Religious Studies

Theme 1: Issues of Relationships

• Arranged and assisted marriage in Britain (Hindu)
• Arranged and assisted marriage in Britain (Sikh)
• Arranged marriage in Britain (Islamic)
• Buddhist attitudes to adultery, divorce, re-marriage
• Buddhist attitudes to gender roles
• Buddhist attitudes to same-sex relationships
• Buddhist beliefs about relationships and family
• Buddhist marriage — Sigalovada Sutta
• Buddhist teaching on sex and contraception
• Christian attitudes to adultery, divorce, annulment, re-marriage
• Christian attitudes to gender roles in worship and authority
• Christian attitudes to same-sex relationships
• Christian beliefs about nature and purpose of relationships
• Christian marriage ceremony and teachings
• Christian teaching on sex and contraception
• Christian teachings on gender equality
• Hindu attitudes to adultery, divorce, re-marriage
• Hindu attitudes to gender roles
• Hindu attitudes to same-sex relationships
• Hindu beliefs about relationships and family
• Hindu marriage ceremony — Rama and Sita
• Hindu teaching on sex, karma and contraception
• Islamic attitudes to adultery, divorce, re-marriage
• Islamic attitudes to same-sex relationships
• Islamic beliefs about relationships and family
• Islamic gender roles in worship and authority
• Islamic teaching on sex and contraception
• Jewish attitudes to gender roles in worship and authority
• Jewish attitudes to same-sex relationships
• Jewish beliefs about nature and purpose of relationships
• Jewish marriage ceremonies
• Jewish teaching on sex and contraception
• Muslim marriage ceremony
• Orthodox & Reform Jewish attitudes to adultery, divorce, get
• Shi'a vs Sunni views on temporary unannounced marriage
• Sikh attitudes to adultery, divorce, re-marriage
• Sikh attitudes to gender roles
• Sikh attitudes to same-sex relationships
• Sikh beliefs about relationships and family
• Sikh marriage ceremony
• Sikh teaching on sex and contraception

Theme 2: Issues of Life and Death

• Buddhist attitudes to abortion and euthanasia
• Buddhist beliefs about afterlife
• Buddhist beliefs on origin and value of human life
• Buddhist environmental ethics
• Buddhist views on origin of universe
• Christian and Humanist environmental ethics
• Christian and Humanist funerals in Britain
• Christian attitudes to abortion and euthanasia
• Christian beliefs about life after death
• Christian beliefs about origin and sanctity of human life
• Christian views on origin of universe
• Christian views vs Big Bang
• Hindu attitudes to abortion and euthanasia
• Hindu beliefs about afterlife — atman, samsara, moksha
• Hindu beliefs on sanctity of life — atman
• Hindu environmental ethics — ahimsa
• Hindu views on origin of universe
• Islamic attitudes to abortion and euthanasia
• Islamic beliefs about life after death
• Islamic beliefs on sanctity of human life
• Islamic environmental ethics
• Islamic views on origin of universe
• Islamic views vs Big Bang
• Jewish and Humanist funerals in Britain
• Jewish attitudes to abortion and euthanasia
• Jewish beliefs about life after death
• Jewish beliefs on sanctity of human life
• Jewish environmental ethics
• Jewish views on origin of universe
• Jewish views vs Big Bang
• Non-religious beliefs about evolution
• Non-religious evolution (Jewish theme)
• Peter Singer on speciesism; Humanist 'Dignity in Dying'
• Shi'a and Sunni views on worship at graves
• Sikh attitudes to abortion and euthanasia
• Sikh beliefs about afterlife
• Sikh beliefs on sanctity of life — soul universal
• Sikh environmental ethics
• Sikh views on origin of universe

Theme 3: Issues of Good and Evil

• Al Qadr (predestination) and free will
• Buddhist perspectives on origin of evil
• Buddhist responses to death penalty
• Buddhist teachings on forgiveness
• Buddhist views on causes of crime and aims of punishment
• Christian responses to the death penalty
• Christian teachings on forgiveness
• Christian views on causes of crime and aims of punishment
• Hindu beliefs on maya and paapa; suffering
• Hindu perspectives on origin of evil
• Hindu responses to death penalty
• Hindu teachings on forgiveness
• Hindu views on causes of crime and aims of punishment
• Islamic perspectives on origin of evil
• Islamic responses to death penalty
• Islamic teachings on forgiveness
• Islamic views on causes of crime and punishment
• Jewish perspectives on origin of evil
• Jewish responses to the Holocaust (Shoah)
• Jewish teachings on forgiveness
• Jewish views on causes of crime and aims of punishment
• Origin of evil — Original Sin and 'soul-making'
• Orthodox and Reform Jewish responses to the death penalty
• Problem of evil — God, free will, suffering
• Sikh perspectives on origin of evil — five evils
• Sikh responses to death penalty
• Sikh teachings on forgiveness
• Sikh views on causes of crime and aims of punishment
• Sikh views on links between karma and suffering
• Treatment of criminals — Angulimala Society
• Treatment of criminals; prison reformers (Hindu)
• Treatment of criminals; prison reformers (Islamic)
• Treatment of criminals; prison reformers (Jewish)
• Treatment of criminals; prison reformers (Sikh)
• Treatment of criminals; prison reformers and chaplains (Christian)
• What makes an act 'wrong'? (Christian)
• What makes an act 'wrong'? (Hindu)
• What makes an act 'wrong'? (Islamic)
• What makes an act 'wrong'? (Jewish)
• What makes an act 'wrong'? (Sikh)
• What makes an act 'wrong'/'unskilful'? (Buddhist)

Theme 4: Issues of Human Rights

• Buddhist attitudes to prejudice and discrimination
• Buddhist attitudes to racial prejudice — Ambedkar; 969 Movement
• Buddhist beliefs on dignity of human life
• Buddhist charities — Karuna Trust
• Buddhist ethics of wealth
• Buddhist practices to promote human rights
• Censorship, freedom of expression, extremism (Islamic)
• Censorship, freedom of religious expression and extremism (Christian)
• Censorship, freedom of religious expression, extremism (Buddhist)
• Censorship, freedom of religious expression, extremism (Hindu)
• Censorship, freedom of religious expression, extremism (Jewish)
• Censorship, freedom of religious expression, extremism (Sikh)
• Christian attitudes to prejudice and discrimination
• Christian attitudes to racial prejudice — Martin Luther King
• Christian beliefs on dignity of human life
• Christian charities — Christian Aid
• Christian ethics of wealth
• Christian practices to promote human rights — agape
• Conflict between personal conviction and laws (Buddhist)
• Conflict between personal conviction and laws (Christian)
• Conflict between personal conviction and laws (Hindu)
• Conflict between personal conviction and laws (Islamic)
• Conflict between personal conviction and laws (Jewish)
• Conflict between personal conviction and laws (Sikh)
• Hindu attitudes to prejudice — varna and dalits
• Hindu attitudes to racial prejudice — Gandhi
• Hindu beliefs on dignity of human life
• Hindu charities — Food for Life
• Hindu ethics of wealth — artha
• Hindu practices to promote human rights — dharma
• Islamic attitudes to prejudice and discrimination
• Islamic attitudes to racial prejudice — Christian/Muslim Forum
• Islamic beliefs on dignity of human life
• Islamic charities — Islamic Relief
• Islamic ethics of wealth
• Islamic practices to promote human rights — ummah
• Jewish attitudes to prejudice and discrimination
• Jewish attitudes to racial prejudice — HIAS
• Jewish beliefs on dignity of human life
• Jewish charities — World Jewish Relief
• Jewish ethics of wealth — Maimonides Eight Levels of Charity
• Jewish practices to promote human rights — tzedekah
• Reform movements (Hindu)
• Sikh attitudes to prejudice and discrimination
• Sikh attitudes to racial prejudice — Khalsa formation
• Sikh beliefs on dignity of human life
• Sikh charities — Khalsa Aid
• Sikh ethics of wealth — sewa/seva
• Sikh practices to promote human rights — khalsa

Theme 1: Origins and Meaning

• CAFOD and SVP — Catholic charities
• Catholic and Humanist views on preserving the planet
• Catholic beliefs about humans and creation
• Catholic Social Teaching on justice and peace
• Catholic teaching on origin of universe — creation ex nihilo
• Catholic vs fundamentalist Christian and non-religious views on abortion
• Catholic vs non-religious views on origin — Big Bang
• Catholic vs other Christian views on origin
• Cross as Tree of Life — Christ as New Adam
• Evolution and Catholic teaching
• Genesis 1 vs Genesis 2 creation accounts
• Genesis literary form and interpretation
• Humanist critiques — Peter Singer's speciesism
• Imago Dei — sanctity of human life
• Inter-faith dialogue (Catholic)
• Michelangelo's Creation of Adam
• Revelation, inspiration, structure of scripture
• Tree of Life Apse mosaic in San Clemente

Theme 2: Good and Evil

• Catholic perspectives on origin of evil — privation
• God's goodness and goodness of created world
• Incarnation — Jesus as Incarnate Son
• Incarnation in framing Catholic responses to Problem of Evil
• Jesus and moral authority
• Meaning of suffering — Christ's suffering and death
• Moral and natural evil
• Natural Law and conscience
• Pilgrimage to Lourdes
• Problem of evil — God's goodness, free will, suffering
• Rosary — Sorrowful Mysteries
• Sculpture and statuary — Michelangelo's Pieta
• Trinity — biblical and historical development
• Trinity in the Nicene creed

Study of Christianity — Beliefs and teachings

• Christian responses to evil and suffering
• Creation — Genesis 1-3, role of humans
• Eschatological beliefs
• Grace and the Spirit
• Heaven and hell — traditional and contemporary beliefs
• Jesus — Ascension
• Jesus — Crucifixion, Salvation and Atonement
• Jesus — Incarnation
• Jesus — Resurrection
• Judgement
• Nature of God — omnipotence and omnibenevolence
• Resurrection of the dead
• Salvation — Law, Word of God, Bible
• Sin as preventing salvation
• The Trinity — Father, Son, Holy Spirit
• Word and Spirit in creation

Study of Christianity — Practices

• Baptism and Eucharist
• Catholic vs Protestant interpretations of Baptism/Eucharist
• Christianity in Britain — 2001/2011/2021 census
• Christmas and Easter celebrations
• Diverse beliefs regarding sacraments
• Liturgical, informal, individual worship
• Mission, evangelism and church growth
• Persecution of Christians
• Pilgrimage — Walsingham, Taizé
• Prayer — The Lord's Prayer
• Role of the Church in local community
• Set and informal prayers — Society of Friends; Evangelical
• The work of Tearfund
• UK laws, festivals and traditions in Christian tradition
• Working for reconciliation — World Council of Churches; Ecumenical Movement

Theme 3: Life and Death

• Catholic beliefs about life after death
• Catholic funeral rite in Britain
• Catholic teaching on dying well; palliative care; assisted suicide; euthanasia
• Christian sarcophagi iconography
• Eschatology — heaven and hell
• Music in worship — Faure's Requiem
• Paschal candle — Easter Vigil and Baptism
• Prayer in Catholic communities — Lord's Prayer
• Praying for and offering Masses for the dead
• Purgatory
• Quality vs sanctity of life and the right to die
• Second Vatican Council
• The Magisterium — ordinary and extraordinary

Theme 4: Sin and Forgiveness

• Arguments for and against capital punishment
• Belief in Hell vs unconditional love and mercy of God
• Body of Christ; people of God; outside the Church no salvation
• Catholic teaching on capital punishment
• Christian forgiveness and tension with punishment
• Crime and sin — absolutist vs relativistic morality
• Eucharist — source and summit
• Evangelising in Britain — 2001/2011/2021 census
• Faith and salvation — attitudes to mission
• Mission and evangelisation
• Orientation and architecture of Catholic churches
• Rationales for criminal penalties
• Sacred objects — altar and font
• Salvation — grace and human freedom
• Seven Sacraments
• The Church — one, holy, catholic, apostolic; Mary as model

Study of a World Faith — Beliefs and teachings

• Abrahamic Covenant
• Adalat in Shi'a Islam
• Adam as first prophet
• Advaita and Dvaita Vedanta
• Akhirah — afterlife and accountability
• Al-Qadr — predestination
• Arhat ideals (Theravada)
• Atman — the eternal self
• Avatara
• Bodhisattva Ideals (Mahayana)
• Brahman/Bhagavan — nature and features
• Cosmology — prakriti
• Covenant with Moses at Sinai
• Cycle of four ages (yugas); vaikuntha
• Day of Judgement and free will
• Dependent origination (pratityasamutpada)
• Eightfold Path (magga)
• Elimination of haumai (pride/ego)
• Enlightenment — renunciation and meditation
• Equality in Sikhism — Langar; Guru Amar Das
• Equality of all human beings
• Five Roots in Usul ad-Din (Shi'a)
• Four aims — dharma, artha, kama, moksha
• Four Noble Truths — dukkha, Three Poisons
• Free will and the 613 mitzvot
• Free will, suffering and maya
• God as Creator
• God as Law-Giver and Judge
• God's relationship with human life
• Gurmukh — God-centred
• Heaven (jannah)
• Hell (jahannam)
• Human personality — Five Aggregates (skandhas)
• Ibrahim — father of Isaac and Ishma'il
• Isa as prophet
• Israfil — Day of Resurrection
• Jibril and the revelation
• Karma and rebirth (Sikh)
• Karma and rebirth; karuna, metta, panchasila
• Karma, samsara, reincarnation, moksha
• Knowledge, ahimsa, mind/sense control
• Krishna and Shakti
• Kutub, Sahifah, Injil, Tawrat, Zabur
• Mahayana sunyata
• Malaikah — angels
• Mashiach (Messiah)
• Mika'il — angel of plants and rain
• Mool Mantra — nature of God
• Muhammad as seal of the Prophets
• Mukti — liberation
• Murti in worship
• Nature of Allah — attributes
• Nature of God — One, Creator
• Orthodox and Reform views on the afterlife
• Pikuach Nefesh — sanctity of life
• Pure Land — Amida Buddha
• Risalah — prophethood
• Sangat — community
• Sangat as centre of religious training
• Service to others — Daswandh
• Sewa, nihangs, khalsa
• Shekhinah — divine presence
• Shi'a vs Sunni on angels and free will
• Six Articles of Faith (Sunni)
• Six Perfections (paramitas)
• Tathagatagarbha — Buddha-nature
• Tawhid — oneness of Allah
• Ten Commandments
• The Buddha — early life
• The Four Sights
• Three Marks of Existence — dukkha, anicca, anatta
• Three Qualities (Tri-guna)
• Trimurti — Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and consorts
• Vaishnavism and Shaivism

Study of a World Faith — Practices

• Akand Path
• Amr-bil-Maroof; Nahil Anril Munkar
• Amrit Sanskar
• Amritsar — pilgrimage centre
• Ashura
• Bar Mitzvah
• Bat Mitzvah and Bat Chayil
• Bhatra and Ramgarhia gurdwaras in Britain
• Birth and naming ceremonies
• Brit Milah
• Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as focus of devotion
• Buddhist temples and viharas in Britain
• Chanting and the Triratna
• Congregational puja in the mandir
• Daily puja in the home
• Death and mourning — Mahayana
• Death and mourning — Theravada
• Dietary laws — kosher/treyfah, parev
• Divali (Sikh)
• Diwali
• Environmental projects at Vrindaban
• Features of synagogues in Britain
• Focuses of worship — one God, deities, holy land
• Functions of Orthodox and Reform synagogues
• Goshallas — cow protection
• Greater jihad
• Gurpurbs and melas
• Guru Nanak's birthday; martyrdoms of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur
• Hajj — pilgrimage to Ka'ba in Makkah
• Hajj and Shi'a shrines
• Hindu mandirs in Britain compared to India
• Holi
• Honouring Gurus and elders
• Id-ul-Adha — festival of sacrifice
• Id-ul-Fitr — fast-breaking
• ISKCON Food for Life
• Items worn for worship — tallith, tefillin, kippah
• Jihad in Shi'a Ten Obligatory Acts
• Kathina
• Keeping kosher in Britain
• Khalsa and the Five K's
• Khums — Shi'a savings tax
• Lesser jihad
• Malas, mantras and mudras
• Marriage
• Meditation on the name of God
• Mettabhavana meditation — loving kindness
• Mourning rituals
• Offerings — dana
• Outdoor shrines
• Parinirvana Day
• Pesach
• Pilgrimage to the Ganges at Varanasi
• Prayer in the home (Sikh)
• Puja in different Buddhist contexts
• Raksha Bandhan
• Religious features of gurdwara — langar
• Rosh Hashanah
• Salah — prayer
• Salat (Shi'a)
• Samatha meditation — mindfulness of breathing
• Sawm — fasting in Ramadan
• Shahadah — statement of faith
• Sukkot
• Synagogue services — Shabbat; Amidah
• Tawalia and Tabarra
• Tenakh and Talmud in daily life
• The Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr)
• Vaisakhi
• Vaishnava and Shaiva bhakti
• Vaishnava vs Shaiva sacred sites
• Vipassana — insight meditation
• Wesak
• Worship in the home — siddur, Shema, Modeh Ani, mezuzah
• Worship/meditation — havan, puja, arati, darshan, bhajan/kirtan, japa
• Yom Kippur
• Zakah — almsgiving

Study of Judaism — Beliefs and teachings

• Abrahamic Covenant (Route B)
• Free will and 613 mitzvot (Route B)
• God as Law-Giver and Judge (Route B)
• Mashiach (Route B)
• Mosaic Covenant (Route B)
• Nature of God — One, Creator (Route B)
• Pikuach Nefesh (Route B)
• Shekhinah (Route B)
• Ten Commandments (Route B)
• The afterlife (Route B)

Study of Judaism — Practices

• Bar Mitzvah (Route B)
• Bat Mitzvah and Bat Chayil (Route B)
• Brit Milah (Route B)
• Dietary laws (Route B)
• Items worn for worship (Route B)
• Keeping kosher in Britain (Route B)
• Marriage (Route B)
• Mourning rituals (Route B)
• Pesach (Route B)
• Rosh Hashanah (Route B)
• Sukkot (Route B)
• Synagogue features (Route B)
• Synagogue functions (Route B)
• Synagogue services (Route B)
• Tenakh and Talmud in daily life (Route B)
• Worship in the home (Route B)
• Yom Kippur (Route B)