ABSTRACT
The research procedure and results outlined in detail in this chapter would seem to stress the limitations of children in understanding religion. The specific concepts revealed and evaluated by an investigation, particularly in terms of the biblical narratives used, are useful indicators of the levels of religious understanding possible. Meanwhile, the problem of the desire of some teachers to familiarise children so that ‘they may know and enjoy the Bible from their earliest years’ remains. There is a danger in generalising about the whole field of religious education, and especially about the contents of Agreed Syllabuses, from data limited to three biblical stories and situational experiences evoked by the three pictures of Church, Prayer and Bible. A general implication spreading beyond the biblical data examined by this test is the limits of understanding imposed by the various levels of operational thinking, evident at various stages of intellectual development.
