What does the Resurrection of Jesus mean for Christians today?

YEAR 8: AUTUMN 2

About the unit

This unit looks at the ways in which Christians today find meanings, hopes and challenges in the New Testament Gospel accounts and stories of Jesus, particularly those associated with Easter and the Resurrection. The unit encourages pupils to examine and reflect on other sources of human meaning, challenge and hope in the light of their study of elements of the Christian tradition, and so facilitates learning from religion.

This unit structure could be applied to studies of other stories and festivals from different religious traditions, focusing on contemporary celebrations and their meaning and importance to believers/adherents.

This unit is expected to take approximately 7 hours, plus homework/private study.

Where the unit fits in

Building on earlier study of the festival of Easter and the story of Jesus in the gospels, the unit focuses on the contemporary meanings of belief in Jesus for Christians.

The unit prepares pupils for GCSE RE/RS by broadening their understanding of celebration and sacred text and helping them to reflect on meaning in the Christian tradition.

Expectations

At the end of this unit

most pupils will: compare and contrast some of the stories, beliefs and teachings associated with Easter and show that they understand some of the ways the Easter stories offer meaning for the lives of Christians today; respond in writing to questions about life after death, and to some Christian answers to these questions, and explain some Christian perspectives, eg on the purpose of Jesus’ life and death; compare and contrast some responses to the biblical Resurrection stories; identify other people’s beliefs and express their own views, explaining their reasons; express their own values and commitments, and relate their insight to their study of Christianity; explain why they agree or disagree with other views about life after death

some pupils will not have made so much progress and will: show their knowledge and understanding of Easter and Christian beliefs; identify and consider some basic questions about human experience posed in the Easter stories and celebrations

some pupils will have progressed further and will: evaluate the Christian belief that Jesus is alive; explain some Easter celebrations; begin to explain the development of Christian practice and ways of life in relation to their historical and cultural contexts; express their understanding of Christian perspectives on hope

Prior learning

It is helpful if pupils have:

• been taught about the life of Jesus as a starting point for the Christian religion
• been taught about the ways festivals are celebrated, including examples such as Christmas, or festivals from other religious traditions
• learnt to interpret celebrations in the light of traditional stories
• had an opportunity to develop skills of empathy, interpretation and reflection

Language for learning

Through the activities in this unit pupils will be able to understand, use and spell correctly words relating to:

• Christian belief and celebration, eg resurrection, ascension, miracle, believer, sceptic, Easter, life after death

Speaking and listening – through the activities pupils could:

• describe and evaulate how the work was undertaken and what led to the conclusions

Reading – through the activities pupils could:

• distinguish facts from hypotheses/theories/opinions and how far information is complete and helpful

Writing – through the activities pupils could:

• group sentences into paragraphs that are clearly focused and well developed

Resources

As well as a range of textbooks and published resources, this unit will be enhanced by:

• accounts of the views of present-day believers
• biblical accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus
• modern accounts of the celebration of Easter in a variety of Christian communities
• source material from people questioning or disputing the accounts given by Christian believers
• resources from a variety of media – visual, musical, video and poetic – which exemplify a range of responses to religious hopes for life after death
• source material from Christian people reflecting on the idea that ‘Jesus is alive’ and exploring the meaning of this conviction

Out of school learning

Pupils could:

• visit a church or Christian community for an interview or to discuss what the Resurrection means
• do some wider reading on Easter customs through history and from around the world
• use the internet and e-mail, eg one of the ‘Interact’ options in www.re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk, to talk with young people around the world about their beliefs about the physical resurrection of Jesus
  

Future learning

Pupils could go on to:

• look in greater depth at the similarities and differences between gospel accounts of the Easter story analysing what these accounts tell us about the authors and their beliefs
• talk to a range of Christians from different denominations about what the Resurrection means to them
• research in greater detail Easter symbolism and celebrations from around the world
• explore Christian theology on life and death
• speak to a Christian worker from a hospice about beliefs on life and death