Secondary RE
Subject Knowledge Building

(Presentation below)

Subject Knowledge Audit

August 2002 to July 2003

Faiths
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Faiths considered together 3 2 1   Glossary of religious terms webpage (to be continuously updated). Purchased book on Greek thought in Judaism and Christianity. Jain origins of Ahimsa and broader effect of transcendentalist thought and Tolstoy on Gandhi. Timeline webpage.

Faithtown relating faiths to each other and their buildings (first school practice; webpage); faiths time line (first school practice; webpage); race and gender compared between Christianity and Hinduism (first school practice; webpage); Birth legends of different prophets (webpage); women and religions (webpage); Hindu and Muslim reformers/ early modernity (webpage); my views developed on different faiths (webpage).

The Green Man in Paganism, other faiths and seen in Christian churches (first and second school practices; webpage).
Buddhism
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Buddha as wise teacher [etc.] 1       I was a member (attending) of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, to meditation and other gatherings, and read up on this over time as a way of incorporating it into my spirituality. I'm aware of variations, e.g. more "rationalised" approaches. A number of books owned, some web pages etc.
Buddhist teaching [etc.] 1       I know these but not good at remembering lists! However, my analogy is of the person who helps another without thinking about it first. Again the idea of developing clarity is built into my own religious faith. The Dharma/ Dhamma is a selfless path/ process.
Buddhist community [etc.] 1       I have good experiences of the FWBO, know about the WBO; also I have had contact with the local [Hull, York] Tibetan offshoots, and offshoots of them who met at Hull Unitarians. I know some of the story examples, eg the raft that goes across the river to be abandoned when on the other side. I understand the Mahayana view of not accepting enlightenment while others are to be helped. I understand Great and Little traditions.

Buddhist movements and dates webpage.

Meeting with Madhyamika Buddhist monk February 2003, brief conversation, reminder on lineage.

A little extra in the context of Martin Palmer discussing Christianity in China (Palmer, 2001) and its relationship to a Chinese Buddhism already somewhat fused with Taoism and Confucianism.
Christianity
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
The nature and activity of God [etc.] 1       I did MA Theological Understanding of Contemporary Society 1996-1998 and produced web pages on theology and theologians. I go to Christian churches and hear these beliefs; I also hear the rejection of these beliefs - I engage with them in my own non-relaist take. In Sea of Faith Network, and it also takes the debate about God further from John Robinson etc. through Don Cupitt and on. Recently I put up web pages about Barth and biblical narrative.
Understanding God [etc.] 1       As section above. Recently I read the Hansons on the Bible and produced a webpage. The Unitarian tradition is historically via reason, but I understand revelation and progressive revelation. I understand Christ as the Word in theology.
Jesus [etc.] 1       I know about credal development, eg 325 CE and the Chalcedonian Definition 451 CE and there's continued reading - eg about Rowan Williams on Arius. I understand the birth narratives, that incarnation is semi-detached from this, that the two natures ~ fully human and fully God ~ is Greek based and under pressure (for many) and that he was the first of the resurrected from a reworking of pharasaical belief in communal tradition and experience.

Paul's journey to Rome in Near East and East in Religion webpage.

Jesus the server/ rebel (webpage); Jesus' ministry (school, webpage); Jesus choosing disciples including Bible use (school, webpage); Holy Week account and Holy Week diary (first and partly second school practices, webpages).

Material from several sources on a literature versus historical understanding of Jesus, which informed my teaching - something of a rejection perhaps of Robert Funk and the historical Jesus approach (and yet having this in the background put aside once tackled) in favour of the Bible on Jesus as writing but a divorce from informing other fields of knowledge.
Salvation [etc.] 1       I met and continue to meet very Protestant style people of Jesus and have an individual relationship etc.. One such church was in my Ph.D. They will say man is sinful and faces death, and Jesus who didn't have to die did die so we don't have to and his rising again was God's victory. It's a reworking, in an emotional response, of the testaments' time view that demons etc. lead to death and Jesus wouldn't die but did die and rose. Believing in Jesus gives the believer eternal life - sometime "everlasting". I do keep meeting these people and have some of the books. There is also a creation angle or recreation from Christ which is more corporate and all-life.

Second practice teaching on atonement as an exchange, give and take, and ancient world views on sin and death and therefore the interpretation put on to Jesus' death; also and related the give and take in the Eucharist.
The body of Christ [etc.] 1       I have studied the history of denominations: old dissent, new dissent, Anglicanism, Catholicism (including offshoots like MCC!) and Orthodoxy. Old dissent did mix with new developments. The ecumenical movement is partly because old arguments have been forgotten or become obscure, and partly decline, but it allows focus on main points of belief and experience. I went to Luther King House Manchester for a year in 1989-90 and visited Queen's College Birmingham before then. The last denominations webpage I made was Methodists - splitting and coming back.
Worship [etc.] 1       I attend Christian services. On holiday July 2002 I had my first experience of a Forward in Faith parish speaking constantly of mediaeval roots (rather than Victorian!). I'm aware of Pentecost, Holy Spirit (the guide, in worship, wheras Church is the body of Christ).

Analysis of forms of worship at Hull Vineyard church - postmodern style if not content (visit late 2002); eucharist and Maundy Thursday (school, webpage); theory of preaching related to education (.PDF page)
Bible [etc.] 2   1   Recently I created a webpage from Hanson and Hanson on a critical approach although I added my own gloss plus other sources. The book was about how to regard the Bible. However, I am not a very biblical person so this needs revision. I can actually do it re-reading the page; also doing it gave me a more positive outlook. At Luther King House I'd rejected a biblical course and so we did the Bhagavad Gita instead.

Working with texts in school, such as resurrection texts (school, webpage); own reading.
Authority (Bible) [etc.] 1       Authority I tackled in Sociology Ph.D via Weber and since, and I understand approaches of Church, scripture and individual, being of the individual approach. Theology gave me the idea of the bible as a dramatic guide in postliberalism, and Milbank as traditionalism (also postliberal) but also ordinary believers too, like a traditionalist-church vicar's wife or well used Bible. Obviously Bible has fundamentalist to "inspiring literature" spread. Strong on "ordinary comprehension and Unitarian history.

More focus on using the Bible in the second practice and individuals' critical view - read it and reckon - which arguably undermines a preset Church authority of interpretation.
Christian ways of life [etc.] 1/ 2   1   Christians understand (though it's confused) that they are in the image of God - and the body is a temple - but also the inheritors of sin. There's incarnation (good) and need for redemption (bad). Traditional belief was that humankind was perfect and fell, but also God's creation is good. I don't do a lot regarding this but the score is because I've encountered this and know it.

Marriage (schools, webpages); raising children (schools, webpage); colours and festivals (webpage).
Discipleship [etc.] 1/ 2       A full awareness personally because it is in the negative, so another case where I can empathise but haven't sympathised. I've seen it for example a local procession at Easter 2001 in Goxhill. This is experiential so I have applied a researcher's participant observation.

Does this need updating beyond this? It is what Christians, or some, do - commit their lives, remember (and retell) conversion experiences, their once sin and now witness.
Hinduism
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Concepts, truth and values [etc.] 2/ 3   1   It's a low score but I do know about different God-levels, and popular religion (Hinduism was just religion of India) and developed faith, but various disciplined followers. Recently revisited Bhagavad Gita and older texts. Know about Brahmo Samaj.

More on Hindu modernism with Ramakrishna, Vivekenanda and Gandhi. More on Gandhi's use of Ahimsa (from Jains), Satyagraha, Brahmacarya and Sarvodaya.

Hinduism against discrimination and anti-Empire (school, .PDF), Moksha and yogas (school, webpage); Hindu tolerance (school, .PDF); general suppportive reading, artwork and dramatic improvement in overview of Hinduism. Merging in and some rewriting from Hindu glossary (discontinued) to religions glossary webpage.
Family, community and traditions [etc.] 2/ 3   1   Hindu worship is often in the home, perhaps with a favourite God image. Life is about improving karma and hope for a better new life. Various sources through time. Caste system seems to blot the diversity copy book, even in UK.

Know about Puja (textbook).

Pilgrimage sites and around India route in Near East and East in Religion webpage as updated.

Varnas and castes (School, .PDF with images and table); a Hindu year (gods; festivals)
Worship [etc.] 3   2 1 I'm aware of Diwali but not much else. Beyond deity preferences there's not much knowledge.

Holi and other festivals.

See above for festivals; Ganesh with Rama, Krishna and Hanuman (school, .PDF, webpage); general reading on temples; family trees (webpage).

More festivals and forms of worship within and in the home looking at textbooks and some teaching. See webpage on Hindu festivals.
Scriptures [etc.] 2   1   Not prompted by this knowledge bridging, but this arrived as I was doing a Bhagavad Gita glossary of terms webpage (now incorporated with others) and on the Gita. I have read earlier scriptures but need to return. I've read modernist Hindu writings.

Gandhi in Hindu/ Islam Reformers webpage.

Purchased book of Upanishads extracts with origins of Brahman-Atman.

Ramayana (school, webpage inc. Rama); more on Bhagavad Gita (school; same webpage) and relates to yogas. Merging in and some rewriting from Hindu glossary (discontinued) to religions glossary webpage.
Islam
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Tawid (Oneness of Allah) [etc.] 4 2     Oneness of Allah gives Islam its purity and directness, and also how calligraphy is a substitute for the absence of imaging God. I have a copy of the Koran, I've some Muslim sources but I could find more. I've actually got Love Your God, Khurram Murad for children!

Muhammad aimed to unite different tribes via one religion and this unity of people is now (as for some time!) world wide. It's very much a beyond race and culture tradition. There's a fusing of religion and politics, an Islamic state being an aim (where the ruler is Islamic but must be so and listen). The symbol of Islam is from the Ottoman Empire which was quite pluralistic as was Islam in Spain.

Webpage on Qur'an (with readings) giving information.

Rise and Failing of Islam webpage.

Muhammad and revelation (.PDF).
Iman (faith) [etc.] 4/ 5 1     My take on this is the different Sunni and Shi'ite traditions. I come at Shi'ite via the Shaykhi Shi'ite offshoot (Bahai-Babi) and I'm vague about Sunni. Sufi I've some understanding of.

Webpage on Qur'an considerably improving knowledge on origins and content.

Rise and Failing of Islam webpage.

Modern arguments in Hindu/ Islam Reformers webpage.

Qur'an and education (webpage); questions on the Qur'an (school, .PDF), Muslim views on the Qur'an (school, webpage).
Ibadah (worship/ belief in action) [etc.] 3 2 1   Muslims pray 5 times a day facing Makkah; men and women do this separately. There are strong ethical demands too (vague). There is the Hajj, of course, to attend at least once in a lifetime and support for the poor and not borrowing at rates of interest (ideal). I could meet some Muslims!

More on this in webpage.

Mosque (webpage).

Hajj (school, webpage, .PDF, television); Festivals e.g. Id-ul-Fitr (.PDFs); Call to prayer (webpage); prayer times (webpage, used in school).

Further textbook material read and my own continuous webpages adjustments, acquiring historic images of the Ka'ba and a line image of Hajj (which justified my own revision of Sue Penny's out of date image of the Great Mosque).
Akhlaq (character and moral conduct) [etc.] 3 2/ 3   2 Television February 2003 on Muslims going to Hajj.

Issues of conduct in northern towns at a time of racism and between the generations.
Judaism
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
G-d [etc.] 2/ 3     1 I understand the movement to one G-d as the development of an identity of a people. G-d will not do what you will not do. There are arguments about G-d, that God acts in history but so should we. G-d has also an invisibility and there's post holocaust theology of absence.

Teaching in the second school on Abraham and the one G-d with the Covenant in the context of one G-d (and more than one) in various faith traditions over some weeks.
Torah [etc.] 3     1 My recent Bible webpage includes a critical overview of the historicity of the Torah. I compare Torah, Talmud* and Tanakh. The ten Commandments, of course - and more. A need for clarity. *Tradition.

Teaching and further reading of tradition of written and oral writings and sections webpage. Also different movements' relationships, e.g. in Britain of the written over the oral tradition.
The people and the land [etc.] 1/ 2       Whilst there is the expectation/ history of Israel, I'm intersted in the British Jewish community. They started with William the Conqueror until expelled after abuses, but on coming in with Cromwell they have enjoyed relative freedom compared with the continent; however, they had a tendency in the establishment to become more biblical and less rabbinic. I knew a Reform Jew and Unitarian connections in US and Israel's rejection.

Abraham's and Moses' journeys in Near East and East in Religion webpage.

Much teaching in the second practice on Judiasm. This included Abraham with a wordsearch. Plenty on the Jewish year including Jewish festivals, for example Seder order, its night and more, Rosh Hashanah and its approaches, Yom Kippur, Sukkot basics and more and the Passover. Also death rituals. The different branches like Orthodoxy and Reform as well as questions. Teaching rites of passage included the Brit Milah. Teaching also included the political movement (away from Messianic emphases) with socialist and nationalist roots of Zionism.
Sikhism
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Beliefs and values [etc.] 4/ 5 2   1 As a result of receiving this Subject Knowledge Audit booklet I got on with creating two webpages via different sources (including this). One is on the Gurus including the scriptures and one is an overview.

It's an attempt to have the Islamic purity of God from a Hindu base, semi-mysitical and has conclusions about God. The revelation to the Guru is set into Sikh writings. God as one and true.

More in depth (alteration to webpage). Huge addition to glossary of religions webpage

Strong teaching in the second practice on the oneness of God in the context of coming to this in a more modernist approach compared with Abraham and ancient Judaism.
The Gurus [etc.] 4/ 5 2 1   I know that there are ten Gurus and one that is scripture (spiritual) and temporal (the Khalsa), that the first and last Gurus are the most important, but all had devotional material. I concluded that Sikhism as originally syncretistic but also based on the Name of God was the first 'modernist' faith, eg the confident ending of human Gurus into scripture and community. It is also a response against caste. Writings are diverse in source - Sikhism as such has origins in the mystic Kabir.

Family tree of the Gurus discovered.

More on Gurus (alteration to webpage) and huge addition to glossary of religions webpage.

Continued information in school textbooks in the second practice and taught.
Community [etc.] 4/ 5 3 2/ 3 2 The Sikh community looks to itself as a people and nation with 23 million believers. Ambedkhar found it difficult to convert to and went Buddhist (against caste). Strong family directives.

A visit of two might be a good idea and meeting Sikhs.

Sikhs and practice of kitchen on equality (television). More on equality in religions glossary

Although not taught, certain aspects of Sikh community illustrated and read within school textbooks in the second practice.
Practices [etc.] 5 5!   2 Little known and a lot to find out. Seen television pictures of a Sikh wedding. The devotion to Guru Granth Sahib. Family ties strong.

Although not taught certain Sikh festivals illustrated and read within school textbooks in the second practice and other aspects like men and women sitting at different sides facing the Guru Granth Sahib in worship (thus equal if still separated at worship).
Other religion(s)
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Bahai 1       I have some expertise from reading and involving and published. Went to Bahai firesides and wedding.

Bahullah's exile plus Shaykhi Shia areas in Near East and East in Religion webpage.
Pagan 2       Different traditions (Gardnerian etc.) understood; relationship to new age, Starhawk and postmodern. I adopted some Paganism in my religious practice and had a Pagan teacher in Luther King Housefor whose small movement I wrote an article. I took an open air Pagan wedding in June 2001 using my green gown.

Green Man and Paganism in gown (schools).

Web pages on the Qabala (relates to Judaism too), casting a circle and ritual in general.
Non-religious belief systems
Topic (summary) Score Evidence and Action Plan for Improvement
  When first seen Just before the PGCE Half way End  
Secularism 2       Bradlaugh and Holyoake, the hard and softer views, Conway Hall. Also I know about Liverpool Ethical Church (with some liturgies) and I use their liturgies, though changed.
Postmodernism 1       I'm involved with Sea of Faith and non-realism. It's also a basis of my involvement with Unitarians.
Civilisations     2   Various bitesize or few pages per civilisation and history books acquired giving rapid overviews.
Topics (No scoring)
Festivals Many Jewish festivals in particular as taught in the second school practice. See Judaism above and own web page on the Jewish year.
Rites of passage Christian approaches in raising children and marriage (school, webpages).

Much teaching in the second practice on rites of passage as a journey through life opening doors.
Sacred texts Handling and comparing (University, school, various webpages). Links to sources e.g. http://etext.virginia.edu/rsv.browse.html which is RSV
Other topics (No scoring)
Movements of Faith Christianity already altered by being in the Church of the East moves into China 632 CE and becomes Taoist in reference, as in the Jesus Sutras, according to Palmer (2001).

Adrian Worsfold, 20/08/2002, 31/08/2002, 06/09/2002, 11/09/2002 16/09/02 31/10/02 17/02/03 10/07/03

Note. While filling this in first (18th August 2002), reading:

Momen M. (1999), The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach, One World.

He's a Bahai of an inclusivist tendency. There are some weaknesses but it is comparative and substantial. So picking up quite a lot as I go along. It's actually quite difficult to create webpages from this/ similar sources.

The early material here was written into An Introduction to the Study of Six World Religions, The University of Hull, July 2002, written by Julian Stern and is his copyright. It is Secondary RE Subject Knowledge Bridging and involves work prior to the PGCE and into it with identification of knowledge, bridging gaps, producing a presentation (on a weaker area in negotiation) and some 2500 words of notes not formally assessed.

Beckerlegge, G. (ed.) (2001), The World Religions Reader, 2nd Edition, Routledge.

Carter, R. (1978), The Coming of Civilization, World of Knowledge series, Macdonald/ St Michael.

Farndon, J. (2000), 1000 Things You Should Know about Modern History, Miles Kelly.

Race, A., Rao, K. L. S. (eds.) (1995), World Faiths Encounter, Number 12, November 1995, Modern Churchpeople's Union.

Palmer, M. (2001), The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Tradition of Taoist Christianity, London: Piatkus.

Race, A., Rao, K. L. S. (eds.) (1995), World Faiths Encounter, Number 15, November 1996, Modern Churchpeople's Union.

 

(Subject Knowledge Audit above)

Task 2: Presentation

Possible topics identified in the Subject Knowledge Audit:

The Qur'an: readings and whole class/ groups responses and "daily lives responses" of the children. Sikhism - readings for class responses.
Preferred topic:

Qur'an because it raises fundamental RE issues.
Sources of information:

Rodwell, J. M. (1909), The Koran: Translated from the Arabic, Everyman Library, London: J. M. Dent and Sons

Sardar, Z., Malik, Z. A. (1999), Introducing Muhammad, Cambridge: Icon Books, previously Muhammad for Beginners (1994).

Lester, T. (1999), What is the Koran? The Atlantic Monthly; January 1999; Volume 283, No. 1; pages 43-56, The Atlantic Monthly Company, [Online], Available World Wide Web, URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99jan/koran.htm. [Accessed again August 31, 2002, 02:00]


Action plan (including dates) for completion of various parts of the presentation:

To be completed by September 9 2002 ahead of the course. The script is part of the presentation.

Was done and uploaded 31 August. There have been several updates since (dates below). Shows Surah 1 by calligraphy and two translations, introduction, commentary with two readings.

(Subject Knowledge Audit above)