Teaching and Learning Corner

The challenge, and joy, of working in Christian education is ensuring everything you teach is taught from a Christian worldview. Teachers are expected to ask themselves, “What is this text, content, or school activity revealing (to us) about the nature of God and the Gospel message? How does it enable me to love my neighbour more fully?”

Our recent school musical is no exception. Why would a Christian school choose to put on a production of Oliver? How does Oliver inspire us to worship God and to love our neighbour? 

Charles Dickens, who wrote the novel on which the musical Oliver is based, was a man of faith who believed, “Christianity was about imitating Jesus in the concrete realities of everyday life.” In the Dickensian age, England was experiencing the consequences of rapid industrialisation, the emergence of a new middle class and the dislocation of the working class. Many working-class people experienced dire poverty, chronic illness and a short life span. Infant mortality was high, and the number of homeless children was astronomical. Dicken’s novel is written to challenge the apathy and judgement shown by the wealthy to the poor, the hypocrisy of the religious who judged the poor for their suffering and the exploitation of the poor by the new wealthy industrialists. 

The novel is firstly about the battle for the soul of a child who represents innocence under threat from dark forces in society that seek to condemn, ostracise, corrupt, exploit and even kill him. Alongside his story is Fagin, a man who lives off the profits from fencing stolen goods and the battle for his soul. Fagin considers repenting and turning over a new leaf in his song, Reviewing the Situation. Thirdly, it is the battle for the soul of England. How will the nation and its people respond to the suffering around them – with self-righteous hypocrisy or with Godly love and compassion?

Dickens has been credited for inspiring, through his novels Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol, changes to the poor laws and working conditions of his time leading to the gradual emergence of a more compassionate approach to the poor and the reform movements which led to greater equality. 

Therefore, the novel and musical invite us to consider our response to poverty and suffering in our own age. It is unequivocal in the Gospel that our response to those who thirst, who hunger, who are naked and imprisoned is a measure of the sincerity and depth of our conversion. 

As I watched Oliver I was challenged by the battle for the soul of our students and of our nation. The values we instil in our children will affect the way our society is shaped in the future. At Christway College, we strive to produce compassionate children with hearts that long for justice for the downtrodden and relief of the poor. By this shall all men know that we are followers of Jesus and give glory to God of Love, our Father. 

Angela Landy

Head of Academic Culture