Jesus’ parables for and by ten-year-olds: applying blending theory in in-depth analyses of pupils’ RE texts, RE textbook passages, and teacher’s handbook passages in the context of Norwegian inclusive public religious education

This article presents the results of an in-depth analysis of ten texts written by ten-year-old pupils during a religious education (RE) lesson about Jesus’ parables. The texts from the pupils’ notebooks were analysed with passages from the RE textbook and the teacher’s handbook to explore how these books influenced the pupils’ texts. The main theoretical framework guiding our analysis was conceptual blending theory, which enabled us to outline how the pupils had interrelated and integrated information from different sources during their reading, understanding, and interpretation of Jesus’ parable about the lost/retrieved sheep (Luke 15:4–7). We found substantial similarities between the pup…