A-level student Rebekah Veale secured first place at the Illuminated Teachings inaugural essay writing competition. Eighteen-year-old Rebekah, who is completing four A-levels at Southern Regional College, which includes Religious Studies, took on the challenging topic of “Biblical illiteracy and the failure of the Church to accept their loss of authority”.
Rebekah chose the essay topic while completing the A2 module “Themes in Selected Letters of St Paul.” In her essay Rebekah challenged conceptions relating to the decline of church attendance and put forward the proposal that the Church must adapt and signpost audiences in the intended meaning of religious text, instead of imposing rigid answers.
Rebekah is one of many students who are choosing to study Religious Studies at Southern Regional College. Religious Studies provides students with a contextual understanding of religious text and enables students to interpret different points of view while present and provide reasoned argumentative skills.
Speaking on Rebekah’s success, Emily Boyd, Lecturer of Religious Studies and Government and Politics at Southern Regional College commented:
“I am delighted with Rebekah’s success; she has explored an engaging subject in her essay. Through her studies of A-Level Religious Studies Rebekah has demonstrated the valuable skill of reasoned argument. This will serve her well in her future studies and career.
A-Level Religious Studies offers students the opportunity to develop critical thinking and writing skills, an important skillset for further studies and many careers such as, teaching, law, ethical advisor, journalism, and many more”.