Where and when did the Bhakti movement begin?

It began in the Tamil south from about the sixth century CE with the Alvars, who sang to Vishnu, and the Nayanars, who sang to Shiva, and it spread across northern India between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries.

What is bhakti marga?

It is the way of loving devotion, in which a devotee gives themselves wholly to a personal God, trusting in grace rather than in ritual expertise or philosophical attainment.

Why was the Bhakti movement socially radical?

Its poets sang in the ordinary spoken languages instead of Sanskrit and taught that devotion alone qualifies a person for God, so women and those excluded from vedic study could take part fully and some saints refused caste distinction outright.

Describe Shaiva bhakti and name one of its reforming movements.

It is loving devotion to Shiva, sung by the Nayanars and often marked by asceticism and by direct, unmediated address to God; the Lingayats founded by Basava in the twelfth century rejected caste, temple ritual and brahmin mediation and wear the lingam on the body.

WJEC A-Level Religious Studies 603-0277-X

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Islam: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesIslam

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Judaism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesJudaism

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Buddhism: Key Religious ConceptsBuddhism

Topic overview The three lakshanas: dukkha, anicca and anatta Pratityasamutpada, karma and rebirth Arhat and bodhisattva Debating the marks of existence, rebirth and the goals of the path

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Buddhism: Practices and Religious IdentityBuddhism

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Hinduism: Key Religious ConceptsHinduism

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Hinduism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesHinduism

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Hinduism: Practices and Religious IdentityHinduism

Topic overview Puja in the home and the mandir Holi and the shaping of religious identity Durga Puja and the divine mother Evaluating puja, festivals and Durga

Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism

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Sikhism: Key Religious ConceptsSikhism

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Sikhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesSikhism

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Sikhism: Practices and Religious IdentitySikhism

Topic overview The gurdwara and the expression of Sikh identity Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas Vaisakhi and the birth of the Khalsa Debates on the gurdwara and Sikh festivals

Ethical Thought: Divine Command, Virtue and Egoism

Topic overview Divine Command Theory and its challenges Virtue Theory, Aristotle and the Beatitudes Ethical Egoism and Max Stirner Evaluating divine command, virtue and egoism

Aquinas and Natural Law

Topic overview The four levels of law and the precepts Virtues, acts and goods in Natural Law Natural Law applied to abortion and voluntary euthanasia Evaluating Aquinas' Natural Law

Fletcher and Situation Ethics

Topic overview Fletcher's rejection of legalism and antinomianism, and the turn to agape The working principles and the fundamental principles Situation Ethics applied to homosexual and polyamorous relationships Evaluating Situation Ethics

Utilitarianism

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Inductive Arguments for the Existence of God

Topic overview The cosmological argument The teleological argument Hume's challenges and scientific alternatives Debating the inductive arguments

Deductive Arguments for the Existence of God

Topic overview Anselm's ontological argument Descartes and Malcolm Gaunilo and Kant's objections Debating the ontological argument

The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Topic overview The types and the logical problem of evil Augustinian type theodicy Irenaean type theodicy Debating the problem of evil

The Nature of Religious Experience

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Christianity: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The biblical canon and inspiration The early church and the kerygmata in Acts Crossan and Wright on Jesus Evaluating inspiration, the kerygmata and methods of studying Jesus

Christianity: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christianity and secularisation in the UK Christianity and the challenge of science Pluralism, exclusivism and inclusivism Evaluating secularism, science and pluralism

Christianity: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christian attitudes towards wealth Migration and Christianity in the UK Feminist theology and the roles of men and women Evaluating wealth, migration and equality

Christianity: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Ecumenical Movement and the World Council of Churches The Charismatic Movement and religious experience Liberation theology and responses to poverty Evaluating ecumenism, charismatic experience and liberation theology

Islam: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The sources of shari'a and the law schools Shari'a today, ijtihad and taqlid Greater and lesser jihad Evaluating shari'a, ijtihad and jihad

Islam: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The Islamic state and the Constitution of Madinah Islamic teaching on creation and scientific cosmology Western perceptions of Islam and Islamophobia Evaluating Islam, democracy, science and public perception

Islam: Social Developments in Religious Thought

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Islam: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Shi'a Islam: succession, imamate and distinctive practice Sufi thought and devotional practice Crime and punishment in Islamic ethics Evaluating unity, mysticism and Islamic punishment

Judaism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

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Judaism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Reform Judaism, the Pittsburgh Platform and pluralism Family life, gender and Jewish feminism Jewish life as a minority in Britain Debates about pluralism, equality and assimilation

Judaism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Hasidic Judaism and the Baal Shem Tov Kabbalah, the Zohar and the experience of God Embryo research and Jewish ethics Debates about Hasidism, mysticism and Jewish medical ethics

Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Pali Canon and the Tipitaka The Heart Sutra and the Parable of the Burning House The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh Debating the Canon, the Mahayana sutras and contemporary teachers

Buddhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren in Japan Buddhism and the challenge of science Secularisation, Stephen Batchelor and David Brazier Debating Japanese Buddhism, science and the secular reading

Buddhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Pluralism, testing the teachings and the Edicts of Ashoka Heritage and convert Buddhism in Britain Women, equality and feminist approaches Debating openness, British Buddhism and Buddhist feminism

Buddhism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Tibetan Buddhism: mudra, mandala and mantra The Mindfulness Movement Socially Engaged Buddhism Debating Tibetan practice, mindfulness and engagement

Hinduism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Upanishads and the Katha dialogue Gandhi's religious and political contribution Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and neo-Vedanta Evaluating the Upanishads, Gandhi and Ramakrishna

Hinduism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The growth of ISKCON and the work of Prabhupada Hinduism, secularisation and science The purusharthas, wealth and poverty Evaluating ISKCON, secularisation and Hindu attitudes to wealth

Hinduism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Hindu pluralism, ishtadeva and other faiths Migration, minority status and Hindu identity in Britain Changing roles of men and women in Hinduism Evaluating pluralism, British Hindu identity and gender

Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Bhakti movement and the path of devotion Samkhya yoga and Advaita Vedanta Hindu bioethics and assisted reproduction Evaluating bhakti, philosophy and Hindu bioethics

Sikhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Mul Mantar and the Japji Guru Arjan and the growth of the Panth Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Sikh empire Debates on Sikh texts, Gurus and empire

Sikhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The aspiration for Khalistan Equality and the changing roles of men and women Sikh attitudes to other religions and worldviews Debates on persecution, gender and religious diversity

Sikhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Sikhism, science and secularisation The Sikh community in Britain Miri and piri and life as a minority Debates on science, secularisation and minority life

Sikhism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Rahit Maryada and the Rahit Namas Naam japo, the shabads and the khands Sikhism, infertility and assisted reproduction Debates on the code of conduct, naam and bioethics

Meta-Ethics

Topic overview Naturalism, F. H. Bradley and the naturalistic fallacy Intuitionism and H. A. Prichard Emotivism and A. J. Ayer Evaluating the meta-ethical theories

Deontological Ethics: Finnis and Proportionalism

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Determinism and Predestination

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Free Will and Libertarianism

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Psychological Challenges and Atheism

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Religious Experience and Miracles

Topic overview The influence of religious experience on faith and community Defining a miracle Hume and Swinburne on miracles Debating miracles and religious experience

Religious Language: Cognitive and Analogical

Topic overview The inherent problems of religious language Verification, falsification and their critics Analogy: Aquinas and Ramsey Debating meaning in religious language

Religious Language: Symbol, Myth and Language Games

Topic overview Symbol: Randall and Tillich Myth and demythologisation Language games: Wittgenstein Debating the non-cognitive approaches

New Testament: ParablesNew Testament

Topic overview Types and literary characteristics of the parables The purposes of the parables and how they are interpreted Close study of the prodigal son, the great banquet and the sower Debates about the parables and their value

New Testament: MiraclesNew Testament

Topic overview Types of miracle and the characteristics of the accounts The purpose of the miracle accounts and how they are interpreted Close study of the centurion's servant, the Gerasene demoniac and the feeding of the five thousand Debates about the miracles and their historical validity

New Testament: The Letters (1 Peter)New Testament

Topic overview Authorship, Silvanus and the readership of 1 Peter The purpose of 1 Peter and its place among the New Testament letters Close study of the set passages of 1 Peter Debates about authorship, submission and suffering in 1 Peter

New Testament: Apocalyptic LiteratureNew Testament

Topic overview Defining apocalyptic literature and its characteristics The purposes of apocalyptic writing and how Revelation is interpreted Close study of Revelation 1, 6 and 21 Debates about Revelation's genre, violence and value

Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

4 subtopics
12 things to know
A2 Unit 3

What Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues covers

Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues is examined in A2 Unit 3, A Study of Religion — the Hinduism option, studied instead of the other five. It covers the Bhakti movement and the path of devotion, Samkhya yoga and Advaita Vedanta, Hindu bioethics and assisted reproduction and Evaluating bhakti, philosophy and Hindu bioethics.

Where it is assessed

A2 Unit 3

A Study of Religion — the same religion, in depth.

Check the WJEC specification ↗

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Describe Vaishnava bhakti and name two of its saints.

Process

How does the Shvetashvatara Upanishad set out the three forms of Brahman?

Key term

How do the gunas apply to a person's life?

Key term

Name the eight limbs of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga in order.

Key term

Why is childlessness a religious difficulty in Hinduism and not only a personal one?

Key term

What views do Hindus hold about the moral status of the embryo?

Key term

Give the case that bhakti is as demanding as any other path.

Key term

Give the case that the Bhakti movement is of the first importance within Hinduism.

Key term

Give the case that the importance of the Bhakti movement is more limited.

Key term

Distinguish saguna bhakti from nirguna bhakti.

Key term

Name the four sites of the Char Dham, and one other major place of Hindu pilgrimage.

Key term

What are the three debts a Hindu householder is said to owe?

Take Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Where and when did the Bhakti movement begin?
Model answer
It began in the Tamil south from about the sixth century CE with the Alvars, who sang to Vishnu, and the Nayanars, who sang to Shiva, and it spread across northern India between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries.
2
What is bhakti marga?
Model answer
It is the way of loving devotion, in which a devotee gives themselves wholly to a personal God, trusting in grace rather than in ritual expertise or philosophical attainment.
3
Why was the Bhakti movement socially radical?
Model answer
Its poets sang in the ordinary spoken languages instead of Sanskrit and taught that devotion alone qualifies a person for God, so women and those excluded from vedic study could take part fully and some saints refused caste distinction outright.
4
Describe Vaishnava bhakti and name two of its saints.
Model answer
It is loving devotion to Vishnu and his forms, above all Rama and Krishna, expressed in song, temple worship and the retelling of their stories; Mirabai, the Rajput princess who defied her family with her songs to Krishna, and Tulsidas, who retold the Rama story in Awadhi, are among its best known figures.
5
Describe Shaiva bhakti and name one of its reforming movements.
Model answer
It is loving devotion to Shiva, sung by the Nayanars and often marked by asceticism and by direct, unmediated address to God; the Lingayats founded by Basava in the twelfth century rejected caste, temple ritual and brahmin mediation and wear the lingam on the body.
6
Distinguish saguna bhakti from nirguna bhakti.
Model answer
Saguna bhakti is devotion to God in a definite form, as Mirabai loved Krishna, while nirguna bhakti is devotion to the formless divine, as in Kabir, who rejected images and the external religion of both Hindus and Muslims.

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Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues revision questions

What does Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues cover in WJEC A-Level Religious Studies?: 4 subtopics: the bhakti movement and the path of devotion, samkhya yoga and advaita vedanta, hindu bioethics and assisted reproduction and evaluating bhakti, philosophy and hindu bioethics. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues organised?: By the WJEC 603-0277-X specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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