Contents

1. Introduction
2. Philosophy of Religion
o Arguments for the Existence of God

o Evil and Suffering

o Religious Experience

o Religious Language

o Miracles

o Self and Life After Death

3. Ethics
o Ethical Theories

o Issues of Human Life and Death

o Issues of Animal Life and Death

o Meta-Ethics

o Free Will and Moral Responsibility

o Conscience

o Sexual Ethics

4. Christianity (Theology and Dialogues)

o God

o Self, Death and Afterlife

o Good Conduct and Key Moral Principles

o Expression of Religious Identity

o Religion, Gender and Sexuality

o Religion and Science

o Religion and Secularisation

o Religion and Religious Pluralism

o Dialogues between Christianity and Philosophy/Ethics

5. Exam Technique and Practice

1. Introduction
This guide follows the AQA A Level Religious Studies (7062) specification. It
provides comprehensive summaries and analyses of key topics across Philosophy
of Religion, Ethics, and Christian Theology, as well as detailed revision strategies
and definitions of key terms.

2. Philosophy of Religion
Arguments for the Existence of God
Cosmological Argument:
 Associated with Thomas Aquinas (Five Ways), particularly the Argument
from Motion and Causation.
 Emphasizes contingency vs necessity (Leibniz and Copleston).
 Kalam Cosmological Argument (William Lane Craig) - everything that
begins to exist has a cause.
 Criticisms: Fallacy of composition (Hume), infinite regress, quantum
physics and causality.
Teleological Argument:
 Design argument, famously advocated by William Paley (watch analogy).
 Swinburne’s modern version emphasizes regularity.
 Fine-tuning argument and the Anthropic Principle.
 Criticisms: Natural selection (Darwin), Hume’s critique (analogy, order
doesn’t imply design), problem of evil.
Ontological Argument:
 Anselm: God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.
 Descartes: Existence is a necessary predicate.
 Malcolm and Plantinga: Modal logic versions.
 Criticisms: Kant (existence is not a predicate), Gaunilo’s Island.
Moral Argument:
 Kant: Moral law implies a moral law-giver.
 Newman: Conscience as voice of God.
 C. S. Lewis and objective morality.
 Criticisms: Morality as social construct, evolutionary ethics.
Evil and Suffering
The Problem of Evil:
 Logical problem (Epicurus, Mackie): Incompatible triad.
 Evidential problem (Rowe): Gratuitous suffering.
  Emotional problem: Impact on belief.
Theodicies:
 Augustine’s Theodicy: Evil as privation, free will.
 Irenaean Theodicy (and Hick): Soul-making.
 Process Theology (Griffin): God is not omnipotent.
 Strengths: Logical explanations, moral development.
 Criticisms: Natural evil, animal suffering, eternal punishment.
Religious Experience
Types:
 Visions (corporeal, imaginative, intellectual), numinous experiences
(Rudolf Otto), conversion experiences.
 Mystical experiences (William James), corporate religious experiences
(Toronto Blessing).
Arguments from Religious Experience:
 Empirical basis, direct awareness of the divine.
 Swinburne’s principles of credulity and testimony.
 Criticisms: Subjectivity, psychological explanations (Freud, Feuerbach),
sociological influence.
Challenges:
 Natural explanations (neuroscience, drug-induced states).
 Verifiability and falsifiability.
 Differing experiences across cultures.
Religious Language
Via Negativa (Apophatic Theology):
 God can only be described in terms of what He is not.
 Strengths: Avoids anthropomorphism.
 Weaknesses: No positive knowledge.
Analogy:
 Aquinas: Analogy of attribution and proportion.
 Useful for conveying partial understanding of God.
 Criticisms: Still ambiguous, assumes common nature.
Symbolism:
 Tillich: Symbols participate in what they represent.
  Communicate complex truths.
 Criticisms: Can become outdated, subjective.
Language Games (Wittgenstein):
 Meaning depends on context and use.
 Religion as its own language game.
 Avoids logical positivist criticism.
Logical Positivism and Falsification:
 Ayer and verification principle.
 Flew’s falsification challenge.
 Hick’s eschatological verification.
 Responses from Hare (bliks), Mitchell (partisan analogy).
Miracles
Definition and Types:
 Traditional: Violation of natural laws (Hume).
 Tillich: Sign-events, not violations.
 Holland: Coincidence interpreted religiously.
Arguments from Miracles:
 Evidence of divine intervention.
 Support religious claims (e.g., resurrection).
Hume’s Critique:
 No testimony sufficient to establish a miracle.
 Humans prone to credulity.
 Lack of consistent miracles across religions.
Responses:
 Swinburne’s cumulative case.
 Credibility of witnesses, significance.
 Modern documented cases (Lourdes, etc.).
Self and Life After Death
Dualism:
 Plato’s soul-body distinction.
 Descartes: Mind-body dualism.
 Criticisms: Interaction problem, neuroscience.
Materialism:
 Dawkins: Humans as survival machines.
 Identity theory and brain-dependent consciousness.
Resurrection:
 Christian views: bodily resurrection (St Paul, 1 Corinthians 15).
 Hick’s Replica Theory.
 Criticisms: Coherence, personal identity.
Reincarnation and Rebirth:
 Eastern perspectives (Hinduism, Buddhism).
 Issues of continuity, karma.
Near-Death Experiences:
 Reports and significance.
 Skeptical views (neuroscience).