Religious Studies

Course summary

Why study this subject? The course offers a disciplined academic approach to the study of religion, philosophy and ethics and is equally suitable for those who have a religious commitment and those who have none. It will allow you to develop knowledge, understanding and skills by adopting an enquiring, critical and reflective approach. It will allow you to reflect on your own values, opinions and attitudes. RS students learn key transferable skills of critical questioning and analysis, free thinking and independence of mind. They develop their ability to construct cogent, written arguments. They gain a more sophisticated understanding of the history of ideas, which provides excellent contextual knowledge for other A Level subjects. Religious Studies (RS) is a subject that covers a very wide range of issues and skills. Most people do not study RS because they want to become theologians or to work in the church. Nor do you have to have any strong religious views yourself (RS involves exploring and challenging religious convictions). You will enjoy RS if you are interested in the type of issues it covers; you will be good at it if you can train yourself to think logically and accurately, to understand a range of theories and to evaluate them critically, to study primary source material carefully and to represent the ideas of others fairly, and to write clear, well-organised essays. RS is principally a subject that involves reading and essay writing, so your ability in subjects such as English and History at GCSE may indicate your likely suitability for the subject at A level. You do not need to have studied RS at GCSE. Course content Philosophy of Religion to include: • Ancient philosophical influences • Arguments about the existence of God • The nature and impact of religious experience • The challenge of religious belief of the problem of evil • The nature of the soul, mind and body • Ideas about the nature of God • Issues in religious language Religion and Ethics to include: • Normative ethical theories • The application of ethical theory to two contemporary issues of importance • Ethical language and thought • Debates surrounding the significant idea of conscience • Sexual ethics and the influence on ethical thought of developments in religious beliefs Developments in Christian Religious Thought to include: • St Augustine’s view of human nature • Death and the afterlife • Knowledge of God’s existence • Person of Jesus Christ • Christian moral principles • Christian moral action through the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer • Religious pluralism • Gender, society and theology • Secularism • Liberation Theology and Marx