AQA • Religious Studies

Covers women in the church (Biblical criticism), gender equality, female ordination, feminist theology, Christian views on homosexuality, marriage, celibacy, and transgender issues.

Covers justification (by faith, by works, predestination), sanctity of life, Just War theory (ius ad bellum, ius in bello, weapons of mass destruction), dominion, stewardship.

Covers the authority of the Bible (conservatism, Catholicism, liberalism, neo-orthodoxy), the authority of the Church (Catholic, Protestant), the authority of Jesus (Jesus as God, Jesus as human, responses to His teachings, value as a role model).

Covers Aristotle's Virtue Ethics, eudaimonia, Nichomacheon ethics, virtues and the soul, how to perform virtues (the mean), the good life (theoria), and evaluation of Virtue Ethics as a theory.

Covers Fletcher's Situation Ethics, agapeic love, the four presuppositions, the six propositions, and evaluation of Situation Ethics as a theory.

Covers Aquinas' Natural Moral Law, the primary precepts, the secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, the doctrine of double effect, and evaluation of Natural Law as a theory.

Covers moral responsibility, determinism (scientific, psychological, theological), reductionism, libertarianism, compatibilism (Hume), reward and punishment. Includes evaluation points for all approaches - useful for essays!

Covers Ayer's verification principle (& logical positivism), Popper's falsification principle, Hick's eschatological verification, Hare's bliks, Wittgenstein's language games, Aquinas - religious language as analogical (attribution and proportionality), the Via Negativa, Tillich - religious language as symbolic. Includes evaluation/argument points for all approaches to religious language - great for essays!

Covers why religious experiences are hard to prove, scientific challenge to religious experience (Freud, temporal lobe epilepsy, neurotheology, drugs), Swineburne's principles of testimony and credulity, the influence of religious experience, the value of religious experience for faith. Includes potential evaluation/argument points for use in essays.

Covers realist and anti-realist accounts of miracles (Tillich, Holland), Hume's critiques of miracles, Wiles' critiques of miracles, comparison of Hume vs Wiles, significance of realist and anti-realist accounts of miracles for religion. Includes potential evaluation/argument points for each topic.