Qualitative research investigates spiritual realities by inquiry into meanings, which are recorded by the researcher as observed actions or perceptions of individuals or groups. Such investigations can miss what for Christians is the reality of God’s agency, an ontology not accepted in most educational research. Using a ‘tradition of rational discourse’ based not simply on the Enlightenment paradigm but on the reality of God as understood in Jesus Christ enlarges the scope when researching God’s agency. I use chronotopic analysis to describe the ‘truth regimes’ underlying existing education research methodologies and explore how a Christian rational discourse fares within that analysis. Finding existing chronotopic analysis inadequate to recognise and respond to God’s agency, I develop and argue for a new chronotope rooted in a personalist interpretation of knowledge that allows for revelation, love and covenant in how we know. I apply this to researching in Church of England schools, with some indications of how it could become a practical tool for a more holistic research approach in Christian education.
AstleyJ (2015) Forming disciples: some educational and biblical reflections. Rural Theology13(1): 4–17.
2.
BakhtinMM (1981) The Dialogic Imagination. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
3.
BhaskarR (1975) A Realist Theory of Science. Abingdon: Routledge.
4.
BhaskarR (1993) Dialectic, the Pulse of Freedom. London: Verso.
5.
BourdieuP (1990) The Logic of Practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
6.
BrinkmannS (2014) Doing without data. Qualitative Inquiry20(6): 720–725.
7.
BrownRRenshawP (2006) Positioning students as actors and authors: a chronotopic analysis of collaborative learning activities. Mind, Culture and Activity13(3): 247–259.
8.
BuberM (1961/2002) Between Man and Man. London: Routledge.
9.
BuberM (1970) I and Thou. New York: Scribner’s.
10.
ButlerJ (2020) Prayer as a research practice: what corporate practices of prayer disclose about theological action research. Ecclesial Practices7(2): 241–257.
11.
CassonAHulbertSWoolleyM, et al. (2020) Faith in the Nexus: Church Schools and Children’s Exploration of Faith in the Home: A NICER Research Study of Twenty Church Primary Schools in England. Canterbury: Canterbury Christ Church University.
12.
ChaterM (2020) Jesus Christ, Learning Teacher: Where Theology and Pedagogy Meet. London: SCM Press.
13.
CoolingT (2018) Formation and Christian education in England. In: Stuart ButtleRShorttJ (eds) Christian Faith, Formation and Education. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 115–130.
14.
CoolingTGreenEHRevellL (2016) Christian Faith in English Church Schools: Research Conversations with Classroom Teachers. Bern: Peter Lang.
15.
FlyvbjergB (2001) Making Social Science Matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16.
FoucaultM (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Essays. New York: Pantheon Books.
17.
FreireP (1996) Letters to Cristina: Reflections on My Life and Work. New York: Routledge.
18.
GadamerHG (1968) Truth and Method. New York: Continuum.
19.
GreenEH (2014) School choice and church school education in the United Kingdom. In: EtheringtonM (ed) Foundations of Education: A Christian Vision. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, pp. 171–180.
20.
GriffithsP (2011) From curiosity to studiousness: catechizing the appetite for learning. In: SmithDISmithJKA (eds) Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, pp. 102–122.
21.
GubaEGLincolnYS (1994) Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In: DenzinNKLincolnYS (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 105–117.
22.
GulickW (2009) Who are the persons of Michael Polanyi’s personal knowledge and John Macmurray’s persons in relation?Appraisal7(3): 1–10.
23.
HabermasJ (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and the Rationalisation of Society. Boston: Beacon Press.
24.
HabermasJ (2006) Religion in the public sphere. European Journal of Philosophy14(1): 1–25.
25.
Haines LyonC (2015) Exploring community philosophy as a tool for parental engagement in a primary school. International Journal for Transformative Research2(2): 39–48.
26.
HirstP (1981) Education catechesis and the church school. British Journal of Religious Education3(1): 85–93.
27.
HullJ (2014) Towards the Prophetic Church: A Study of Christian Mission. London: Hymns A&M.
28.
HumphreysHC (2018) Towards a Personal Theology of Education: Reflections from a Head Teacher. Cambridge: Grove Books.
29.
HumphreysHC (2024) The Missional and Prophetic Life of Church of England Primary Schools in Four English Dioceses. Ed.D. Thesis. Lincoln: Bishop Grosseteste University/University of Leicester.
30.
HumphreysHC (2025) ‘It’s how God speaks to us’: the perceived voice and agency of God in Church of England primary schools. Journal of Beliefs and Values: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2024.2442200
JamesM (2023) A Fresh Look at Church School Inspection. Cambridge: Grove Books.
33.
JarmyC (2021) Subject knowledge: the ‘knowledge-rich’ agenda, Buber and the importance of the knowing subject in religious education. British Journal of Religious Education43(2): 140–149.
34.
JelfsH (2008) Is it the dance of life, miss? An exploration of educational paradigm and pedagogical practice in Church of England schools. Ph.D. thesis, Bristol: University of Bristol.
35.
KamberelisGDimitriadisG (2005) Qualitative Inquiry: Approaches to Language and Literacy Research. New York: Teachers College Press.
36.
KingC (2010) Faith schools in pluralistic Britain: debate, discussion and considerations. Journal of Contemporary Religion25(2): 281–299.
37.
LeopandoI (2017) A Pedagogy of Faith: The Theological Vision of Paolo Freire. London: Bloomsbury.
38.
LoderJE (1989) The Transforming Moment. Colorado Springs: Helmers & Howard.
39.
MacmurrayJ (1946) Freedom in Community. Joseph Payne Memorial Lectures. London: King’s College.
40.
MacmurrayJ (1991) Persons in Relation. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities.
41.
MeekEL (2011) Loving to Know: Covenant Epistemology. Eugene: Cascade Books.
42.
MorganWJGuilhermeA (2012) I and thou: the educational lessons of Martin Buber’s dialogue with the conflicts of his times. Educational Philosophy and Theory44(9): 979–996.
43.
NewbiginL (1989) The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. London: SPCK.
44.
NewbiginL (1991) Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth. London: SPCK.
45.
NewbiginL (1995) Proper Confidence. London: SPCK.
46.
PalmerP (1983) To Know as We Are Known. San Francisco: Harper.
47.
PalmerP (1998) The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
48.
PirnerML (2017) Public religious pedagogy: linking public theology, social theory and educational theory. International Journal of Public Theology11(3): 328–350.
49.
PolanyiM (1962) Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-critical Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
50.
RawlsJ (1997) The idea of public reason revisited. University of Chicago Law Review64(3): 765–807.
51.
RitellaGLigorioMBHakkarainenK (2015) Theorizing space-time relations in education: the concept of chronotope. Frontline Learning Research4(4): 48–55.
52.
ScottD (2007) Resolving the quantitative-qualitative dilemma: a critical realist approach. International Journal of Research and Method in Education30(1): 3–17.
53.
ShipwayB (2011) Critical Realist Perspectives on Education. London: Routledge.
54.
ShorIFreireP (1987) A Pedagogy for Liberation. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education.
55.
SternLJ (2016) Virtuous Educational Research: Conversations on Ethical Practice. Oxford: Peter Lang.
56.
SternLJ (2018) A Philosophy of Schooling: Care and Curiosity in Community. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
57.
SternLJ (2020) Conversation as method: get rich quick. Paper presented to the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) virtual conference, 24–25 October 2020.
58.
TaylorC (2004) Modern Social Imaginaries. Durham: Duke University Press.
59.
VolfMCroasmunM (2019) For the Life of the World: Theology that Makes a Difference. Grand Rapids. Brazos Press.
60.
WillardD (1998) The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. San Francisco: Fount/HarperCollins.
61.
WilliamsTDBengtssonJO (2020) Personalism. In: ZaltaEN (ed) The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Stanford University: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI). Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/personalism (accessed 20 February 2021).
62.
WorsleyH (2013) Introduction. In: WorsleyH (ed) Anglican Church School Education: Moving Beyond the First Two Hundred Years. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 1–12.
63.
WrightNT (1992) The New Testament and the People of God. London: SPCK.
64.
WrightA (2013) Christianity and Critical Realism: Ambiguity, Truth and Theological Literacy. London: Taylor & Francis.
65.
WrightNT (2016) God in Public: How the Bible Speaks Truth to Power Today. London: SPCK.
66.
WrightNT (2019) History and Eschatology: Jesus and the Promise of Natural Theology. London: SPCK.
67.
WrightNT (2020) Loving to know. First Things 300: 1–15.
