Dickens as a Christian writer.

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Young and it is great to be teaching you on this lesson, which is all about Dickens as a Christian writer.

Now, when we think of Charles Dickens, we often think about his views towards the poor, his views towards the workhouses, but we rarely think about the religious beliefs that kind of underpin these views.

This lesson is gonna change all that.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson has one very clear learning outcome, which is as followed.

So hopefully by the end of today's lesson, you should be able to understand how Dickens uses the parable structure to deliver his humanitarian message in "A Christmas Carol." Just like in any lesson, we have some very important words, our keywords.

So I do encourage you just to pause this video and jot these down with their definitions, particularly if these words are new to you.

We are gonna be revisiting these words again and again, so it's really, really important that you understand what they mean.

But our keywords are parable, a story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson told by Jesus Christ in the Gospels.

Virtue, a virtue is a behaviour showing high moral standards.

Humility, somebody with humility has a modest view of their own importance versus other people's.

Prophet, a person who teaches the will of God.

And to emulate, and to emulate means to copy someone or something else's style.

Okay, so I am super excited to be teaching you on today's lesson.

I love "A Christmas Carol.

I love the story.

I think it is a fantastic example of a really good story told really well.

But the main reason I love it is because of its moral message, which we are going to underpin and unpick today and we're gonna see exactly how that message is underpinned by Dickens' own Christian beliefs.

So let's get started.

So quick discussion question for me then.

I'm gonna throw it straight over to you.

So based on what you know of "A Christmas Carol," what do you think Dickens' religious beliefs might have been? Really tough question to start off with.

Really excited to see how you get on with this one.

So pause the video and have a discussion or if you're working independently, just jot down some ideas and then do push play when you would like to continue.

Okay, what a fantastic start to this lesson.

I'm hearing lots of really interesting things flying across the classroom.

So people saying kind of things around forgiveness, redemption, which are really tied up in certain values of religion and in particular, the Christian faith.

So a lot of people saying that maybe that might be Dickens' own background himself.

Okay, so yes, you've got it.

Charles Dickens was a Christian.

He was Christian, he was alive and writing in the Victorian era, which was a very religious time and Christianity was the dominant religion at that time.

He was not interested in getting involved with the larger political conflict surrounding the church at the time.

So his religion, his religious beliefs were much more of a personal thing, rather than something he completed publicly.

He felt that people should live their lives according to Christian virtues, especially in relation to social justice and the plight of the poor.

So what that comment is kind of getting at is the idea that Charles Dickens didn't believe you should just profess to be religious, just kind of profess to be a Christian.

There was an actual kind of code of things you had to do and say as a result of that, primarily helping the poor.

And I think that really comes across in his writing.

And Dickens was very familiar with the Bible, especially the New Testament.

It was reported that this was the book he read the most, and which he took as his unfailing guide to life.

And I think that is really interesting to take into account when we look at the plots and the the kind of content of many of his stories, which do focus on the plight of the poor.

So Dickens' personal beliefs were rooted in the New Testament particularly and the New Testament is full of teachings about Jesus, his teachings and his parables.

And remember the parables are stories told by Jesus in the Gospels to kind of illustrate certain points.

So Dickens was keen for his children to adopt his own enthusiasm for the New Testament and actively encouraged them to live by its teachings.

So he kind of practised what he preached or he certainly tried to.

So quick check for understanding for me then please.

So how did Dickens think people should live their lives? Is it A, by the teachings and virtues of the Old Testament? Is it B, by the virtues and values taught in the New Testament? Or is it C, by their own guiding principles that are separate from religion? Really excited to see how you get on with this one.

So do hit pause, have a go, and then push play when you would like to continue.

Okay, great job if you identified it as B, by the virtues and values taught in the New Testament.

It is the New Testament that Charles Dickens focused on.

Although the Old Testament does have moral lessons, it is the Gospels found in the New Testament that really influenced Dickens and his writing.

So well done if you are able to pick up on that.

Okay, so Dickens believed that the job of the church was to set a good example of how to live one's life.

And there are moments within "A Christmas Carol" where Dickens appears more sceptical of religion, but it was the religious institutions that Dickens found problematic and not the faith itself.

He believed that faith was important.

So potentially, this idea that Dickens is kind of quite sceptical or quite critical of certain religious institutions for not perhaps carrying out the message of God as well as he would like them to.

So Dickens believed that Christian values taught in the New Testament were a guiding set of fundamental human principles that everybody should follow.

So over to you then.

Discussion question for me.

So based on your knowledge of the text, so based on your knowledge of "A Christmas Carol," and I'm sure you have a fantastic knowledge of "A Christmas Carol" at this stage, what might these values be? So what might these values be that we see in "A Christmas Carol" that are also similar to the values of the New Testament? Really tricky question this one.

Pause the video, have a quick discussion or jot down some ideas if you're working independently.

And then do hit play when you would like to continue.

Okay, some lovely discussions taking place.

Again, I'm hearing some fantastic things flying across the classroom, in particular, this idea of charity, you know, charity and being able to help the poor would certainly be a kind of Christian value.

And also, this idea of redemption as well.

You know, if we look at the character arc of Scrooge, he starts the novella as a very kind of prickly character, not a very nice man at all.

However, by the novella's end that he is completely transformed, he has found that redemption, which again, we might say could link to certain Christian values.

Well done again if you were able to highlight anything similar in your own discussions.

So some of the Christian values promoted in the New Testament are love, faithfulness, obedience, gratitude, charity, humility.

And remember, humility means having a kind of, you know, a reasonable opinion of yourself.

You don't generally think you're better than other people.

So discussion question, but also a ranking task as well.

So I would like you to look at these values.

So take a look at all of these values from the New Testament and I would like you to rank the values from most important to least important and justify your answers.

So if you feel like faithfulness is more valuable or more important than obedience, then come up with some reasons as to why.

And if you could make any links with these to the novella as well, that would absolutely be fantastic.

So do pause that video, complete the task, and then push play when you would like to crack on.

Okay, really nice work on that.

It is tough, isn't it, when all of those things are seemingly positive and good things that we should seek to have in our lives.

It's quite difficult to rank them.

But I was super impressed by the individuals and the groups that were able to justify their answers and particularly well done if you were able to justify your answer in the context of "A Christmas Carol." It's great to be able to do that.

To apply these kind of things to your knowledge of the text is a real skill.

So well done.

Okay, Yun said, "I think that Dickens would've thought that humility was the most important value." Again, really interesting comment there from Jun, linking his understanding of humility back to the novella.

So do you agree with Yun? Yes or no and why? Why might humility be the most important value for Dickens in the New Testament? So pause the video, have a quick discussion, and then do push play when you would like to continue.

Okay, once again, lovely conversations, some fantastic conversations underpinning this lesson today, which is lovely to see.

And I think I agree with some of the groups that said, you know, humility is really important because it almost seems like Dickens is criticising or critiquing people like Scrooge, the kind of upper class gentlemen of the Victorian era who are not sharing their wealth, who have no care, no consideration for the poor whatsoever.

It's almost like his novella reads as a lecture or a lesson for them to become more humble.

So I think that is a fantastic point from Yun and well done to all of those groups who justified it in that way.

Okay, we have reached our first practise task of today's lesson.

I'm super excited to see how you get on with this one.

So this is going to be all about combining your knowledge of Dickens as a Christian, as a Christian writer with your knowledge of the text.

So your task is as follows.

So use the following words to complete the paragraph.

Use some more than once and that's critical for this task.

You may need to use some more than once.

And those words are Christianity, values, human, fair, social justice, campaigned, moral, religious, charity, guiding and faith.

And the task I would like you to complete is on the board now.

So we've got this lovely description here, which is a really good piece of contextual analysis, contextual summary of Dickens as a Christian writer in the context of "A Christmas Carol." I would love you now to write this down in your own book or your own piece of paper, making sure to complete the missing words.

Remember, the missing words are those in purple.

And you can absolutely use some more than once if you feel they are suitable for that gap.

Once again, super excited to see how you get on with this.

Really challenging task this, really challenging to apply your contextual knowledge to "A Christmas Carol" in this way.

But I wish you the very best of luck and do push play when you would like to see some feedback.

Okay, great job on that.

That is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

It is really hard to take a complex piece of analysis like that and then add those complex words to it as well.

So you've done a great job on that and I'm super proud of what you've achieved so far.

So let's see how you could have approached that task.

So Dickens was not an avid practitioner of Christianity as he disapproved of overt displays of faith, viewing them as insincere.

However, in private, Dickens poured over the teachings of the New Testament, viewing it as a useful guide on how to live his life.

The Christian values that the New Testament promoted, values like love, empathy, charity, humility, and gratitude are all values that Dickens believe were not necessarily religious values but fundamental human principles that every man should follow to make society more fair for all.

Dickens campaigned passionately for social justice, advocating for more people to let these guiding principles govern their lives in the hope that this would lead to a more fair and moral society.

So a really nice paragraph there.

Really well done for jotting down all of those missing words and that is a great piece of contextual knowledge to refer back to time and time again if you would like just to add a little bit of context to your essays, particularly about Dickens as a Christian writer and those kind of opinions that underpinned his social critique of Victorian society.

So really well done.

Okay, we've made it to learning cycle two, so really excited about this one.

So we are going to be looking specifically at how the novella can be considered a Christian parable.

So we've looked at Dickens' own kind of views as a Christian writer.

Now we're gonna look at the novella itself to see exactly how it can kind of conform to the conventions of a Christian parable.

So let's get started.

So a parable is a simple story told to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson as told by Jesus Christ in the Gospels, in the New Testament of the Bible.

And you may have come across some parables before, so kind of famous stories like the prodigal son and the good Samaritan can all be considered parables.

These are all told by Jesus Christ and can be found in the Gospels and in particular, they kind of teach a moral lesson.

So the parables taught Christian values and virtues.

So they were there as stories, absolutely, to be kind of enjoyed and read, but really, they had a bigger message, which was about kind of communicating Christian values and virtues to society.

And there are over 30 parables recorded in the Bible.

So quick discussion question for you then to kickstart us off in learning cycle two.

Can you remember any Christian virtues? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion or jot down some ideas and then push play when you'd like to proceed with the lesson.

Okay, wow, what an enthusiastic and fantastic start to this learning cycle and well done for recapping your existing knowledge.

I'm hearing lots of people saying love and humility and charity, and all these kind of wonderful virtues and in particular, people once again just drawing that link to "A Christmas Carol," which is really lovely to see.

So really well done.

So quick check for understanding for me then, please.

A parable is any story with an allegorical or didactic message and if something is didactic, it means it teaches you a lesson.

So is that true or false then, please? Hit that pause button, have a go and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Yep, you are absolutely correct.

It is false.

It is absolutely false.

So let's try and justify that then.

Let's just add a little bit of complexity and really try and justify that answer.

So how could we justify it? Is it A, parables teach people values, such as kindness, empathy and charity? Or is it B, parables are stories specifically told by Jesus in the Gospels and they teach people values such as kindness.

Really excited to see how you justify this 'cause I think this is quite tricky.

So hit that pause button again, have a go and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, absolutely, you've got it.

It is B, parables are stories specifically told by Jesus in the Gospels and they teach people values such as kindness.

So they are specifically attributed to Jesus Christ these parables and they try and teach specific virtues just like kindness.

Again, great job if you picked up on that.

Okay, in Matthew 13:10, Jesus's disciples ask him why he speaks to people in parables and Jesus replied that his parables serve two purposes: to reveal the truth to those who wanted to know it, and to conceal the truth from those who were indifferent.

So those who are predisposed to refute the teachings of others would dismiss the parables, but those who wanted to know the truth would learn it from the parables.

So really interesting reasoning there from Jesus about why he framed the parables in the way that he did.

So quick discussion question for me then, please.

So how does this idea link to "A Christmas Carol?" Who was Dickens writing for and who did he want to educate? Really interesting contextual question this one.

So pause the video, jot down some ideas or have a quick discussion and then push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, really nice to hear people drawing parallels of what Jesus said about the parables to what Dickens himself said about "A Christmas Carol." So "A Christmas Carol," as we kind of mentioned in learning cycle one, is this kind of great learning tool, this great teaching tool from Dickens.

He's trying to lecture and kind of educate people about certain problems in Victorian society and particularly, the treatment of the poor.

So that really comes across I think in the novella and we could really link that to the teachings of Jesus here.

Okay, so Izzy had the following comment.

Izzy said, "Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol mostly to target the middle-upper class Victorian readers who were turning a blind eye to the suffering of the poor.

He therefore, unlike Jesus, positions the indifferent or ignorant as his target audience for the book." What a fantastic comment from there from Izzy.

Really, really liked that one.

However, Andeep has said, "Dickens and Jesus can be linked in the sense that they are both kinds of prophets or teachers who are trying to educate large amounts of people about the way they should live their lives." So two really interesting comments there.

Somewhat complementary but also somewhat conflicting as well.

So we've also got a final comment from Lucas, which is "Dickens emulates the parable form then to make it clear to his readers that they should learn from the text." And I think that really comes across there.

I think that's a really fantastic comment from Lucas.

That parable structure really does allow for those kind of lessons to be learned.

Okay, so Izzy continues.

"Parables are often about a person whose behaviour or actions go against God.

They often utilise the figure of a father or king who represents God.

Other characters interact with this authority and grace, and teach us the impact of those responses." So really nice there to see Izzy developing her point even further.

So my question for you, and this is a really tricky one, this is gonna take a little bit of time, is to how does the information Izzy has shared about parables link to "A Christmas Carol?" So what does Izzy say and how could we link it to "A Christmas Carol?" Really really tricky one this one, but really excited to see how you get on.

So pause the video, have a quick discussion, and then push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, so lovely conversations taking place there.

Well done for everybody just linking their comments and justifying them with reference to "A Christmas Carol." That is absolutely the name of the game and exactly what we should be doing.

I was particularly impressed by those groups that kind of spoke about the idea that, you know, this target of the parable we would say is definitely the kind of upper-rich middle classes of Victorian England that just had no regard whatsoever for the plight of the poor.

And I particularly like those groups that then extended this, this kind of idea of the other characters, Izzy says, with authority and grace that teach the impact.

You know that's clearly a reference to the ghosts, isn't it? We have these three ghosts, these wonderful characters that revisit us again and again in "A Christmas Carol that kind of teach these lessons to Ebenezer Scrooge.

But really, we could broaden that point, couldn't we to say that kind of Ebenezer Scrooge really represents a kind of wider kind of Victorian segment of society that just had no regard for the plight of the poor.

So fantastic discussions and fantastic if you picked up on anything similar in your own conversations.

Okay, we have made it then.

We have made it to our final practise task of today's lesson, which is testament to all of the hard work that you are putting into your studies today.

So let's have a look at what that practise task is.

So we know that parables taught Jesus's people Christian morals and virtues and Dickens' novella also teaches Christian morals and virtues.

We've got that clear parallel between the two that we've been exploring throughout today's lesson.

So I would like you to do two things as part of this practise task.

First, I would like you to complete the grid below, explaining how Dickens teaches his readers each of these virtues in the text.

And remember, those virtues are empathy, love, charity, gratitude and humility.

And we've even got an example there of how that could work.

So if we were looking at empathy, we could say, well, you know, Fred teaches us empathy in the novella, stave four after he learns of the death of Tiny Tim and is kind to Bob.

So such a powerful part of the novella.

I love that bit.

It is emotional, it is sad, it's poignant, but I think it is really, really well done by Dickens.

We could put that into our analysis and say that is a really good example of empathy.

So I would like you to find those Christian values and I would like you to tell me how it is taught in which characters and which moments.

And then secondly, here are two students' opinions.

So we have Lucas who says, "Dickens' novella is one big parable that teaches us the importance of social responsibility." And we have and Andeep's comment, which is "Dickens' novella is actually a series of smaller parables.

Each stave in itself is a parable, within which Scrooge learns different Christian values." So really, really insightful comments there from those two Oak pupils.

So my second part of the practise task is as follows, who do you most agree with and why? So tell me who you agree with, but most importantly, why? Try and support your argument with kind of comments and examples from the text.

That'd be absolutely fantastic if you did.

So this is a really challenging task, but I have total faith in you.

You can absolutely do this.

So pause the video and complete this in a class or if you're working independently, just pause the video and jot down your ideas and then push play when you would like to see some feedback.

Okay, wow, I told you that was not going to be an easy one, but I was not disappointed by your effort and your hard work with this.

So you might have said the following things as part of your answer.

So if we look at those Christian values, we could say love.

Well, in terms of love, how is it taught? Which characters and moments? We could say that Scrooge learns to love by observing Belle with her family in stave two and from the Cratchits' love for one another.

In terms of charity, well, we could say Scrooge learns to be charitable from Fezziwig in stave two and the Ghost of Christmas Present, showing him Ignorance and Want in stave three.

For gratitude, we could say Scrooge learns to be grateful for his and others' human lives in staves three and four through the character of Tiny Tim.

And finally, for humility, a really important one, we could say through the Ghost of Christmas Present Rebuking Scrooge in stave three, he learns humility, he learns that we are all equal and deserving of life.

Well done if he picked up on anything similar to that in your own pieces of writing.

Okay, and then we could also say for the two student comments, we could say, well, both students' opinions are valid because Lucas, "Dickens' novella is one big parable.

Through Scrooge's transformation and redemption, we learn the transformative power of social responsibility.

Arguably, the concept of social responsibility encompasses all the other Christian virtues like empathy, charity, and kindness." And for Andeep, "Dickens' novella is actually a series of smaller parables." Again, we could say, "In each stave, Scrooge learns a different Christian virtue.

The novella is made up of tiny moments that function as allegorical lessons.

For example, the interaction between Bob and Fred in stave four after the death of Tiny Tim can be considered a parable in itself because it teaches us empathy." And great job if you picked up any similar kind of ideas in your own writing.

Okay, wow, what a fantastic lesson.

I have really enjoyed teaching you.

I hope you have really enjoyed this lesson.

Let's recap all the fantastic things that we have learned today.

Dickens felt that people should live their lives according to Christian virtues, especially in relation to social justice and the plight of the poor.

Dickens was very familiar with the Bible.

He regarded it as his unfailing guide to life.

A parable is a simple story told to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson as told by Jesus Christ in the Gospels.

Arguably, Dickens emulated the parable structure to teach his readers the importance of adhering to Christian virtues and values, like charity, humility, love, and gratitude.

Dickens' message is perhaps not strictly religious or theological, but focuses on living out Christian morals to better society.

And finally, "A Christmas Carol" can arguably be viewed as one large parable or several smaller parables.

Once again, it's been fantastic teaching you today.

I hope you have learnt a lot and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this sequence.

Thank you very much and goodbye.