13 searchable note topics and 44 past-paper essay titles for Developments in Christian Thought.
Christian responses to multi-faith societies: inter-faith dialogue, mission, conversion, social cohesion and Scriptural Reasoning.
Contemporary Britain is religiously diverse because of migration, globalisation, secularisation and increased public awareness of minority faith communities. The central Christian question is practical as well as theological: how should Christians live with people of other faiths while keeping commitment to Christ? Inter-faith dialogue can support peace, understanding and shared action, but can be criticised as superficial, elitist or too willing to soften truth claims. Mission remains a Christian duty for many churches, but conversion language must be handled carefully where it may imply betrayal, manipulation or power imbalance.
Religious Pluralism and SocietyDevelopments in Christian ThoughtDavid FordKarl RahnerJohn HickPaul KnitterKarl Barth
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Contemporary Britain is religiously diverse because of migration, globalisation, secularisation and increased public awareness of minority faith communities.
- The central Christian question is practical as well as theological: how should Christians live with people of other faiths while keeping commitment to Christ?
- Inter-faith dialogue can support peace, understanding and shared action, but can be criticised as superficial, elitist or too willing to soften truth claims.
- Mission remains a Christian duty for many churches, but conversion language must be handled carefully where it may imply betrayal, manipulation or power imbalance.
- Key terms: multi-faith society, missionary work, encyclical, synod and social cohesion are the core AO1 vocabulary.
- Mission and inter-faith dialogue are not simple opposites: Catholic and Church of England material can present dialogue as part of mission.
- Redemptoris Missio teaches respect for other faiths while maintaining that salvation is uniquely through Christ.
- Scriptural Reasoning aims for deeper understanding through shared reading, not forced agreement or conversion.
- Redemptoris Missio 55-57 and Sharing the Gospel of Salvation are key named documents for pluralism in society.
- Redemptoris Missio presents interreligious dialogue as part of the Church's evangelising mission, not a replacement for it.
- Sharing the Gospel of Salvation stresses that conversion must not become coercive or manipulative.
- The revision notes develop mission and dialogue as a practical tension: Christians may value inter-faith friendship while still believing conversion matters.
- Scriptural Reasoning can build social cohesion by allowing communities to study texts together without requiring agreement.
- Globalisation and migration make religious literacy a civic issue as well as a theological one.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- David Ford: Scriptural Reasoning and collegiality: people from different traditions read sacred texts together, seeking understanding rather than forced agreement.
- Karl Rahner: Inclusivism: non-Christians may respond to divine grace without explicit Christian identity.
- John Hick: Pluralist approach: religions can be understood as different responses to the Real, challenging Christian exclusivism.
- Paul Knitter: Practical pluralism: religions should cooperate against suffering and injustice before arguing about abstract theology.
- Karl Barth: Christ remains decisive revelation, though Christians should approach dialogue with humility.
- Redemptoris Missio: John Paul II presents inter-faith dialogue as part of mission while affirming Christ as the unique means of salvation.
- Sharing the Gospel of Salvation: The Church of England reaffirms witness to Christ while engaging respectfully with other faiths.
- Scriptural Reasoning Movement: People from different traditions read sacred texts together to understand disagreement without demanding agreement.
- Redemptoris Missio 55-57: Interreligious dialogue belongs within evangelising mission while maintaining Christian witness.
- Scriptural Reasoning in practice: Works best when participants aim for understanding rather than agreement or victory.
- Pinker-style humanitarian reasoning supports dialogue because cooperation reduces violence and suffering.:
- Derrida's differance helps explain why dialogue can reveal difference without quickly resolving it.:
- Redemptoris Missio defends the continuing importance of mission.:
- Salvation outside visible Church debates complicate simple conversion-focused approaches.:
Evaluation notes
- Dialogue aids cohesion: It builds trust, reduces othering, supports local cooperation and makes conflicting truth claims less socially dangerous.
- Dialogue can be shallow: It may avoid difficult disagreements, attract only liberal participants and fail to reach communities where tension is greatest.
- Mission can fit dialogue: Respectful proclamation is not necessarily coercive; Christians can explain the Gospel while listening honestly.
- Mission may threaten equality: If one side uses dialogue mainly for conversion, dialogue can become instrumental rather than mutual.
- Mission can be respectful: Christians can witness to the Gospel while acknowledging truth and goodness in other traditions.
- Mission may damage cohesion: Conversion efforts can create family conflict, power imbalance or suspicion in multi-faith communities.
- Scriptural Reasoning builds trust: It allows difficult difference to be explored without reducing religions to sameness.
- Scriptural Reasoning may be limited: It often reaches educated participants and may not solve wider social tensions.
- Dialogue can strengthen communities: It may deepen Christian self-understanding through honest encounter with difference.
- Dialogue can hide mission tensions: If conversion remains the end goal, dialogue may feel instrumental.
- Conversion ethics matter: Mission is more defensible when it rejects manipulation and respects conscience.
- Dialogue can build trust, but may become tokenistic or be used as a soft route to conversion.:
- Mission can express love and truth, but may appear disrespectful in a plural society.:
- Social cohesion is valuable, but should not require religions to hide their real disagreements.:
Revision checklist
- Define multi-faith society and social cohesion
- Explain cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism
- Use Catholic and Church of England responses
- Explain Scriptural Reasoning
- Evaluate mission to other faiths and no faith
- Reach a judgement about relativism
- Use Redemptoris Missio and Sharing the Gospel of Salvation
- Explain Scriptural Reasoning's method and limits
- Evaluate whether mission and dialogue can work together
- Use Redemptoris Missio 55-57
- Use Sharing the Gospel of Salvation
- Judge whether dialogue strengthens Christian communities
2 past-paper essay titles
- ‘Inter-faith dialogue strengthens Christian communities.’ Discuss.
- ‘Christian communities have successfully responded to the challenge of encounters with other faiths.’ Discuss
Exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism: salvation and religious truth in relation to other faiths.
Exclusivism claims salvation is through Christ alone; some forms require explicit Christian faith, while others leave judgement to God. Inclusivism keeps Christ as the source of salvation but allows that people outside visible Christianity may be saved through Christ. Pluralism argues that multiple religions may be valid responses to ultimate reality, which can promote tolerance but may conflict with traditional Christology. High-mark essays compare theological consistency with practical consequences for society.
Religious Pluralism and TheologyDevelopments in Christian ThoughtJohn HickKarl RahnerGavin D’CostaBarthBarth - exclusivism
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Notes
- Exclusivism claims salvation is through Christ alone; some forms require explicit Christian faith, while others leave judgement to God.
- Inclusivism keeps Christ as the source of salvation but allows that people outside visible Christianity may be saved through Christ.
- Pluralism argues that multiple religions may be valid responses to ultimate reality, which can promote tolerance but may conflict with traditional Christology.
- High-mark essays compare theological consistency with practical consequences for society.
- Key terms: exclusivism means one complete means of salvation, inclusivism means Christ saves beyond visible Christianity, and pluralism means many religious paths may lead to salvation.
- Particularism is another name for exclusivism; Vatican II shapes modern Catholic openness to other faiths while retaining Christ's uniqueness.
- Hick's pluralism uses Kantian language: religions are different phenomenal responses to the same noumenal Real.
- AO2 answers should ask whether pluralism is humble and tolerant or whether it becomes a new exclusive theory that weakens Christian doctrine.
- Raimon Panikkar offers a pluralist route shaped by both Catholic theology and Hindu/Buddhist spirituality.
- Panikkar uses the idea of Advaita to stress unity in the divine and argues that sacred truth is discovered through lived spiritual experience, not possessed through rigid doctrine.
- Theology of religions should distinguish doctrinal truth claims from the humility required before divine mystery.
- The revision notes add a clear three-way frame: exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism answer the salvation question differently.
- Exclusivists stress original sin, Christ's atoning sacrifice and the uniqueness of Jesus as mediator.
- Inclusivists keep Christ as the source of salvation while allowing non-Christians to be saved through grace.
- Pluralists such as Hick argue for a Copernican revolution in theology, putting the Real at the centre rather than Christianity.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- John Hick: The Real is experienced through different religious traditions; no single tradition exhausts ultimate truth.
- Karl Rahner: Anonymous Christian idea: people may receive grace without explicit Christian belief.
- Gavin D’Costa: Critiques pluralism for becoming its own exclusive meta-theory.
- Barth: Revelation in Christ is central.
- Barth - exclusivism: Christ is the decisive revelation of God, so other religious truth claims cannot be equal routes to salvation.
- D'Costa: Pluralism can become its own exclusive meta-theory and may fail to respect real doctrinal differences.
- Rahner - anonymous Christian: People outside explicit Christianity may receive salvation through Christ without knowing it by name.
- Hick - the Real: World religions can be understood as culturally shaped responses to ultimate reality.
- Raimon Panikkar: Argues that God can be encountered across religions and that traditions may reflect aspects of one sacred reality.
- Advaita influence: Supports the idea that reality is unified in the divine rather than divided into competing religious possessions.
- D'Costa versus Panikkar: D'Costa worries pluralism becomes a new exclusive theory; Panikkar stresses mystery and lived experience.
- Kraemer defends restrictive exclusivism by treating biblical revelation as essential for salvation.:
- Barth argues that God is known through the Word, especially Christ and Scripture.:
- Rahner's anonymous Christian tries to hold together universal grace and the centrality of Christ.:
- D'Costa uses the Trinity to defend inclusivism, arguing that the Holy Spirit cannot be ignored.:
- Von Balthasar worries that Rahner reduces salvation to moral goodness.:
- Alan Race criticises inclusivism as theological imperialism.:
- Hick draws on Birmingham's multi-faith context and Bultmann's demythologising to develop pluralism.:
- Netland argues that Hick forces religions to reinterpret their own truth claims.:
Evaluation notes
- Pluralism promotes humility: It recognises limits in human understanding and can reduce religious arrogance.
- Pluralism may distort doctrine: It may flatten real differences such as incarnation, Trinity and salvation.
- Inclusivism balances both: It protects Christ’s role while avoiding harsh exclusivism.
- Inclusivism can be patronising: Calling others anonymously Christian may fail to respect their self-understanding.
- Exclusivism protects Christology: It takes incarnation, uniqueness and salvation through Christ seriously.
- Exclusivism can seem unjust: It appears harsh towards people who never encounter Christianity.
- Inclusivism balances truth and mercy: It keeps Christ central while allowing wider salvation.
- Pluralism promotes tolerance: It reduces arrogance and reflects the limits of human understanding.
- Pluralism may flatten difference: It can ignore contradictions between religions and dilute Christian claims.
- Panikkar deepens pluralism: His mixed Catholic and Hindu context gives pluralism more than a shallow tolerance argument.
- Mystery encourages humility: No tradition should claim full possession of sacred truth.
- Doctrine still matters: If mystery overrides doctrine too much, Christian claims about incarnation and salvation may be blurred.
- Exclusivism protects Christian identity, but makes salvation appear unfair to those outside explicit faith.:
- Inclusivism is a middle way, but can sound patronising to non-Christians.:
- Pluralism is attractive in diverse society, but can flatten deep doctrinal differences.:
- A strong essay asks whether truth, salvation and social tolerance are being confused.:
Revision checklist
- Define exclusivism
- Define inclusivism
- Define pluralism
- Use at least two scholars
- Evaluate whether pluralism weakens Christianity
- Define exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism and particularism
- Use Rahner, Hick, Barth and D'Costa
- Explain noumena and phenomena in Hick
- Evaluate whether pluralism is itself exclusive
- Add Panikkar as an extra pluralist scholar
- Explain Advaita and divine unity
- Evaluate whether mystery weakens doctrine
3 past-paper essay titles
- Christianity is not the only means to salvation. Discuss.
- ‘All religions lead to salvation.’ Discuss.
- ‘Anonymous Christians can also receive salvation.’ Discuss.
The Fall, original sin, human will, grace and the tension between freedom and dependence on God.
Augustine presents human nature as damaged by the Fall: humans inherit a tendency towards sin and cannot achieve salvation by their own effort. Original sin explains universal moral weakness but raises questions about justice and responsibility. Grace is necessary for salvation; this gives God priority but creates debate about free will. A strong essay explores whether Augustine is realistic about human weakness or too pessimistic.
Augustine and Human NatureDevelopments in Christian ThoughtAugustinePelagiusDaphne HampsonAugustine - cupiditas and caritasDawkins / biology challenge
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Augustine presents human nature as damaged by the Fall: humans inherit a tendency towards sin and cannot achieve salvation by their own effort.
- Original sin explains universal moral weakness but raises questions about justice and responsibility.
- Grace is necessary for salvation; this gives God priority but creates debate about free will.
- A strong essay explores whether Augustine is realistic about human weakness or too pessimistic.
- Revision focus: will means free choice, sin is disobedience to God's will, grace is God's undeserved love, and the Fall explains humanity's damaged condition.
- Augustine's key contrast is cupiditas and caritas: selfish love turns the will inward, while generous love directs people towards God and neighbour.
- Concupiscence means the will is divided after the Fall; humans may know the good but struggle to choose it without grace.
- The central AO2 issue is whether Augustine is realistic about weak will or unfairly pessimistic about human freedom and responsibility.
- Augustine's double death means Adam's first death damages friendship with God and the second death is humanity's mortal condition after disobedience.
- Original sin is transmitted through concupiscence in Augustine's account; Jesus is treated as the exception because of the virgin birth.
- Romans 7 is useful evidence for the divided will: humans may desire the good yet find themselves doing the evil they hate.
- The revision notes add caritas and cupiditas as central to Augustine: before the Fall the will is ordered by love of God; after the Fall it is bent towards selfish love.
- Original sin is treated as an ontological condition transmitted through humanity, not merely a bad example.
- Augustine's body-soul hierarchy shapes his views of sexuality, reason and moral weakness.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- Augustine uses the theft of pears in Confessions to show sin as disordered desire: humans can choose evil not for gain but because the will is curved towards itself.
- In The City of God, Augustine traces pride, domination, dishonesty and betrayal as effects of fallen human nature.
- Augustine can seem pessimistic because he stresses weakness, suffering and the inability of human beings to save themselves without grace.
- A more hopeful reading sees Augustine as pairing rigorous critique of human sin with the possibility of grace, resistance to domination and transformed community.
- Advanced class notes angle: Augustine can be defended as psychologically realistic because he describes weakness of will before modern psychology names it.
- A strong objection is that Augustine turns sexual desire into a theological problem and risks making ordinary human embodiment seem guilty.
- Akrasia is important for Augustine because wrongdoing is not merely ignorance; it reveals a genuinely divided and weakened will.
- Orthodox and liberal Christian readings often soften inherited guilt by stressing social and historical corruption instead.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Augustine: Human beings are marked by disordered desire and need divine grace.
- Pelagius: Humans have greater moral ability and responsibility; grace assists rather than replaces free choice.
- Daphne Hampson: Critiques doctrines that appear to make humanity dependent and guilty.
- Augustine - cupiditas and caritas: Human nature is torn between selfish love of created things and generous love ordered towards God.
- Dawkins / biology challenge: A naturalistic account may explain human behaviour through evolution rather than inherited sin.
- Kant / Sartre challenge: Moral responsibility may require autonomy, so Augustine can seem to make goodness too dependent on grace.
- Kant against Augustine: The good will suggests moral worth depends on rational autonomy, not inherited corruption.
- Dawkins against the Fall: Evolutionary biology rejects an original perfect state; human behaviour can be explained through genes and survival.
- Freud on sexuality: Challenges Augustine's suspicion of sex by treating sexual drives as basic to human psychology rather than simply a sign of sin.
- Komline develops Augustine's hierarchy of soul and body, linking obedience to divine order.:
- Niebuhr agrees that humans are anxious and sinful but rejects the idea that responsibility disappears.:
- Holloway criticises inherited original sin as unsympathetic and morally troubling.:
- Freud treats libido as a natural energy, contrasting Augustine's suspicion of disordered desire.:
- Augustine: Human beings are damaged by sin and need divine grace to heal the will.
- Pelagius: Humans have greater moral ability than Augustine allows, so responsibility requires real freedom.
- William Hazlitt: Human beings recognise the gap between what things are and what they ought to be.
- bell hooks: Critique should be paired with hope and resistance to domination, giving a modern lens on Augustine.
- Daphne Hampson: Critiques doctrines that make humanity appear dependent, guilty and diminished.
- Romans 7: The divided will passage gives scriptural language for Augustine's claim that the will is internally conflicted.
- Freud comparison: Freud also sees humans as conflicted, but he locates the issue in psychology rather than inherited sin.
- Scruton warns against treating humans as necessarily doomed or inherently sinful in a way that threatens dignity.:
Evaluation notes
- Realistic anthropology: Augustine explains why humans repeatedly fail to do the good they know.
- Morally unfair: Inherited guilt seems unjust if individuals are blamed for Adam and Eve.
- Grace protects salvation: Salvation is gift, not achievement.
- Grace threatens freedom: If grace is necessary, responsibility becomes unclear.
- Explains moral weakness: Augustine gives a strong explanation of why people repeatedly fail to do the good they recognise.
- Inherited guilt problem: Blaming humans for Adam and Eve's sin can seem unjust if guilt is inherited before personal choice.
- Grace protects salvation as gift: The doctrine prevents salvation becoming a human achievement or reward for moral effort.
- Grace may weaken responsibility: If people cannot choose the good without God, punishment and moral blame become harder to justify.
- Pelagian fairness objection: If God gives commands, it seems they must be possible to obey without making grace do all the moral work.
- Evolutionary objection: If humans evolved gradually, the idea of a single historical Fall becomes harder to defend.
- Romans supports Augustine: Paul's language of wanting the good but doing evil gives Augustine strong biblical support.
- Psychology reframes concupiscence: Freud can explain inner conflict without needing inherited sin.
- Augustine is realistic about divided will and moral failure, but his account can look too pessimistic about human nature.:
- Inherited sin explains universal wrongdoing, but raises justice questions about guilt and responsibility.:
- His sexual ethics follows from original sin, but critics argue sex can be relational and good rather than merely lustful.:
- Augustine is realistic: He explains why humans knowingly choose what damages themselves and others.
- Augustine is too pessimistic: His account may underplay moral progress, education and human agency.
- Grace gives hope: Human weakness is not the final word if God transforms the will.
- Inherited guilt remains unfair: Original sin raises questions about justice and personal responsibility.
- Realism versus pessimism: Augustine is powerful if read as a diagnosis of moral weakness, but damaging if read as contempt for human nature.
- Grace versus autonomy: The sharper issue is whether grace completes freedom or replaces it.
- A strong Augustine essay asks whether the Fall is historical, symbolic or psychologically insightful.:
Revision checklist
- Explain Fall
- Explain original sin
- Explain grace
- Evaluate free will problem
- Define will, sin, grace and the Fall
- Explain cupiditas, caritas and concupiscence
- Use the image of God versus sinner paradox
- Evaluate Augustine against modern accounts of freedom and responsibility
- Use double death and transmission of sin
- Quote or paraphrase Romans 7 on the divided will
- Evaluate Augustine against Pelagius, Kant, Dawkins and Freud
- Use the pear theft
- Explain disordered desire
- Explain City of God themes
- Discuss pessimism and hope
- Compare Augustine and Pelagius
- Evaluate grace and responsibility
- Frame Augustine as both biblical theologian and analyst of weak will
- Use Pelagius and Freud as contrasting objections
4 past-paper essay titles
- Critically assess the significance of Augustine’s teaching on human relationships before the Fall.
- Discuss Augustine’s view that, without God’s grace, humans can never be morally good(30)
- Critically assess Augustine’s teaching that original sin is the reason why humans lack free will.
- Assess Augustine’s claim that only God’s grace can overcome human sin.
Jesus as Son of God, teacher of wisdom and political liberator.
Christology studies the identity and significance of Jesus. Jesus as Son of God emphasises incarnation, divinity and salvation. Jesus as teacher of wisdom emphasises ethical teaching, parables and moral transformation. Jesus as political liberator stresses challenge to oppression and connects with liberation theology.
The Person of Jesus ChristDevelopments in Christian ThoughtN. T. WrightBultmannConeCouncil of ChalcedonJohn's Gospel - Logos
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Christology studies the identity and significance of Jesus.
- Jesus as Son of God emphasises incarnation, divinity and salvation.
- Jesus as teacher of wisdom emphasises ethical teaching, parables and moral transformation.
- Jesus as political liberator stresses challenge to oppression and connects with liberation theology.
- Key terms: Son of God emphasises incarnation, rabbi emphasises teacher, liberator emphasises freedom, and hypostatic union means Christ is fully God and fully human.
- Homoousios means of the same substance; Logos or Word in John's Gospel presents Christ as eternally divine.
- The historical context of Roman occupation explains why some expected a political Messiah or saw liberation in social terms.
- A high-mark essay must distinguish social liberation, political liberation, spiritual redemption and divine incarnation.
- Jesus as Son of God can be supported by baptism narratives, Thomas calling Jesus Lord and God, and the Church's doctrine of hypostatic union.
- Jesus as teacher of wisdom is supported by sayings such as love your neighbour, love your enemies, the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount.
- Jesus as liberator is supported by Luke 4, Mark 5 and Luke 10: he challenges exclusion, restores the marginalised and reframes neighbour-love.
- A metaphorical incarnation keeps Jesus as a divinely inspired moral teacher but abandons the traditional claim that he has a divine nature.
- The revision notes add an essay angle on whether Jesus is only a teacher of wisdom or also Son of God, liberator, saviour and divine revelation.
- Low Christology stresses Jesus' wisdom and moral example; high Christology stresses incarnation, salvation and divine identity.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- N. T. Wright: Jesus should be understood in Jewish historical context with kingdom-focused mission.
- Bultmann: Demythologising interprets mythic language existentially rather than literally.
- Cone: Jesus is identified with the oppressed and liberation from injustice.
- Council of Chalcedon: Christ is one person with two natures, fully divine and fully human.
- John's Gospel - Logos: Jesus is the Word made flesh, not only a teacher or political figure.
- Reza Aslan: Jesus can be interpreted in relation to Jewish resistance and political liberation under Rome.
- Liberation theology: Jesus' concern for the poor and oppressed supports reading him as liberator.
- Philip Schaff / Chalcedonian line: Jesus is perfect in Godhead and perfect in humanity: consubstantial, coeternal and one person.
- C. S. Lewis: Jesus cannot easily be reduced to a great moral teacher if he makes divine claims.
- Bonhoeffer on incarnation: Incarnation matters because Christians meet God in human beings and in solidarity with others.
- John Hick: A metaphorical incarnation can preserve Jesus' significance while rejecting literal divine nature.
- Hick's low Christology can be used to support Jesus as an inspiring God-conscious teacher rather than literally God incarnate.:
- Barth's Christ-centred revelation supports a high view of Jesus as the decisive Word of God.:
Evaluation notes
- Divinity is central: Without Son of God language, Christianity loses its salvific heart.
- Wisdom teacher is accessible: Moral teaching may speak to believers and non-believers.
- Liberator is socially relevant: Christianity becomes active against injustice.
- Political reading can reduce faith: It may underplay sin, worship and salvation.
- Liberator reading fits the context: Roman occupation, Passover symbolism and concern for outcasts make liberation a serious theme.
- Liberator only is reductive: Christian doctrine also presents Jesus as incarnate Son, saviour from sin and conqueror of death.
- Teacher of wisdom is accessible: It explains parables, moral teaching and discipleship without requiring full Christology.
- Teacher only weakens Christianity: It cannot explain worship of Christ, incarnation, resurrection or redemption.
- Son of God fits worship: It explains why Christians worship Jesus and link him to salvation.
- Teacher of wisdom fits moral sayings: It makes sense of Jesus' practical teaching and ethical influence.
- Teacher only is too thin: It cannot explain resurrection, incarnation or the early Church's worship of Christ.
- Liberator reading is concrete: Healing the bleeding woman and the Good Samaritan show liberation of marginalised people.
- Political liberator can overreach: Jesus' kingdom is not simply a worldly political programme.
- Jesus as teacher is accessible in plural society, but may not explain worship, resurrection faith or salvation claims.:
- High Christology preserves orthodox doctrine, but faces pluralist and historical-critical objections.:
Revision checklist
- Explain three portraits of Jesus
- Use scripture/examples
- Compare theological and ethical significance
- Evaluate reductionism
- Define Son of God, Logos, incarnation and hypostatic union
- Explain Jesus as rabbi, wisdom teacher and liberator
- Use Roman occupation and Messiah expectations
- Evaluate whether political liberation is enough to explain Jesus
- Use baptism, Thomas and hypostatic union for Son of God
- Use Mark 12, Matthew 7 and Matthew 5 for teacher of wisdom
- Use Luke 4, Mark 5 and Luke 10 for liberator
- Evaluate Hick against C. S. Lewis and Bonhoeffer
4 past-paper essay titles
- Jesus’ teaching was only about becoming a moral person.’ Discuss.
- To what extent was Jesus merely a political leader
- Jesus’ miracles demonstrate that he was the Son of God.’ Discuss
- ‘Jesus was only a teacher of wisdom.’ Discuss.
Christian teaching on resurrection, judgement, parousia, heaven, hell, purgatory and the Kingdom of God.
Christian afterlife teaching begins with Jesus’ resurrection: the Nicene Creed says he rose on the third day, and Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15 that Christian faith depends on resurrection. The Kingdom of God can be interpreted as an actual future place, a spiritual reality, or a symbol of moral transformation already breaking into the present. The delay of the parousia created a major early Christian problem: believers expected Christ to return, but later texts warn that the day and hour are unknown and stress readiness. Judgement can be understood as particular judgement immediately after death, final judgement at the end of time, or a continuing personal encounter with God.
Death and the AfterlifeDevelopments in Christian ThoughtPaulJesusJohn of PatmosCatholic ChurchJohn Hick
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Christian afterlife teaching begins with Jesus’ resurrection: the Nicene Creed says he rose on the third day, and Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15 that Christian faith depends on resurrection.
- The Kingdom of God can be interpreted as an actual future place, a spiritual reality, or a symbol of moral transformation already breaking into the present.
- The delay of the parousia created a major early Christian problem: believers expected Christ to return, but later texts warn that the day and hour are unknown and stress readiness.
- Judgement can be understood as particular judgement immediately after death, final judgement at the end of time, or a continuing personal encounter with God.
- Key terms: disembodied existence is life without a physical body, while resurrection is life after death in a glorified bodily form.
- The beatific vision is direct encounter with God; particular judgement happens at death, while parousia refers to Christ's second coming.
- Christian afterlife teaching is not just comfort; it connects judgement, salvation, resurrection, divine justice and the final destiny of creation.
- AO2 questions usually turn on whether afterlife language is literal, symbolic, timeless, physical, or morally necessary.
- Matthew 25, the Sheep and the Goats, is a key text for judgement and suggests the afterlife is linked to moral action towards vulnerable people.
- Traditional teaching often expects a transformed bodily existence, not merely a soul escaping the body.
- Symbolic readings understand afterlife language as describing spiritual and moral states experienced in relation to God.
- The revision notes add concrete essay angles on hell, heaven, universal salvation, purgatory, the Sheep and the Goats and Last Judgement.
- Hell can be understood as a place, a state of separation from God or an existential condition.
- Heaven can be treated as a state of blessedness rather than a physical location.
- Universal salvation challenges eternal punishment by stressing God's love and final victory.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Paul: If Christ has not been raised, faith is futile; resurrection gives Christian hope its foundation.
- Jesus: Parables and sayings about readiness, judgement and the Kingdom shape Christian eschatology.
- John of Patmos: Revelation presents judgement, the defeat of evil, and a new heaven and new earth.
- Catholic Church: Teaches resurrection, judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory as part of the soul’s journey towards God.
- John Hick: Develops the afterlife as a continuing person-making process rather than a single fixed judgement at death.
- Aquinas - rational soul: Humans have rational souls capable of life after death, and the beatific vision is not ordinary endless time.
- Biblical resurrection: Jesus' risen body and ascension support an embodied account of life after death.
- Dante - symbolic afterlife: Heaven and hell may be read as moral and spiritual symbols rather than mapped physical places.
- Matthew 25: Judgement is shown through care for the hungry, sick, imprisoned and vulnerable.
- Rudolf Bultmann: Heaven and hell can be read as mythological language for authentic or alienated existence before God.
- Gregory of Nyssa: Judgement and the torment of hell can be read through the guilty conscience when facing Christ.
- Dante presents hell as vividly real, physical, moral and spiritual.:
- Tillich interprets hell existentially as separation and alienation from ultimate concern.:
- Origen and Gregory of Nyssa are associated with more hopeful ideas of restoration or purification.:
- Calvin links final destiny with predestination and limited election.:
Evaluation notes
- Resurrection anchors Christian hope: It makes afterlife belief more than wishful thinking because it is tied to Christ’s victory over death.
- Parousia delay creates tension: If early Christians expected a quick return, later reinterpretation may look like theological adjustment.
- Particular judgement is pastorally powerful: It treats moral choices as immediately significant for each person.
- Final judgement preserves cosmic justice: It allows God to complete justice publicly and renew the whole creation.
- Embodied resurrection protects identity: A bodily afterlife fits Christian claims about Jesus' resurrection and avoids a purely ghost-like soul.
- Disembodied survival is philosophically difficult: If the body is absent, it is harder to explain personal identity and continuity.
- Timeless heaven avoids boredom: A timeless beatific vision avoids the worry that endless duration would become repetitive.
- Symbolic readings are flexible: Symbolic interpretations avoid crude geography but may move too far from biblical language.
- Moral-action afterlife: Matthew 25 makes judgement concrete rather than abstract: treatment of others matters.
- Symbolic readings fit modern thought: They avoid crude geography and focus on quality of relationship with God.
- Symbolic readings weaken doctrine: If afterlife language only means present experience, resurrection and judgement may lose force.
- Hell as a place makes judgement vivid, but can conflict with modern moral intuitions about eternal punishment.:
- Universalism magnifies divine love, but may weaken judgement and moral seriousness.:
- A strong answer distinguishes immediate judgement, final judgement and symbolic judgement language.:
Revision checklist
- Explain resurrection and 1 Corinthians 15
- Define parousia
- Compare actual, spiritual and symbolic Kingdom interpretations
- Distinguish particular and final judgement
- Use Revelation or Matthew 25
- Evaluate whether afterlife belief changes moral behaviour
- Define disembodied existence, resurrection and beatific vision
- Compare particular judgement with final judgement
- Use Jesus' resurrection when discussing bodily afterlife
- Evaluate literal and symbolic readings of afterlife language
- Use Matthew 25 when discussing judgement
- Compare bodily, disembodied and symbolic afterlife views
- Evaluate Bultmann's mythological reading
5 past-paper essay titles
- Hell is an idea not a place. Discuss.
- Critically discuss Jesus’ parable of The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31–46).
- Discuss the view that the idea of purgatory makes more sense than hell.
- The God of love would not elect a limited number of people to salvation. Discuss
- Critically discuss different Christian interpretations of what heaven is like.
Competing interpretations of heaven, hell and purgatory as places, states, symbols and processes of purification.
Heaven is often understood as the beatific vision: perfect joy, knowledge of God and communion with God face to face. Hell can be understood as an actual place of punishment, a spiritual state of separation from God, or a symbol of alienation and self-chosen disorder. Purgatory is not clearly described in the New Testament, but Catholic theology understands it as purification after death for those who die in grace but are not yet fully holy. Modern debate asks whether eternal hell is compatible with divine love and whether purgatory makes better moral sense than a binary heaven-or-hell judgement.
Heaven, Hell and PurgatoryDevelopments in Christian ThoughtOrigenGregory of NyssaDanteCatholic CatechismTillich
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Heaven is often understood as the beatific vision: perfect joy, knowledge of God and communion with God face to face.
- Hell can be understood as an actual place of punishment, a spiritual state of separation from God, or a symbol of alienation and self-chosen disorder.
- Purgatory is not clearly described in the New Testament, but Catholic theology understands it as purification after death for those who die in grace but are not yet fully holy.
- Modern debate asks whether eternal hell is compatible with divine love and whether purgatory makes better moral sense than a binary heaven-or-hell judgement.
- The notes treats heaven, hell and purgatory as linked to judgement: heaven as communion with God, hell as separation or punishment, and purgatory as purification.
- Purgatory depends on the idea that some souls die in peace with God but still need cleansing before the beatific vision.
- Hell raises the sharpest AO2 problem: whether eternal punishment can be reconciled with a loving and just God.
- Symbolic accounts reduce the problem of physical places but risk weakening traditional teaching about judgement.
- symbolic heaven can mean authentic life in faith and freedom, while symbolic hell can mean anxiety, despair and alienation from God.
- Purgatory can be defended as post-death cleansing, but the Sheep and the Goats gives little direct support for it.
- Some modern Protestant readings draw on Origen and Gregory of Nyssa to understand purgatory as the soul continuing its journey.
- Purgatory is presented in the revision pack as an intermediate state for purification, moral development and preparation for final union with God.
- Corinthians 3:14-15 is used by some theologians to support purification through fire.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Origen: Hell can be seen as an interior spiritual state in which sinners kindle their own fire through vice and separation from God.
- Gregory of Nyssa: Purgatory can be understood as purification through which creation is finally restored.
- Dante: The Divine Comedy gives vivid imaginative accounts of hell, purgatory and heaven shaped by medieval theology.
- Catholic Catechism: Those who die in grace but imperfectly purified undergo purification before entering heaven.
- Tillich: Hell can be interpreted symbolically as alienation from God, self and others.
- Hick - universal salvation: An eternal hell appears to contradict divine benevolence, so universal salvation may be more coherent.
- John Paul II - judgement: The Church does not finally condemn particular individuals; judgement belongs to God.
- Augustine - deserved punishment: Because humans fail to live in God's image, eternal punishment can be defended as just.
- Pope Innocent IV: Souls can be purified after death and helped by the prayers of the Church.
- Calvin and Luther: Purgatory has weak biblical support and can appear to undermine the sufficiency of Christ's saving work.
- Rudolf Bultmann: References to heaven and hell may be mythological, pointing to present existential states rather than places.
- Gregory of Nyssa on purgatory: Purgatory can be understood as purifying restoration so that creation is finally redeemed.
- Matthew 25 objection: The Sheep and the Goats supports judgement but does not clearly teach purgatory.
- Ambrose can be read as treating purgatory as a forestate of heaven or hell while awaiting final judgement.:
- Origen and Gregory of Nyssa connect purification with spiritual maturation.:
Evaluation notes
- Purgatory supports justice and mercy: It avoids the harshness of immediate binary judgement by allowing purification.
- Purgatory lacks explicit biblical basis: Many Protestants reject it because the New Testament does not clearly teach it.
- Hell protects moral seriousness: It shows that evil, rejection of God and injustice matter eternally.
- Eternal hell challenges divine love: Infinite punishment for finite sin can appear incompatible with omnibenevolence.
- Purgatory protects mercy and justice: It allows transformation after death without ignoring sin.
- Purgatory may weaken grace: If Christ's sacrifice is sufficient, further purification can seem unnecessary.
- Hell supports moral seriousness: Judgement gives weight to freedom, sin and justice.
- Hell conflicts with divine love: Infinite punishment for finite sin can appear disproportionate.
- Symbolic heaven is existential: It makes heaven relevant now as life aligned with God's will.
- Symbolic hell is morally serious: Alienation and despair can be understood as separation from God without literal fire.
- Purgatory fits restoration: A purifying process makes sense if God's aim is redemption of creation.
- Weak biblical basis: Purgatory depends on disputed texts and tradition more than clear New Testament teaching.
- Purgatory supports justice and mercy, but critics ask whether it reduces the urgency of moral action in earthly life.:
Revision checklist
- Define beatific vision
- Explain hell as place and state
- Explain Catholic purgatory
- Use Origen, Gregory, Dante or Tillich
- Evaluate eternal punishment
- Compare Catholic and Protestant views
- Define heaven, hell and purgatory
- Use beatific vision when explaining heaven
- Use Maccabees and post-death forgiveness arguments for purgatory
- Evaluate whether eternal hell is compatible with love
- Use Bultmann for symbolic heaven and hell
- Use Gregory of Nyssa for purifying restoration
- Test purgatory against Matthew 25
0 past-paper essay titles
Mary Daly, Rosemary Radford Ruether, God-language, patriarchy, feminist Christology, Sophia, Gaia and challenges from Simon Chan.
Feminist theology asks whether Christianity has been shaped by patriarchy in its God-language, institutions, scripture and images of salvation. Mary Daly argues that male God-language legitimates male power; her claim that if God is male then male is God attacks the symbolic structure of Christianity. Daly links patriarchal religion with rape culture, genocide and war, and calls for the symbolic castration of God to dismantle male religious power. Ruether is reformist rather than post-Christian: she reinterprets Jesus as servant king, challenges warrior-Messiah expectations, and uses Sophia and Gaia imagery to broaden theology.
Gender and TheologyDevelopments in Christian ThoughtMary DalyRosemary Radford RuetherElisabeth Schussler FiorenzaSimon ChanMary Daly - post-Christian theology
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Feminist theology asks whether Christianity has been shaped by patriarchy in its God-language, institutions, scripture and images of salvation.
- Mary Daly argues that male God-language legitimates male power; her claim that if God is male then male is God attacks the symbolic structure of Christianity.
- Daly links patriarchal religion with rape culture, genocide and war, and calls for the symbolic castration of God to dismantle male religious power.
- Ruether is reformist rather than post-Christian: she reinterprets Jesus as servant king, challenges warrior-Messiah expectations, and uses Sophia and Gaia imagery to broaden theology.
- Key terms: post-Christian theology abandons traditional Christianity, while reform feminist theology seeks to transform it from within.
- Thealogy studies the divine through goddess language, while Sophia language offers a female wisdom tradition within scripture.
- Daly argues that Christianity's male God-language reinforces patriarchy; Ruether argues Christian language can be reformed through anti-patriarchal biblical strands.
- AO2 essays should distinguish abandoning Christianity from reforming its language, symbols and institutions.
- Daly's critique of sexual caste argues that patriarchy is maintained through social conditioning from birth.
- Daly's phallic morality criticises aggression, domination and subjugation as values praised within patriarchal cultures.
- Ruether remains within Christianity and argues for reform, female ordination and renewed God-language rather than abandoning the tradition.
- The maleness of Jesus can be a stumbling block for women, but feminist theologians can also read Jesus as a dangerous memory of liberation.
- The revision notes strengthen the Ruether and Daly comparison: reforming Christian symbols from within versus transvaluing beyond patriarchal God-language.
- Ruether argues that Christianity contains gender-inclusive roots even though later structures often became patriarchal.
- Daly argues that patriarchal God-language sustains male power and needs radical rejection.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Mary Daly: A radical post-Christian feminist who argues patriarchal God-language sustains women’s oppression.
- Rosemary Radford Ruether: A reform feminist theologian who seeks liberating resources within Christianity.
- Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza: Reads scripture by recovering women’s suppressed voices and challenging patriarchal interpretation.
- Simon Chan: Critiques feminist rewriting by arguing Christian narrative and Father-language cannot simply be replaced without loss.
- Mary Daly - post-Christian theology: Christianity is so dependent on male language and patriarchy that feminists should move beyond it.
- Ruether - reform theology: Christian tradition contains anti-patriarchal resources and should reform God-language rather than abandon Christianity.
- Sophia tradition: Wisdom language offers biblical resources for speaking about God in female imagery.
- Mary Daly - sexual caste: Patriarchal systems persist through conditioning by family, education, media, religion and social roles.
- Mary Daly - phallic morality: Patriarchal religion can praise domination and aggression while presenting them as moral order.
- Ruether - God/ess language: Parental God-symbols should include mother as well as father.
- Ruether - Sophia: Female Wisdom imagery offers biblical resources for reforming Christian God-talk.
- Dorothee Soelle: Jesus can function as a dangerous memory that inspires liberation rather than simply a male symbol of authority.
- Ruether: if Christ is the liberator, Christology should challenge sexism rather than reinforce it.
- Ruether: the wisdom tradition and Trinity can support inclusive theology.
- Daly: 'If God is male, then male is God' summarises the political danger of male God-language.
- Fiorenza: recovering women leaders such as Priscilla, Apphia and Phoebe gives women historical power.
- Halkes: women should bring care into public life while men surrender entitlement.
Evaluation notes
- Feminism exposes real harm: It challenges exclusion, male-only images of God and patriarchal readings of scripture.
- Daly may leave Christianity behind: If traditional symbols are rejected wholesale, her theology may become post-Christian rather than Christian reform.
- Ruether preserves Christian resources: Jesus as servant king can challenge domination from within the tradition.
- Revision may distort doctrine: Critics argue Sophia or Gaia language risks reshaping Christianity around modern concerns.
- Daly exposes patriarchal language: Calling God Father can reinforce male authority and social hierarchy.
- Daly may abandon too much: Leaving Christianity may lose the reforming resources inside scripture and tradition.
- Ruether keeps continuity: Reform theology can challenge sexism while remaining recognisably Christian.
- Reform may be too slow: If institutions remain male-led, language reform may not change lived power.
- Daly is radically critical: She exposes how deeply patriarchy can be built into religious language and institutions.
- Daly may make reform impossible: If Christianity is wholly patriarchal, there is little room for biblical resources that challenge sexism.
- Ruether is constructive: She keeps continuity with Christianity while challenging male-only language and authority.
- Maleness of Jesus is ambiguous: It can reinforce male symbolism, but Jesus' liberating practice can also challenge patriarchy.
- Ruether is more usable inside Christianity, but critics say she is selective with Scripture.:
- Daly is radical and exposes power, but can become elitist and alienate those she might persuade.:
- A strong essay evaluates whether male language for God is symbolic, harmful or both.:
Revision checklist
- Explain Daly’s God-language critique
- Explain the unholy trinity of rape, genocide and war
- Explain Ruether’s servant king Christology
- Use Sophia or Gaia
- Use Simon Chan as critique
- Evaluate whether Christianity is essentially sexist
- Define post-Christian theology, reform theology, thealogy and Sophia
- Compare Daly and Ruether directly
- Use male God-language as the central AO2 issue
- Evaluate whether Christianity should be abandoned or reformed
- Define sexual caste and phallic morality
- Use Ruether's God/ess and Sophia language
- Discuss the maleness of Jesus as an AO2 issue
- Compare Daly's rejection with Ruether's reform
2 past-paper essay titles
- Assess the view that Mary Daly’s theology proves that Christianity is sexist.
- Assess the view that Rosemary Radford Ruether’s theology offers a satisfactory solution to the issue of God and sexism in Christian thought.
Secularism, secularisation, procedural and programmatic models, Freud, Dawkins, McGrath, Grace Davie and Christianity in public life.
Secularism can mean keeping religion out of government, refusing privilege to any one religion, or claiming that public life should be organised without religious authority. Secularisation describes the decline or removal of religion from social life; British data is often used to discuss falling affiliation and church attendance. Procedural secularism aims for fair public space for all citizens, while programmatic secularism actively seeks to marginalise religion from public life. Christian responses ask whether spiritual values are merely human values, whether Christianity causes social harm, and whether secularism is a threat or an opportunity.
The Challenge of SecularismDevelopments in Christian ThoughtJose CasanovaRowan WilliamsGrace DavieFreudDawkins
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Secularism can mean keeping religion out of government, refusing privilege to any one religion, or claiming that public life should be organised without religious authority.
- Secularisation describes the decline or removal of religion from social life; British data is often used to discuss falling affiliation and church attendance.
- Procedural secularism aims for fair public space for all citizens, while programmatic secularism actively seeks to marginalise religion from public life.
- Christian responses ask whether spiritual values are merely human values, whether Christianity causes social harm, and whether secularism is a threat or an opportunity.
- The notes distinguishes secularism from secularisation: secularism concerns religion's public role, while secularisation predicts decline in religious belief and authority.
- Secularism may mean state neutrality, separation of religion and government, or criticism of religious influence in education, science, sexuality and public ethics.
- Freud's wish-fulfilment critique treats religion as infantile projection, while Dawkins attacks religion as irrational and socially harmful.
- AO2 answers should avoid saying Christianity has one simple impact: actions, institutions and ideas may have different effects.
- secularism questions can target public life directly: whether Christianity should play any role in education, politics, law or public moral debate.
- The strongest answer separates Christianity as doctrine, Christianity as institution, and the actions of individual Christians.
- Dawkins-style critiques focus on religion causing conflict or irrationality, while Christian responses stress charity, justice, education and social reform.
- Freud's claim that society would be happier without Christianity should be tested against both psychological critique and Christianity's social contributions.
- The revision notes add Freud and Dawkins as contrasting secular critiques: psychological illusion and scientific-atheist explanation.
- Secularism can be evaluated both as a social condition and as an intellectual challenge to religious authority.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Jose Casanova: Distinguishes different meanings of secularisation, including decline of belief, privatisation and differentiation.
- Rowan Williams: Favours procedural secularism as the state making room for diverse convictions rather than excluding religion.
- Grace Davie: Believing without belonging describes continued religious belief without institutional affiliation.
- Freud: Religion can be an illusion rooted in wish fulfilment and psychological need.
- Dawkins: Religion is criticised as false, socially harmful and intellectually unnecessary.
- Alister McGrath: Challenges Dawkins by arguing religion can be a transformative force for good.
- Bonhoeffer - religionless Christianity: Christianity may need to speak to a world come of age rather than rely on old religious privilege.
- British Humanist Association: A secular state should not privilege religion in areas such as education and public funding.
- Dawkins on religion and conflict: Religion can be attacked as irrational and socially divisive.
- Freud on unhappiness: Religion may be read as wish-fulfilment that keeps humanity psychologically immature.
- Anti-Dawkins response: Conflict may be caused by politics, power and identity rather than religion alone.
- Public Christianity: Christian social action, schools, charities and moral campaigns complicate the claim that Christianity should be private only.
- Freud: religion can be understood as wish-fulfilment and a projection of human need.
- Dawkins: religion is challenged by evolutionary explanation and by criticism of faith as irrational.
- Tillich-style existential theology can reply that religion addresses ultimate concern rather than childish illusion.:
Evaluation notes
- Procedural secularism can protect freedom: It allows religious and non-religious citizens to share public life.
- Programmatic secularism can become hostile: It may treat religious voices as irrational or illegitimate.
- Secularisation challenges churches: Declining affiliation forces Christianity to rethink mission and public relevance.
- Secular values may have Christian roots: Some argue equality and dignity in Britain are historically shaped by Christian ideas.
- Secularism protects equality: No one religion is given unfair public power over citizens who do not share it.
- Secularism can become anti-religious: Removing religion from public life may silence communities and ignore religion's social contributions.
- Christianity can harm society: Critics point to sexism, conflict, homophobia, anti-science attitudes or social control.
- Christianity can benefit society: Education, charities, aid work and justice movements complicate the claim that Christianity is mainly harmful.
- No public role protects neutrality: A plural society should not give one religion authority over everyone.
- No public role is too restrictive: Religious citizens and institutions can contribute to public goods.
- Religion can cause harm: Secular critics point to conflict, exclusion and resistance to modern values.
- Religion can challenge harm: Christianity has also motivated reform, charity and solidarity with vulnerable people.
- Freud explains why religion comforts, but comfort does not prove falsehood.:
- Dawkins is strong against crude supernaturalism, but can underestimate symbolic, existential and communal religion.:
Revision checklist
- Define secularism and secularisation
- Explain procedural and programmatic secularism
- Use Freud and Dawkins
- Use Grace Davie or Casanova
- Explain Christian responses
- Evaluate whether secularism threatens Christianity
- Define secularism, secularisation and secular
- Use Freud and Dawkins as different challenges
- Consider education, science, gender, sexuality and social action
- Separate Christian ideas, institutions and individual Christians in evaluation
- Separate public life, private belief and institutional power
- Use Freud and Dawkins as different secular challenges
- Prepare arguments for and against Christianity in public life
- Avoid treating Christianity as one single social actor
2 past-paper essay titles
- Secularists who say that Christianity is a source of unhappiness are wrong. Discuss.
- ‘Secularism does not pose a threat to Christianity.’ Discuss
Natural theology, revealed theology, faith, reason, revelation and whether humans can know God through the world or only through God's disclosure.
Faith is commitment without complete evidence; empiricism depends on the senses; natural theology uses reason and observation to infer truths about God. Revelation means God uncovering himself: immediate revelation is direct, while mediate revelation is indirect through creation, scripture, people or events. Aquinas and natural theology argue that reason is God-given and can point towards God through order, cause, purpose and beauty. Revealed theology argues that sin and human limitation mean God can only be known when God chooses to disclose himself.
Knowledge of God's ExistenceDevelopments in Christian ThoughtAquinasCalvinBarthKierkegaardDawkins
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Faith is commitment without complete evidence; empiricism depends on the senses; natural theology uses reason and observation to infer truths about God.
- Revelation means God uncovering himself: immediate revelation is direct, while mediate revelation is indirect through creation, scripture, people or events.
- Aquinas and natural theology argue that reason is God-given and can point towards God through order, cause, purpose and beauty.
- Revealed theology argues that sin and human limitation mean God can only be known when God chooses to disclose himself.
- The AO2 tension is whether reason and revelation cooperate, or whether faith requires a leap beyond rational proof.
- the Barth-Brunner debate is a key way to frame natural theology: Brunner defends a legitimate natural theology grounded in creation, while Barth rejects continuity between creator and creation.
- Brunner uses imago Dei to argue that even sinful humans retain some capacity to recognise God in nature and history.
- Barth attacks analogia entis because he thinks humans cannot infer God from creation without God's self-revelation.
- Natural theology can look for God in three places: human reason, the ordering of the world, and the beauty of the world.
- Revelation can be propositional, but class notes material also stresses revelation as presence and relationship rather than just information.
- The revision notes frame this topic through reason, faith and innate knowledge: Christians may know God through rational reflection, revelation, grace or built-in awareness.
- Human reason is valuable in natural theology, but can be criticised as limited or fallen.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Aquinas: The Five Ways show the rationality of belief and suggest that human reason can lead towards knowledge of God.
- Calvin: Sensus divinitatis is an innate sense of God; creation is a mirror or theatre for God's glory.
- Barth: Human reason is fallible and arrogant if it claims access to God; God is known through revelation in Christ.
- Kierkegaard: Faith is a willed leap made despite uncertainty, fear and doubt.
- Dawkins: Faith can be criticised as discouraging proper evidence-based thinking.
- Emil Brunner: Argues for a legitimate natural theology because humans remain made in the image of God.
- Karl Barth against analogia entis: Rejects natural continuity between creator and creation; God is known through revelation.
- William Temple: Revelation is not only information about God but encounter with God's presence.
- Martin Buber influence: Brunner's view of revelation can be read relationally: God is encountered as Thou, not treated as an object.
- Alister McGrath: Science and theology can offer different but interacting narratives about reality and creation.
- Aquinas supports using reason to discover truths about God from creation.:
- Calvin is associated with a sensus divinitatis, an innate awareness of God.:
- Barth resists natural theology by stressing revelation in Christ.:
Evaluation notes
- Reason is a gift: If God created human reason, it makes sense that reason can be used to learn about God.
- Reason is corrupted: Original sin and human pride may distort attempts to know God through reason alone.
- Revelation protects transcendence: It avoids reducing God to what humans can prove or control.
- Revelation needs testing: If people make conflicting claims about revelation, reason may be needed to judge them.
- Brunner keeps creation meaningful: If humans are imago Dei, creation and conscience can still point towards God.
- Barth protects transcendence: Natural theology may turn God into a projection of human reason.
- Reason, order and beauty support natural theology: The created world can be read as intelligible, ordered and aesthetically suggestive of God.
- Revelation as relationship: Knowing God may be more like personal encounter than collecting propositions.
- Reason makes faith publicly discussable, but may never reach the personal God of worship.:
- Faith preserves dependence on grace, but can look fideistic if detached from evidence.:
- Innate knowledge explains widespread religion, but can be reinterpreted psychologically or culturally.:
Revision checklist
- Define faith, empiricism, natural theology and revelation
- Explain mediate and immediate revelation
- Use Aquinas and Calvin for natural knowledge of God
- Use Barth, Augustine or Kierkegaard against overconfidence in reason
- Evaluate whether faith is irrational or a different kind of knowing
- Explain the Barth-Brunner debate
- Define analogia entis and imago Dei
- Use reason, order and beauty as natural theology routes
- Compare revelation as information with revelation as presence
5 past-paper essay titles
- To what extent is faith the only means of knowing God
- ‘Humans have an innate knowledge of God.’ Discuss.
- Examine the claim that human knowledge of God’s existence is innate
- Evaluate the view that God cannot be known from creation
- True knowledge of God is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.’ Discuss.
Bible, Church tradition, sacred tradition and agape as sources of Christian moral authority.
The notes frames this unit around competing moral authorities: scripture, Church tradition, sacred tradition and agape love. Sola scriptura treats the Bible as supreme and self-authenticating, but interpretation is difficult because genre, context and tradition shape meaning. Prima scriptura gives the Bible priority while reading it through Church tradition, reason, worship and community practice. Sacred Tradition in Catholic thought links scripture with the apostolic teaching authority of councils, bishops and the Pope.
Christian Moral PrinciplesDevelopments in Christian ThoughtRichard MouwWilliam SpohnHaysFletcher and RobinsonMacquarrie
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- The notes frames this unit around competing moral authorities: scripture, Church tradition, sacred tradition and agape love.
- Sola scriptura treats the Bible as supreme and self-authenticating, but interpretation is difficult because genre, context and tradition shape meaning.
- Prima scriptura gives the Bible priority while reading it through Church tradition, reason, worship and community practice.
- Sacred Tradition in Catholic thought links scripture with the apostolic teaching authority of councils, bishops and the Pope.
- Agape offers a love-centred source of ethics, but it can become vague unless connected to commandments, wisdom and community.
- Christian moral principles can be framed as a tension between reason, Bible, Church authority and agape.
- A useful exam move is to ask whether Christian ethics involves more than simply the concept of agape.
- If love is the only source, Christian ethics becomes flexible; if Bible or Church tradition dominates, it becomes more stable but potentially less responsive.
- Autonomous ethics raises the question of whether reason can have more authority than the Bible for Christian decision-making.
- The revision notes set up theonomy, heteronomy and autonomy as rival accounts of Christian moral authority.
- Theonomy grounds morality in God's law; heteronomy receives moral direction from external authority; autonomy stresses responsible self-legislation.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Richard Mouw: Biblical ethics includes commandments, narratives and parallels between biblical history and present issues.
- William Spohn: Scripture is interpreted within Christian communities and traditions, not in isolation.
- Hays: The Bible cannot be read in a vacuum because Church practice shapes interpretation.
- Fletcher and Robinson: Agape can become the central Christian norm for moral decision-making.
- Macquarrie: Situation ethics can become incurably individualistic if love is detached from stable guidance.
- Fletcher: Agape-centred ethics can challenge rigid legalism by making love the controlling norm.
- Church tradition: Gives communal continuity and protects against purely private interpretation.
- Bible-centred ethics: Claims moral authority from scripture but must still handle interpretation and context.
- Aquinas can support a reasoned theonomy because divine law and natural law are connected.:
- Kant supports autonomy as rational self-legislation, though not specifically Christian.:
- Barth gives priority to God's command over independent moral systems.:
Evaluation notes
- Bible gives authority: Scripture anchors Christian ethics in revelation rather than changing opinion.
- Bible needs interpretation: Different genres, contexts and apparent conflicts mean scripture is rarely self-explanatory.
- Tradition gives continuity: Church teaching links modern decisions to apostolic faith and communal wisdom.
- Tradition can preserve injustice: Feminist critics argue that Church tradition has often been shaped by male experience and authority.
- Agape centres Jesus' teaching: Love of God and neighbour captures the heart of Christian ethics.
- Agape can be too vague: People disagree about what love requires in disputed issues such as abortion or sexuality.
- Agape is central: It captures Jesus' emphasis on love of God and neighbour.
- Agape alone is under-specified: Different Christians disagree about what love requires in concrete moral cases.
- Reason can clarify ethics: Reason helps apply scripture to new issues and resolve conflicts.
- Reason can overrule revelation: If reason becomes final authority, Christian ethics may become autonomous rather than Christian.
- Theonomy protects obedience to God, but can look authoritarian.:
- Autonomy respects mature moral agency, but may drift from Christian revelation.:
- A strong essay asks whether Christian morality needs both command and conscience.:
Revision checklist
- Define sola scriptura, prima scriptura and sacred tradition
- Explain Bible, Church tradition and agape as moral sources
- Use examples of biblical interpretation and conflicting commands
- Evaluate whether love alone is sufficient for Christian ethics
- Compare Protestant and Catholic approaches to authority
- Compare Bible, reason, Church authority and agape
- Ask whether agape is sufficient or needs interpretation
- Prepare the 2025-style reason versus Bible question
3 past-paper essay titles
- ‘The most important source for Christian ethics is Church teaching.’ Discuss.(30)
- Assess the view that Christians should obey moral commands from the Bible and nowhere else.
- Assess the claim that love (agape) is sufficient as the only source of Christian ethics.
Bonhoeffer, costly grace, discipleship, solidarity, suffering and Christian responsibility in public life.
Discipleship means following the life, example and teaching of Jesus rather than treating faith as private belief only. Cheap grace is grace received without obedience or transformation; costly grace requires sacrifice, discipline and action. Bonhoeffer's context matters: the Confessing Church, Finkenwalde, Nazi Germany and the danger of comfortable institutional Christianity. Solidarity means standing with those who suffer; for Bonhoeffer, Christian action may require public resistance rather than passive piety.
Christian Moral ActionDevelopments in Christian ThoughtDietrich BonhoefferFinkenwaldeConfessing ChurchBonhoeffer - one realmBonhoeffer on God's will
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- Discipleship means following the life, example and teaching of Jesus rather than treating faith as private belief only.
- Cheap grace is grace received without obedience or transformation; costly grace requires sacrifice, discipline and action.
- Bonhoeffer's context matters: the Confessing Church, Finkenwalde, Nazi Germany and the danger of comfortable institutional Christianity.
- Solidarity means standing with those who suffer; for Bonhoeffer, Christian action may require public resistance rather than passive piety.
- The AO2 tension is whether Bonhoeffer remains relevant today or whether his emphasis on suffering reflects an extreme historical situation.
- Bonhoeffer rejects splitting life into private Christian obedience and public submission to the state; Christian life must be one integrated whole.
- For Bonhoeffer, God's will may become clear in the moment of responsible action, so no general rule can remove individual responsibility.
- Civil disobedience becomes possible when the state contradicts God's command and no longer serves the common good.
- Responsible action may involve taking on guilt for the sake of others, rather than preserving personal moral purity.
- The revision notes use Bonhoeffer to examine duty to the state, costly discipleship and responsible action under injustice.
- Bonhoeffer's context makes moral action concrete: ethics is not abstract rule-following but responsible obedience in history.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Costly grace demands obedience, discipleship and willingness to suffer for Christ.
- Finkenwalde: The illegal seminary embodied disciplined Christian community against Nazi-controlled church structures.
- Confessing Church: Christian moral action can require resistance when the state or church compromises with evil.
- Bonhoeffer - one realm: The Christian life is not divided into private faith and public obedience; all life is under God's command.
- Bonhoeffer on God's will: The nature of God's will becomes clear in action, not by abstract rules alone.
- John Dear on Jesus: Jesus' public actions can be read as nonviolent disruption of unjust religious and social patterns.
- Pope Francis contrast: The Joy of the Gospel can be used to challenge an overemphasis on suffering with Christian joy and evangelisation.
- Bonhoeffer: cheap grace avoids costly discipleship.
- Bonhoeffer: Christians may have to act responsibly against the state when the state violates justice.
Evaluation notes
- Still relevant: Costly grace challenges comfortable Christianity and calls believers to action against injustice.
- Too focused on suffering: Bonhoeffer's context may overstate suffering and underplay joy, resurrection and ordinary Christian life.
- Supports civil disobedience: Obedience to Christ may justify resisting unjust states.
- Risk of extremism: If every believer claims divine authority against the state, moral action can become unstable.
- Civil disobedience can be Christian: Higher obedience to God can justify refusing unjust state demands.
- Civil disobedience needs limits: Normally the state promotes order and common good, so disobedience requires serious justification.
- Integrated life is strong: Bonhoeffer exposes the danger of keeping faith private while public injustice continues.
- Suffering may be overemphasised: His Nazi context can make costly grace look more central than joy, resurrection or ordinary discipleship.
- Bonhoeffer is powerful because he lived the dilemma he analysed, but applying his extreme context to ordinary politics requires care.:
- A strong essay weighs obedience, resistance and responsibility rather than treating duty to the state as simple.:
Revision checklist
- Define discipleship, cheap grace, costly grace and solidarity
- Use Bonhoeffer's Nazi context and Finkenwalde
- Explain why grace requires obedience and transformation
- Evaluate whether suffering is central or overemphasised
- Apply Bonhoeffer to modern Christian public ethics
- Define one realm and integrated Christian life
- Explain responsible action and taking guilt for others
- Evaluate whether civil disobedience is justified only in extreme cases
- Contrast costly grace with the joy of the Gospel
5 past-paper essay titles
- To what extent was Dietrich Bonhoeffer justified in his teaching on civil disobedience?
- ‘Bonhoeffer’s theology is still relevant today.’ Discuss
- Assess the view that Bonhoeffer’s theology puts too much emphasis on suffering
- Assess the view that Bonhoeffer’s community at Finkenwalde is a useful example for Christian communities
- Evaluate Bonhoeffer’s views on a Christian’s duty to the State.
Christian and secular debates about feminism, gender roles, family, socialisation, patriarchy and equality.
The notes defines feminism broadly as work for equality for women, and distinguishes gender biology, identification, expression and socialisation. Traditional Christian arguments often appeal to complementarity, motherhood, Genesis and Paul's household teaching. Secular and feminist responses challenge patriarchy, restricted roles, lack of reproductive freedom and assumptions that gender is simply fixed by biology. AO2 essays should separate dignity and equality from the question of whether different roles are natural, social or theologically imposed.
Gender and SocietyDevelopments in Christian ThoughtMulieris DignitatemSimone de BeauvoirAnn OakleyMary DalyJohn Paul II - feminine genius
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- The notes defines feminism broadly as work for equality for women, and distinguishes gender biology, identification, expression and socialisation.
- Traditional Christian arguments often appeal to complementarity, motherhood, Genesis and Paul's household teaching.
- Secular and feminist responses challenge patriarchy, restricted roles, lack of reproductive freedom and assumptions that gender is simply fixed by biology.
- AO2 essays should separate dignity and equality from the question of whether different roles are natural, social or theologically imposed.
- complementarianism is the 'different yet equal' position: men and women have different roles but equal value.
- Mulieris Dignitatem and Evangelium Vitae can be used to support the feminine genius and the dignity of motherhood.
- Bioessentialism supports complementarianism by linking gender roles to biological function, but critics argue this turns biology into restriction.
- Galatians can be used against hierarchy: in Christ there is neither male nor female.
- The revision notes add a contrast between conservative Protestant, liberal Protestant, Roman Catholic and feminist responses to changing gender roles.
- Conservative responses often affirm equality but difference through orders of creation.
- Liberal responses stress covenant, mutuality and the possibility that gender roles are socially constructed.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Mulieris Dignitatem: John Paul II presents men and women as equal in dignity but different and complementary in vocation.
- Simone de Beauvoir: Motherhood and social expectations can restrict women and crush individual self-development.
- Ann Oakley: Gender roles are shaped by socialisation and can leave women powerless or restricted.
- Mary Daly: Traditional Christian gender roles can be criticised as biblical patriarchy serving male dominance.
- John Paul II - feminine genius: Women have distinctive gifts and dignity, especially linked to care, motherhood and moral insight.
- Bioessentialism: Supports complementarianism by grounding some roles in biological difference.
- Ruether against complementarianism: Warns that appeals to difference can excuse exclusion and preserve male authority.
- Galatians 3:28: Can be used to challenge fixed gender hierarchy within Christianity.
- Kathy Rudy summarises conservative Protestant concern that feminism destabilises traditional family roles.:
- Foucault is used by some liberal Protestants to question fixed gender and sexuality categories.:
- Mulieris Dignitatem affirms equal dignity but maintains distinctive male and female roles.:
Evaluation notes
- Complementarity protects dignity: It values motherhood, family and difference rather than treating equality as sameness.
- Complementarity can restrict women: It can turn social expectations into divine commands and limit women's autonomy.
- Genesis supports equality: Men and women are both made in the image of God.
- Genesis and Paul can support hierarchy: Creation order and household codes have been used to defend male headship.
- Different yet equal is attractive: It values women without requiring sameness.
- Different yet equal can mask inequality: If only men hold authority, equal dignity may not translate into equal power.
- Motherhood can be honoured: Christian teaching can treat childbearing and family care as gifts.
- Motherhood can be restrictive: Defining women through motherhood can narrow vocation and autonomy.
- Equality and complementarity can work together in theory, but in practice complementarity can preserve male authority.:
- Feminist critiques expose written-out women, but traditionalists argue that role difference need not mean inferiority.:
Revision checklist
- Define feminism, socialisation, patriarchy and gender expression
- Use Genesis, Paul and Mulieris Dignitatem
- Explain secular feminist criticisms of motherhood and gender roles
- Evaluate complementarity against equality and autonomy
- Define complementarianism and bioessentialism
- Use Mulieris Dignitatem and Evangelium Vitae
- Use Galatians 3:28 and Genesis 1:27 against hierarchy
- Evaluate whether difference becomes restriction
3 past-paper essay titles
- Assess whether Christianity and feminism are compatible.
- ‘For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is head of the church.’ (Ephesians 5:23)Critically assess this teaching for 21st century family life.
- ‘Christians must challenge secular views of gender roles.’ Discuss.
Liberation theology, Marxism, alienation, exploitation, structural sin and the preferential option for the poor.
The notes defines exploitation, alienation, capitalism, conscientisation, basic Christian communities, structural sin and the preferential option for the poor. Marxism explains social suffering through class, ownership, alienation and false consciousness; liberation theology reads poverty through sin, oppression and Gospel solidarity. Conscientisation means becoming aware of oppressive power structures so that people can act to transform them. Basic Christian communities connect scripture, prayer and local political action among the poor.
Liberation Theology and MarxDevelopments in Christian ThoughtKarl MarxGustavo GutierrezBoffMirandaJohn Paul II
Full searchable notes, scholars and evaluation points
Notes
- The notes defines exploitation, alienation, capitalism, conscientisation, basic Christian communities, structural sin and the preferential option for the poor.
- Marxism explains social suffering through class, ownership, alienation and false consciousness; liberation theology reads poverty through sin, oppression and Gospel solidarity.
- Conscientisation means becoming aware of oppressive power structures so that people can act to transform them.
- Basic Christian communities connect scripture, prayer and local political action among the poor.
- AO2 essays should compare Christianity and Marxism side by side, not as two separate mini-essays.
- South American liberation theology uses Marx mainly as economic analysis, while Jesus remains the central authority.
- Some liberation theologians compare Marx to Old Testament prophets because both expose wealthy oppression and structural injustice.
- Orthopraxis means right action comes before abstract orthodoxy: theology begins from doing justice among the poor.
- The South American context matters: poverty, political oppression and Catholic communities shaped the movement before it was criticised by the Magisterium.
- The revision notes sharpen liberation theology as contextual theology: praxis and material justice are prioritised over abstract doctrine.
- Preferential option for the poor is linked to biblical concern for the oppressed and to social analysis influenced by Marx.
- Essay use: connect the belief to Scripture, doctrine, modern context and a clear judgement about how far the view remains convincing.
- In essays, use this topic by moving from accurate explanation into a clear judgement about why the argument, belief or theory is convincing, limited or useful.
Scholars, sources and key terms
- Karl Marx: Capitalism concentrates wealth and power, alienates workers and allows exploitation by those who own production.
- Gustavo Gutierrez: Theology should begin from the suffering of the poor and God's preferential option for them.
- Boff: Structural sin means injustice can be built into institutions and social systems.
- Miranda: Biblical faith can be read as a demand for justice against oppressive economic structures.
- John Paul II: The Church can affirm concern for the poor while warning against reducing Christianity to Marxist politics.
- Marx - change the world: The point is not only to interpret reality but to transform it.
- Liberation theologians on Marx: Marx supplies tools for analysing class, alienation and exploitation, not a replacement saviour.
- Old Testament prophets: Provide biblical precedent for condemning wealth, injustice and oppression.
- Magisterium criticism: The Catholic hierarchy worried that liberation theology could become too dependent on Marxist politics.
- Gutierrez: in Latin America the Church must take a clear position against social injustice.
- Ratzinger: liberation theology risks reducing salvation to class struggle.
- Kloppenburg: liberation theology can equate politics with the gospel and overemphasise structural sin.
- Jose Miranda: biblical teaching supports the claim that the world belongs to all, not to a few as private possession.
- John Paul II: wealth does not protect people from spiritual poverty.
Evaluation notes
- Marxism gives structural analysis: It explains poverty through systems of ownership, exploitation and alienation.
- Marxism can reduce religion: If religion is only ideology, it misses faith, grace, worship and spiritual hope.
- Liberation theology makes faith practical: It connects Gospel claims with poverty, injustice and concrete action.
- Liberation theology risks politicising Christianity: Critics argue it can turn salvation into social revolution and underplay sin and redemption.
- Marx is a tool, not the source: Liberation theology can use economic analysis while keeping Jesus central.
- Orthopraxis is powerful: It prevents theology from becoming abstract while poor communities suffer.
- Orthopraxis can shrink doctrine: If action comes first, salvation, worship and spiritual transformation may be underplayed.
- Context strengthens the movement: It speaks from real oppression rather than detached theory.
- Context may limit it: A theology born in South America may not transfer simply to every Christian setting.
- Liberation theology makes Christianity socially urgent, but risks making salvation too political.:
- Marxist analysis can expose oppression, but may conflict with Christian views of sin, grace and spiritual liberation.:
- A strong essay weighs whether the poor are treated as a theological priority or as a political symbol.:
Revision checklist
- Define alienation, exploitation and capitalism
- Explain structural sin and preferential option for the poor
- Use conscientisation and basic Christian communities
- Compare Marxism and Christianity directly throughout the essay
- Evaluate whether social liberation is enough for Christian salvation
- Explain Marx as analysis rather than authority
- Define orthopraxis and contrast it with orthodoxy
- Use South American context and Magisterium criticism
- Compare prophets, Jesus and Marx on social change
3 past-paper essay titles
- To what extent is a ‘preferential option for the poor’ fair?
- Critically assess Marx’s teaching on alienation and exploitation.
- Critically assess liberation theology’s engagement with social issues.