Pupils encouraged to ‘think for themselves’ about the Bible

SWINDON, England — A partnership between the University of Exeter and the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) has produced three books which open up Bible stories to young secondary school pupils by linking them to themes that are significant in their own lives.

The themes of the three books, which are accompanied by a Teacher’s Handbook, are vulnerability, encounter and destiny respectively, themes chosen because they offer helpful ways to see into parts of the Bible.

Troubled People, for example, the theme of which is vulnerability, includes the stories of Jesus and the adulterous woman, Noah’s drunkenness, how Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, Psalm 139, how Jesus calmed the storm and Peter’s denial.

Adapted and retold in ways designed to appeal to pupils aged from 11 to 14, the stories provide opportunities for them to explore and discuss ideas such as sin, judgement, forgiveness, low self-esteem, the unchanging nature of man, free will, the uniqueness of man and the omniscience and omnipresence of God.

Mysterious Encounters includes the stories of the writing on the wall, from the Book of Daniel, Isaiah’s vision in the temple, Tamar and Judah, the suffering of Job, the death of Jesus and the healing of the Syrian Phoenician woman.

Vulnerability

The Riddle of Destiny looks at the Tower of Babel, the beginning and the end of creation, how Gideon rose to his calling, Jesus’s pursuit of his destiny and the Beatitudes.

Manifested as, for example, fears about the inability to cope, encounters with peers and thoughts about ‘what I want to be when I grow up,’ vulnerability, encounter and destiny are recognised as being considerable preoccupations of young people.

Calling their partnership the Biblos Project, the Bible Society and the University of Exeter School of Education and Lifelong Learning have based the new curriculum resources on their joint research into the way biblical studies are taught at school and attitudes to the Bible among children and young people.
As they read the books, pupils are told, “you will not be asked to believe (or disbelieve) in God or in the religions which respect the Bible. You will be asked to think for yourself about the beliefs and values of the people in these pages [and] to think about what can be learnt from them now and to reflect about your own beliefs and values.”