Being ready for the step up from GCSE to A Level in Religious Studies

An Oxford University Press blog has some brilliant advice for students who should be doing their GCSE qualification this summer and are hoping to move on to do A Level Religious Studies in September.

‘Reading, note-making, practising your research skills and, above all, critical thinking will all help to sharpen your skills so that when you can begin A levels, you will be in the best position to make the most of your learning.’

A reading recommendation is to read one of the gospels all the way through if you’re going to be studying Christianity at A Level. The gospel of Luke is probably the best. Then, practising your note taking and keeping your handwriting legible is a good plan which by utilising online resources like TED talks can mean there’s no need to purchase expensive books:

• Questioning the Universe with Stephen Hawking
• Militant Atheism with Richard Dawkins
• A Life of Purpose with Rick Warren
• East versus West  – the myths that demystify with Devdutt Pattanaik
• How do you explain consciousness with David Chalmers
• Why does the universe exist with Jim Holt
• The how and why of effective altruism with Peter Singer
• Atheism 2:0 with Alain de Botton

From watching and making notes on things like TED talks you will probably make that automatic jump into research. This would be another area for you to practise before starting A Levels. You could already check on your planned college’s website to find out what will be on the course, or do an online search for the topics stated by the exam boards, or simply get stuck in to philosophy and religion in a more ad hoc approach. People who might be of interest are: St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant and David Hume.

Finally when you are reading or watching things to improve your knowledge, remember that Religious Studies is never about just knowing a lot of facts and is about critical evaluation of those facts too. You can practise the skills of critical evaluation when you watch any TV, films or read things during the lockdown.

 

 

British band Bastille give a pop sermon with new song Doom Days

A sermon is a talk on a religious or moral subject, especially one given during a church service and based on a passage from the Bible. You might have heard the word sermon before when studying the Sermon on the Mount from the Bible. In Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 5-7 there are lots of catchy quotes such as:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9 – useful when discussing Christian attitudes to war and conflict)

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10 – useful when discussing Christian reactions to persecution)

If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Matthew 5:39 – useful when explaining that Christians like to forgive, be reconciled and not fight back)

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 – useful when explaining how and why Christians pray)

This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Matthew 6:10 – useful as the chapter continues with a version of the Lord’s Prayer)

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2 – useful to explain that humans shouldn’t pass judgement on others, that is the role of God in the afterlife)

But let’s get back to Bastille’s new song Doom Days. There are a couple of swear words in this song, used as adjectives, and the topics sung about are for teenagers or older. The band’s frontman Dan Smith explained: “We wanted [the song] to be really direct and talk about trying to find escapism from our modern anxieties – phone addiction, porn addiction, fake news addiction, climate change denial (to name a few)… turns out there was a **** load to talk about so I wrote about 50 verses for it and then we somehow managed to cut it down to this. Hope you like it,” he added. “Ultimately it’s about switching off for the night.” 

When you look at the lyrics you can see why it was described by one journalist as being a pop sermon:

When I watch the world burn
All I think about is you
When I watch the world burn
All I think about is you

There must be something in the Kool-Aid
Cruising through the doom days
God knows what is real and what is fake
Last couple years have been a mad trip
But how’d y’all look so perfect?
You must have some portraits in the attic

We’ll stay offline so no one gets hurt
Hiding from the real world
Just don’t read the comments ever, ever
We ****ed this house up like the planet
We were running riot
Crazy that some people still deny it

Think I’m addicted to my phone
My scrolling horror show
I’m live-streaming the final days of Rome
One tab along, it’s pornographic
Everybody’s at it
No surprise we’re so easily bored

Let’s pick the truth that we believe in
Like a bad religion
Tell me all your original sins
So many questionable choices

We love the sound that our voice makes

Man, this echo chamber’s getting loud…

Original Sin – In traditional Christian teaching, original sin is the result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God when they ate a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Echo chamber – We talked about in class recently when students’ homework was to read or watch some news stories and identify moral or natural evil. It describes an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered. There is often a risk of creating an echo chamber when you only read news online as you only click on news stories which you want or enjoy reading, and ignore the ones which might challenge your thinking.