1. Ninian Smart - The 7 Dimensions of Religion
Ritual
Repeated actions
Material
Items + places
Social
People + roles
Experiential
Experience
‘Beat the Expert’ – before the animations on this slide, see if any table groups can name or make 7 groups or common ideas from their mindmaps – can they match Ninian’s academic brilliance? You could try this challenge as a class if you think that is more appropriate for your class. For example, hand out 3 Post-It Notes to each table to name 3 between them.
Reveal Ninian’s 7 dimensions and then what each of them means (VERY simply!)
Mythological
Stories
Ethical
Rules + Guidelines
All religions include 7 common ideas
Doctrinal
Beliefs + Meanings

2. Ninian Smart - The 7 Dimensions of Religion
Mythological
Stories
Learning Objective
To enquire into the meaning and morals of stories.
To apply this learning to Islamic stories and what Muslims can learn from their sacred stories.
All religions include 7 common ideas

3. The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Once there was a shepherd boy who had to look after a flock of sheep. One day, he felt bored and decided to play a trick on the villagers. He shouted, “Help! Wolf! Wolf!”
The villagers heard his cries and rushed out of the village to help the shepherd boy. When they reached him, they asked, “Where is the wolf?” The shepherd boy laughed loudly, “Ha, Ha, Ha! I fooled all of you.
I was only playing a trick on you.”
A few days later, the shepherd boy played this trick again.
Again he cried, “Help! Help! Wolf! Wolf!” Again, the villagers rushed up the hill to help him and again they found that boy had tricked them. They were very angry with him for being so naughty.
Then, some time later, a wolf went into the field. The wolf attacked one sheep, and then another and another. The shepherd boy ran towards the village shouting, “Help! Help! Wolf! Help! Somebody!”
The villagers heard his cries but they laughed because they thought it was another trick. The boy ran to the nearest villager and said, “A wolf is attacking the sheep. I lied before, but this time it is true!”
Finally, the villagers went to look. It was true. They could see the wolf running away and many dead sheep lying on the grass.
Read this story aloud. Present the question, what is the moral of the story? What can we learn from it? Then pose the question, is the story trying to teach us something or are we just learning something from it? Does it matter?
Source:

4. The Narrative Dimension – Stories in Islam
You are going to spend some time reading a selection of Islamic stories and deciding what the moral is behind them.
There are four stories for you to read and understand You will be moving around the room and working together.
You need to identify three things for each…
The title
The moral
Interesting features
Keyword: Moral
The central theme or message being represented by the author
Story Title:
Moral of the story:
What makes the story interesting?
Islamic Stories—the Narrative Dimension
Which story do you think is the most important and why?

5. Make your own… Mythological Stories
You are now going to create your own….
A story – this could be a story about how your religion began (historical), a story about an important person in your religion and something that happened to them (biographical), or a made-up story that teaches your religion’s followers how to live (teaching).
Your story needs to be between words long.

6. Include creative and emotive language
Include a moral—what will your readers learn?
Try to include tension or conflict – what drama unfolds?
Consider the characters—who will be a part of this story and why do they matter to your religion or the moral
Consider the point of view. Who is writing the story or from whose perspective is it framed, i.e. is it written in the first person (“I”) or the third person “he/she”?
Your story needs a good flow. How will you grab the readers attention at the beginning? How will it finish well?
Make sure the key belief and statement of your religion is used

7. Read each other’s…
You are now going to exchange your story for someone else’s. Read it through and look for the following…
2 Stars – can you find two things that are good about their story?
1 Wish – what improvement could they make if they were to rewrite it?
The Moral – what do you think the moral of their story is?