Religious Studies GCE A Level

Religious Studies GCE A Level

Qualification: 2 year course

Course type: Level 3 (advanced)

Entry requirements:
4 x GCSE B grades

Head of Department: Mr Glenn Skelhorn

Course assessment:
All units are assessed by written exam. There is, therefore, no coursework requirement for Religious Studies.

What can this course offer me?
Religious Studies offers an exciting, engaging and diverse academic course. The emphasis is on exploring philosophical and ethical ideas from different perspectives.
The two strands of the course, Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, challenge you to consider and evaluate ideas and arguments on a variety of topics and seek justification for your own beliefs.
Religious Studies is a challenging course, which requires skills of essaywriting and abstract, logical thinking to do well. At the same time, it is a dynamic, exciting subject which reaches to the core of who you are and how you should live, offering you the opportunity to critically reflect upon your own world-view.
In broadening your understanding and refining your skills of analysis and evaluation, you can become a better thinker, making more informed and well thought out decisions about what to believe and how to act. The many new (and often radical) ideas to which you will be introduced will inevitably expand your horizons.

What will I learn?
At AS Level you will study:

Unit 1

Philosophy of Religion:

• Philosophical arguments about the existence of God
• The problem of evil and suffering in the world
• Philosophical debates about miracles

Ethics:

• Ethical concepts including utilitarianism and situation ethics
• Ethical dilemmas including war and peace and sexual ethics

Unit 2

Investigations - this unit allows students to research an area of interest within the Philosophy of Religion and is supplemented with teacher-lead sessions.

A study of the French C20 atheist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre . As an 'existentialist', he claimed that, in a godless universe, human beings are completely free and we must create our own values.

At A2, you will continue your study of Phil. of Religion and Ethics in more depth.

What Makes a good Religious Studies student?
Religious Studies at KGV is a course for those who are open-minded and enjoy thinking about and discussing the big questions in life such as 'does God exist?', 'how should I make moral decisions?', and 'is war ever justified?'

Which other courses link well with this subject?
As the sister subject of Philosophy, Religious Studies offers the same high level of compatibility with other subjects. It is also worth noting that, every year, students decide to study both Philosophy and Religious Studies at KGV as there is no overlap in content.

Future Opportunities
Those going into areas such as Medicine, Law, Journalism or Politics find the skills developed in Religious Studies particularly valuable. It will help you to develop skills in written and verbal communication, presenting information, and formulating coherent arguments, all of which are skills to be utilised in any aspect of work or study.

More important still, however, are the wider and deeper aspects of studying the subject - self-fulfilment and social integration.
Is there anything else I need to know?
"There is a desire deep within the soul which drives man from the seen to the unseen, to philosophy and the divine." - Kahlil Gibran