Welcome to the third book in our new curriculum series, Big Questions, Big Answers. This book focuses on the environment. The theme of the environment and sustainability is one that many young people are passionate about. This book provides clear, substantive content on what different religious people believe about how the environment should be treated, and uses key texts from several sources of authority. The units and resources focus on Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh worldviews, and for younger children we look at creation stories from indigenous cultures. There is one of our popular double-page pictures to support learning, as well as case studies and a variety of strategies to support pupils’ learning. Our multidisciplinary or, to use Ofsted language, ‘ways of working’ unit for 9–11s reintroduces theology and introduces natural science; more specifically, environmental science and its questions and methods, with our disciplinary experts Dr Simeon Zahl and Dr Alexander Hall. In this unit, pupils study what texts from Christianity, Islam and Sikhi say about the environment, make hypotheses, conduct experiments and apply their learning to a case study around the building of a dam. We continue to expand the digital offerings for our books – do go to the website and look for the many extras. We would love to see examples of pupil work to share with others – do send us some examples. The multidisciplinary section of the book comes with a pupil booklet, and we are keen to hear from teachers about whether this is useful and how we can improve it.

Welcome to the fourth book in our curriculum series Big Questions, Big Answers. This book focuses on worship, a central activity in most religious worldviews. The theme of worship is a basis for exploration of beliefs and values. Many children will not have encountered or engaged in worship within a religious community, however they will be aware of the idea of holding something in high honour or being devoted to something. This book offers clear substantive content about the practice of worship for Christians, Jews and Muslims, and focuses on celebrations and worship in new year festivals such as Diwali and Rosh Hashanah. The units and resources focus on Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim worldviews, and we concentrate on the nonreligious celebrations at new year. For younger children we explore worship through the eyes of Grace and Imran. We were really pleased to have the support of Ellie Olmer, Rabbi Alex Chapper and the Revd Jenny Ridge to provide contemporary images of worship in a church and a synagogue. Our multidisciplinary or, touse Ofsted language, ‘ways of knowing’ unit for 8–11s reintroduces religious studies and psychology with our disciplinary experts Dr Chris Cotter and Dr Carissa Sharp. In this unit, pupils study prayer in Christianity, Islam and the Hindu Dharma, find out some data on how many people pray regularly, learn what religious traditions teach, look at some prayers from three traditions, and compare the differences between more formal, public, community prayers and the practice of personal prayer. We look through the lens of psychology at whether there are common ways of describing the nature of personal prayer across religious traditions. We continue to expand the digital offerings for our books – do go to the website and look for the many extras. We would love to see examples of pupil work to share with others – do send us some examples

This is the third in our series applying different disciplines to the content of RE. It examines theology and natural sciences, focusing on the contributions of both of those disciplines to our thinking about the natural world. The resource offers clear accounts of those two disciplines, with Investigator Files written by our experts, Dr Alexander Hall (environmental science, pp. 22–23) and Dr Simeon Zahl (theology – Resource 4.1 online). It provides case studies from four environmental charities, including secular and Sikh examples (pp. 4–7). The book includes eight perspectives on the relationship between humans and nature – voices from atheist Humanist via Buddhist and Pagan to ethical vegan (pp. 8–11 and Resource 3.3 online) The creation account in Genesis has been influential in western thought and we examine it in some detail, offering perspectives from the first to the twenty-first centuries (pp. 16–19), and exploring concepts of dominion and stewardship (pp. 14–15). Practical scenarios on rising sea levels alert students to the work of environmental science (pp. 28–31 and Resource 9.3 online). Students bring their theological learning to bear as they consider the extent that science can guide on what choices to take, once the data is in. Students use nature documentaries to analyse the potentially prophetic role of popular science and scientists (pp. 32–33) The focus on the environment is important, not least because climate change is such a pressing existential crisis, of great concern to students. This resource supports students’ learning about religious attitudes towards and responses to the environment; it offers clarity on how theological and scientific knowledge differ and relate; and it encourages students to reflect on how their own personal worldviews affect their ways of seeing and responding to the natural world.

It is always both exciting and daunting when starting to plan one of these books. It gives us an opportunity to help teachers and students examine some fascinating content, but even with extensive online support resources one publication cannot cover everything. The RE community is beginning to respond to the idea that the subject should examine worldviews, but substantial reports from Theos and the RE Council have already pointed out the complexity of the concept (see p. 3 for details). As such, we recognise our limitations. We can only introduce some ways of thinking about worldviews, but we hope that these will prove practical and engaging in the classroom, increasing students’ knowledge and awareness of their own and others’ worldviews We spend some time on examining and applying James W. Sire’s model of worldview questions (pp. 4–11). This is a good starting point, as the questions are close to the kinds of things we often address in our subject. As always, we include voices from religious and non-religious perspectives (pp. 12–13), which indicate something of the complexity and fluidity of worldviews in people’s lives. As well as starting by asking people questions, we also start at the other end: we present case studies that look at people’s actions, and ask students to discern what these reveal about these activists’ worldviews (pp. 14–15) Our multidisciplinary approach introduces sociology and its questions and methods, with our disciplinary experts, Dr Rachael Shillitoe and Dr Chris Cotter. We have set it up so you can take students through different processes, including gathering data, analysing it and drawing conclusions. Having examined it though the sociological lens, there is an opportunity to apply a religious studies lens as well. There are opportunities to reflect on the potential of these disciplines for enriching an understanding of worldviews

We begin a new series as part of the Big Questions in Classrooms programme, funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. The series is called ‘Challenging Knowledge in RE’, and the purpose is to support teachers and students in investigating how knowledge is created in different disciplines, and in helping students perceive the value of different kinds of questions, methods and explanations used to understand big questions. This new series explores some of the substantive knowledge often encountered in RE, in this case around the idea of God. It looks to provide creative, thoughtful and practical ideas to enrich students’ understanding. The new focus for the series is to increase students’ disciplinary knowledge too. As we encounter the world, we can explore it using different disciplines and methods. These disciplines then generate knowledge. The knowledge we encounter depends on what we are looking for and how we look. In this volume, we are focusing on the kinds of questions, methods and findings that are opened up by the disciplines of theology and psychology. Of course, both these disciplines are complex, containing within them many other subdisciplines, so we will only be able to do some preliminary study, exploring a limited range of questions and methods. Our intention is to outline the broad processes so that students have enough disciplinary knowledge to carry out their own (rudimentary) investigations. We introduce students to our resident experts, Dr Carissa Sharp and Dr Simeon Zahl, and invite students to become investigators themselves. In so doing, they are encouraged to evaluate the methods and answers, as well as reflect on their own position and the impact it has on their understanding and responses.

Religion – our field of study – is vast, rich, complex and contested. Here we have selected content to illustrate how we can study religion in different ways. We might see religious studies as a home discipline, which then draws on methods from many other disciplines. This contrasts with the theological approaches we often use, which tend to look for coherence and deal with orthodoxy. RS tends to look at (non)religion as a social fact in descriptive and analytic ways (see Chris Cotter’s investigator file, pp. 8–9) In this volume we analyse sociological data from the 2021 Pew Research data on religion in India, showing that the tidy boxes in which we often place religions in RE simply don’t reflect the reality of Indian religion (pp. 16–17). We apply methods of literary theory to the Ramayana, reading it from the goddess Sita’s perspective, offering a feminist viewpoint (pp. 18–19). Professor Linda Woodhead’s article (pp. 20–21) introduces her 2021 research, where mixed methods reveal the importance of values in the lives of Generation Z; she suggests that ‘values are the new religion’. We look through an anthropological lens at ‘material religion’, including the use of amulets in Islam (pp. 26–29), and astrology in Hindu ways of living (pp. 30–31). Anthropological methods help to illuminate the integration of Christian and indigenous practice in southern Africa (pp. 32–33). We use these case studies to open up wider questions about the reality of a spiritual dimension in the lives of the majority of humans, and how this plays out in the secular world of the majority of our students We also apply a critical lens to the nature of religion itself. In order to explore the relative importance of a range of features of religion, students undertake some research and compare it with data already collected (pp. 8–13). Building on this glimpse of the diversity of lived religion, students are then able to consider whether it is possible or desirable to pin religion down to a definition (pp. 14–15). Throughout, we offer opportunities for students to reflect on their own worldviews.

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified THEMES: feeling ashamed; saying sorry; being forgiven; changed character

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: revelation; commitment; experiencing God; friendship

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: faithfulness; obedience; sacrifice

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, at a cost of just GBP1 per story. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified THEMES: hope

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: dedication; self-sacrifice; commitment

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: faith; prayer; turning point; Lailat al Miraj

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: loyalty; devotion; faith; evil; Holi

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: Allah’s wisdom; creation

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: God; Muhammad; respect; ritual

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: generosity; helping those in need

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: everyone matters; everyone is of equal value and worth

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: hope; freedom; standing up for your beliefs; God acting in history

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: temptation; change; turning point

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: God; revelation; religious zeal