From storybooks to bullet points: books and the Bible in primary and secondary religious education

Abstract

This article uses research carried out in a variety of English schools to suggest a discontinuity in the handling of the Bible between primary and secondary religious education (RE) classes, the former providing a more positive climate for the development of skills of scriptural reading and interpretation than the latter where students (and teachers) often expressed negativity towards books and the Bible in their RE learning. It employs Ricoeur’s manifestation and proclamation distinction to argue that engagement with religious scriptures in RE is necessary for students to develop a comprehensive understanding of religion and religious meaning, and it uses his model of the interpretive act of reading to analyse the practice and attitudes revealed by the research. The article argues that while the subjectivities of reader and text currently obstruct Biblical learning in the secondary classes, this is less the case in the primary schools. Here, the greater scope given to narrative, and its power to provoke new understanding, provides a foundation on which secondary RE teachers could usefully build if their students are to come to appreciate and rise to the challenges of close engagement with religious scriptures.