Noah, a sprightly 600-year-old on the inevitable classroom mural of the ark and a golden oldie of infant religious education, appears in lots of agreed syllabuses. It’s a cheerful story, with happy animals hopping around. But this Noah has been heavily censored, to the point of not being recognisable as the Noah of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 6-10). He has even been moulded to fit 21st-century school themes such as colour (the rainbow), conservation (saving animals) or maths (work on pairs).

Nor is the classroom Noah the same as prophet Nuh (Noah), whose name is given to the 71st chapter of the Qur’an, Sura Nuh. But infants can understand that Noah is an important person in two religions, Judaism and Islam.

This article provides background for infant teachers about the real Noah narratives, with some suggestions about using them in RE.

The ancient Near East had various flood stories in circulation, and they attracted the same fascination that followed the Titanic disaster in the 20th century. Genesis itself seems to merge two narratives. In one, the animals enter the ark two by two; in the other, seven pairs of clean (Kosher) animals enter to one pair of unclean (compare Genesis 7.2, 8 and 9).

So what is distinctive about the Hebrew Bible is not that it has a flood narrative, but how it uses what was already an ancient narrative with a fixed plot. In earlier flood stories, humankind was erased by the gods for no reason. In the Hebrew Bible, the earth was corrupt and filled with violence (what’s new?), and it grieved God to have created humankind. Here, the cause of the disaster is moral. Although God appears to be unforgiving when the narrative is retold now, in its contemporary context the God of Genesis expected a moral response from humankind and gave humankind a chance.

The Hebrew Bible “cleans up” the morally dodgy tradition of flood narratives, in which human beings are mere playthings to be eliminated at the whim of the gods. The Bible confers moral responsibility on to humankind, which has plunged the Earth into chaos, and the Earth reverts to the physical chaos of creation (Genesis 1.1) ready for re-creation. God promises never to destroy humankind again (Genesis 8.22). He is presented as a God you can safely enter into agreement with - which is what the covenant with Noah is all about. A covenant is a solemn agreement. In the Hebrew narrative, the rainbow is given as a sign of this solemn promise, and the alternative endings are eliminated. There will be no more floods.

In Islam, the Qur’an is held to be direct revelation from Allah. Noah (Nuh) is a prophet. Noah’s role is as a “warner” (S11.25, 71.2). He repeatedly warns people to worship, respect and obey Allah, but the people put their fingers in their ears and even cover their bodies with their clothing so that prophet Noah might not see them. They “give themselves up to arrogance” (S.71.7). The Qur’an implies that the country was suffering from drought before the Flood (S.71.11). Noah has an unnamed son who declines to enter the ark and takes refuge on a mountain, but he is drowned.

There are other differences between the Hebrew and Islamic narratives. For instance, in the Qur’an, the ark lands on Mount Judi, not Mount Ararat, and prophet Noah does not get drunk. But both narratives agree that humankind was only “lost” through repeatedly ignoring the Maker’s instructions.

This is strong stuff for infants and it’s easy to see how truncated versions have triumphed. Cotton-wool sheep dancing into the ark are easier to live with than mass destruction, and the view of God that this implies. But infants know about mass destruction. They had their own questions about September 11, 2001.

So what should we teach infant classes? Whether the teacher is religious or not, a fair presentation of the accounts requires children to know - in suitable language - that “in the narrative” God wanted the people to be rescued by living God’s way: peaceably, honestly, treating each other fairly. People had a real choice. A key-word list could include: Hebrew Bible, Qur’an, warning, God, Allah, rainbow, promise.

A picture or mural is still a good idea. Off floats Noah with Mrs Noah, along with their family, in the ark. In Hebrew, “ark” means box, which would not have looked like story-book arks - when the dove is sent out, perhaps the lid of the box was lifted. What’s often missing from the traditional classroom presentation of Noah is not good artwork, but good theology. Infants can theologise - talk about these issues - in their own way and at their own level. Good RE never stops after “tell a story, draw a picture”. After telling the narratives, we need to emphasise in discussion that they are about God’s protection for those who choose what is right, spiritually and morally.

We can discuss warnings with children. What is their purpose? Are people nasty to each other these days? Or nice? Or both? Are we putting the planet at risk? Bringing God into the discussion like this is not religious indoctrination - it’s simply dealing fairly with narratives in which God is the central figure. It gives children choice. Editing God out is unfair to the narratives and eliminates pupils’ choice about their own belief in God.

Does the Noah narrative make God look cruel or spooky? Only if it’s told in a way that makes it seem that humankind was never given a chance to do right, and only if it omits the rainbow part of the Hebrew Bible narrative, with its promise of no more floods. Or they could be told that the story was fixed and couldn’t change, any more than the Titanic story could end happily with the ship being raised and everybody rescued.

Could it happen again, miss? Well, humankind remains capable of destroying itself. Whether God wants or intends that is quite another matter. Infants can see that - but can we?

Terence Copley is Professor of RE at Exeter University

IDEAS FOR TEACHING NOAH

* For older children, introduce the topic via global warming - have they heard of this? It’s partly about floods. Many children will have experienced floods themselves. With younger children, discuss recent floods and rising sea levels. Video clips are handy.

* Explain that there’s a really old story which matters a lot to two religions (display copies of the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an) about floods and the seas rising.

* Tell the narratives - remember to read them yourself first as they don’t always say what we expect them to - adapting the story to the age of the children (Class R can’t take detailed narrative difference but can take God).

* Discuss the narratives, especially bringing out points raised in this article about warnings and promises. If bad things happen to us, is it fair if we’ve had a warning? Why did God want people to be peace-loving and honest? Why did the rainbow remind people about God? What good things do we have that remind us about the giver? Has someone ever made us a promise? Did they keep it? Would Jews and Muslims expect God to keep promises? Why?

* What is a promise? Discuss keeping and breaking them. The story says that God will always keep a promise. A promises sheet can list those the children have made and those they have been given. A warnings sheet can include not running in the wrong places, not eating the wrong things, not going with the wrong people. What can happen if we ignore warnings?

* If a mural is made, it should contain the rainbow labelled as a sign of God’s promise in the story, no more floods over the whole world.