Faculty of Divinity launch Cambridge in your Classroom

This fantastic new initiative from the Faculty of Divinity and the Faculty of Education Religious Studies PGCE course will help secondary school students across the country to contemplate those big questions like ‘What can different religions share?’ and ‘Can we prove God’s existence?’.  There’s also a selection of short videos available for teachers to use in class, along with some additional resources and extension questions to get students really thinking.

Dr Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft was the first expert to take part in this new initiative, drafting her script and recording her video contribution during the first national lockdown in May 2020 (while all of us were starting to get used to teaching and working remotely).  She dives straight in with one of the biggest questions of all, ‘Who is God?’.  Her video focusses on a Christian philosophical and theological perspective, and draws on the writings of the medieval saint and mystic, Julian of Norwich – regarded as the first published female author in the English language.

Ruth’s contribution to this accessible educational resource builds on the collaborative work she has already done with Dr Kathryn Wright, of the Culham St Gabriel’s Foundation, to offer professional learning opportunities for schoolteachers of RE and English.  In 2019 Kathryn and Ruth offered a two-day professional development programme called ‘Theologies of Reading: New Perspectives on Pupil Engagement with Texts’.  This programme brought teachers to the Faculty of Divinity in Cambridge to learn about a variety of methods via which readers engage and interact with texts, including textual commentary, rhetoric, hermeneutics, and translation.

This latest initiative aims to equip school students with opportunities for pursuing their academic interest in religion at an early stage.

You can watch Ruth’s video below, and explore the new Cambridge in Your Classroom hub online.