RS

Pre-enrolment task for 2014 entry

Religious Studies Why do I need to complete a pre-enrolment task?

The preparation activities on the following page must be completed, during the summer holiday period, by all students taking AS Religious Studies. It provides an essential induction to some of the more important aspects of study in the first year of the course, and is to be completed and delivered during your first week of lessons, in September.

When should I hand it in?

It should be handed in during your first week of lessons, in September.

How will I be given feedback on how well I have done?

Within the first week (at most two weeks) of term. Work will be marked, annotated and written feedback given.

Task In Detail Miracles Case Studies Work Pack 1. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead: John 11:1-32 Detail of what happened: ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

Can you think of a way in which this miracle could be explained today without it being divine intervention? ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

2. Miracles of Lourdes Detail of the Roman Catholic Church’s procedures before accepting something as a miracle ……………………………………………………………………….…………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

What are the strengths of this approach taken by the RC Church? What is the key weakness? ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

3. Miracle of the Sun (Fatima) Detail of what happened: ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

Is a miracle more believable if witnessed by many people? ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

4. Teeside toddler falls off a cliff (2005) Detail of what happened: ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

How can this event be explained other than by reference to divine intervention? ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

5. Derren Brown lottery results (2009) Detail of what happened: ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

Evaluate – is this a miracle? ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

6. Benny Hinn – miracle healing of tumour disappearing Detail of what happened: ……………………………………………………………………….…… ……………………………………………………………………….…… ……………………………………………………………………….…… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

How can this event be explained other than by reference to divine intervention? ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

Miracles Research Material http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgVnjJLarwk – Miracles at Lourdes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pf-XUe_z-8 – Benny Hinn Miracle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPp5SfwsdWQ – Derren Brown Lottery

Sun Miracle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Miracle of the Sun (Portuguese: O Milagre do Sol) was an event on 13 October 1917 in which 30,000 to 100,000 people, who were gathered near Fátima, Portugal, claimed to have witnessed extraordinary solar activity.

The people had gathered because three young shepherd children had predicted that at high noon the Blessed Virgin Mary would appear in a field in an area of Fatima called Cova da Iria. According to many witnesses, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, frightening those who thought it a sign of the end of the world.

Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry, as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling".

Estimates of number present range from 30,000 to 40,000 by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século, to 100,000, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra, both of whom were present that day.

The event was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fátima, a reported apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the children who had made predictions of the event on 13 July 1917, 19 August, and 13 September.[ The children stated that the Lady had promised them that she would on 13 October reveal her identity to them and provide a miracle "so that all may believe."

According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes. The three children also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people.

De Marchi accounts The most widely cited descriptions of the events reported at Fatima are taken from the writings of John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher. De Marchi spent seven years in Fátima, from 1943 to 1950, conducting original research and interviewing the principals at undisturbed length. In The Immaculate Heart, published in 1952, De Marchi reports that, "[t]heir ranks (those present on 13 October) included believers and non-believers, pious old ladies and scoffing young men. Hundreds, from these mixed categories, have given formal testimony. Reports do vary; impressions are in minor details confused, but none to our knowledge has directly denied the visible prodigy of the sun.

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

Some of the witness statements follow below. They are taken from John De Marchi's several books on the matter. 

"Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws — the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people." ― Avelino de Almeida, writing for O Século

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"The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceedingly swift and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat." ― Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem

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"...The silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy grey light, was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds... The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands... people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they." ― Reporter for the Lisbon newspaper O Dia.

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"The sun's disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl, when suddenly a clamor was heard from all the people. The sun, whirling, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible." — Dr. Almeida Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University.

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"As if like a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched apart, and the sun at its zenith appeared in all its splendor. It began to revolve vertiginously on its axis, like the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multicolored flashes of light, producing the most astounding effect. This sublime and incomparable spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times, lasted for about ten minutes.

The immense multitude, overcome by the evidence of such a tremendous prodigy, threw themselves on their knees." ― Dr. Manuel Formigão, a professor at the seminary at Santarém, and a priest. He had attended the September visitation, and examined and questioned the children in detail several times.

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"I feel incapable of describing what I saw. I looked fixedly at the sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt my eyes. Looking like a ball of snow, revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zig-zag, menacing the earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself among the people, who were weeping and expecting the end of the world at any moment." — Rev. Joaquim Lourenço, describing his boyhood experience in Alburitel, eighteen kilometers from Fatima.

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

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"On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the predictions of the children, I was enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it from this veranda..." — Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira.

According to De Marchi, "Engineers that have studied the case reckoned that an incredible amount of energy would have been necessary to dry up those pools of water that had formed on the field in a few minutes as it was reported by witnesses."

Girl, 6, survives 150ft fall from cliffs The Guardian, Saturday 20 August 2005 00.03 BST A six-year-old girl was discharged from hospital yesterday after suffering only minor injuries in a fall of more than 45 metres (150ft) from notoriously dangerous sea cliffs.

Rescuers who arrived by inshore lifeboat to find Demi-Leigh Tweddle sitting dazed on a shingle beach at Chimney Hole near Filey, North Yorkshire, described her as a "miracle child who must be made of rubber".

She plunged from a fenced-off area of rough grass near the Blue Dolphin caravan park where she and her family from Middlesbrough were on holiday. The strip of crumbling land, which also has warnings about the danger of unstable and steep ground, is where another holidaymaker, Terri Ann Ellwood, 16, from Peterlee, County Durham, fell to her death two years ago.

Demi-Leigh was with her parents at the time of the incident and her mother Susan rang 999 while her father scrambled down a gentler stretch of cliff to try to reach the child. A helicopter from RAF Leconfield in east Yorkshire was scrambled and the girl was flown to Scarborough hospital.

Stuart Lane, one of the three crew on the Filey inshore lifeboat said: "She was holding her arm and complaining of pains in her side, but she was very lucky. She had cuts and bruises but it is incredible she wasn't hurt even more."

Mark Clark, of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "This girl is a miracle child. She must be made of rubber to have survived a fall of this height. Her parents were understandably still in shock but they must be awfully relieved."

Mike Puplett, watch manager at Humber coastguard, repeated previous warnings about taking extreme care at cliff edges on the Yorkshire coast. Many stretches are not only precipitous but constantly subject to erosion which can cause large sections to break away and crash on to the beaches below.

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk

"This accident demonstrates the need for constant vigilance when near to cliff edges," he said.

"The views in this location are magnificent but they are better viewed from a safe distance.

"The father's actions in going down the cliff were entirely understandable but we would caution against taking such risks with the potential for a second casualty. We wish this young girl a speedy recovery but it is sad that the family will remember their holiday at Filey for all the wrong reasons."

Huddersfield New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL Telephone: 01484 652341 email: info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk