Course notes for Edexcel students on Paper 4B (Christianity) topic 4.3 (New Movements in Theology) – the impact of the beliefs and practices of Evangelicalism, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity on the lives of believers today.

Exemplar answer, New Movements in Theology, Paper 4B Christianity, Secularization /

From the 4B Christianity syllabus: 4.3 New Movements in Theology (cont’d) (b) The global development of Evangelicalism, and of the nature and influence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in the US and beyond, migration as a factor in the spread of a variety of forms of Christian worship, notably in the African Christian diaspora. The […]

Course notes for Edexcel students on Paper 4B (Christianity) topic 4.3 (New Movements in Theology) – the impact of the beliefs and practices of Evangelicalism, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity on the lives of believers today. Read More »

Extension Material: 1. Just War Theory and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict. 2. Noam Chomsky on the morality of war and Ukraine.

Extension Material, Just War Theory, Kantian Ethics, Natural Moral Law, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Sexual Ethics, Situation Ethics, Utilitarianism /

Just War Theory and the Ukraine-Russia War Before getting to the philosopher Noam Chomsky’s thoughts about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, it is worth looking at it from the perspective of Just War Theory, as the Edexcel syllabus mentions that contemporary conflicts ‘may be evaluated against this theory.’ The principles that inform Just War Theory have previously

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Situation Ethics in practice – an overview of the content of Joseph Fletcher’s less well-known book.

Kant, Medical Ethics, Meta-Ethics, Natural Moral Law, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Religious Language, Sexual Ethics, Situation Ethics /

This aim of this post is to provide an additional resource for both teachers and students who are studying or revising Situation Ethics and, in particular, the topic of sexual ethics (as four chapters of the above publication are devoted to aspects of it). Additionally, Fletcher discusses the Is-Ought gap, Natural Law, euthanasia, the nature

Situation Ethics in practice – an overview of the content of Joseph Fletcher’s less well-known book. Read More »

Revision test for the Edexcel syllabus on Miracles

Miracles, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Science, Revision Tests /

THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR THE ABOVE TOPIC THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE. THIS TEST (AND MANY OF THE OTHERS ON THIS SITE) MAY ALSO BE OF USE TO STUDENTS FOLLOWING OTHER ADVANCED LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES. BEAR IN MIND THAT THESE TESTS ARE MEANT TO BE DIFFICULT. FOR THIS REASON THEY SHOULD BE

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Course notes for students of the Edexcel syllabus on Miracles

Miracles, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Science /

From the syllabus for the Philosophy of Religion (Paper 1) : 6.3 Religion and science debates and their significance for philosophy of religion   Methodologies with emphasis on observation, hypothesis and experiment, identifying connections and differences vis a vis religious belief and processes; miracles. An accompanying scheme of work for this topic adds the following:

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Extension material for Paper 4B: QAnon and Christianity

Extension Material, New Movements in Theology, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Paper 4B Christianity, Religious experience, Religious Language, Secularization /

This post relates to topic 4.2 Secularisation, in particular “The rise of New Religious Movements and definitions of ‘spiritual’ and ‘religious’“, and “Disillusionment with some aspects of traditional religion compared to hard line atheism.” It is also of relevance to topic 4.3 New Movements in Theology, specifically “The global development of Evangelicalism, and of the

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Extension Material for Paper 1 Anthology Extract 1: J.L. Mackie ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ – a brief note on Boethius.

Anthology Extract, Extension Material, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Problem of evil and suffering /

At the very end of his article, Mackie asserts that, ‘The paradox of omnipotence can be avoided by putting God outside time, but the free will solution of the problem of evil cannot be saved in this way,‘ Is he correct? One Christian philosopher who might have disagree is Boethius (c.480 – 524 AD). Boethius

Extension Material for Paper 1 Anthology Extract 1: J.L. Mackie ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ – a brief note on Boethius. Read More »

Anthology Extract Commentary : Edexcel Paper 1 Extract 1: J.L. Mackie ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ (1977)

Anthology Extract, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Problem of evil and suffering /

Taken from: The Philosophy of Religion, edited by B Mitchell (Oxford, OUP, 1977),Chapter V, Evil and Omnipotence, pp. 92–104. NOTE: Copyright issues may come into play at this point. So what you will find below are the FIRST and LAST couple of sentences of the section that is commented on followed by the commentary itself

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PHILRSBLOG GOES TO THE MOVIES : Pleasantville, the Irenaean Theodicy, JL Mackie, and Buddhism

Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Problem of evil and suffering /

Pleasantville is a movie which looks at evil and suffering from an Irenaean point of view. Irenaeus thought that the evil things that happen to us are not a punishment from God, as Augustine believed, but should be seen as challenges that are meant to shape and improve our personality. This blog entry will re-examine

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Revision test for the Edexcel syllabus on Religion and Morality

Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Religion and Morality, Revision Tests /

THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR THE ABOVE TOPIC THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE, HERE AND HERE. THIS TEST (AND MANY OF THE OTHERS ON THIS SITE) MAY ALSO BE OF USE TO STUDENTS FOLLOWING OTHER ADVANCED LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES. BEAR IN MIND THAT THESE TESTS ARE MEANT TO BE DIFFICULT. FOR THIS REASON

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