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
New Testament Studies
The Kingdom of God
- 3 things to know
- Paper 3
Overview
Recall questions on the kingdom of God as present and future in Luke, the parables and the great banquet, realised eschatology, Schweitzer's interim ethic, Marshall on Luke's kingdom, and whether the two strands can be reconciled.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Key term
How do the parables in Luke teach about the kingdom?
Key term
What does the great banquet parable say about who belongs?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What does the phrase kingdom of God refer to?
Model answer
Primarily God's active rule or reign rather than a territory. To speak of the kingdom coming is to speak of God exercising sovereignty decisively, putting right what is wrong and gathering a people. The phrase carries both a present sense, in which God's rule is already being exercised, and a future sense, in which it will be established openly and completely.
- 2
How does Luke present the kingdom as already present?
Model answer
Jesus opens his ministry by announcing that a prophetic promise is fulfilled in the hearing of those present, he says that his casting out of demons shows that God's rule has arrived among them, and he tells enquirers that the kingdom is not something to be spotted by watching for signs because it is already in their midst. In Luke the exorcisms and healings are not previews but instalments.
- 3
Where does Luke keep a genuinely future expectation?
Model answer
In the material about the coming of the Son of Man, in the warning that the day will arrive suddenly and find people occupied with ordinary business, in the imagery of a shut door and of those who arrive too late, and in the picture of people coming from every direction to recline at the banquet. Luke also has Jesus correct the assumption that the kingdom is about to appear immediately.
- 4
How do the parables in Luke teach about the kingdom?
Model answer
The sower accounts for the uneven reception of the message and locates responsibility in the kind of hearing it meets. The narrow door and the great banquet both turn on unexpected exclusion and unexpected inclusion. Alongside the parables, the encounter with the rich ruler shows possessions functioning as a barrier to entry. The parable of the nobleman and the entrusted sums addresses the delay before the kingdom's public arrival and what is expected in the meantime.
- 5
What does the great banquet parable say about who belongs?
Model answer
The invited guests excuse themselves over property, business and family, and the host fills the room with the poor, the disabled and those found on the roads outside. Luke uses it to make two points at once: that preoccupation with ordinary goods can amount to a refusal, and that God's invitation reaches those the respectable would not have listed. It is one of the clearest statements of the reversal Luke reads into the kingdom.
- 6
What is realised eschatology, and how is it argued for?
Model answer
It is the view that the decisive event has already happened in the ministry, death and rising of Jesus, so that the kingdom is not awaited but present, and future language is a way of speaking about a reality already given. The argument rests on sayings in which the kingdom has come upon the hearers and on the emphasis in the Fourth Gospel on eternal life as a present possession. Critics reply that it has to explain away a great deal of plainly future material.
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