The Language of Interfaith Encounter Among Inner City Primary School Children

Abstract

This article reports on a study of the influence of encounter with religious difference on the religious understanding of primary age children in an inner city district of an East Midlands city. It offers an analysis of the children's use of language in small discussion groups where they were free to explore their own and respond to each other's religious ideas. It applies Mikhail Bakhtin's theories to the interanimation of language and meaning that characterizes the children's religious discourse and considers the implications for religious education of a greater understanding of the processes of meaning-making in the children's religious dialogue.