RS a level DCT SPEC

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Augustine’s teaching on human nature

human relationships pre- and post-fall: Augustine’s interpretation of Genesis 3 including the state of perfection and friendship pre-fall and of lust and selfish desires post-fall

original sin: effects on the will and human societies. passed down through sexual intercourse. the cause of human selfishness and lack of free will, instability and corruption in human societies

God’s grace: only God’ generous love can overcome sin and the rebellious will to achieve summum bonum

death and the afterlife

Christian teachings on : heaven, hell, purgatory including interpretations of these as literal, metaphorical, and symbolic

election: limited, unlimited, and universalist views

the sheep and the goats: Jesus’ parable on final judgement, Matthew 25

knowledge of God’s existence

natural:

innate human sense of the divine - all humans are made in God’s image and therefore have an openness to beauty and goodness as aspects of God and an intellectual ability to reflect on and recognise God

seen in the order of creation - knowledge of God can be seen in the design and order of nature

revealed:

through faith and grace - human’s sinful and finite mind are not sufficient to gain full knowledge of God; knowledge is possible through faith and grace as God’s gift of knowledge through the holy spirit

through Jesus - full and perfect knowledge of God is revealed through the person of Jesus and through the life of the church and the bible

Christian moral principles

the bible as the only authority for Christian ethical practices: reveals God’s will; only biblical ethical commands must be followed

bible, church, and reason as sources for ethical practices: Christian ethics must be a combination

agape as the only Christian ethical principle that governs Christian practice: Jesus’ only command was to love, humans must decide how this is applied

Christian moral action

the teaching and example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on:

duty to God and duty to state - Bonhoeffer’s teaching on relationship between church and state including obedience, leadership, doing God’s will, and justification for civil disobedience

church as community and source of spiritual discipline - Bonhoeffer’s role in confessing churchy and his own religious community in Finklewade

the cost of discipleship - Bonhoeffer’s teaching on ethics as action including costly grace, solidarity, sacrifice and suffering

the challenge of secularism

the rise of secularism and secularisation, and the views that:

God is an illusion and a result of wish fulfilment - the views of Freud and Dawkins that society would be happier without Christianity as it is infantile, repressive, and causes conflict

Christianity should play no part in public life - secular humanist view that Christian belief is personal and should not play a role in public life including schools and education, and government and state

liberation theology and marx

Marx’s teaching on alienation and exploitation: alienation occurs when people are dehumanised and unable to live fulfilling lives; and exploitation occurs when people are treated as objects and means to an end

Liberation theology’s use of Marx to analyse social sin: using Marxist analysis to analyse the deeper or ‘structural’ causes of sin that have resulted in violence, poverty, and injustice including capitalism and institutions

Liberation theology’s ‘preferential option for the poor’: the view that the gospel demands that Christians prioritise the poor and act in solidarity with them, placing orthopraxis before orthodoxy

person of Jesus Christ

son of God - divinity expressed in his knowledge of God, miracles, and resurrection with reference to Mark 6:47-52 and John 9:1-41

teacher of wisdom - moral teaching on repentance, forgiveness, inner purity, and moral motivation with reference to Matthew 5:17-48 and Luke 15:11-32

liberator - liberator of the marginalised and the poor in his challenge to political and religious authority, with reference to Mark:24-34 and Luke 10:25-37

pluralism and theology

exclusivism - only Christianity fully offers the means of salvation

inclusivism - although Christianity is the normative means of salvation, ‘anonymous’ Christians may also be saved

pluralism - there are many ways to salvation, Christianity is only one path

pluralism and society

responses of Christian communities to inter-faith dialogue - Catholic ‘Redemptoris Missio’, CofE ‘Sharing the Gospel of Salvation’

scriptural reasoning movement - methods and aims, how this can help understanding of conflicting religious truth claims

gender and theology

Ruether’s discussion of the maleness of Christ and implications for salvation - Jesus’ challenge of the warrior-messiah expectation, God as the female wisdom principle, Jesus as wisdom incarnate

Daly’s claim that “if God is male then male is God” and its implications for Christianity - ‘unholy trinity’ of rape genocide and war, spirituality experienced through nature

gender and society

Christian teaching on the roles of men and women in the family and society - including reference to Ephesians 5:22-33, and ‘Mulieris Dignitatem’

Christian responses to contemporary secular views on the above - ways in which Christians have adapted to and challenged changing attitudes to family and gender including issues of: motherhood/parenthood, different types of family