Spiritual Narrative and Secondary School Pupils: How do pupils respond to spiritual narrative? What factors might influence response or evoke conceptual change?

Abstract

Many of the great religions attach importance to spiritual narrative - from Christian parables to Zen koans - and believe they have an important function in conveying a sense of the transcendent and other morally and educationally valuable messages. There is considerable ambiguity, however, surrounding their use and function and indeed their definition. This thesis seeks initially to elucidate how different disciplines view spiritual narrative, and then exposes a "classic" spiritual narrative (the story of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden) to the scrutiny of different age groups from different schools. The analysis of their responses suggests that there is no straightforward "fit" with any one theory. However, in educational theory, it appears that "warm factors" (from Paul Pintrich) and the "will to meaning" (from Vygotsky) re-balance purely maturational and "coldly" cognitive views of response. Likewise from the theological tradition, prior religious literacy (from Andrew Wright) or literacy in a secular/materialistic mind-set, appear to be factors in pupils' response to spiritual narrative, re-balancing views (from Rebecca Nye and David Hay) which focus on universal, perhaps innate, spiritual orientation..