditional anti-Jewish bias is weeded out. Dramatic portrayals of the Passion do well to keep in mind that they are “a liturgical experience as well as a theatrical one” (Sherman, 2000, p. 822) and there is more at stake than merely presenting an engaging entertainment. Careful attention must be paid to all aspects of the production, including lighting, costuming, props and staging (Ryan & Goldburg, 2004; Ryan, 2002). There is a responsibility to not incite violence or disapprobation against the Jews. Furthermore, too often non-Biblical sources creep into such dramatic portrayals and these are often blatantly anti-Semitic. In Gibson’s case he drew heavily on the “fanciful meditation of Anne Catherine Emmerich (Anna Katharina Emmerick) – a 19th century anti-Jewish German nun” (Smith, 2004, p. 3). But unlike other Passion plays, which have limited audiences, the concern over Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is that “one man’s vision could affect or infect the preconscious of millions if not billions of viewers, and do so continuously, year after year” (Shafer, 2004, p. viii). The need for significant corrections to such views is no doubt urgent. Teaching the Whole Story The Church has a pressing responsibility in its schools and parishes to actively preach and teach against such simplistic understandings of the Passion story. “In the church’s gospels the Passion narrative is not the whole story. Rather, it is just a segment of a message of healing, liberation, and promise of ultimate redemption” (Smith, 2004, p. 15). To focus exclusively on Christ’s suffering can distort the Easter message and eclipse the importance of Jesus’ ministry to the marginalised and oppressed (Sanders, 2006). In a postShoah world, for Christians, “the central issue is not just our concern for how a teaching of contempt can re-emerge but the necessity of moving away from theologies of sacrificial suffering toward theologies of Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 7

respect for the other as the central redeeming act” (Moore, 2005, p. 104). Liturgy plays a vital role in developing an understanding of the basics of faith and so it is here also that we must carefully examine what the liturgy tells us about our relationship to Jews and Judaism (Boys, 2000). Furthermore, “understanding why the New Testament is often anti-Jewish does not excuse us from removing the effects of such anti-Jewishness today” (Townsend, 1977, para. 4). But if there are complexities in ensuring that dramatic portrayals of the Passion do not encourage anti-Semitism, the demands of doing the same in liturgical settings is equally necessary but significantly more challenging. Holy Week Liturgies The liturgies of Holy Week understandably, make use of the Gospel narratives of the Passion. One of the synoptic accounts is chosen for the Palm Sunday reading and John’s account is read every Good Friday. The issues are complex regarding how one deals with the anti-Jewish polemic present in these texts and there are different considerations for the direct reading of the Bible as opposed to lectionary excerpts. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is opposed to changing biblical texts and “feels that problematic biblical texts should be handled homiletically and educationally” (CBAA, n.d., a. para. 17). Nonetheless, there is some latitude regarding the translation one uses. Certainly the translation of hoi Ioudaioi from John’s Gospel, traditionally understood as “the Jews” is an interesting case in point. The gospel writer’s use of this phrase has no doubt contributed to anti-Semitism and is therefore in need of review. One solution offered by the CBAA is that “hoi Ioudaioi has either been elided or rendered as “the chief priests” throughout” (CBAA, n.d., b., para. 22). Still, this is just one aspect of John’s account and “the thorny problem is that the Johannine passion narrative is in reality a cosmic drama, but today’s congregations inevitably hear it as a historical chronicle” (CBAA, n.d., b., para. 28). It would seem that once again education is the key but the challenge arises as to the appropriateness of any overtly didactic exposition in a liturgical setting. Lectionary readings are more amenable to change and there have been attempts to prepare narratives which avoid the more problematic aspects of the Gospel Passion accounts (Townsend, 1977; CBAA, n.d., d.). But these attempts, whilst based on the statements from Church documents, receive little institutional support. Pawlikowski, forcefully points out that “if Catholic leaders are not going to apply official texts on Christian-Jewish relations to concrete situations such as the appearance of The Passion of the Christ, we may as well have a solemn burning of them in St. Peter’s Square” (Pawlikowski, 2005, p. 98). The recent controversy regarding the reintroduction to the Good Friday mass of the prayer for the Jews clearly illustrates this conflict (Pawlikowski, 2008). For although there are committed organizations and individuals who are dedicated to examining and eliminating the roots of anti-Semitism in Christian theology, there are those who regard this as a destabilizing of all that Christians hold sacred. The question becomes whether supersessionism (the belief that Christianity superseded Judaism) is fundamental to Christian theology and this continues to be a source of debate (Harries, 2003). Rosemary Radford Ruether articulates this as whether it is “possible to purify the Christian message of its anti-Jewish ideology without invalidating the Christian claims altogether” and finds this a “frightening question” (Radford Ruether, 1974, p. 8). Nonetheless, it is a question central to continuing fruitful dialogue between Christians and Jews and one which is equally relevant to Christianity’s relationships with other religions. Conclusion The unspeakable horrors of the Shoah are “a Christian problem,” as survivor Elie Wiesel claims; as Christians we have a responsibility to ensure that the spectre of anti-Semitism does not rise again (cited in Sanders, 2006, p. 115). “After Auschwitz, we cannot afford a naivete about the Passion narratives. The only hope lies in careful, thoughtful examinations of the texts and of Christians’ use of them” (Sanders, 2006, p. 77). Educators obviously have an important role to play, but as Mary Boys points out, “too few Christians hear sermons or engage in Bible study enriched by careful analysis of texts in their cultural, historical and literary contexts” (Boys, 2003, para. 19). The dominant paradigm is a literalist, fundamentalist reading of the Bible and this kills thoughtful inquiry. In fact the issues to do with representations of the Passion are at 8 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

the very heart of Christianity and the challenges it faces in the 21st century. Between the easy answers of fundamentalism and the relativity of fragmented life-worlds there is a third way which calls for informed engagement or what Mary Boys calls the “fruitful tension” between particularism and pluralism whereby we need others to help us more fully understand ourselves (Boys, 2002, p. 13). But as Christians we can never let the searing flame of anti-Semitism burn anew when we see what it did to Jewish bodies and the Christian soul over the centuries and in light of the churches’ recent condemnation of it as fundamentally sinful. (Pawlikowski, 2004, p. 7) Our sacred stories say a great deal about what we value and who we are. As Christians we need to scrutinise our Passion narratives for the harm they can cause Jews and Judaism. In doing so, we not only open up opportunities for healing old wounds, but we may “show the world another way: honouring humanity as God’s image, protecting the environment as God’s work, respecting diversity as God’s will, and keeping the covenant as God’s word” (Sacks, 2008, section viii). The success or failure of such an enterprise has universal implications. References Anti-defamation League. (n.d.) The Oberammergau Passion Plays. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/Oberammergau/Intro.asp Berger, A.L. (2008). Vatican II, The Passion of the Christ, and the future of Catholic-Jewish dialogue. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 43(1). Retrieved October 17, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=31879672&site=e host-live Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs National Conference of United States Catholic Bishops. (1988). Criteria for the evaluation of dramatizations of the passion. In M. Ryan, (Ed.). JewishChristian relations: A textbook for Australian students (pp. 228-236). Melbourne: David Lovell Publishing. Boys, M.C. (2003). “I didn’t see any anti-Semitism”: Why many Christians don’t have a problem with The Passion of the Christ. Cross Currents, 52(4). Retrieved October 10, 2008, from http://www.crosscurrents.org/BoysSpring2004.htm Boys, M.C. (2002). Educating Christians in order that strangers become neighbours. Journal of Religious Education, 50(2), 10-15. Boys, M.C. (2000). Has God only one blessing? Judaism as a source of Christian self-understanding. New York: Paulist Press. Braybrooke, M. (2000). Christian-Jewish dialogue: The next steps. London: SCM Press. Catholic Biblical Association of America (n.d., a.). The critical need for care in preparing the passion narratives for liturgical proclamation. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/sites/partners/cbaa_seminar/PN_problem.htm Catholic Biblical Association of America (n.d., b.). Specific issues in translating and excerpting the Johannine passion narrative for liturgical proclamation. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/metaelements/sites/partners/cbaa_seminar/Johannine_PN_issues.htm Catholic Biblical Association of America (n.d., c.). A comparison of the Gospel passion narratives. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/metaelements/sites/partners/cbaa_seminar/Passion_Narratives.htm Catholic Biblical Association of America (n.d., d.). Continuing seminar on Biblical issues in Christian-Jewish relations. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/metaelements/sites/partners/cbaa_seminar/PNproject.htm Centre for Christian-Jewish Learning. (2004). A call for understanding: An interfaith appeal on a topic that has caused animosity between Christians and Jews. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/metaelements/texts/cjrelations/resources/education/callforunderstanding.pdf

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Christian Scholars Group. (2004). Facts, faith and film making: Jesus’ passion and its portrayal. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/metaelements/sites/partners/csg/passion_guide.pdf Cunningham, P.A. (2004). The arrest and sentencing of Jesus. A historical reconstruction. Journal of Religion & Society. Supplement Series 1. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS01.html Edelman, S. (2005). Deicide déjà vu: Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion – an attack on 40 years of JewishChristian dialogue. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 23(3), 92-96. Garber, Z. (2005). Mel Gibson’s Passion: The film, the controversy, and its implication. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 23(3), 71-73. Gilmour, P. (2005). Text and context: The Passion of the Christ and other Jesus films. Religious Education, 100(3), 311-325. Hamm, D. (2004). Are the Gospel Passion accounts Anti-Jewish? Journal of Religion & Society. Supplement Series 1. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS01.html Harries, R. (2003). After the evil: Christianity and Judaism in the shadow of the holocaust. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jones, G.L. (1999). Teaching contempt: The Jew through Christian eyes. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 20(1), 5-20. Lawler, M. (2004). Sectarian Catholicism and Mel Gibson. Journal of Religion & Society. Supplement Series 1. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS01.html Levine, A. (2003). The real problem with ‘Passion’. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2003/08/The-Real-Problem-With-Passion.aspx Maier, P.L. (2000). Oberammergau overhaul. Christianity Today, August 7, 74-75. Moore, J.F. (2005). Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ: A protestant perspective. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 23(3), 101-104. Mork, G.R. (2005). Dramatizing the Passion: From Oberammergau to Gibson. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 23(3), 85-92. Mork, G.R. (2004). Christ’s Passion on stage: The traditional melodrama of deicide. Journal of Religion & Society. Supplement Series 1. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS01.html Paley, S. & Koesters, A.G. (n.d.). A viewer’s guide to contemporary passion plays. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/pdf/ViewersGuide.pdf Pawlikowski, J.T. (2008). Praying for the Jews. Commonweal, March 14, 2008, 10-12. Pawlikowski, J.T. (2005). Gibson’s Passion: The challenges for Catholics. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 23(3), 96-100. Pawlikowski, J.T. (2004). Christian Anti-Semitism. Past history, present challenges. Journal of Religion & Society. Supplement Series 1. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS01.html Radford Reuther, R. (1974). Faith and fratricide. New York: The Seabury Press. Reinhartz, A. (2004). Passion-ate moments in the Jesus film genre. Journal of Religion & Society. Supplement Series 1. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS01.html Ryan, M. & Goldburg, P. (2004). Jews and Judaism in Christian religious education, catechesis and liturgy. In M. Ryan, (Ed.). Jewish-Christian relations: A textbook for Australian students (pp. 109-133). Melbourne: David Lovell Publishing. Ryan, M. (2002). The passion and death of Jesus: Performing passion plays. Religious Education Journal of Australia, 18(1), 9-12. Sacks, J. (2008). Address by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks to The Lambeth Conference 28 th July 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008, from http://www.chiefrabbi.org/speeches/lambethconference28july08.pdf Sanders, T. (2006). Tenebrae: Holy Week after the Holocaust. New York: Orbis. Second Vatican Council (1965). Nostra Aetate. Declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from

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http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html Shafer, I. (2004). Editor’s Introduction. Gibson Agonistes: Anatomy of a Neo-Manichean vision of Jesus. Philadelphia: The Ecumenical Press. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://religion.rutgers.edu/jseminar/passion.html Sherman, F. (2000). Oberammergau 2000. Christian Century, August 16-23, 822-823. Sherwin, B.L. (2000). John Paul II’s Catholic theology of Judaism. In B.L. Sherwin & H. Kasimow, (Eds.). John Paul II and interreligious dialogue (pp. 139-166). New York: Orbis Books. Smith, M.H. (2004). Gibson Agonistes: Anatomy of a Neo-Manichean vision of Jesus. Philadelphia: The Ecumenical Press. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://religion.rutgers.edu/jseminar/passion.html Townsend, J.T. (1977). A liturgical interpretation of our Lord’s Passion in narrative form. Israel Study Group – Occasional papers, Number One. New York: National Conference of Christians and Jews. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/metaelements/sites/partners/cbaa_seminar/townsend_lit_int.htm Vatican Commission for Religious relations with the Jews. (1985). Notes on the correct way to present the Jews and Judaism in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jewsdocs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19820306_jews-judaism_en.html Vatican Commission for Religious relations with the Jews. (1974). Guidelines and suggestions for implementing the conciliar declaration “Nostra Aetate”, no. 4. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jewsdocs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19741201_nostra-aetate_en.html Vermes, G. (2005). The Passion. London: Penguin.

*Sandra Ruthven is a secondary school teacher in Perth, Western Australia and has recently completed a Master of Religious Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia (Fremantle).

Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 11

Kate Adams*

Searching for connectedness: The role of RE and spirituality in supporting children’s questions about death

Abstract Most children ask questions about what happens after death in their quest to understand and make meaning of the world, and such thoughts are not restricted to RE lessons but can occur at any point in the school day. In a society where death is almost a taboo subject, teachers can be unprepared to deal with such questions. This paper explores the role that Religious Education and spiritual development in the UK may have in supporting teachers and children in discussing death in the classroom. It argues that children’s questions about death reflect their spiritual search for meaning and connectedness, which is illustrated through a case study of an 8 year old girl. The paper concludes that teachers, through understanding children's search for connectedness in their questions about death, and by developing an empathic approach, can support children more effectively when responding to the questions.

Introduction Many children will inevitably ask questions about death, whether it be in response to an actual death, someone’s illness, a story, or to material on television or a computer game. Children can pose these questions to teachers at any point, often out of context, and it can be difficult to know how to respond. The philosophy of a faith school that nurtures children in their own faith may naturally provide a supportive framework for answering children’s ultimate questions about death, but for schools outside of the faith sector, teachers may have particular difficulties in dealing with them. One reason for adults’ reservations may be due to what Walters (2008, p.277) terms the ‘death-denying and grief-avoiding dimension’ that many Western cultures have adopted, which implies that children should be ‘protected from the harshness of loss and death.’ This approach of many adults lies in contrast to children's openness towards the subject. It is often the adults who find talking about death difficult – not children. As Bellous (2008) suggests, children want and need to share their stories of loss and recovery, which are important expressions of spiritual connectedness. The role of schools in supporting children who are grieving is documented elsewhere (see; Jackson & Colwell, 2002; Leaman, 1995; Rowling, 2003). Rowling (2008) pays particular attention to the place of the spiritual in schools’ supportive roles, arguing that schools are communities that should recognise spirituality’s sense of connectedness. Such an approach enables schools to acknowledge the communal aspects of loss, and not perceive it simply as an individual’s loss. Rather than focussing on children who are bereaved, this paper concentrates on children's questions and comments about death which do not necessarily arise as a direct consequence of loss: questions relating to why people die; what happens after death; and children’s spiritual experiences such as seeing or dreaming about a deceased person. Many children will raise such issues spontaneously, and often outside of Religious Education lessons, which can leave some teachers unprepared for them. Yet for children, these questions are important and often reflect a search for meaning and connection as they attempt to make sense of the world. In exploring the topic of children's questions and comments about death, this paper suggests that they are displaying elements of their spirituality by virtue of their search for ‘connectedness’. Illustrated by a case study of dialogue between an 8 year old girl and her teacher in a school in England, it argues that when children are seeking answers to questions related to death, they are not only searching for meaning about 12 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

the world, but also seeking connection with either self and others and, for some, God. The paper proposes that teachers need to understand this search for connectedness in order to fully empathise and support children in their quest for meaning in relation to issues surrounding death as and when they arise. The curriculum The sensitive nature of the topic of death and its associated spirituality lies in stark contrast to the dominant discourse of performativity which is prevalent in the education systems of many Western countries. In the UK, Turner-Bisset (2007) highlights how educational discourse has become based around learning objectives, evidence, efficiency and accountability as measured by the government inspection agency, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and Standard Assessment Tests (SATS) results. Similarly, in Australia, Buchanan and Hyde (2008) observe how their education system centres on the cognitive dimensions of learning. Theoretically, teachers in England and Wales are well placed to nurture children’s spirituality given the legal requirement to ensure the spiritual development of children and to teach Religious Education in all schools (Education Reform Act 1988). In this context, the religious and the spiritual are not synonymous (Ofsted, 2004). These legal requirements, though not without their significant complications, afford teachers the opportunity to openly address the spiritual and affective elements of teaching and learning in their classrooms. All Religious Education syllabi incorporate the topic of death in some form, particularly through the components of learning about religions, their teachings about death and the afterlife and associated ceremonies. The components of ‘learning from religion’ offer children the opportunity to reflect on these religious teachings and to begin to form their own views, which can of course also include the belief that there is no life beyond death. However, many teachers lack confidence in teaching about religion and addressing spirituality, particularly in responding to issues about death. Yet for children the topic is a key one in their search for connectedness. A child’s search for connectedness The notion that part of a child's spirituality is relational is well documented (see Adams, Hyde and Woolley, 2008; Bosacki, 2001; Champagne, 2001; de Souza, 2006; Hay and Nye, 2006; Hyde, 2008). The concept of relationality has been conceptualised in different ways. For example, Hay and Nye (1998; 2006) propose that children's spirituality is expressed in their relational consciousness, which can be categorised as childself, child-people, child-world and child-God. de Souza (2006, p. 167) uses the terms Self, Social Other, Physical Other and Transcendent Other when describing children's searchings for connectedness. Children's search for connectedness with people is not simply limited to their relationships with friends and family; it is also expressed through a need to connect with the people who have died, or whom they fear will die. When children seek answers to questions such as ‘what happens after people die?’ they are likely to be expressing some of these components of relational consciousness. For some children, there is evidence of a connection with a Transcendent Other/God whom they believe has a role to play in life after death, when they seek comfort in the belief that God will take care of their loved one in an afterlife, or that their spirit will be reincarnated into another body. Further, entwined in this search for connection is a developing relationship with self in which a child forms their views and beliefs that shape their identity. The following case study explicates these arguments and the theoretical stances further. Case study Emily is 8 years old and attends a rural school in England that has no faith based affiliation. She is in a class of 27 boys and girls, is interested in her work and achieves average academic attainment in all curriculum areas. She has a generally shy and calm demeanour and at times has a tendency to choose to be alone (though has a friendship group in school). She particularly enjoys engaging in quiet Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 13

activities such as individual artwork. Although rarely contributing to whole class RE discussions, her written work demonstrates that she engages with the topics discussed. The teacher reported that one day Emily entered the classroom in a particularly sombre mood and did not apply her usual conscientious approach to her tasks, instead, working at a much slower pace. The teacher suspected that she was upset but Emily did not want to engage in conversation so the teacher withdrew. Later that day, during a geography lesson, Emily suddenly asked what happens after a person dies. Her teacher avoided providing a direct answer and instead asked Emily why she had posed the question. “My Granddad is poorly, he was in the hospital all night but my mum wouldn’t let me see him. She said the doctors are trying to make him better but I said what if they don’t, and mum said it would be okay but one day in the future he will go to heaven. She said he would still be alive if he was in heaven but I said I couldn’t see him if he was up in the sky and how would I know if he is really there?” Children's verbal expressions Many children express some aspects of their spirituality directly, as Emily did when she asked her teacher and her mother what happens after people die. Emily’s verbal response, although relatively short, offers insights into her spiritual quest to make sense of her granddad’s illness and her realisation that even if he recovered, he would die at some point in the future. Emily’s questions directly reflect a search for connectedness with her granddad, particularly in the future after his death. The relational component of her questioning is explicit in terms of her relationship with another person (see Adams, Hyde and Woolley, 2008; de Souza, 2006; Hay and Nye, 2006). However, there is also, perhaps, an implicit relational component with regards to her relationship with God, or Transcendent Other (see Adams, Hyde and Woolley, 2008; de Souza, 2006; Hay and Nye, 2006) when Emily talks of her Granddad being alive in heaven. In addition to expressing a relationship with Other and with God, Emily is also communicating a relationship with Self. A person’s belief system(s) forms a fundamental part of their identity – whether it has a religious or secular basis. An individual’s belief about what happens after death – whether humans are reincarnated, go to heaven, roam this world as a spirit, or perhaps nothing at all – shapes their sense of self and can even affect their behaviour. A person, for example, who is terrified of going to hell may be desperate to avoid any behaviour which may potentially lead to such an outcome. By asking questions about heaven, and wondering how she could be sure that her Granddad was there given that she did not think she would be able to see him, Emily is trying to understand the concept of heaven and make sense of it. Hyde (2008) describes how children's explorations of death and what might occur after death are often a part of children weaving threads of meaning in order to connect with those who have died. Whilst Emily has not lost her Granddad at this point, she is perhaps seeking this meaning in preparation for the loss. Children's non verbal expressions Whilst children's verbal contributions to discussions of a spiritual nature are the more immediately recognisable, the non-verbal are also of significance but need a vigilant teacher to identify them – a task that is particularly difficult in a busy classroom. Emily’s teacher had a heightened sensitivity to her pupils’ emotional and spiritual welfare and immediately noticed Emily’s change in mood. Further, the teacher displayed emotional intelligence by reading Emily’s feelings; she withdrew from Emily in the morning but responded in the afternoon, when she was aware that Emily was ready to converse. A teacher’s emotional intelligence is a key trait in enabling a supportive response to children's questions, allowing them to sense when it is and is not appropriate to discuss the subject; inadvertent pressure on a child to talk when they are not ready to can be upsetting for the child and potentially lead them to retreat into silence. Emily’s

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teacher was adept at noticing non-verbal cues; it was normal for Emily to be quiet in class but despite that, the teacher noticed that she was unusually so that morning. Goleman (1996) suggests that a key feature of a person with high emotional intelligence is the ability to empathise, and proposes that teachers develop empathy which can lead to caring, altruism and compassion. For teachers to be empathic when talking to children about death, they need to have a particular sensitivity towards children's search for meaning and be alert to the possibility that there may be a stimulus for the questions, such as a relative’s illness or death of a pet, which the teacher may not be aware of. Teachers not only need to listen to what children say, but they also need to listen for their spiritual experiences (Champagne, 2001). In the hectic target-driven curriculum it is a challenge for teachers to listen for children's spirituality, particularly when they are responsible for a large class. Yet it is essential that they are alert to the spiritual aspect of children's lives which involves reflection on their own, particularly when difficulties in discussing issues related to death lie more with adults than with children (Adams, Hyde and Woolley, 2008). Supporting children in the curriculum The specific support that RE can give to children’s spirituality in relation to issues of death will inevitably vary according to the context within which it is located. For example, RE in faith schools that nurtures children's faith may support children through the particular religion’s belief system about death and the afterlife. However the situation is complex partly because of the pluralistic nature of schools’ composition. Teachers need to operate sensitively because they cannot know how each child’s parents/carers respond to their own child’s questions about death. If a child were to declare their family’s views, as Emily did, teachers will have a natural starting point. RE in the UK, which is compulsory in all government-funded schools including those with no faith character, need a different approach. In these schools with no faith character, a teacher needs to phrase responses to direct questions carefully, possibly referring to the fact that there are different views about life after death. For example, a teacher could use the following formula and adapt it to suit the age and ability of the child and the curriculum coverage to date: “As you know from our RE lessons, different religions have different beliefs. We have recently looked at the ideas of going to heaven or being reincarnated. What do you think happens?” This approach does not declare the teacher’s personal viewpoint, indicates that there are diverse beliefs and gives the child the opportunity for reflection as required by the ‘learning from religion’ component of the syllabus. Discussions surrounding ultimate questions in RE (including those not related to death) are essential because they afford children opportunities to seek meaning and also create an environment in which it is the norm to share their thoughts. By encouraging children to contemplate the bigger questions in life, they will become aware that there are many possible different answers and will be able to gradually construct their own worldview. Effective teaching about religions’ understandings of death as part of the RE curriculum will inevitably involve engaging children in reflection and lead to children posing their own questions during the topic. In this scenario of lessons which have been planned in advance, the teacher can, to some extent, anticipate and prepare for responding to children's questions. However, when children raise issues outside of the taught topic, the teacher can be caught unawares. In order to be ready to support children, a school needs to be emotionally literate – to be able to understand social situations, and form good relationships (Weare, 2004). If empathic relationships are already in place, children are more likely to feel comfortable in initiating discussions with staff. In turn, if teachers are adept at recognising emotions in others, and managing emotions within the context of the relationships (Salovey and Mayer, 1990), then there is

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increased likelihood of positive outcomes to the discussions. Such an ethos will permeate throughout the curriculum. The curriculum beyond RE plays an important role in supporting children, not only through the creation of a positive ethos. Spiritual development is intended to occur throughout the curriculum (Ofsted, 2004) and teachers can use other lessons to approach the subject. For example, they might explore images of the afterlife in Art, or use poetry or fiction in Literacy to explore authors’ ideas and depictions of what might exist after death. Using the theme in lessons outside of RE will contribute to creating an environment in which the teacher appears at ease when discussing death which in turn will be supportive for the children. Throughout the school day, when listening for children's spirituality (Champagne, 2001), teachers also need to be aware of cues in addition to direct questions about death. Many children talk openly about having seen a person who has died, often in a matter of fact way (Adams, Hyde and Woolley, 2008). Similarly, dreaming about a person who has died is a normal part of the grieving process and as the dreamer comes to accept the death, the dream characters often appear as they did when alive, having conversations in the dream, which can bring comfort and reassurance to the dreamer (Garfield, 1996). Children are no exception to this experience and will of report dreams of people who have died, and dreams which appear to prepare them for losses that have not yet occurred (Adams, 2007). For children it is thus natural to see a deceased person either whilst awake or asleep, and any discussion about the experience is likely to further reflect a search for connectedness with the person who has died. Such conversations amongst children may well also raise issues for peers who are not bereaved as they seek to understand what happens to people after death. Finally, it is important to emphasise that the teacher is not a counsellor, and it is not their role to prepare children for the losses of loved ones which they may experience during their school years. However, children's questions and ponderings about death and what may lie beyond are inevitable during school hours and teachers need to be able to manage them as effectively as they can within their own educational context. Conclusions Whilst this paper is limited via its use of a single case study, it addresses an area of children's searching that most teachers will encounter, even outside of the RE class. For adults, talking about death can be a particularly challenging task in a society where it can be almost taboo, yet in contrast children tend to discuss it openly. Further, children have a need to raise questions and share their experiences in their search for meaning and connectedness with self, others and for some, a Transcendent Other. By recognising the role that such questions and conversations play in children's spiritual lives, teachers may be better equipped to manage them effectively and empathically. References Adams, K. (2007). What Lies Beyond? Dreams of the afterlife, REsource (Journal for the Association of Teachers of Religious Education), 30 (1), 23-26. Adams, K., Hyde, B., & Woolley, R. (2008). The spiritual dimension of childhood. London: Jessica Kingsley. Bellous, J. (2008). Editorial. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13 (3), 195-201. Bosacki, S. (2001). Theory of Mind or Theory of the Soul? The Role of Spirituality in Children’s Understanding of Minds and Emotions, in Erricker, J., Ota, C. & Erricker, C. (Eds.), Spiritual Education. Cultural, Religious and Social Differences, New Perspectives for the 21 st Century. Brighton: Sussex Academic. Buchanan, M., & Hyde, B. (2008) Learnng beyond the surface: engaging the cognitive, affective and spiritual dimension within the curriculum. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13 (4), 309-320.

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Champagne, E. (2001). Listening to…listening for…: A theological reflection on spirituality in early childhood, in Erricker, J., Ota, C. & Erricker, C. (Eds.), Spiritual Education. Cultural, Religious and Social Differences, New Perspectives for the 21st Century. Brighton: Sussex Academic. de Souza, M. (2006). Education for hope, compassion and meaning in a divisive and intolerant world, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality. 11 (1), 165-175. Garfield, P. (1996). Dreams in bereavement. In Barrett, D. (ed.), Trauma and Dreams, 186–211. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Goleman, D (2004). Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence (omnibus). London: Bloomsbury. Hay, D., & Nye, R. (2006). The spirit of the child. (Rev. ed.). London: Jessica Kingsley. Hay, D., & Nye, R. (1998). The spirit of the child. (1st. ed.). London: Fontana. Hyde, B. (2008). Children and spirituality, searching for meaning and connectedness. London: Jessica Kingsley. Jackson, M. & Colwell, J. (2002). A teacher’s handbook of death. London: Jessica Kingsley. Leaman, O. (1995). Death and loss – compassionate approaches in the classroom. London: Cassell. Ofsted (2004). Promoting and evaluating pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. London: Ofsted. Rowling, L. (2008). Linking spirituality, school communities, grief and well-being. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13 (3), 241-251. Rowling, L. (2003). Grief in school communities. Buckingham: Open University Press. Salovey and Mayer (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9 (3), 185-211. Turner-Bisset, R (2007). Performativity by stealth: a critique of recent initiatives on creativity. Education 313, 35 (2), 193-203 Walters, D. A. (2008). Grief and loss: towards an existential phenomenology of children's spirituality, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13(3), 277-286. Weare, K (2004). Developing the Emotionally Literate School. London: Paul Chapman.

*Dr Kate Adams is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln, UK. She is co-author of The Spiritual Dimension of Childhood and author of Behaviour for Learning in the Primary School.

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Peter Mudge*

Two-fold and four-fold learning models – an analysis with implications for religious education and for stretching ways of knowing (Part 1 of 2)

Abstract Many ways of knowing and spirituality are routinely neglected in the primary, secondary and tertiary environments, not only in religious education, but also in many other subject areas and disciplines. Drawing mainly on the Christian, Orthodox and Jewish traditions, this paper explores a more expansive framework for ‘ways of knowing’ within the context of religious education. It approaches the topic by examining some commonly used two-fold models of knowing (Part One, this paper) and four-fold complementary models of knowing (Part Two, next issue). It then supplements these traditional models with insights about ways of knowing from Christian and other traditions of spirituality. In addition, the paper argues that inclusion of this wider variety of ways of knowing is essential for the integrated and grounded teaching or religious education.

Introduction This paper assumes that while two- and four-fold taxomonies of knowing (discussed in more detail below) have much to contribute to the field of religious education, they do not offer the breadth of knowing and understanding contained in models based on Christian theology and spirituality. The overall orientation of this paper is to present ways in which these latter types of knowing can benefit thinking, knowing and pedagogy in the classroom environment. The paper also assumes that the classroom teacher is committed to ‘stretching’ ways of knowing beyond any one individual style of knowing to enhance and maximise students’ learning in religious education and other subjects (Atkin, 1997, p.3; cf. Holt, in Atkin, 2007, p.22). In addition, this argument is contextualised within the assumption of a spiritual dimension to religious education. As such, the paper assumes the presence of a transcendent or spiritual dimension as part of any process of human knowing. In general terms, it understands ‘spirituality’ as ‘a conscious way of life based on a transcendent referent’ (Mason, Webber, Singleton, and Hughes, 2006, p.2). That is, it acknowledges a reality beyond but complementary to the immanent, a reality that exists in God, yet in and beyond the material or created world (cf. Sinclair, 2003, p.1267). This definition therefore assumes the centrality of the spirit or soul in the process of knowing, which is not simply limited to knowledge of physical nature or matter (cf. Sinclair, 2003, p.1148). In Catholic or Christian terms, this assumption of a spiritual dimension translates into a way of life centred on and responsive to the Holy Trinity and to the presence of the Spirit of the Risen Christ within each person as a member of the Body of Christ. As such, it is a spirituality that is visionary, sacramental, relational, and transformational (cf. McBrien, 1981, p.1093). From within a leadership matrix, Fullan further nuances this same understanding in relation to moral purpose, which aims ‘to make a difference in the lives of students’ and is always there in the school and lives of teachers ‘in nascent form to be cultivated and activated’. He cites Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach as a good example of ‘how the best teachers integrate the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of teaching to create powerful learning communities’ (2001, pp.13, 27).

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Two-fold complementary models of knowing Learning [as an integration of John Holt’s four Worlds] is “holistic” – the whole person grows as a result of powerful learning – learning is not linear, new learning is not an “appendage” but rather it contributes to transformation of the whole (Atkin, 2007, p.10) Traditional taxonomies of knowing and spirituality, in general, can be divided into two major systems – two-fold and four-fold complementary ways of knowing. The two-fold taxonomies (sometimes included alongside tripartite models below) have been further divided into two tables – Table One lists pedagogically-based models while Table Two lists models linked to spirituality, scripture and theology. Each table lists its theories and protagonists in broad chronological order. We now examine each Table in turn. Table One is constructed in relation to two distinct ‘types of knowing’ described in different ways by various authors. In between these two types of knowing is what I refer to as a grey liminal or transitional area. The Table includes de Bono’s (1969; 1990a) contrast between convergent and divergent knowing, along with Claxton and Lucas’s (2004) comparison between ‘fast’ hare and ‘slow’ tortoise knowing, and neuropsychologist Goldberg’s (2007) dialectic between the familiar and the routinised, compared with the novel and the daring. Note in particular Holt’s distinction (and integration) between the worlds we know, those we have heard about, and those not even heard about or imagined. ‘Knowing Style 1’ in the left hand column is typically focused on aspects such as – separation, structure, direct experience, logic, control, action, scientific observation, regulation, description, the familiar and the routine. ‘Knowing Style 2’ on the other hand is oriented towards a type of knowing characterised as – tacit, intuitive, incorporative, communal, and focused on the infinite world of possibilities, imagination, receptivity, surprise, narrative, divergence, the ability to pass beyond traditional boundaries, holism, myth, contemplation, novelty and daring. I would also argue in relation to Table One that the grey, ‘fuzzy’ or transitional area is of particular significance. This is Van Gennep’s and Turner’s ‘in-between’ territory of anti-structure and liminality. It represents that potentially fertile area where knowers are ‘on the cusp’ between initial or surface knowing, compared with deeper, symbolic knowing and non-knowing. This grey area is described by a range of authors employing terms such as – transitional, marginal, ‘not [previously] experienced’, reversal, disruption, madness, contradiction, confusion and disorientation. Finally, I would propose that Table One challenges teachers and students alike to stretch their ways of knowing from Style 1, through the grey, transitional area, to Style 2. Both styles of knowing are complementary but they are also both necessary and valuable for the nurturing of holistic, integrated religious education. included a more detailed summary of Claxton’s two modes of knowing. It is significant that Claxton’s slow/tortoise mode allows valuable time for play, leisure, dreaming, hovering and contemplating, and even permits the ‘heretical’ stance of ‘not knowing’. Below Table 1 is

Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 19

Table One – Summary of Two and Three-fold Models of Knowing (Pedagogical) Theorist or Author Van Gennep (1960/1908,p.vii)

Knowing Style 1 Preparation & Separation

Polanyi (1966, p.4; 1969, pp.124-125, 133) Turner (1969); Alexander (1991, pp.13-44) Holt (1971, p.20)

We know what we can see and objectify Structure

Ornstein (1977, pp.26-52, 67-88) – theory of bimodal consciousness Polkinghorne, citing Bruner (1988, pp.1,6,11)

World 1 – the world I hold inside my body; World 2 – the world I know about from direct experience Action mode – logic, control, analysis, and prediction; operates in a world of sign, concept, system Logico-scientific mode; research and observation based

Grey, transitional area Transition/Marginalisation The candidate is ‘no one’ & ‘no thing’ Antistructure World 3 – The world I have heard about, but have not experienced in any direct way through the senses



Knowing Style 2 Incorporation

‘We know more than we can tell’ (tacit dimension) Communitas World 4 – The infinite world of possibilities, the world I haven’t heard about or even at this stage imagined Receptive mode – association, surrender, intuition, and surprise; operates in a ‘world’ of symbol, ritual and story Narrative mode or type of understanding; practical, concrete and experiential Lateral, unpredictable, divergent thinking

De Bono (1969, pp.39-40; 1990a, p.23) Lateral thinking De Bono (1969, pp. 244, 277); Breaking the boundaries of reasonableness

Linear, predictable, convergent thinking



Reasonable, planned, predictable, direct, regulated

Breaking the boundaries of reasonable, creativity, new insights, and unexpected outcomes.

Knudtson & Suzuki (1997, pp.8-19; cf. Self, 2006,pp.111-139) Scruton (citing Russell, 1998, pp.152ff)

Scientific mind; One-step removed view

Use of diversions, paradox, provocations, reversal thinking, disruptions, madness, chance, irony, ambivalence, contradiction, accident, mistake

Knowing by description; objective and more distant



K. Armstrong; (2005, p.97; and in Prentice, 2000, p.27) Claxton (2000, passim); Claxton & Lucas (2004, passim)

Logos (literal, descriptive, based on reason; establish truth via careful enquiry) D-mode (hare mode) – deliberate, conscious, purposeful, clear cut, focused on solutions and explanations



J. Armstrong p.161f)

(2005,

Initial confusion; also nonknowing or surface, literal knowing

Croakley (2006, p.31) Goldberg (2007, pp.194199) Vardy (2007, p.4; 2004, pp.3-4; NB In Britain, stillness is a compulsory part of the National Curriculum from Years 1 to 11)

‘What is seen with the eye’ Familiar and Routinisation brain processes Education and spirituality that solely stresses the cognitive

Formative knowing – accompanied by confusion, disorientation

Knowing by acquaintance; subjective and more intimate/engaged Mythos (symbolic, narrative, imaginative; requires emotional participation) Slower, more contemplative (tortoise mode) – attentive, meditative, ruminating, hovering, playful, leisurely, questioning, open to hypothesising Summative knowing – fuller knowing, ‘making connections’ at the end of human existence

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Redressing the imbalance between the cognitive, the affective and the spiritual

Native or Shamanic mind; ‘Savage’ totalising view

‘Not with the eye alone’ Novelty and Daring brain processes Students gain inner confidence, recognising the value of silence, gentleness, compassion, and concern for others

Claxton’s two modes of knowing D-mode (hare mode) thinking vs. slower, more contemplative thinking (tortoise mode); Both modes are complementary and necessary (Claxton) D-MODE/HARE (‘D’ can stand for ‘default’ as well as ‘deliberation’) •Deliberate, conscious thinking; purposeful and clear-cut

•Find answers/solutions •Perception = unproblematic •Conscious, articulate •Focus on explanation

SLOW/TORTOISE (Gives us permission to slow down, be attentive, ‘look’) •More playful, leisurely and dreamy; mulling & ruminating, being contemplative & meditative •Explore the questions

•Questions perception; allows hypothesising •Not knowing, big picture •Focus on observation

(Claxton, 2000, passim)

Two-fold models linked to spirituality and theology The summary contained in Table Two below continues some trends found in Table One but instead references key terms to the areas of spirituality, mysticism, scripture and theology. To this author’s knowledge and cognizant of recent literature on the topic, this ‘tracking’ of ways of knowing from Christian spirituality, along with the process of linking it with classroom practices, has not previously been synthesised in exactly this way. This ‘tracking’ is deemed necessary because of the protracted historical divisions between life, theology, spirituality, epistemology and pedagogy. Once again, Table Two lists two contrasting styles of knowing interrupted by a grey, transitional area. Of particular interest are the transitions in Eastern spirituality from lips to mind to heart, in Paul of Tarsus from the human spirit to the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the influential Pseudo-Dionysius’ and Gregory of Nyssa’s pilgrimages from the light of God-images through the enveloping, impenetrable cloud to the ‘dazzling darkness’ of God who is Nameless. Like Table One, Table Two is also replete with common transitions from a style of knowing (Knowing Style 1) focused on what is –distant, objective, noetic, reasonable, intellectual, material, prose-oriented, visual, and use of the senses, which then shifts to another different style of knowing (Knowing Style 2) more characterised by what is – intimate, relational to the Divine, subjective, affective, non-rational, virtuous, poetry-orientated, and given to beholding and spiritual intuition. Chronological order in Table Two is extremely significant as a tool for tracking not only historical context but also connections between spiritual writers and ideas. For example, certain Jewish perspectives on spirituality influenced Gregory of Nyssa, who in turn directly influenced Pseudo-Dionysius, who then affected Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Nicholas of Cusa and Adrian van Kaam, to name but a few in that particular pedigree of spirituality. Furthermore, again like Table One, in between these two styles of knowing, these spiritual guides have identified a transitional grey, fuzzy or liminal area described in relation to what is typically described as – unknowable, illuminative, confusing, spiralling, and directionless. It often arises out of the experience of – seeing differently, leaving behind familiar words and landmarks, kenosis or ‘self-emptying’, bi-polar reversal, being turned upside-down, liminality, moving beyond scientific and aesthetic understanding, and arriving at the pre-conceptual, the pre-symbolic, silence, or emptiness. Finally, the symbol † used in Table Two signifies knowing styles used by certain spiritual writers that could be equated with ‘unknowing’, ‘non knowing’, ‘knowing beyond words’, or any equivalent encounter with God as hidden darkness, the ineffable, or the Mystery (often also referred to as apophatic knowing).

Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 21

Table Two – Summary of Two and Three-fold Models of Knowing (based on writings about Spirituality, Scripture, Theology and Mysticism) Spiritual Writer Eastern spirituality (Holmes, 1980, p.37) Western spirituality (Holmes, 1980, p.37) † Jewish perspectives (Fackenheim, 1987, pp. 155-166; Neusner, 1987, pp.3-12, 205-216; Unterman, 1991, pp.62; Heschel, cited in Neusner, 1991, pp.340, 362) Paul of Tarsus (d.c.62 CE) (cf. 1 Cor 2:14; and Schwiezer, 1968, pp.88-95) † Islamic Sufi mystics; from Thawbān ibn Ibrāhīm (c.180/796–245/860); (Renard, 2004, pp.xi-xii, 11, 20)

† Gregory of Nyssa (c.330395 CE) (cf. Daniélou, 1979, pp.2334ff; Sitzia, 1996, p.27)

Knowing Style 1 Prayer of the lips God is immanent Purgative

Grey, transitional area God is ultimately unknowable

Via cognitiva Enchantment through words The human soul is hewn out of the divine; it is initially drawn to material things

God enters the human consciousness; the divine spark inside is kindled

The world of perception Psychikos (the person existing on the merely natural level) Way of knowing = ‘ilm; discursive, acquired, received knowledge; but pitfalls of intellectualism, arrogance, desiccation; Fragmented, compartment alised knowledge Light, then epektasis or ‘straining towards God’; ‘tension, expansion, perpetual growth/progress of the soul into God’

† Various spiritual writers; e.g. Rous, Pseudo Macarius, Rolle, J of Norwich, Fox, Law (200s CE ff) † Pseudo-Dionysius (b.c.480 CE) (Luibheid, 1987, pp.55, 135-141)

‘eye of reason’, seed of reason, spark of the soul

† Isaac of Nineveh (d.c. 700 CE) (cf. Holmes, 1980, p.38; Elkins, 2001, pp.20-39, 166181; and J. Armstrong, 2005, pp.70-80) † John Scotus Erigena (c.810-877 CE) (Schmiel, 1984, pp.182-187)

Way of the intellect

† Bonaventure (1217-1274 CE) – the three ways of meditation (Holmes, 1980, p.66) † Meister Eckhart (c.12601327/8 CE) (Turner, 1999, pp.140-167; O’Neal, 2005, pp.22-24; Smith, 2004, pp.1-13; Demkovich, 2006, pp.107-133,164-166)

Purgative; triggered by poverty as openness to God’s grace

The visible God of light; we can name God as ‘I am being’, ‘life’, ‘light’, ‘truth’

Sensing or hearing the underground river (God); the human person as created and co-creator

The self and the Godhead who are visible and knowable; Beingness and Groundedness

22 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

Beginning of a gradual invasion, a slow experience of ‘being overtaken by God’; The mystic is called to become the seeker of experiential knowledge of God The spiritual life does not progress along a straight line but through a series of spirals (Schmiel, 1984, p.184; Fox, 1984, p.215)

Plunging into the darkness of the One who is beyond all things; leave behind every word, thing, voice

Kenosis, the self-emptying of God into creation; panentheism; God calls humans to complete the circle of Creation through a parallel self-emptying



Knowing Style 2 Prayer of the heart God is transcendent Unitative/Unitive Via Contemplativa combined with the Via Activa Enchantment beyond words; ‘our text is within’ The human soul finds its true home in God; What is underneath the world of perception Pneumatikos (the person animated by the indwelling Spirit of God) Way of knowing = ma‘rifa; the person’s entire being has been overtaken by the divine presence; privileged connection between the human and the divine Holistic knowledge/wisdom Darkness – this darkness constantly calls the soul through ‘desire’ (epithumia) or ‘yearning’ (pothos)

‘eye of the soul’, third eye, inner eye, eye of love (Holmes, 1980, pp.12, 35, 78-79, 123, 130, 135) Brilliant darkness of a hidden silence, deepest shadow, overwhelming light, Wholly unsensed and unseen Way of tears (penthos) [knowing that is beyond rational or intellectual processes] Participating with God as underground river; unity with God as a trinity of being, force & operation; God calls us into ‘divine darkness, the mother night to which all being returns’ Unitive/Unitative; ‘Christ is…our only access to the unknowability of God’ (Turner, 1999, p.132) ‘God, who has no name – who is beyond names – is inexpressible and the soul in its ground is also inexpressible, as [God] is inexpressible’ (cited in Turner, 1999, p.141)

Spiritual Writer

Knowing Style 1

Grey, transitional area

Knowing Style 2

† Cloud of Unknowing, anonymous English author (c.1370 CE) (Holmes, 1980, p.79) † Nicholas of Cusa (c.14001464 CE) (Yockey, 1987, pp.18-19)

Seeking ‘gnosis’ or [special] knowledge; Moving from ‘cloud of forgetfulness’ Knowing as tasting or digesting visible things Explicatio – unfolding, uncoiling, explanation, explication of God Cf. Explicate order Prose-based, bodily, sensory



Seeking love in and through God Moving into the ‘cloud of knowing’ Knowing that ultimately God is indigestible Complicatio – folding, intricacy, complication, even confusion of God Cf. Implicate order Poetry-based, beyond words, logic, intellect, non-verbal

Seeing but not knowing

Liminality = at the threshold

Looking at objectively I-I, I-It, It-It, We-We, Us-Them Human being Conceptual knowledge

Gazing upon

† T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) (Prentice, 2000, p.28; Eliot, 1975, pp.30-31) † Buber (1996/1923, pp.1114, 46, 60n, 67, 81n, 91-92, 173, 178n)

† Heschel (1983/1955, pp.114-116, 131); (cf. his concept of ‘knowledge by inacquaintance’); cf. Whelan, 1986, pp.28-29 † Rahner (1966) (cited in McCool, 1975, pp.108-120) † Parabolic knowing (‘upside down’ or ‘reversal knowing’) (Crossan, 1973, p.55; 1975, pp.121-122; York, 1991, p.42; Lambrecht, 1991, p.28; Nolan, 2007, pp.49-62; Neyrey, 1991, pp.296-303)

Knowing as naming, explaining, capturing something

† Holmes (1980, p.4)

Kataphatic – the imaginal, ‘thingness’ Calculative

† Van Kaam (1983, pp.302304; and in Whelan, 1986, p.28; cf. Mudge, 2007a) Brueggemann (1989, p.142ff) McFague (1997, p.116; Edwards, 2006, p.111)

† Sheldrake (1995, p.7) O’Donohue (1999, pp.67, 105, 256; 2000, p.38) † Ranson (2006, pp.51-68)

Thematic Focus on the finite I find the treasure; the act of choosing and figuring out

Moving through darkness and confusion



Ltn. Superliminare = ‘overthreshold’ (cf. Ex 12:22) Beholding I-Thou

Being for others Scientific & Aesthetic understanding The dawning awareness that knowing is a living encounter – immediate, preconceptual, and presymbolic

‘Essence’ of the Thou Mystery and pure action, the act that is not arbitrary Knowing as waiting upon, receptivity; ‘something forcing itself upon us, being drawn to, and overwhelmed by Mystery’



Non-thematic Focus on the Mystery/Infinite I choose the pearl of great price; this transforms my life

I lose the treasure (cf. Bouyer, 1961, p.265)

Revelation

Resolution Revolution

The values and structures of our society are right-side up for us, but to God they are upside-down and unjust known,

Bi-polar reversal; our world is turned upside-down so it is now right-side up; people are confused and anxious

Informational Logocentric, prose-driven, focused on the dominant consciousness ‘Arrogant eye’; objectifies, manipulates, uses, exploits; rushed and distracted



This world, observable

‘thin membrane’ between this world and the other world

material,

Rational, disenchantment, reasonable, verifiable, everything is systematised and classified



We are shifted into a new way of seeing and living, in the rightside up Reign of God

Apophatic – the unknown, emptying, no-thingness Meditative Formational Mythocentric, expressed in poetry, focused on the alternative consciousness ‘Loving eye’; a sound eye guided by wisdom; detached; sees uniqueness of the other; pays attention Other world, spiritual, ineffable (cf. Schmiel, 1984, pp.166-168, 182) Non-rational, re-enchantment, non-reasonable, non-empirical, the return of poetic knowing; characterised by listening, desire, wonder, acceptance of darkness.

Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 23

Spiritual Writer

Knowing Style 1

Grey, transitional area

Knowing Style 2

McFague (1997, p.116; Edwards, 2006, p.111)

‘Arrogant eye’; objectifies, manipulates, uses, exploits; rushed and distracted



† Sheldrake (1995, p.7) O’Donohue (1999, pp.67, 105, 256; 2000, p.38)

This world, observable

† Ranson (2006, pp.51-68)

Rational, disenchantment, reasonable, verifiable, everything is systematised and classified

‘thin membrane’ between this world and the other world

‘Loving eye’; a sound eye guided by wisdom; detached; sees uniqueness of the other; pays attention Other world, spiritual, ineffable (cf. Schmiel, 1984, pp.166-168, 182)

material,

Non-rational, re-enchantment, non-reasonable, non-empirical, the return of poetic knowing; characterised by listening, desire, wonder, acceptance of darkness

† Strongly focused on knowing as ‘unknowing’, ‘non knowing’, ‘knowing beyond knowing’, hidden darkness, the ineffable, or equivalent

Finally, Table Two also contains its challenges for teachers and students. Not only does it affirm that there are two different but complementary and necessary ‘knowing styles’, but that holistic learning and integrated religious education and spirituality require that the person incorporates practices such as prayer, contemplation, praxis and ‘deep seeing’ (cf. Mudge, 2007b, pp.45-48) along with stances or attitudes such as enchantment, wisdom, and openness to the Spirit of God. The commensurate challenge for teachers and students of religious education for both Tables One and Two is that, whereas ‘Knowing Style 1’ is understood, incorporated and practiced effectively in the school context, the same cannot be said for both the liminal, transitional style of knowing, and ‘Knowing Style 2’ which are often ‘missing’ or ‘ignored’ – honoured, it may be said, more in the breach than the observance. Thus, a significant challenge for teachers in particular is to incorporate into the religious education classroom context the pedagogical orientations of Table One, along with the spiritual themes and practices of Table Two. Conclusions and Future Directions Practical strategies for cultivating a balanced approach towards ways of knowing We have reached the mid-point of the journey. The still, dark point of the turning world. We have long known we would have to face it: the heart of darkness coiled at the core of our being (Cooper, 2002, p.107) The research explored in this paper raises a number of challenges and possibilities for multiple pedagogical contexts in the religious education classroom. Some of these include the need to expand understanding and practice of ways of knowing in the following areas. For some of these areas I have also suggested possible teaching strategies for the religious education classroom: 1. affirm and expand ways of knowing linked to Knowing Style 1 which embraces activities focused on what is – distant, objective, noetic, reasonable, intellectual, material, prose-oriented, visual, and that embrace the senses. This could be approached, for example, through an indepth objective study of creation, the cosmos, sacred scriptures, and of the ways in which our senses provide us with a rich, empirical experience of the world. 2. incorporate and encourage neglected ways of knowing linked to the grey, fuzzy, liminal, transitional phase of awareness between Knowing Styles 1 and 2, including activities that allow students to 24 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

experience the – transitional, marginal, ‘not [previously] experienced’, reversal, disruption, ‘madness’, contradiction, confusion and disorientation. This phase is also typically described in relation to what is – unknowable, illuminative, confusing, spiralling, and directionless. It often arises out of the experience of – seeing differently, leaving behind familiar words and landmarks, kenosis or ‘self-emptying’, bipolar reversal, being turned upside-down, liminality, moving beyond scientific and aesthetic understanding, and arriving at the pre-conceptual, the pre-symbolic, silence, or emptiness. Teachers can encourage these marginalized and neglected ways of knowing by studying saints and holy figures classified as “wise fools”, and equally by studying parables, koans, and other examples of this grey or luminal way of knowing. At the same time they could introduce students to examples and stories of reversal, paradox, silence, transformation and disorientation (e.g. Ezekiel in 1 Kings 19:1-12) in order to highlight the value and place of this type of knowing. 3. integrate and promote largely ignored ways of knowing linked to Knowing Style 2 which is typically referenced as – tacit, intuitive, incorporative, communal, and focused on the infinite world of possibilities, imagination, receptivity, surprise, narrative, divergence, the ability to pass beyond traditional boundaries, holism, myth, contemplation, novelty and daring. This knowing style is also habitually described in relation to what is – intimate, relational to the Divine, subjective, affective, non-rational, virtuous, poetry-orientated, and given to beholding and spiritual intuition. For many spiritual writers, this style of knowing is equated with ‘unknowing’, ‘non knowing’, ‘knowing beyond words’, or any equivalent encounter with God as hidden darkness, the ineffable, or the Mystery. This difficult and elusive style of knowing could be cultivated by inviting students to engage their imagination in religious education classrooms, such as through the use of a variety of narratives, myths, exercises in contemplation, poetry, art and role-play. In particular, teachers could create favourable conditions for this style of knowing by privileging those type of activities that do not require words, clear explanations, rationality, or research (e.g. responses incorporating music, mime, silent role play, symbol, metaphor and lectio divina). 4. acknowledge and augment a broader range of ways of knowing (embracing Knowing Styles 1 and 2, along with liminal phase knowing) than those currently or traditionally included in pedagogy, programming, teaching, evaluation, assessment, and within current epistemologies. This would embrace ways of knowing based on two-fold and four-fold models, as well as on teaching instruments such as the Question Matrix; 5. acknowledge that one cannot ‘prove’ or empirically measure those ways of knowing identified as ‘Knowing Style 2’. However, one can provide opportunities for teachers and students to experience or sense these types of knowing. For example, one way to approach ‘Knowing Style 2’ is to gather informal ‘evidence’ or observations, showing that the student has considered or remained open to this type of knowing, such as through the completion of a journal reflection, a meditation, or portfolio. These types of knowing should not be graded but instead acknowledged on a ‘completed’, ‘pass’ or ‘satisfactory’ basis. The PEEL (2007) taxonomy and teaching strategies, for example, provide one effective vehicle for cultivating Knowing Style 2, with its emphasis on hypothesising, taking risks, suspension of judgement, and reflective praxis. Perhaps the greatest challenge for teachers and students alike is to acknowledge that these different styles and models of knowing exist in the first place, to incorporate those neglected ways of knowing from Christianity and other traditions, and to apply them meaningfully and systematically in the religious education classroom. As Julia Atkin, cited earlier, has poignantly remarked, one of the most confronting pedagogical tasks facing teachers today is to find ways of “stretching” students’ ways of knowing beyond their preferred style and comfort zone, and towards ways of knowing that they have not yet experienced (Atkin, 1997, p.3).

Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 25

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Mudge, P. (2007a). Meditative thinking and ‘dwelling upon’ – a perennial challenge for the religious educator. Journal of Religious Education, 55 (2), 20-27. Mudge, P. (2007b). The Arts in Religious Education – a focus for ‘deep seeing’, silence and contemplation (Part One). Journal of Religious Education, 55 (4), 43-49. Neusner, J. (1987). The Enchantments of Judaism, Rites of Transformation from Birth to Death. New York: Basic Books. Neusner, J. (1991). An Introduction to Judaism, A Textbook and Reader. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press. Neyrey, J. (1991). The Symbolic Universe of Luke-Acts: ‘They Turn the World Upside Down’. In J. H. Neyrey (Ed.), The Social World of Luke-Acts, Models for Interpretation (pp.271-304). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. Nolan, A. (2007). Jesus Today, A Spirituality of Radical Freedom. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. O’Donohue, J. (1999). Anam Ċara, Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World. London: Bantam Books. O’Donohue, J. (2000). Eternal Echoes, Exploring our hunger to belong. London: Bantam Books. O’Neal, D. (Ed.). (2005). Meister Eckhart, from Whom God Hid Nothing, Sermons, Writings, and Sayings. (Foreword, David Steindl-Rast). Boston, MA: New Seeds. Ornstein, R.E. (Ed.). (1977). Symposium on Consciousness. London: Penguin. PEEL. (2007). About PEEL, What does PEEL stand for? Retrieved on January 9, 2008 from: www.peelweb.org/index.cfm?resource=about Polanyi, M. (1966). The Tacit Dimension. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company. Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Prentice, R. (2000). The Ineffable in Everyday Teaching – Doorways to spiritualisation as ‘that which makes of the parts a whole’. Retrieved on January 8, 2008 from: http://members.iinet.net.au/~rstack1/world/rp/ineffable.htm Rahner, K. (1975/1966). The Theology of Mystery and Symbol. In. G. A. McCool (Ed.), A Rahner Reader (pp.108-120). London: Darton, Longman & Todd. Ranson, D. (2006). Pathways into Mystery. In G. Moore (Ed.), Mystery – The Heart of Life and the Core of Faith (pp.51-68). Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls. Renard, J. (Transl. and Intro.). (2004). Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism, Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology. (Preface, A. T. Karamustafa). Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. Schweitzer, E. (1968). Pneuma, pneumatikos. In G. Friedrich (Ed.). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Volume VI (pp.88-100). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Scruton, R. (1998). Art and Imagination, A Study in the Philosophy of Mind. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press. Self, M. (2006). The Way of Wisdom. Oxford: Lion Publishing. Sheldrake, P. (1995). Living Between Worlds, Place and Journey in Celtic Spirituality. London: DLT. Sinclair, J. M. (Gen.Consult.). (2003). The Collins/Times English Dictionary & Thesaurus, 21st Century Edition. Glasgow: HarperCollinsPublishers & Times Books. Sitzia, M. (1996). St Gregory of Nyssa on Prayer. Priests and People. 10 (1), 25-30. Smith, C. (2004). The Way of Paradox, Spiritual Life as taught by Meister Eckhart. (New Edition). London: Darton, Longman & Todd. Turner, D. (1999). The Darkness of God, Negativity in Christian Mysticism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Unterman, A. (1991). Dictionary of Jewish Lore and Legend. London: Thames and Hudson. van Gennep, A. (1960/1908). The Rites of Passage. (Transl. M. B. Vizedom & G. G. Caffee). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. van Kaam, A. (1983). Formative Spirituality, Volume One, Fundamental Formation. New York: Crossroad. Vardy, P. (2004). Dr Peter Vardy on religion and values in education. The Religion Report, 1 September 2004. Ultimo, Sydney: ABC Radio National. Retrieved on February 7, 2008 from: www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1189033.htm Vardy, P. (2007). Dialogue Australasia – The 5 Strand Approach to Religious and Values Education. Retrieved on February 7, 2008 from: www.dialogueaustralasia.org/REVALUES3.html Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 27

Whelan, M. (1986). The Call To Be, Reflections on Christian Life Formation. Homebush: St Paul Publications. Yockey, J. F. (Transl. & Adapted). (1987). Meditations with Nicholas of Cusa. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Company. York, J. O. (1991). The Last Shall be First, The Rhetoric of Reversal in Luke, JSNT Suppl.46. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

*Dr. Peter Mudge is an Administrator of Mission – Team Leader, specialising in religious education, spirituality and pedagogy at the Diocesan Office, Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, NSW, Australia. His areas of interest and research include – religious education, spiritualty, sacred space, connected knowing, transformative pedagogies, and the role of the arts in religious education. He has received formal training in drawing painting which he pursues in his art studio. A selection of his copyright-free art images can be found at: www.flickr.com/photos/ceoreals/sets His contact email is: [email protected]

28 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

Dr Michael Maroney* An exploration of youth spirituality amongst senior students in three Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney Abstract The theory and practice of Catholic schooling, particularly with respect to religious education, have the purpose of promoting the spiritual and moral development of young people. This includes a special emphasis on acquainting them with the religious traditions and spirituality of the Catholic Church. Because Catholic schooling has always endeavoured to meet the religious and personal needs of students, there has been an ongoing interest in monitoring the spirituality of youth to inform an effective religious education program. While for many young people spirituality is primarily religious; there is a growing differentiation between the 'spiritual' and the 'religious'. In some cases, particular versions of spirituality have been described as 'non-religious' or even 'secular. This paper reports on an investigation of this issue by exploring the spirituality of year 12 students in three Catholic schools located in the Sydney Archdiocese. A number of interesting results emerged from the study that assists in articulating what contributes to a student’s spirituality, and the effect the Catholic school has on their faith, image of God, and attitude to the Church. Introduction Increasingly, spirituality has become a prominent focus in classroom religious education. Traditionally, there has been the fundamental concern to hand on the religious beliefs and practices of the religious tradition which sponsors the church school. In this situation, it becomes important for educators to make some appraisal of the relative influence of traditional religious sources of spirituality on the way that young people construct their own idiosyncratic, personal spiritualities (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006). This paper is the first part in a series taken from a doctoral thesis that investigated the spirituality of 207 Year 12 students (58% female and 42% male) in three metropolitan Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney in 2006 and 2007 – a girls college, a boys college and a co-educational college. The project explored their understanding of spirituality and the links between their spirituality and the experience of Catholic schooling. A systematic questionnaire provided quantitative data, a summary of which was then discussed in focus groups. In this way, students were invited to interpret the empirical data and to attempt to explain why young people thought and felt as they did – yielding qualitative data. The focus groups also responded to an innovative use of cartoon caricatures of God which prompted participants to talk about the ways in which they and other teenagers imagined God and God’s role in the world, and in their own lives (Maroney, 2008). This bulletin presents some of the responses and discusses a number of issues and implications for stakeholders interested in the spiritual and moral education of young people, especially those in the Catholic schools. What impact are our schools having on our students’ spiritual development? The findings indicating the influences of our schools is presented in Table 1 and indicates that the highest result (56.5%) was a preference in conversing with God informally rather than in formal school prayer situations. Generally, a significant number of students indicated that prayer is important to them (46.8%) although respondents commented negatively about school liturgies helping with their spiritual development (26.8%). The retreat experience is important to a number of students (42.7%) confirming the results of other studies on this subject (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006; Flynn & Mok, 2002; Hughes, 2007; Smith Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 29

& Denton, 2005). A low score was given to religious education teachers contributing to students’ faith and religious practice (31.7%). This result is important given the contemporary situation of religious education being the only formal exposure that most students’ have to the teachings and culture of the Catholic Church. For some young people spirituality remains very religious, but for a number it has shifted in that it is no longer so dependent on formal religion and theology. This tends to make it more experience, and lifestyle centred. Young people are interested in what affects them in the ‘here and now’; their spirituality is very existential (Hill, 2004).

Table 1: Influence of Catholic Education Males N=78

Influence of Catholic Education

Importance1 44.6%

Females N=129 Avg 3.07

Importance 65.7%

Average Avg 3.80

Importance 56.5%

Avg2 3.51

Rather converse with God than formal prayers Prayer is important to me 24.7% 2.44 62% 3.81 46.8% 3.26 Retreat experience was deeply 29.6% 2.68 51.7% 3.42 42.7% 3.12 spiritual I will take on board the moral 18.7% 2.56 53.3% 3.46 39.7% 3.09 teachings of the Church Catholic Education influenced my 24.6% 2.51 47.9% 3.27 38.5% 2.96 Spirituality Catholic education helped my 22.2% 2.49 48.7% 3.18 37.9% 2.90 appreciation of the Church RE teachers contributed to my 23.3% 2.42 36.3% 2.85 31.7% 2.67 belief in God Catholic Church is out of touch 27.6% 2.85 29.8% 2.77 28.7% 2.81 with reality School liturgies helped my belief 15% 2.23 34.7% 2.86 26.8% 2.60 in God Catholic Education had a negative 29.6% 2.22 22.2% 2.22 19.2% 2.22 impact on my Spirituality 1 Percentage importance is calculated by using a Likert scale score. Scores of 1 represented-little importance through to 5-very important. Percentages displayed are calculated scores for 4 and 5 combined. 2 Item Range 1 – 5; Mid-point = 3

What influences our students’ faith development? The results about the influences on students’ faith development were spread more evenly over the responses which perhaps indicated some diversity in individual religious journeys. However, the strongest results were for parents (57.6%), church teaching (42.7%) and religious education (52%). The result for the influence of religious education on students’ faith development was higher than the previous data for the influence of religious education teachers; pointing to a higher value placed on the curriculum, rather than the quality of the teaching. According to the results, teachers and friends were the least influential in terms of articulating and nurturing a faith in God (31.3%/22.5%). The result for the influence of priests was significant at 40.8%, indicating students may see the priest as a symbolic/pastoral figure in their faith development. 30 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009

The data here suggests that a principal location for developing young people’s faith is with the parents at home (Mason, Webber, Singleton, 2006). Teachers may be educating young people in the faith but students may be looking more towards what their parents are doing and saying, with regard to a faith in God and the Church. Table 2: Influences on Faith Development Males N=78

Influence on Faith Development

Females N=129

Average

Importance1 Avg Importance Avg Importance Avg2 Parents 46.4% 3.93 74.8% 2.83 57.6% 3.48 Religious Education 33.3% 2.53 71% 3.85 52% 3.31 Church teaching 37.6% 2.82 67.3% 3.89 42.7% 3.45 Priests 26.1% 2.45 56.4% 3.36 40.8% 2.99 Teachers 26.2% 2.23 34.1% 2.92 31.3% 2.63 Friends 17.2% 1.99 32.1% 2.68 22.5% 2.40 1 Percentage importance is calculated by using a Likert scale score. Scores of 1 represented-little importance through to 5-very important. Percentages displayed are calculated scores for 4 and 5 combined. 2 Item Range 1 – 5; Mid-point = 3

What influences our students’ moral development? Table 3 presents the findings of the influences on the students’ moral development.

Table 3: Influences on Moral Development

Influences on Moral development

Males N = 78 Importance Avg

Females N = 129 Importance Avg

Average Importance

Avg2

90.8% 84.4% 67.1% 63.7% 46.3%

4.50 4.34 3.85 3.75 3.34

1

Parents Conscience Friends Belief in God Teachers

82.7% 77.2% 49.4% 41.8% 38.4%

4.71 4.06 3.52 3.05 3.49

96.7% 90.6% 78.2% 79.6% 56.2%

4.21 4.55 4.09 4.26 3.14

Role model for others 37.9% 2.84 68.8% 3.73 55.1% 3.35 Boy or Girlfriend 49.4% 3.28 47.1% 3.35 48.3% 3.32 Belonging to a school community 27.9% 2.83 47.9% 3.41 39.5% 3.17 Community/Sporting Affiliation 46.5% 3.21 31.3% 2.85 37.8% 3.00 Social Justice Involvement 20.6% 2.46 42.4% 3.10 33.2% 2.83 Helping Younger students 22.9% 2.63 34.5% 2.99 29.6% 2.84 Pop star 17.2% 2.26 21.6% 2.32 20% 2.30 Sports star 20.7% 2.53 16.1% 2.12 18% 2.29 Behaviour of celebrities 8.2% 1.81 10.1% 1.92 9.3% 1.87 1 Percentage importance is calculated by using a Likert scale score. Scores of 1 represented-little importance through to 5-very important. Percentages displayed are calculated scores for 4 and 5 combined.2 Item Range 1 – 5; Mid-point = 3 Journal of Religious Education 57(2) 2009 31

Parents were considered to be the people to whom young people turn when it comes to understanding appropriate social behaviour and a sense of right and wrong (90.8%). However, students responded confidently in stating that their own sense of right and wrong was good enough for them, even at a young age (84.4%). In addition, 56.2% of female students indicated that teachers had an impact, compared with 38.4% for male respondents. Role modelling and nurturing younger students appear to be more important to females than for males. Females also tend to view belief in God as a more important formative factor in their moral development than do males. 79.6% of females surveyed indicated that belief in God directly affects their moral development. Male responses were not as strong at 40.1%. Overall, female responses were higher for each value than the male responses. The only difference in which the response was reversed was in the case of sport where 20.7% of males indicated that a sportsperson who is respected as a role model can influence their moral and values development. Interestingly, both genders (