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
Love as the Key Christian Moral Principle
- 3 things to know
- Paper 4
Overview
Recall questions on agape, the commandment to love God and neighbour, the good Samaritan, and how love functions as a moral norm.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Explain what Christians mean by agape.
Key term
Why does the incarnation matter for the Christian account of love?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Why is love treated as the principal Christian value rather than one virtue among many?
Model answer
Because Christians hold it is not simply commanded by God but describes God's own character, so love is the source rather than an item on a list. Jesus summarised the whole law as love of God and love of neighbour, and Paul ranked love above faith and hope and above spiritual gifts. On this account every other value is love taking a particular shape in particular circumstances, which is why Christian ethics resists reduction to a rulebook.
- 2
Explain what Christians mean by agape.
Model answer
Self-giving love directed at the good of the other, given without being earned and without depending on attraction or affection. It is distinguished from eros, which is desiring love, and philia, the love of friends. Agape can be commanded because it is a matter of will and action rather than feeling, which is what makes sense of the instruction to love enemies. Christians see the cross as its defining instance.
- 3
Who counts as a neighbour in Christian teaching?
Model answer
The parable of the Good Samaritan answers the question by reversing it: instead of defining which people qualify, it presents a despised outsider acting as neighbour to a stranger in need, and asks the hearer to do likewise. The effect is to remove ethnic, religious and social limits on obligation. The teaching on loving enemies extends this further, making love owed even where there is no relationship and no prospect of return.
- 4
How is God's love said to be revealed in creation?
Model answer
Christians argue that God had no need to create and gained nothing by it, so the existence of anything at all is a free gift. Creation is therefore read as an act of generosity rather than of necessity or self-interest, and its goodness, order and beauty as signs of the giver's character. This underwrites gratitude as the basic religious attitude, and treats care for other creatures as a response to love rather than mere prudence.
- 5
Why does the incarnation matter for the Christian account of love?
Model answer
Because it shows love as costly participation rather than benevolence at a distance. Christians hold that in Jesus God took on human nature, entered a particular time and place, and shared vulnerability, rejection and death. Love is thereby defined by what God did rather than by human sentiment, and it sets the pattern for discipleship: solidarity with the suffering, willingness to lose status, and readiness to bear cost for others.
- 6
How does the Trinity ground the claim that God is love?
Model answer
If God were a solitary being, love would be something God began to do once creation existed, and God would need the world in order to love. Trinitarian belief holds that Father, Son and Spirit exist eternally in mutual self-giving, so love is what God is rather than something God takes up. It follows that human beings, made in that image, are made for relationship, and that isolation is a deprivation rather than a neutral state.
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