Notes

Outside of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there is very little evidence for the life and teachings of Jesus. There are a few references to him in the Talmud, a collection of Jewish rabbinical writings, and also in the work of Jewish and Roman historians.

But apart from these brief references, it is to the Gospels that anyone wishing to find out about Jesus has to go. Before reading the Gospels, it is important to consider why they were written. They were not intended as biographies or character studies of Jesus. Rather, in the words of John, 'But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.' The Gospel writers are not trying to answer the question 'What is Jesus like?' but what is for them, the more important question, 'Who is Jesus?'

In planning work on Jesus at Lower Key Stage 2, I have chosen to answer this latter question rather than a more historically biased question such as 'What do we know about Jesus?', which co-incidentally is the title of Unit 3C in the Q.C.A. schemes of work for R.E.

At first, teachers may feel intimidated by the content of my lesson plans which includes an exploration of Christian titles for Jesus such as Messiah, Son of God, Suffering Servant and Saviour. Yet, to avoid these titles at Key Stage 2 is to fail to engage fully with the importance of Jesus in the lives of His followers and to present pupils with a 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild'. In addition, I also believe that work on these titles is more suited to Lower Key Stage 2 pupils rather than work on the seven 'I am' sayings of Jesus, which is suggested in the Q.C.A. schemes.

Building on the work done in the previous term, I feel that it is vital to locate Jesus and Christianity within their Jewish context. Without this context, many of the Gospel narratives make little sense to a non-Jewish reader. But, more crucially, I believe that to present Jesus as a blonde haired, blue-eyed member of the Church of England and Christianity as anything other than what it purports to be, that is, the fulfilment of Judaism, is to fan the flames of anti-Semitism.

Note

The work for this year should not be split up into separate units or delivered in a different order.