ABSTRACT
The Bible has always had an honoured place in religious education in a Christian environment or culture. The Bible was the text book of religious education and the aim of religious education lessons was to instill in children a knowledge of the Bible. This central position of the Bible in religious education has been strongly challenged from two directions: firstly from the work done by Goldman and others investigating the development of children’s religious concepts and secondly from the general movement away from a confessionalist approach in the teaching of religious education. A good image for the use of the Bible with young children is that of a quarry. The important point about the use of Bible stories with young children is that the teachers should ask themselves whether the story is helpful to the children in the long term development of their religious understanding or whether it will set up unhelpful attitudes or images.
