ABSTRACT
The methods of experiential religious education (RE) are designed to encourage pupils' reflection on their own interior life as a means to understanding better the nature of religion. The publication of the teachers' handbook New Methods in Religious Education: An Experiential Approach, advocating an experiential approach, had a considerable effect nationally on teaching and learning in the subject. The rationale and strategies of the handbook are examined here, and the success of the approach in engaging and motivating pupils is related to its methods and the use of symbol, story and structured silence. The symbols, stories and silence which give meaning and extend understanding, but only through an act of interpretation, and interpretation are always personal. Symbols, the philosopher Paul Ricoeur reminds us in a nutshell, give rise to thought. Rituals are woven from symbol, story and silence.
