Part I
According to Calvin and Uyl (2016), Christianity is a community of faith believing in one God and bases its reference on the teaching and life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The members of the faith, commonly referred to as Christians, believe that Jesus is the living Christ who was prophesied in the bible. Also, it's the largest religion in the world, having approximately 2.4 million members globally ( Murphy, 2018). Christianity has always retained its doctrine concerning justification, salvation, and ordination, among others. The Gospel books of the bible, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, describe the life and teachings of Jesus. This paper discusses comprehensively Christianity, their traditions, belief, celebrations, and restrictions along with a lesson plan precisely identifying how students of this religion are incorporated in a class setting.
Christianity started in the Roman province during the 1 st century as a second temple Judaic, then later spread in the other parts of the world, including Mesopotamia and Egypt (Doherty, 2017). Later, it attracted the Gentiles resulting in the departure of Jewish customs. At AD 70, Jerusalem fell, leaving Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire. After that, the church of the East and Orthodox, due to differences in Christology and separation of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, were also witnessed. Between the 15-17 th century, Christianity had already spread in most parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. There are four branches of Christianity; Catholics representing 50 percent, Protestants representing 36.7 percent, and Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodoxy with 11.9 percent (Davie & Woodhead, 2017).
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According to the tradition of Christianity, eight celebrations are conducted annually (Murphy, 2018). Advent is the preparation of the birth, and the second coming of Jesus. During this period, an advent wreathe is utilized to help Christians focus on prayer. Also, Christmas is celebrated to signify the humble birth of Jesus. The event also involves the stories, scenes surrounding the birth. Thirdly, Epiphany is a tradition in the Christian community symbolizing the visit of the three wise men to Jesus and the news that was widely spread all over the world (Calvin & Uyl, 2016). Lent is a tradition conducted just before Easter commemorating the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, fasting, and praying (Davie & Woodhead, 2017). Also, Holy Week is a celebration of the last week of Jesus’ life. Palm Sunday commemorates his triumphal entry into Jerusalem before the crucifixion. Easter is the sixth of the festivals symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death. The used symbol is eggs, and the day is used to show new life as well as a victory from death. Also, Pentecost is celebrated to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit. The followers of Jesus use it to show God’s presence (Chalik & Rhodes, 2017). Lastly, our Saint’s Days are treated as official days, majorly by Catholics and Anglican Orthodox, celebrating those individuals who lived holy lives.
However, Christian believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he manifested as a human being and that those who follow his teachings are guaranteed eternal life. Besides, Christians believe in the trinity. According to Doherty (2017), the three trinities imply God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Besides, Christians believe in the death, descending into heaven, and the resurrection of Jesus. Also, they believe in the second coming of Jesus, the salvation of the faithful people, the judgment day, as well as communion of saints and the church's holiness.
Most restrictions practiced by Christians originate from the New Testament. Guidelines are drawn from the testament concerning the consumption of meat-like not eating food with prior knowledge that it’s offered to pagan idols, a belief advocated by earlier founders of the church like Alexandria (Murphy 2018). Traditionally, Christians thank God for the meal by reciting “The Grace” prayer. Concerning slaughtering, most Christian do it without the trinitarian formula. Besides, Christians are not allowed to eat meat with blood that is strangled since life is in blood. Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, and Methodists strictly restrict taking of alcohol. Christians generally perceive drinking alcohol as sinful. Lastly, Christians are restricted from working on the Sabbath day. The choice of the Sabbath day, which is considered the day of rest and prayer, differ according to denominations, with Seventh-day Adventists honoring Saturdays, while the others preferring Sundays (Doherty, 2017).
Every teacher should precisely consider religious diversity in the classroom if they want to meet their objectives. First, during prayer sessions in class, teachers should allow students to execute it by their denominations. During pastoral program instructions, students need to be divided as per their religion and given a guider who is familiar with their spirituality. Secondly, Christian religion prohibits working on the Sabbath day, thus demanding teachers’ consideration when assigning duties (Calvin & Uyl, 2016). Lastly, teachers need to create awareness for the students concerning religious diversity. Students should be equipped with knowledge concerning the right to religion. An example is respecting different days of prayer among other students, such as Muslims, Anglicans, and SDAs.
Part II
Lesson Plan
| LEARNING AREA (SUBJECT) | GRADE | DATE | LESSON DURATION | ROLL |
| Religious education | One | 35 minutes |
Strand (Topic): Myself
Sub strand (Subtopic): Parts of the body, functions, and care
Specific learning outcomes (objectives): By the end of the lesson the learner should be able to;
Name parts of the body
Sing a song on parts of the body
State how to care for the various parts the body
Recite the Bible memory verse as guided by the teacher
Reference material (learning resources):
Christian religious education pupil’s book
Good News Bible: James 3:6-10,1 st
Key inquiry question: Which part of your body do you find most important, and how do you care for it?
Core competencies to be developed:
Communication and collaboration
Critical thinking and problem solving
Self-efficacy
Imagination and creativity
Links to values: social cohesion and respect for one’s opinion acquired through group discussions
Suggested teaching and learning? Learning Experience:
Introduction: grouping learners based on their social cohesion and ability
Exploration/lesson development
| Teacher’s activities | Learners’ activities |
|
The teacher guides learners to sing a song on parts of the body, making choreographed dance patterns in class as planned earlier. This activity is monitored closely to identify learners with musical intelligence and bodily- kinetic intelligence; those with a quick mastery of the dance patterns, come up with the new singing rhythm of the same song, and proper coordination of the body parts are identified. The teacher guides learners explain the functions of the body parts each at a time which is preceded by reading of the following Bible scriptures: James 3:6-10, 1 ST Corintians12:12-27 and 1 st Kings 19:4-9 which shows the importance of the proper use of the body parts e.g., The mouth to bless and not to curse, the body parts working in collaboration and the need to provide the physical requirements to the body for health maintenance. In groups guide learners discuss the scripture content Lastly, learners are allowed to respond to oral questions asked by the teacher elaborating what the scriptures outlined, through this the teacher will be able to identify learners with linguistic intelligence as one of the Gardners' multiple intelligence |
Learners sing as guided by the teacher, making the basic movement patterns. They read the bible and note the points of interest, as mentioned by the teacher. Learners respond to oral questions asked by the teacher and elaborate on Bible scriptures already read. |
Reflection/self-evaluation: The teacher will self-evaluate the lesson at the end based on how best were the objectives achieved.
References
Calvin, J., & Uyl, A. (2016). Institutes of the Christian religion . Lulu.Com.
Chalik, L., Leslie, S. J., & Rhodes, M. (2017). Cultural context shapes essentialist beliefs about religion. Developmental psychology , 53 (6), 1178.
Davie, G., Heelas, P., & Woodhead, L. (Eds.). (2017). Predicting religion: Christian, secular and alternative futures . Taylor & Francis.
Doherty, C. (2017). 1 The Enlightenment Critique of the Christian Religion: the 'Scandal' of Particularity & Superstition. In Maurice Blondel on the Supernatural in Human Action (pp. 12-39). BRILL.
Murphy, N. (2018). A Philosophy of the Christian Religion . Westminster John Knox Press.
