What do young people today really think about Jesus?

Walshe, Karen

doi:10.1080/0141620052000276537

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, it should be noted that the questionnaire items pertaining to the resurrection and Jesus' ability to make prayers come true provoked varied reactions from pupils. This evidence of disagreement in regard to the statements concerning Jesus' miracles may relate to a recent study which found that the majority of year 8 pupils (aged 12-13) surveyed identified the miracles of Jesus as the aspect of the person, life and teaching of Jesus they found the most difficult to understand (Walshe, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Christological claims made about Jesus based on those narratives (Cox 1967;Madge 1971;Savin-Williams, 1977;Walshe 2005). We cannot confirm or deny this causal relationship on the basis of our data, but from the pupils' responses we can conclude that they do not correlate the healings of Jesus with the fact that Jesus was/is God.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The questionnaire was similar to that used in an earlier study with year 8 pupils (Aylward, 2006;Walshe, 2005;). The first section assessed pupils' knowledge of Jesus' life and teachings and the second section examined their understanding of Jesus and ideas about him.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst a number of research instruments employed in the above studies have been subject to criticism over the years (Greer, 1982;Hyde, 1990;Levitt, 1995;Walshe, 2005), their findings offer a useful overview of some of the ways in which children and young people might think about Jesus. However, as these studies were conducted prior to the turn of the century, and often formed only a small part of larger scale studies investigating children's attitudes towards Christianity, it was felt that a more up to date examination of children's conceptions of Jesus would be appropriate in order firstly, to assess the extent to which findings from previous research might be applicable to children today and secondly, to gain a deeper understanding of the variety of ways in which children conceptualise Jesus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, as these studies were conducted prior to the turn of the century, and often formed only a small part of larger scale studies investigating children's attitudes towards Christianity, it was felt that a more up to date examination of children's conceptions of Jesus would be appropriate in order firstly, to assess the extent to which findings from previous research might be applicable to children today and secondly, to gain a deeper understanding of the variety of ways in which children conceptualise Jesus. Results from this study would directly inform the development of curriculum materials designed to address those aspects of the RE curriculum relating to Jesus which children continue to claim they find difficult to understand (Walshe, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Children's conceptions of Jesus

Aylward

Freathy

2008

Journal of Beliefs & Values

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents findings from a recent study investigating young children's (aged 10-11) conceptions of Jesus in England. The overall picture revealed by the study is that whilst there was a general assent amongst pupils in our sample towards an ethical and humanistic conception of the historical Jesus, there was less of a consensus about those issues which previous research claims children find difficult to understand, namely: the divinity of Jesus; the miracles of Jesus; and Christian beliefs pertaining to Jesus' continued presence in people's lives today. The paper concludes by arguing that the variety of conceptions of Jesus which are encountered in RE may be seen by children as a barrier to learning rather than an opportunity to grow in understanding and highlights the need for further research into the relationship between children's hermeneutical horizons and RE curriculum content. Children's conceptions of Jesus AbstractThis paper presents findings from a recent study investigating young children's (aged 10-11) conceptions of Jesus in England. The overall picture revealed by the study is that whilst there was a general assent amongst pupils in our sample towards an ethical and humanistic conception of the historical Jesus, there was less of a consensus about those issues which previous research claims children find difficult to understand, namely: the divinity of Jesus; the miracles of Jesus; and Christian beliefs pertaining to Jesus' continued presence in people's lives today. The paper concludes by arguing that the variety of conceptions of Jesus which are encountered in RE may be seen by children as a barrier to learning rather than an opportunity to grow in understanding and highlights the need for further research into the relationship between children's hermeneutical horizons and RE curriculum content.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Children's conceptions of Jesus

Aylward

Freathy

2008

Journal of Beliefs & Values

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Decolonising the teaching of Jesus in English primary schools

Ball

2022

j. relig. educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article argues that the teaching about Jesus in English primary schools urgently needs to include scholarship in Religious Education (RE) about teaching religion through the principles of Religion and Worldviews research and scholarship in Religious, Biblical and Theological Studies about decolonising the curriculum. RE teachers from the beginning of a child’s first lessons should present a Jesus who is Jewish with a context which is located within Judaea two thousand years ago. In addition, the artwork and imagery used in the teaching about Jesus should be as carefully chosen as the content of lessons to avoid the dominance of Jesus being depicted as the White Western Christ of tradition. As the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith is of interest to many communities, both within the Christian church and in other religions, this article shows that this is not fully reflected in the imagery and teaching about Jesus in the classroom. The research for this has been around for over thirty years in RE, but has become much more urgent with the focus on decolonising the curriculum. The teaching about Jesus needs to be at the centre of decolonisation in RE because Christianity is the one specified religion that schools must teach and it is the dominant religion in curriculum time. Presenting varied imagery from the UK and around the world and teaching about the historical Jewish person of Jesus is crucial to allow children from all backgrounds to engage with discussions and ensure all voices are heard in the classroom. This approach references anti-racist approaches to education and years of research about Jesus which are currently not reflected in all primary teaching.

show abstract