'First the Original': the Place of Adam in Seventeenth Century Theories of the Polity

This thesis investigates selected seventeenth century writings from England and New England to explore the varying significances afforded to the Biblical figure of Adam in theories of the polity. It notes the strong impulse in this period of political upheaval to find foundations and patterns for the polity by returning to the original of Adam’s existence in the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis and reinterpreted in Christian tradition. An overview of the times and their political and religious order identifies contemporary preoccupations – legitimacy of sovereignty, security of person and property, freedom of religious conscience, direction of history, expansion to new parts of the world and encounters with new people – that coloured interpretations and political applications of Adam. Against this background, the thesis presents contemporary conversations in which interpretations of Adam played a significant part, proposing a categorisation of Adam as state (the pattern and condition of man and polity) and Adam as story (Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration). Under the general heading of Adam as State the conversations include discussions about patriarchalism, natural law and rights, covenant and conscience; under Adam as Story they are concerned with millennial expectation, mystical discourses of the inner man, and the incorporation of the American Indian into a shared narrative that begins in Eden. These themes are developed in detailed studies of selected works by individual authors; Roger Williams, John Eliot, Gerrard Winstanley, John Milton and John Locke. In these works varied approaches are observed as the authors interrogate, expand or contract the story and traditions of Adam in their interpretations of its significance to their times and nation; in particular distinctions are made between theories that use man’s natural state or fallen condition as the foundation of the polity, and those that give eschatological significance to the actions of men, to events and political change. The diversity of methods and theories that result demonstrates the creativity and wide ranging possibility of Adamic political thought at this time

The interpretive approach to religious education : challenging Thompson's interpretation

In a recent book chapter, Matthew Thompson makes some criticisms of my work, including the interpretive approach to religious education and the research and activity of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit. Against the background of a discussion of religious education in the public sphere, my response challenges Thompson’s account, commenting on his own position in relation to dialogical approaches to religious education. The article rehearses my long held view that the ideal form of religious education in fully state funded schools of a liberal democracy should be ‘secular’ but not ‘secularist’; there should be no implication of an axiomatic secular humanist interpretation of religions

Including the religious viewpoints and experiences of Muslim students in an environment that is both plural and secular

This paper sets out the context and some main lines of argument about the education of Muslim children in England, including concern over low attainment, over segregation and violent extremism. Three approaches to inclusion of Muslims in mainstream educational settings are identified. The paper describes and assesses the identity-based approach to inclusion common to many English schools using a distinction between permissive and affirmative stances to analyse practice. It proceeds to argue for an epistemology-based approach that makes room for students’ experiential and theological perspectives on the content of their learning

Religion and religious education : comparing and contrasting pupils’ and teachers’ views in an English school

This publication builds on and develops the English findings of the qualitative study of European teenagers’ perspectives on religion and religious education (Knauth et al. 2008), part of ‘Religion in Education: A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European countries?’ (REDCo) project. It uses data gathered from 27 pupils, aged 15-16, from a school in a multicultural Northern town in England and compares those findings with data gathered from ten teachers in the humanities faculty of the same school, collected during research for the Warwick REDCo Community of Practice. Comparisons are drawn between the teachers’ and their pupils’ attitudes and values using the same structure as the European study: personal views and experiences of religion, the social dimension of religion, and religious education in school. The discussion offers an analysis of the similarities and differences in worldviews and beliefs which emerged. These include religious commitment/observance differences between the mainly Muslim-heritage pupils and their mainly non-practising Christian-heritage teachers. The research should inform the ways in which the statutory duties to promote community cohesion and equalities can be implemented in schools. It should also facilitate intercultural and interreligious understanding between teachers and the pupils from different ethnic and religious backgrounds

'Respect Study' the Treatment of Religious Difference and Otherness: An ethnographic investigation in UK schools

Understanding and appreciating the beliefs and practices of others feature prominently among the aims and purposes of Religious Education in UK schools. Drawing on ethnographic data from the ‘Does RE Work?’ project, this paper presents two conceptions if ‘in/entoleration’ a deliberate process of inculcating tolerance in pedagogy. Entoleration, akin to enculturation, encourages sympathetic and transformative encounter with others’ beliefs. Intoleration, akin to indoctrination, risks eliding both difference and encounter in the service of a pre-determined aim of nurturing uncritical tolerance. The former is categorised by pedagogies of encounter with the other as person, while the latter often focuses on externals and strangeness

Schools and their local religious contexts: building a framework of negotiations through qualitative meta-synthesis

In this article, we consider the relationships between schools and their local religious contexts and develop a new empirically-informed middle-level theory for analysing these relationships as a complex framework of negotiations. This framework is based on a meta-synthesis of qualitative data from forty-five case-studies of schools in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which were conducted by researchers at University of Warwick between 2009 and 2015 as part of three major projects. The synthesis design was in three stages. First, two main overarching descriptive nodes were identified, each with two sub-nodes: school – comprising school ethos and religious education; local context – comprising local patterns of belief and pupil religiosity. Second, these four sub-nodes were paired with each other to form six dyads of negotiation: four illustrated ‘direct contextualisation’, and two illustrated ‘indirect contextualisation’. The data were re-analysed through this six-fold framework. Examples of each dyad are set out, illustrating both straightforward and challenging circumstances. The value of this dyadic framework for negotiation is considered, in relation to research, policy and practice, especially in theorising contextualisation. Finally, we underline the value of qualitative meta-synthesis in theory generation

Schools and their local religious contexts: building a framework of negotiations through qualitative meta-synthesis

In this article, we consider the relationships between schools and their local religious contexts and develop a new empirically-informed middle-level theory for analysing these relationships as a complex framework of negotiations. This framework is based on a meta-synthesis of qualitative data from forty-five case-studies of schools in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which were conducted by researchers at University of Warwick between 2009 and 2015 as part of three major projects. The synthesis design was in three stages. First, two main overarching descriptive nodes were identified, each with two sub-nodes: school – comprising school ethos and religious education; local context – comprising local patterns of belief and pupil religiosity. Second, these four sub-nodes were paired with each other to form six dyads of negotiation: four illustrated ‘direct contextualisation’, and two illustrated ‘indirect contextualisation’. The data were re-analysed through this six-fold framework. Examples of each dyad are set out, illustrating both straightforward and challenging circumstances. The value of this dyadic framework for negotiation is considered, in relation to research, policy and practice, especially in theorising contextualisation. Finally, we underline the value of qualitative meta-synthesis in theory generation