Religious Studies AS/A Level

Religious Studies offers an academic approach to the study of religion and is designed to appeal to students of any religious persuasion, or none. Students will have the opportunity to study aspects of one or more religions, including textual, theological, historical, ethical and philosophical perspectives. It is an excellent subject to combine with any other AS/A Level. The course does not require students to have taken GCSE in the subject.

At AS, there are two units: Religion and Ethics and World Religions (Christianity). In the Religion and Ethics unit, you will study two major philosophical approaches to ethics and how current issues are dealt with by the Christian Churches and other main world religions. The World Religions unit gives you an introductory study into the history of Christianity and overall development as well as central concepts/beliefs and practices. These aspects will be compared and contrasted with Judaism and Islam.

The AS examination consists of two one and a quarter hour papers, with a choice of questions.

In the second year, you will be able to develop your analytical skills and acquire a greater range of knowledge and depth of understanding. There are two units of study, the first being Religion and Ethics, where you will consider the religious and ethical perspectives on some complex contemporary issues such as cloning, genetic engineering, and human relationships. In the second unit Religious Experience you will study the range of occurrences that are described by the term religious experience. We will explore how these experiences have influenced people and lead to the foundation of religious movements and establishment of moral behaviour. Examples for this will be drawn from Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The A2 examination consists of two one and a half hour papers, with a choice of essay questions.