Key term
Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies 9RS0
Philosophy of ReligionPaper
Topic overviewThe Design ArgumentThe Cosmological ArgumentThe Ontological ArgumentThe Nature of Religious ExperienceReligious Experience as an Argument for the Existence of GodThe Problem of Evil and SufferingTheodicies and Solutions to the Problem of SufferingAnalogy and SymbolVerification and FalsificationLanguage GamesCritiques of Religious Belief: Atheism and AgnosticismRussell and CoplestonLife After DeathMind, Body and the Evidence for SurvivalReligion and Science
Religion and EthicsPaper
Topic overviewEnvironmental EthicsEqualityUtilitarianismSituation EthicsNatural Moral LawWar and PeaceSexual EthicsMeta-ethics and Ethical LanguageReligion and MoralityKantian DeontologyAristotelian Virtue EthicsComparing Kant and AristotleMedical Ethics: the Beginning of LifeMedical Ethics: the End of Life
New Testament StudiesPaper
Topic overviewMessianic Prophecy and ExpectationThe World of First-Century PalestineThe Prologue of John's GospelThe Titles of Jesus and the I am SayingsMiracles and Signs in the Fourth GospelThe Synoptic Problem and Biblical CriticismAuthorship and Purpose of the Fourth GospelWays of Interpreting ScriptureThe Kingdom of GodConflict and the Death of JesusThe Crucifixion and Resurrection NarrativesFaith, History and the ResurrectionThe Ethical Teaching of Jesus
BuddhismReligion
Topic overviewThe Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold PathThe Three Marks of Existence and the Five KhandasThe Three Refuges: Buddha, Dhamma and SanghaThe Five PreceptsThe Life of the Buddha and His WorldThe TipitakaTheravada BuddhismMahayana BuddhismMeditation in BuddhismBuddhism in China and Japan: Pure Land and ZenTriratna Buddhism in the WestWomen, Men and the SanghaThe Bodhisattva DoctrineAhimsa and Buddhist Attitudes to ViolenceBuddhism in Contemporary Society
ChristianityReligion
Topic overviewGod as Personal and as CreatorThe TrinityThe Nature of the ChurchLove as the Key Christian Moral PrincipleThe Bible as a Source of AuthorityThe Nature and Role of JesusThe Eucharist and Its DiversityChristian Art, Music and PrayerChristianity and ScienceSecularisationNew Movements in TheologyAtonement TheoryBarth and Hick on AtonementPluralism and DiversityEquality and Gender in Christianity
HinduismReligion
Topic overviewSanatana Dharma, Karma and the Cycle of RebirthBrahman, the Avatars and the GoddessDharma, Ahimsa, the Aims of Life and the GunasThe Origins of Hinduism and Vedic ReligionShruti, Smriti and the Vedic CorpusDebates about Scriptural AuthorityVarnashrama-dharma, Varna and JatiThe Four YogasDebates about YogaColonial Rule, Reform Movements and Key FiguresHindu Renaissance, Nationalism and Hinduism AbroadShankara and Ramanuja: Contexts and Key BeliefsBhakti, the Gita and Assessing the Two SystemsPluralism, Diversity and Hindu MigrationEquality, Caste and Gender in HinduismFeminist and Liberationist Approaches
IslamReligion
Topic overviewThe Six Beliefs of IslamThe Life of the Prophet MuhammadHadith and SunnahThe Qur'an and Shari'ahThe Five PillarsThe UmmahSunni and Shi'a IslamThe Rightly Guided CaliphsThe Martyrdom of Husain and the Rites of MuharramSufismIslam and ScienceJihadIslam and Other ReligionsGender and IslamIslam, Secularisation and the Modern World
JudaismReligion
Topic overviewEthical MonotheismRevelation in the Torah and the TalmudThe Soul, Life After Death and the Purpose of LifeJewish ValuesTenakh: Torah, Nevi'im and KetuvimThe Development of Rabbinic JudaismOrthodox JudaismReform JudaismDiaspora, Secularisation and ScienceZionismThe Holocaust and Jewish TheologyMaimonides and Moses MendelssohnReligious Pluralism and Jewish IdentityGender, Equality and Jewish Feminism
SikhismReligion
Topic overviewWaheguru, the Self and LiberationSikh Thought and its Indic BackgroundSangat, Panth and QaumSikh Moral Principles, Seva and Miri-PiriThe Guru Granth Sahib and Secondary TextsThe Ten GurusThe Singh Sabha Movement and Sikh ReformThe Khalsa, the Five Ks and Nam SimaranThe Sikh Diaspora, Migration and SecularisationDharam Yudh, Social Justice and MartyrdomKhalistan and Sikh Self-DeterminationWomen and the Feminine in Sikh TeachingTwo Ways of Explaining the DivineReligious Freedom, Pluralism and the Bhagat BaniSikh Views of Other Religions and Worldviews
Christianity
God as Personal and as Creator
- 3 things to know
- Paper 4
Overview
Recall questions on God as personal, Buber's two kinds of relation and Augustine, omnipotence and immutability, creation from nothing, emanation, construction and artistic expression, stewardship and the goodness of creation, and the challenges to a good Creator.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Key term
Why does Buber's account make theology about God awkward?
Key term
Explain what is meant by divine omnipotence and where it creates difficulty.
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What do Christians mean when they call God personal?
Model answer
That God is not an impersonal force or principle but a being who knows, wills, loves and can be addressed. Christians hold that God enters into relationship with individuals, hears prayer, and reveals himself by name rather than merely being inferred. Personal language does not mean God is a human being writ large; most theologians treat it as analogy, since God has no body and is not one item among the world's objects.
- 2
How does M Buber's distinction between two kinds of relation help explain a personal God?
Model answer
Buber, a Jewish philosopher whose work Christian theologians took up widely, contrasted I-Thou with I-It. In I-It we treat something as an object to be analysed, used or classified. In I-Thou we meet another whole being in mutual presence, without reducing them to a function. Buber argued that God is the Eternal Thou who can never be turned into an It, and that every genuine I-Thou meeting is a glimpse of that ultimate relation.
- 3
Why does Buber's account make theology about God awkward?
Model answer
Because the moment God becomes a topic to be described, measured or proved, God has been shifted into the It column. Buber's point is that God is known in encounter, in address and response, not by assembling propositions. Christians who use him tend to say doctrine is a servant of relationship, mapping the encounter afterwards rather than replacing it. Critics reply that without some cognitive content there is no way to tell a genuine encounter from a mood.
- 4
Contrast what Buber and Augustine each contribute to belief in God.
Model answer
Buber works from the side of encounter: God is the Eternal Thou, known in address and relation, and reduced to an idol the moment he is treated as an object of analysis. Augustine works from the side of God's nature and God's act: God is the unchanging source who creates freely out of nothing, whose creation is good, and in whom evil has no positive existence. One secures that God can be met, the other that God is worth meeting; Christians who use both argue that relationship without doctrine drifts and doctrine without relationship dies.
- 5
Explain what is meant by divine omnipotence and where it creates difficulty.
Model answer
Omnipotence is the claim that God's power is unlimited. Most Christian thinkers qualify it: God cannot do the logically incoherent, and cannot act against his own nature by lying or willing evil. Difficulties follow. If God can do anything, why is there so much suffering? And if human beings are genuinely free, has God limited his own power? Some theologians answer that God freely restrains his power out of love, which keeps the relationship real.
- 6
What is immutability, and why do some Christians find it hard to reconcile with a personal God?
Model answer
Immutability is the doctrine that God does not change in nature, character, will or purpose. Classical theists such as Augustine held that change means either improvement or decline, and a perfect being can do neither. The tension is obvious: a God who responds to prayer, is moved by suffering, or becomes incarnate looks like a God who changes. Defenders answer that God's constancy is exactly what makes his responses trustworthy; the change is in the creature's situation, not in God's steady love.
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