USE OF RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN TEACHING LITERATURE AT HIGH SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES IN BULGARIA

This paper addresses the importance of the thematic criticism and recovery of the place of the religious motifs in the literary analysis. The objective of the presented paper is, first, to identify some key aspects in the development of motif theory based on the achievements of well-known researchers in the field of thematology. Furthermore, the paper addresses the issue of the partial disregard of Biblical motifs in Bulgarian educational materials after 1989 as a result of communist heritage. The research question concerns the effect of introducing the Biblical imagery and motifs on the learners’ literary interpretive competences. It also tries to point out possible strategies for improving the reception of such motifs and offers an innovative way of introducing such textual elements. Since the motifs are not explicitly formulated in the original authors work, every lecturer must be able to identify them and to determine their place in the structure of that work. The paper argues that teaching should focus only on the study of the original Biblical texts but on pointing to the way certain Biblical elements function and on drawing the learners’ attention to the fact that their meaning can change depending on the context. The paper emphasizes the need for including religious motifs in the textbooks and instruction materials for learning and teaching literature, as well as the importance of Biblical knowledge for cultural growth and shaping aesthetic taste.