Teaching Revelation at an Interfaith Assembly
Garoua's government secondary school has 320 students: about 190 Muslim, 110 Christian and 20 adherents of African traditional religion. The principal has scheduled a compulsory 40-minute assembly on 'revelation' after a fight between two students who accused each other's faith of being 'man-made'. A Muslim teacher insists revelation means the Qur'an dictated to the Prophet; a Christian teacher insists it means God's self-disclosure in Israel and Christ; an ATR elder says the ancestors and shrines disclose what the community must know. The principal asks you to plan the lesson so that no tradition is mocked, no student is asked to deny their faith, and the school does not simply say 'all religions are equally true'. You have one whiteboard, three invited speakers (one from each tradition) and no right to impose a religious verdict. Your plan must be defensible to parents who fear relativism and to an inspector who fears indoctrination.
1. Set out how you would present revelation in the three traditions, noting one key difference and one common caricature to avoid in each.
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I would present each tradition on its own terms before comparing. Christianity: revelation is God's self-disclosure, both in creation and conscience (general) and in Israel's history, Scripture and supremely Christ (special). It is mediated through events, prophets, texts and community; the Bible is the church's authoritative witness, not a single uniform book. Key difference: revelation is centred on a person and a narrative. Caricature to avoid: 'Christians simply believe an old book' or that every Christian is a literalist.
Islam: revelation is wahy, divine speech communicated to prophets, with the Qur'an as the final, verbally revealed book in Arabic through Muhammad over about 23 years. The Qur'an is recited and memorised; the Sunnah interprets it. Key difference: revelation is primarily verbal, final and text-centred. Caricature to avoid: 'Muslims worship the Qur'an' or that Islam has no rational reflection.
ATR: revelation is mediated through ancestors, spirits, divination, dreams, natural signs, elders and communal ritual. It is not usually a single written book; it is oral, lived and tied to place and lineage. Key difference: the mediatorial community and land are central. Caricature to avoid: 'ATR has no revelation' or that it is merely superstition. The lesson must show that these are different grammars of revelation, not three brands of the same product.
2. The principal asks: 'Is it indoctrination to teach that all three are revelation?' Write your reasoned reply and a 40-minute lesson sequence that avoids both relativism and privileging.
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Reply to the principal: teaching about three claims is not indoctrination if the lesson is about understanding, not compelled belief. Indoctrination happens when a teacher forbids questions, punishes dissent, hides alternatives or presents contested claims as unquestionable. The lesson should say: 'Muslims hold...; Christians hold...; ATR communities hold...' and then examine how each tradition reasons. That is not relativism. Relativism says 'all are true for you', which is itself a truth claim; the lesson can instead distinguish 'what is claimed' from 'what is true', and teach criteria without pronouncing a final verdict.
40-minute sequence: 0–5 minutes, ground rules: no mocking, no forced testimony, questions allowed. 5–17 minutes, three speakers, three minutes each, with one student question each. 17–27 minutes, small groups fill a grid: source of revelation, mediator, content, authority, and one internal disagreement. 27–37 minutes, teacher introduces analytical terms - general/special, propositional/non-propositional, oral/textual - and corrects caricatures. 37–40 minutes, exit ticket: one accurate sentence about each tradition and one question.
Safeguards: inform parents; allow an alternative room without penalty; do not ask students to rank religions; do not invite speakers to attack one another; the teacher does not announce a personal verdict. Success is measured by accurate description and fair comparison, not by conversion or by saying all views are equal.
3. How would you assess whether the lesson succeeded, without asking students to rank religions?
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Assess without ranking: use a rubric with four criteria: accurate use of technical terms; fair description of each tradition's own account; identification of one real difference and one internal diversity; and quality of a critical question. For example, a student who writes 'Christians say revelation is only a book' fails accuracy; one who writes 'Christians differ over biblical literalism' shows understanding. A student who writes 'all religions are the same' fails the difference criterion. A student who writes 'I cannot decide, but here is what would count as evidence for each' shows epistemic honesty. The exit ticket and a short source-based paragraph are enough. Do not ask 'Which is best?' or 'Which is true?' in a compulsory assembly; that converts teaching into a contest. Assess knowledge and reasoning, not religious commitment.