Interpreting images: An investigation of the problem of literalism in language use and religious thinking

Ashton, Elizabeth

doi:10.1080/00071005.1993.9973974

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…More recently, Goswami's work (1992 and1998) has shown that very young children can understand metaphors. Similarly, Ashton (1993b) and others have suggested that much of what young children talk about ought to be understood as metaphorical thinking, illustrating their natural tendency to think creatively and imaginatively Matthews 1980Matthews , 1984Petrovich 1988). 24 The educational challenge in teaching midrash texts that make use of non-literal language is to encourage the students to make use of their imagination in order to make sense of the language -and the message -of the text.…”

Section: Unit 2: Exegetical Narrative: the Midrashic Storymentioning

confidence: 94%

“…These types of texts exemplify to the children that midrash should not necessarily be understood at face value. This aspect of the mini-course puts into practice the following suggestion about the teaching of ancient religious texts: religious education can make productive use of children's capacity for creative thought by drawing on their symbolic and metaphorical understandings for the formation of religious understandings (Ashton , 1993bRadford 1999). • The multi-layering, or complexity, of midrashic texts.…”

Section: Aims Of the Teaching Model: Teaching Some Aspects Of Midrashmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, Goldman (1964, 227) suggested that there is little in the Bible that can be understood by children. Current scholars of religious education have refuted this claim (Ashton , 1993bDaloz Parks 1991;Radford 1999). The Jewish educational tradition has included Bible and midrash study for primary school age children since ancient time (Asaf 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A model for teaching midrash in the primary school: forming understandings of rabbinic interpretation of scripture

Sigel¹

2010

British Journal of Religious Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In Jewish primary schools, religious education is centred on the study of Torah. At Sinai, according to Jewish tradition, Moses received the Torah in two parts: a written tradition (Hebrew scripture) and an oral tradition. The oral tradition contained much scriptural interpretation known, in Hebrew, as midrash. Midrash continued to be taught and transmitted by the sages throughout the periods of the two temples. At some later stage, unknown editors, in Roman Palestine, recorded these oral interpretations in literary collections that also came to be known as midrash. The interpretations contained in these collections reflect the rabbinic understanding of the Torah, its norms and its values. They are presented as glosses to scripture, sometimes illuminating -and sometimes adding valuative or theological messages to -the Biblical text; all the while seeking to uncover the deeper meanings of scripture. Midrash is thus a rich genre of ancient religious literature with texts that foster a faithful affiliation with Jewish tradition and a sense of Jewish identity. Over the past seven centuries, midrash has been included in Bible lessons (for all age groups) through its use by Rashi (Rabbi Solomon Yizhaki, c. 1040-1105), a widely respected Bible commentator. His extensive use of midrash attests to the understanding that Torah literacy requires midrash literacy. But midrash texts are ancient, subtle and complex, and are, therefore, deserving of a dedicated pedagogy. Because of the distance of time since their writing and the ancient cultural, religious and literary contexts that characterise them, the modern reader needs to learn how to hear these texts speak. Like other genres of rabbinic literature such as the Talmud, midrash requires specific literacy training. This is why I designed a model for teaching midrash as a discrete subject. This paper is an outgrowth of an international research project in religious education undertaken by this author. The aim of the research was to apply and evaluate this author's model for midrash pedagogy. The rationale for this midrash teaching model stems from the argument that if young students are helped to find meaning in midrash they will acquire a deeper understanding of the traditional view of scripture (as understood by the rabbis) and traditional Jewish values. In the study, significant improvement in midrash knowledge was found with this midrash teaching model.

show abstract

Section: Unit 2: Exegetical Narrative: the Midrashic Storymentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Aims Of the Teaching Model: Teaching Some Aspects Of Midrashmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A model for teaching midrash in the primary school: forming understandings of rabbinic interpretation of scripture

Sigel¹

2010

British Journal of Religious Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This midrash text illustrates the rabbis' use of metaphorical language. Although prima facie readings of nonliteral language might prove confusing to children at first, Ashton (1993) cites her own work as well as the work of several other authors who have suggested that much of what young children talk about ought to be understood as metaphorical thinking, illustrating their natural tendency to think creatively and imaginatively (Mathews, 1980, andPetrovich, 1988 as cited in Ashton, 1993;see Tizard, 1984, as cited in Ashton, 1993. 10 Thus, the educational challenge in teaching midrash texts that make use of nonliteral language is to encourage the students to make use of their imagination in order to make sense of the language in the text.…”

Section: Unit Three: Midrashic Use Of Metaphormentioning

confidence: 95%

“Was Isaac Sacrificed in the End?” Reading Midrash in Elementary School

Sigel¹

2009

Journal of Jewish Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Torah teacher faces a dilemma of how to teach complex, ancient, sacred texts to modern children. How can she convey the relationship between rabbinic commentary and Scripture? This article recounts the story-and the challenges-of one midrash mini-course that I taught an American class as part of a wider research project. The aim of the project was to design and evaluate a strategy for teaching midrash explicitly in the primary school. It consisted of a design experiment with four participating schools, two in Israel, one in London, and one in the New York metropolitan area.

show abstract

“…In this genre the reduction of complex abstract concepts into simplistic moral object lessons is implied. It is often overtly expressed by means of the formulation of God concepts in the thematic classification of titles assigned by the author of the children's Bible or Bible storybook to categorise individual stories such as, for example, "God is the most powerful" (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)14; Ashton, 1993. ) Identifying the target audience and target culture for children's Bibles, however, is not necessarily a straightforward exercise and may prove misleading.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

God is: children’s Bibles and Bible storybooks’ presentation of religious values

Toit

2011

Koers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biblical and religious language, which is intrinsically certitudinal and confessional, relates to the concrete, experiential relationships of the community of faith and expresses their way of seeing reality. In these utterances or statements, metaphors mediate the construction of a religious perspective on the world. (Botha, 2007:228.) 2 AbstractGod is: children's Bibles and Bible storybooks' presentation of religious values

show abstract

Interpreting images: An investigation of the problem of literalism in language use and religious thinking

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

A model for teaching midrash in the primary school: forming understandings of rabbinic interpretation of scripture

A model for teaching midrash in the primary school: forming understandings of rabbinic interpretation of scripture

“Was Isaac Sacrificed in the End?” Reading Midrash in Elementary School

God is: children’s Bibles and Bible storybooks’ presentation of religious values

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About