Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Seven pages
RELIGION + ETHICS
Normative Ethical Theories
NATURAL LAW
Roman Catholic approach
Intrinsic values
Bentham
“Nonsense on stilts”
Cicero
“One eternal law"
ARISTOTLE
‘Eudaimonia’
Afterlife
THOMAS AQUINAS
‘Beatific vision’
Human purpose
Four Tiers of Law:
Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
HUMAN LAW
Precepts
‘Rule of synderesis’
Five primary precepts
‘Lex’ & ‘ius’
Real good
Apparent good
‘Principle of double effect’
Four conditions required in principle
Strengths & weaknesses
Just War theory
Seven virtues
Deontological secondary precepts
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Objective
Relativism
Rational
Conflicting rules
JOHN FINNIS
Seven basic goods
UTILITARIANISM
JEREMY BENTHAM
Hedonism
“Two sovereign masters”
Pleasure is sole good, pain sole evil
Principle of utility
Hedonic calculus
Fecundity
Purity
Act utilitarianism
Strengths & weaknesses
JOHN STUART MILL
Higher and lower pleasures
Rule utilitarianism
PETER SINGER
Preference utilitarianism
SITUATION ETHICS
WILLIAM TEMPLE
Four types on love in the Bible
EROS
STORGE
PHILIA =
AGAPE
Jesus at Last Supper
More loving outcome
Jesus’ actions
JOSEPH FLETCHER
Bioethics
God’s rules should not always be followed
'Law of love’
‘Himself Might his Quietus Make’
‘Special Bombing Mission No. 13’
‘Christian Cloak and Dagger’
Loving neighbour = loving God
Ten Commandments
Greatest Commandment
RUDOLF BULTMANN
'Love thy neighbour’
Three ways of making moral decisions:
Legalistic ethics
Antinomian ethics
Situation ethics
Six Fundamental Principles
Ruling norm of Christian decision
Only the end justifies the means
Four Working Principles
Pragmatism
Relativism
Positivism
Personalism
Conscience as a verb
RELIGIOUS vs NON-RELIGIOUS
AB William Temple
Pius XII condemned SE as sacrilegious
Jesus’ agape inspired SE
STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES
Subjectivity
Too individualistic
Consistent with the gospel
Disregards divine command theory
Universal appeal
Religious vs secular
Altruism
Truly selfless acts
“Situationism is a method”
Reality
Powerpoint, worksheet and resource sheets beginning with some strange facts about the climate. Activity finding out how climate data is collected and each method's limitations. A section about climate change denial and the reasons for ignoring the scientific findings. Differentiated questions:
1-3: Choose two of the stakeholders and describe why they might say climate change is not a problem
4-6: Explain one economic reason and one social reason why some people might say climate change is not a problem
7-9: Explain the political and psychological factors which might lead to climate change denial
Links to videos which further understanding .
Powerpoint and worksheets about the causes, effects and management of the 2011 Brisbane Flood resulting from a La Nina event. Differentiated questions. Links to videos included.
Powerpoint and activities outlining how deforestation and mining provide energy but also damage the environment
Blooms and 9-1 differentiated questions/activities
eg Grades 1-2 (Knowledge): (a) Use the data to complete the two divided bar graphs (causes of tropical deforestation & global energy consumption). (b) Fill in the blanks on the separate sheet to analyse your completed divided bar graphs
Grades 8-9 (Evaluation): (a) Read about firewood, mining, fracking and biofuels (highlight the main environmental effects as you go). (b) Compare and evaluate the effects of those four human activities. (Write three paragraphs for 8 marks)
Completing and analysing divided graphs
Find out why humanity’s growing demand for energy supplies can lead to deforestation
Find out how human activities involved in the energy industry can cause serious environmental damage
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Six pages
DCT – CHALLENGES
THE CHALLENGE OF SECULARISM
Secularism
Secularisation
DAVID FORD
JOSE CASANOVA
God is an illusion
SIGMUND FREUD
Humans personify ‘purpose’
Link to Plato’s forms
Coping mechanism
RICHARD DAWKINS:
Religion narrows perception, science widens it
JOHN POLKINGHORNE
Matthew 5
Objections to secularism
JO MARCHANT
Physiological benefits
“Feeling part of something bigger"
"Knowledge of our own mortality”
CHARLES TAYLOR
'Subtraction stories’
Post-Enlightenment attitude
TERRY EAGLETON
Marx
“Secularism is largely doomed”
Secular capitalism
Events of 9/11
Positivist dream of world without religion
Christianity should play no part in public life
Secular humanism
AMSTERDAM DECLARATION
Seven aims of modern humanism
Programmatic secularism
Procedural secularism
“Diversity gone mad”
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST FAITH SCHOOLS
Radicalisation
House of Lords
Dominionism
Reconstructionism
SECULARISATION PROS AND CONS
Social cohesion
Corrupt theocracy
Disenchantment
Religious motives replaced by rational motives
MAX WEBER
Key issues
LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND MARX
Marx’s teaching on alienation + exploitation
Alienation
Dehumanisation
"Fundamental evil of capitalist society”
Exploitation
Means to an end
Historical materialism =
Praxis
Proletariat must revolt against bourgeoisie
False consciousness
‘Joined-up’ thinking
Working towards common good
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Five pages
DCT – FOUNDATIONS
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S EXISTENCE
NATURAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S EXISTENCE
REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S EXISTENCE
ARE NATURAL AND REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE SAME?
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST
**JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS THE SON OF GOD
**Jesus’ divinity expressed in his knowledge of God
**
Jesus’ divinity expressed in his miracles
**Jesus’ divinity expressed in his resurrection
**
JESUS’ AUTHORITY A TEACHER OF WISDOM
**Jesus’ moral teaching on repentance + forgiveness
**
Jesus’ moral teaching on inner purity + moral motivation
**How are Jesus’ teachings useful to an atheist?
**
JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS A LIBERATOR
Jesus’ role expressed in his challenge to political authority
**
Jesus’ role expressed in his challenge to religious authority
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Five pages
DCT – DEVELOPMENT
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM + THEOLOGY
EXCLUSIVISM
INCLUSIVISM
PLURALISM
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM + SOCIETY
DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MULTI-FAITH SOCIETIES
INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
CHRISTIAN RESPONSES TO INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
Official Church responses
Should Christians convert those of other faiths?
Should Christians have mission to those of no faith?
SCRIPTURAL REASONING MOVEMENT
RELATIVISING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Five pages
DCT – LIVING
CHRISTIAN MORAL PRINCIPLES
BIBLE = ONLY AUTHORITY FOR CHRISTIAN MORALS
Theonomous Christian ethics
Jesus criticised Pharisees for following law too literally
Sola scriptura
2 Timothy
theopneustos
2 Peter
Issues with theonomous ethics
TRANSLATION
Exodus
WHICH BIBLE
Martin Luther
apocrypha
CONTRADICTIONS (OT vs NT)
CHERRY PICKING
Leviticus
Bibliolatry
INTERPRETATION
BIBLE, CHURCH + REASON
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN MORALS
Heteronomous
Roman Catholic attitudes
Order of decision-making authority
Sacred Tradition
Magisterium
VATICAN II COUNCIL 1975
Papal infallibility
ex cathedra
Pius IX
Human reason (Natural Law):
JOHN PAUL II
Issues with accepting Church teachings
Jesus
Pharisees
ROSEMARY RADFORD REUTHER
Liberation theology
Protestant attitudes to Church teachings
Order of decision-making
Tradition
Archbishop of Canterbury
Reformation:
STANLEY HAUERWAS
AGAPE
Autonomous Christian ethics
1 Corinthians
Mark
HANS KÜNG
BENEDICT XVI
person of goodwill
'global ethic’
PAUL TILLICH
CHURCH HAS AUTHORITY OVER INDIVIDUALS
Subjectivity
Collective wisdom
God’s word
Agapeic action
CHRISTIAN ETHICS: PERSONAL vs COMMUNAL
Human freewill
Ability to reason
Beliefs of majority
Utilitarianism
God’s judgement of individuals
Community **
CHRISTIAN MORAL ACTION
BONHOEFFER
Assassination attempt against Hitler
DUTY TO GOD + THE STATE
Obedience, leadership + doing God’s will
Cost of Discipleship
Romans
God-given authority
God’s will
DAWKINS
**CHRISTIANS’ KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL **
Conscience
AQUINAS
Humanity corrupted by Fall
Decisions checked by community
Freewill
Civil disobedience
Teachings of Christ
‘Act and Being’
Church or state
Mark
Romans
Exodus
Daniel
MLK + Rosa Parks
Suffragettes
DUTY TO GOD OR STATE?
Choice should be obvious
Jesus
“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s”
Bonhoeffer
Passivity and evil
Romans
Leadership on Earth
Fundamental Christian principles
Christians protesting abortions
Bonhoeffer’s extreme circumstances
Hitler as ‘anti-Christ’
MEIN KAMPF
Anti-Semitism
CHURCH AS COMMUNITY + SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
Confessing Church
Visible Church community
Proverbs
Sermon on Mount
SALT + LIGHT
‘Religionless Christianity’
Focus on Christ
Finkenwalde
Personal discipline
Look outwards, not inwards
Foundation of prayer
Centrality of study + discussion
Brotherhood
‘Cheap grace’ vs 'costly grace’
Struggling as Christ did
Mark
"The badge of true discipleship”
Jesus “the man for others”
BONHOEFFER’S EMPHASIS ON SUFFERING
Contemporary relevance
Bonhoeffer’s extreme experiences
Effects of globalisation
Jesus as central starting point
Revision for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Five pages
DCT – LIVING
CHRISTIAN MORAL PRINCIPLES
BIBLE = ONLY AUTHORITY FOR CHRISTIAN MORALS
Theonomous Christian ethics
Sola scriptura
Issues with theonomous ethics
BIBLE, CHURCH + REASON = SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN MORALS
Heteronomous Christian ethics
Roman Catholic attitudes to Church teachings
Protestant attitudes to Church teachings
AGAPE = ONLY CHRISTIAN ETHICAL PRINCIPLE
Autonomous Christian ethics
CHURCH AUTHORITY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL
CHRISTIAN ETHICS: PERSONAL OR COMMUNAL?
CHRISTIAN MORAL ACTION
BONHOEFFER
DUTY TO GOD OR THE STATE?
Bonhoeffer’s teaching on obedience, leadership + doing God’s will
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL
Civil disobedience
CHURCH AS COMMUNITY + SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
Bonhoeffer’s role in Confessing Church
Bonhoeffer’s role at Finkenwalde
COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
God’s grace, suffering + solidarity
BONHOEFFER’S EMPHASIS ON SUFFERING
BONHOEFFER’S RELEVANCE TODAY
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Seven pages
DCT – SOCIETY
GENDER + SOCIETY
Key terms:
Feminism
Gender biology
Gender identification
Gender expression
Socialisation
Patriarchal society
Gender dysphoria
Misogyny
EFFECTS OF CHANGING VIEWS ON GENDER + GENDER ROLES IN CHRISTIANITY
Roles of men + women in family and society:
Hermeneutics
Genesis 1
Both genders reflect nature of God
Genesis 2: “no suitable helper”
Implied inferiority
‘Helper’ depends on translation
Genesis 3: Eve tempted by serpent
Women weaker will than men
Men shouldn’t let women take lead in decision-making
Ephesians 5: “Wives, submit yourselves"
Husbands must love their wives like their own bodies
Paul
Cultural norms of 1st century Rome
Patriarchal society
Comparisons to Church + Christ’s relationship
1 Peter 3: ‘weaker sex’
1 Timothy 2: women must learn in silence + never assume authority over man
‘Head’ in Greek also translates to source of life
‘MULIERIS DIGNITATEM’
JOHN PAUL II
Response to rise of feminism
Virgin Mary recognised as theotokos
Gender roles
Mariage is mutual relationship of equals
Genesis 2
Women shouldn’t take on male roles
“Feminine originality”
Motherhood + parenthood
“The woman’s part”
Cultural shift in attitudes to women
Rejects feminist criticisms (eg de Beauvir + Frieden)
motherhood demeaning to women
MARY THE MODEL OF MOTHERHOOD
Special value God place on motherhood
MYSTERY OF GENERATION
Mystery inherent in Trinity
‘sincere gift of self’
Man +woman ‘one flesh’
MUTUALITY
“Special debt to the woman”
ACTIVE MOTHERHOOD
Different types of family:
"Intact families
Blended family relationships
CATECHISM OF CATHOLIC CHURCH: “does not tolerate ‘trial marriages’”
Christian responses to contemporary secular views about roles of men + women in family and society
Conservative Protestant Christian responses
Biblical theology is timeless
Gender roles:
Purely biological, not product of culture
Foucault
KATY RUDY
Gender roles illustrate power the ‘Right’ in American politics + society
Mistrust of socially liberal ideologies
Feminism cause of family breakdowns
Men + women created equal but different
Complementarianism
Motherhood + parenthood:
Woman’s role ‘domestic haven’
Christian home place of refuge, love, peace
Eve = ‘mother of all living’
Paul: husband must provide for family
Different types of family:
Critical of feminism, cohabitation + same-sex relationships
Feminism has led to eroticisation
Foucault
Couples expect too much from relationships
Christianity values permanency
Relationships too private + egocentric
Christian family should look outwards
Same-sex parents not truly Christian
Revision for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Five pages
ARGUMENTS FROM OBSERVATION
**TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT **
AQUINAS’ Fifth Way
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
PALEY
FLEW
TENNANT
COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
ARISTOTLE
AQUINAS
Summa Theologica
Hawking + Hartle
Big Bang + Big Crunch
LEIBNIZ
Criticisms of cosmological argument:
Hume: Fallacy of composition
Anthropomorphology
A posteriori vs a priori
ARGUMENTS FROM REASON
ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
ANSELM
GAUNILO OF MARMOUTIER
DESCARTES’ Triangle
Cartesian doubt
COGITO ERGO SUM
KANT
SYNTHETIC HYPOTHESIS
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Russell
Key issues:
Revision for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Three pages
OMNIPOTENCE
Divine power
• DESCARTES
• AQUINAS + SWINBURNE
• ANTHONY KENNY
Self-imposed limitation
• PETER VARDY
• JOHN MACQUARRIE
• ALVIN PLANTINGA
• WILLIAM OF OCKHAM
OMNIBENEVOLENCE
Divine benevolence
JOHN
HOSEA
EXODUS
AMOS
PSALMS
ETERNITY
Divine eternity
Boethius
Anselm
o HARTSHORNE; KENNY
• RICHARD SWINBURNE
• FRIEDRICH SCHLEIRMACHER
FREE WILL (+ omniscience)
Romans
Hebrews
Key Issues
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Four pages
DCT – AUGUSTINE’S TEACHING ON HUMAN NATURE
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
THOMAS HOBBES
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
‘CONFESSIONS’
HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS PRE- AND POST-FALL
Pre-Lapsarian
Post-Lapsarian
ORIGINAL SIN AND ITS EFFECTS ON WILL AND SOCIETY
Original Sin is passed on through sex
GOD’S GRACE
Summum bonum
Contrasts Plato and Kant
CRITICISMS OF AUGUSTINE
Irenaean theodicy
DAWKINS
Humanitarian principle (PINKER)
FREUD
**JEAN PAUL SARTRE **
NIEBUHR
Prideful sin
Realisation of God
Key issues
Mind Map for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
One page, best printed at least A3
Christian Concept of the Soul
Judgement
Election
Purgatory
Heaven
Hell
No Afterlife
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Four pages
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION – RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE
NEGATIVE, ANALOGICAL, OR SYMBOLIC
APOPHATIC WAY
• PSEUDO DIONYSIUS
• MAIMONIDES
CATAPHATIC WAY
• AQUINAS
• VINCENT BRÜMMER
SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE
• PAUL TILLICH
Key Issues
TWENTIETH CENTURY PERSPECTIVES
LOGICAL POSITIVISM
• VIENNA CIRCLE
• A.J. AYER
LANGUAGE GAMES
• LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
• DON CUPITT
• DZ PHILLIPS
FALSIFICATION SYMPOSIUM
• KARL POPPER
• ANTONY FLEW
• R.M. HARE
• BASIL MITCHELL
Key Issues
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Four pages
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION – PHILOSOPHICAL LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES
PLATO
THE FORMS
Heraclitus
Realm of the Forms
Realm of Appearances
Hierarchy of the Forms
Allegory of the Cave
Criticisms of the allegory
Darwin
Deus Ex Machina
ARISTOTLE
Method of per genus et per differentia
The Four Causes
The Prime Mover
SOUL, MIND & BODY
THE PHILOSOPHICAL LANGUAGE OF SOUL, MIND AND BODY
Views of Plato:
Psyche
Soul
Tripartite soul
Allegory of the Chariot
Logos
Thymos
Eros
Views of Aristotle:
Soul
Nutritive soul
Sensible soul
Rational soul
METAPHYSICS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Substance dualism
Descartes
“Cogito ergo sum”
Mind + body
Pineal gland
Neural dependence
Gilbert Ryle
‘Ghost in a machine’
Materialism
Consciousness
Monism
‘I am a body’
Rejection of soul
Dawkins
‘The Selfish Gene’
SOUL ONE / SOUL TWO
Susan Blackmore
John Hick
soft materialist
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Three pages
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION - THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
ARGUMENTS FROM OBSERVATION
TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
AQUINAS
Fifth Way
WILLIAM PALEY
Watchmaker analogy
HUME
DAWKINS
ANTONY FLEW
F.R. TENNANT
COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
ARISTOTLE
THOMAS AQUINAS
Three cosmological ‘Ways’
Summa Theologica
Argument from motion
Argument from causation:
Contingency argument:
“ex nihilo nihil fit”
Quantum physics
No-boundary proposal:
Hawking + Hartle
Wave-function of the universe
Oscillating universe theory:
GOTTFRIED LEIBNIZ
Criticisms of cosmological argument:
Hume
The fallacy of composition
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Key issues
ARGUMENTS FROM REASON
ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
ANSELM
GAUNILO OF MARMOUTIER
Dawkins
RENE DESCARTES
Cartesian doubt
COGITO ERGO SUM
Analytic statement
Descartes’ triangle
IMMANUEL KANT
SYNTHETIC HYPOTHESIS
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Russell
Key issues
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Two pages
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
WILLIAM JAMES
MACKIE
ST TERESA OF AVILA
Sufi Whirling Dervishes
RUDOLF OTTO
CORPORATE EXPERIENCES
Toronto blessing
Medjugorje
Damascus Christophany
Saul
SWINBURNE
PERSINGER’S HELMET
Dawkins
Revision notes for A-level Religious Studies (OCR)
Three pages
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION – THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
“the rock of atheism”
Logical problem of evil
Inconsistent triad
Epicurus
Hume
J.L. MACKIE
AUGUSTINE
Moral evil
Natural evil
Criticisms and responses
Theodicy
True theodicy
Augustinian Theodicy
Original Sin
LOGICAL ERROR
F.D.E. Schleiermacher
creation ex nihilo
SCIENTIFIC ERROR
MORAL ERROR
Freewill Defence
ALVIN PLANTINGA
SWINBURNE + HICK
FLEW
Irenaean Theodicy
“Then God said ‘they will be like us and resemble us”
Omnipotent God
Hick
DZ PHILLIPS
Process theology
SWINBURNE
GUTIERREZ
Liberation theology
Pandeism
Christian Science
MARY BAKER EDDY
HUME
“Why is there any misery in the world?”
Divine Command Theory
PETER GEACH
Animal suffering
ALBERT CAMUS
DOSTOEVSKY
NIETZSCHE
‘Beyond Good and Evil’