The Syllabus for Term Two

In Term Two the syllabus requires us to examine expressing and experiencing religious belief and ritual. Below are some of the areas that the syllabus expects us to examine. I have highlighted the ones that we will be examining in this blog.

Social and cultural influences

· Accepted ways of being within societies and cultures (e.g. expression of emotions, dress, relating, communicating, working, worshipping, celebrating, recreating, culinary practices, attitudes and values, use of the Arts, laws, community, gender roles)
· Regional differences in religious practice and imagery (e.g. celebration of the Eucharist, celebration of Christian death, rites of passage, holy days and festivals, fasting, reconciliation, iconography, statuary, religious art, Western and Eastern Rites)
· Devotions for particular societies (e.g. Marian devotions, processions, fasting, sacred actions)
· Current events and trends (e.g. ritual response to trauma, war, fear and suffering, significant world and local events)
· Accepted ways of being within religious traditions (e.g. Buddhism in Asian and Western societies, Judaism in Israel and America, Islam in Iran and Australia, Christianity in Africa and South America)
· Variations within faith traditions (e.g. Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism, Orthodox and Liberal Judaism, Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims)

Prayers and rituals across faith traditions

· Rituals of initiation / Rites of passages
· Funeral rites
· Prayer text types and uses
· Holy days and festivals

Purpose and meaning of sacraments for the lives of believers

· Variations in liturgical and theological expressions of the sacraments
· Understandings of the sacraments across Christian denominations
· Secular influences on celebration of sacraments in the lives of contemporary believers
· Eastern and Western rites of the sacraments
· Contemporary challenges to the practice of sacraments in Australia (e.g. ordination of women, celebration of 3rd Rite of Reconciliation, married priests)

Spiritual movements within the Christian tradition

· Benedictine monasticism
· Franciscan spirituality
· Spirituality of theologies (e.g. creation, liberation, feminist)
· Asceticism
· Piety (e.g. pious practices, icons, devotional practices, Benediction, scapulars, holy cards, statues, pilgrimages)
· Eucharistic devotion
· Spirituality of service
· Pentecostal movements

Spiritual movements beyond the Christian tradition

· Zen Buddhism
· Sufism
· Hermits
· Hasidic Judaism
· Aboriginal spiritualities
· Asceticism
· Transcendental meditation
· New Age groups

The human quest for meaning and transformation

· The quest for meaning is part of the human condition (e.g. purpose and direction, identity, leading a worthwhile life, death, success, the existence / nature of God, fulfillment, meaning of suffering)
· The human capacity for transformation (e.g. reflective practices, metanoia – change of heart, inner conversion, personal development, reconciliation, search for wholeness)

Elements of spiritual traditions

· The ultimate Other
· Beliefs
· Sacred and other texts
· Stories and accounts
· Prayer and meditation
· Ritual and devotional practices
· Use of art and symbol
· Reflection
· Outreach and mission
· Community
· Significant leaders
· Quest / journey
· Way of being
· Transformation

Issues for a preferred future

· Political
· Social / Cultural
· Economic
· Ecological
· Scientific / technological
· Religious

Expressions of a future vision

· Wish list
· Dreams for a future
· Vision statement
· Utopian narratives
· Contracts
· Lists of goals
· Statements of commitments
· Strategic directions
· Futuristic representations in the arts
· Predictions
· Prophecies
· Estimations
· Pledges
· Covenants

The syllabus also has a number of learning experience that it suggests. Below are some of these experiences.

· Prepare a multi-modal presentation on regional differences in religious practice and imagery
· Observe / participate in and describe ways a contemporary ritual reflects cultural and social influences (e.g. community crisis ritual, indigenous reconciliation, national historical celebrations)
· Prepare a report on how prayer, ritual and devotional life at a particular point in history reflected social and cultural influences of the time (e.g. Corpus Christi procession in 1950’s Australia, Gregorian chant in Middle Ages, hymn, “Faith of our Fathers” in 19th Century Ireland, Latin Mass in pre-Vatican II era, reception of Eucharist in pre-Reformation Europe, devotion to relics in Middle Ages)
· Prepare a folio collection to illustrate how the arts represent changes in Marian devotion over time (e.g. painting, statues, music, literature, film)
· Create a PowerPoint presentation identifying the influences of society and culture on images of Jesus.
· Create a class multi-faith expo highlighting social and cultural influences on prayers and rituals in each faith tradition
· Complete a retrieval chart depicting social and cultural influences on the celebration of rites of passage across diverse faith traditions (e.g. initiation, marriage, death, adulthood)
· Conduct a web search exploring differences in the practice of prayer and ritual within a faith tradition (e.g. Orthodox and Liberal Judaism, Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims)
· Use film / video extracts to accompany an oral presentation on the diversity of prayer practices across faith traditions (e.g. meditation, prostration, whirling Dervishes, ecstatic practices, kneeling)
· Use a jigsaw strategy to analyse how religious dress and accoutrements in religious rituals reflect social and cultural influences (e.g. priests’ vestments, Shinto priests’ dress, prayer shawls and yarmulkes in Judaism, saffron robes in Buddhism)
· Communicate with a member of a faith tradition about the social and cultural challenges of observing prayer and ritual practices in a foreign culture (e.g. a Muslim in Australia, a Buddhist in a European country, an Hasidic Jew in America)
· Write a report about peoples’ experiences of sacraments drawn from literature and film excerpts (e.g. Angela’s Ashes, O Brother, Where art thou, The Harp in the South, Brides of Christ)
· Artistically express personal or related experiences of the reception of sacraments
· Critique diverse artistic depictions of sacramental celebrations
· Critique hymns used in sacramental celebrations
· Collaboratively research and prepare a multi-modal presentation that reflects on key questions of the human quest for meaning and transformation (e.g. Where does humanity come from? Who am I? How do I find purpose and direction? Why is there suffering in the world? What happens after death?)
· Investigate how spiritual movements have responded to questions surrounding the human quest for meaning and transformation (e.g. Buddhist response to suffering, Hindu understanding of death and rebirth, Islamic understanding of care for others)
· Design a vision statement for a preferred future considering the following design elements: past and present practices, contemporary needs, issues and contexts, authentic and relevant beliefs and practices (e.g. a class / school vision statement, a vision for a purposeful adult life, a vision for living justly)
· Design an artistic representation of a preferred future drawing on beliefs and texts about wealth, poverty and sharing from a spiritual tradition to address an economic issue (e.g. feeding the world, third world debt, economically sustainable future, consumerism, economic rationalism)
· Write a prophetic speech, informed by a particular spiritual tradition, highlighting a vision for future access to the benefits of science and technology (e.g. critique current practice and propose alternative wisdom)
· Write a utopian narrative about a world in which diverse religious traditions co-exist harmoniously to create a world of peace and toleranceAdapt an existing vision statement to create a new futuristic vision for a particular group by incorporating elements of a spiritual tradition (e.g. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, Micah 6:8, workplace vision statement)