John M. Hull - Work On Religious Education

Work On Religious Education

After Cambridge and four years as Head of Religious Education in a London grammar school, Hull moved to Birmingham to train religious education teachers, first at Westhill College, then at the University of Birmingham, which awarded him a PhD in theology in 1969.

From 1971 to 1996 he was Editor of the British Journal of Religious Education, and he remained a member of its UK Editorial Board until 2009. He has served two terms as President of the National Christian Education Council. In 1978 he was the co-founder with the late Dr John H Peatling (US) of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values (ISREV), by its 2008 Session an association of over 200 religious education scholars from 36 countries, which meets in a different country every other year. He was its General Secretary from 1978 to 2010.

In 1989 Dr Hull was appointed to a personal chair as Professor of Religious Education in the University of Birmingham, the first such in the United Kingdom. In 1990 he was also appointed Dean of its Faculty of Education and Continuing Studies. In his time in Birmingham, he has written many papers and contributed over 50 chapters to books. Books on religious education which he has written or edited include:

• Sense and Nonsense about God (1974). Study guide for older secondary and college students on the philosophy of religion.
• School Worship: An Obituary (1975). Seminal discussion of the philosophy and practice of school worship; arguing that it should be replaced by an assembly devoted to spiritual and moral development of the school.
• New Directions in Religious Education (1982). Seventeen outstanding articles from the British Journal of Religious Education, selected and commented on by Journal Editor John Hull.
• Studies in Religion and Education (1984). A collection of Hull's academic articles published between 1969 and 1982.
• What Prevents Christian Adults from Learning? (1985). "When we find that Christian adults often seem to stop learning and developing in their faith, one must ask why."
• The Act Unpacked: The Meaning of the 1988 Education Reform Act for Religious Education (1989). Drew attention to the world religions approach of the legislation, whereas publicity had focussed on the Christianity aspect.
• Mishmash: Religious Education in Multi-Cultural Britain, a study in metaphor (1991). The debate on the 1988 Education Reform Act had used this metaphor of disgusting food to attack a world religions approach to religious education. This booklet analyses this rhetoric, tracing it back to an elitist view.
• God-Talk With Young Children: Notes for Parents & Teachers (1991). Thirty-three conversations with children, mostly about God; with interpretation and suggestions.
• A Gift to the Child (1991). Teachers' Source Book.*Utopian Whispers: Moral, Religious and Spiritual Values in School (1998). BJRE editorials, originally written and now selected by John Hull; covering a period of major changes in religious education in Britain.
• Glaube und Bildung (2000). Some of Hull's writings on 'Faith and Education', edited and translated into German. (Book not available in English.)

Professor Hull has lectured on religious education or the consideration of disability in many countries; and for example in the three years since becoming Professor Emeritus at the University of Birmingham in 2002, he spoke at meetings in Canada, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Taiwan, and the US, as well as at many events in England. (He now accepts fewer invitations, so that he can concentrate on his teaching and writing.)

In 1992 Professor Hull received the 'William Rainey Harper Award' of the Religious Education Association of the United States and Canada, given for outstanding contributions to the study of religion in society, especially religious education. A festschrift was commissioned to mark his 70th birthday: Education, Religion, and Society: Essays in Honour of John M. Hull (2005). Another book has been published as a tribute to "his exceptional academic achievements in the field of religious education": Religious Education as Encounter: A Tribute to John M. Hull (2009).

In 2006 the University of Cambridge awarded Professor Hull the higher doctorate of Litt.D. in respect of his published works on religious education. His work has also been recognised internationally by the award of the honorary doctorates of Hon.D.Theol. (Frankfort) and Dr.H.C. (Free University of Amsterdam).