These questions are taken from the wording of the specitication, meaning they could all actually come up in the exam. They are roughly sorted into easy, medium and hard.
Find revision notes for Christianity here.
Augustine on Human Nature
Easy
Are Augustine’s teachings on a historical Fall and Original Sin wrong?
Assess Augustine’s teaching on human nature
Medium
Are Augustine’s teachings on the historical Fall correct?
‘Augustine’s views on Original Sin are false’ – How far do you agree?
Is Augustine correct that humans can never be morally good?
Is Augustine’s view of human nature pessimistic or optimistic?
Is Original Sin the explanation of human sin and social corruption?
‘There is nothing we can do to deserve God’s grace’ – Discuss.
“Humans cannot be good because of sin.” – Discuss.
“Only God’s generous love can enable humans to reach the Summum bonum” – Discuss.
Hard
‘There is no distinctive human nature’ – Discuss.
Assess Augustine’s interpretation of Genesis
How convincing is Augustine’s view of God’s grace?
Critically assess Augustine’s views on the effects of original sin on societies.
How convincing are Augustine’s views on the Summum bonum?
Death and the afterlife
Easy
Does God’s judgment take place immediately after death or at the end of time?
Is heaven the transformation and perfection of the whole of creation?
Is heaven a place/state/symbol
Is hell a place/state/symbol
Who goes to heaven?
Medium
Is purgatory a place/state/symbol
Is purgatory a state through which everyone goes?
Are heaven and hell eternal?
Assess limited election
‘Everyone goes to heaven’ – Discuss.
Is election unlimited?
Hard
Are all people called to salvation?
Is hell eternal?
Is heaven eternal?
What does the parable of the sheep and the goats suggest about the afterlife?
Critically assess the implications of the sheep and the goats parable.
Knowledge of God’s existence
Easy
Can God be known through reason alone?
Is faith sufficient for belief in God?
Assess the possibility of natural knowledge of God’s existence.
Assess whether revealed knowledge of God’s existence is the only valid type.
Medium
Assess whether the Fall completely removed all natural human knowledge of God
Is faith in God’s revelation in Jesus required to know God?
‘Human sin and finitude prevents natural knowledge of God’ – Discuss.
Can God be known through his creation?
Does God’s creation reveal his beauty, goodness, design and purpose?
Hard
Is natural knowledge of God the same as revealed knowledge?
Is belief in God’s existence sufficient to put one’s trust in him?
What is the human intellect capable by itself of discovering about God?
The person of Jesus Christ
Easy
Was Jesus only a teacher of wisdom?
Was Jesus more than a political liberator?
Was Jesus the Son of God?
Medium
Was God’s relationship with Jesus very special or truly unique?
What do Jesus’ teachings on repentance and forgiveness tell us about who he was?
“Jesus’ teachings on inner purity and moral motivation show that he was a teacher of wisdom” – Discuss.
Can Jesus’ authority be understood exclusively as the Son of God?
Hard
Did Jesus think he was divine?
Does Jesus’ resurrection show that Jesus was the Son of God?
“Jesus’ miracles show that he was divine” – Discuss.
“Jesus’ is most defined by his challenge to political authority” – evaluate this view.
“Jesus’ knowledge of God expresses his divinity” – Discuss.
“Mark 6:47-52 (walking on water) shows that Jesus is the son of God” – Discuss.
Assess the implications for the person of Jesus of John 9:1-41 (Healing blind man)
Does Matthew 5:17-48 (sermon on the mount) show that Jesus is only a teacher of wisdom?
Does Matthew Luke 15:11-32 (Parable of lost Son) show that Jesus is only a teacher of wisdom?
“Jesus was a liberator as shown in Mark 5-24:34” (12-year Mensturating woman that Jesus healed) – Discuss
What does Luke 10:25-37 (The good Samaritan) tell us about Jesus?
Christian moral principles
Easy
Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life?
Is the Bible a comprehensive moral guide?
‘Christian ethics should combine the Bible, Church and reason’ – How far do you agree?
Medium
Does the Bible reveal God’s will?
What is the implication for Christian ethics of Jesus’ command to love?
Critically compare the view of the Bible having the only authority with it having equal authority to Church teachings.
Hard
Is Christian ethics distinctive?
Are Christian ethics personal or communal?
“The Bible reveals God’s will, so only biblical ethical commands must be followed” – Discuss.
“Jesus’ only command was to love” – Discuss.
“Human reason must work with the bible and Church teaching, not only in applying agape” – Discuss.
“Reason should play no role in Christian ethical practices” – Discuss.
Christian moral action
Easy
Does Bonhoeffer put too much emphasis on suffering?
Assess Bonhoeffer’s teaching on the relationship of Church and State
‘Bonhoeffer’s views on the cost of discipleship are too extreme’ – How far do you agree?
Medium
Is it possible always to know God’s will?
How relevant is Bonhoeffer’s theology today?
Should Christians practise civil disobedience?
“Bonhoeffer was overall not a good role model for Christians” – Discuss.
To what degree does Christian ethics require sacrifice and suffering?
Critically assess the implications of Bonhoeffer’s role in the Confessing Church and Finkenwalde.
What can Christians learn from the Confessing Church?
Hard
Assess Bonhoeffer’s views on the role of the Church.
How should a Christian think about the relation between duty of God and duty to the state?
“Christians should follow Bonhoeffer’s teachings on solidarity” – Discuss.
Assess Bonhoeffer’s teaching on ethics as action.
What are the implications of the Church as community and source of spiritual discipline?
How important is it for the Church to be a source of spiritual discipline?
Religious pluralism and theology
Easy
Assess exclucivism
Assess inclucivism
‘Pluralism is true’ – Do you agree?
If Christ is the ‘truth’ can there be any other means of salvation?
‘All good people will be saved’ – Discuss.
Are there multiple equal paths to salvation?
Is Christianity the one path or merely one path to salvation?
‘Christianity fully offers the means of salvation’ – How far do you agree?
Medium
Does theological pluralism undermine central Christian beliefs?
Would a loving God ultimately deny any human being salvation?
Is Christianity the normative means of salvation?
What are the implications of Christ being the ‘truth’?
Critically compare exclusivism with inclusivism
Critically compare exclusivism with Pluralism
Critically compare inclucivism with Plutalism
Hard
“The doctrine of anonymous Christians is false’ – Discuss.
Religious pluralism and society
Easy
Has inter-faith dialogue contributed practically towards social cohesion?
Assess the methods and aims of the scriptural reasoning movement
Should Christian communities seek to convert people from other faiths?
Should Christians have a mission to those of no faith?
“Inter-faith dialogue is a waste of time” – Discuss.
Medium
Does mutual study and interpretation of different religions’ sacred literature benefit society?
“Christians should not study the sacred texts of other religions” – Discuss.
‘Scriptural reasoning relativizes religious belief’ – Discuss.
How should Christians respond to inter-faith dialogue?
How should Christians respond to the development of contemporary multi-faith societies?
Hard
Have Christian communities responded well to the challenge of encounters with other faiths?
How might understanding of different and conflicting religious truth claims be promoted?
How successful is the Catholic approach to other faiths?
“The Church of England appraoch to other faiths fails to enable social cohesion” – Discuss.
Analyse the views expressed in ‘Redemptoris Missio’.
Critically compare the Catholic with the Church of England on their approaches to the challenge of other faiths
Assess the views expressed in the Church of England’s ‘Sharing the Gospel of Salvation’.
Gender and society
Easy
Should official Christian teaching resist current secular views of gender?
Have secular views of gender equality undermined Christian gender roles?
Assess Christian teaching on the roles of men and women in the family and society.
How successful have Christian responses to secular views about gender been?
Medium
Is motherhood liberating or restricting?
‘Christian teaching on the gender roles in the family and society is sexist’ – How far do you agree?
‘Traditional Christian views on gender roles are more successful than secular views’ – Discuss.
Critically assess the views expressed in Mulieris Dignitatem.
Are Christian challenges to changing attitudes about gender convincing?
“Christian thought and practice has been undermined by contemporary secular views on gender roles” – Discuss.
Hard
Is the idea of family entirely culturally determined?
Has Christianity successfully adapted to changing views on family and gender?
“Christianity should accept different types of family than the traditional” – Discuss.
“Challenging Christian practice regarding gender roles has not has any effect” – Discuss.
Gender and theology
Easy
Is Christianity essentially sexist?
What are the implications of gender for the Christian idea of God?
Evaluate Ruether’s views on gender.
Evaluate Daly’s views on gender.
Critically compare Ruether and Daly’s feminist theologies.
Critically compare Ruether and Daly’s attitude towards Christianity.
Should Christianity be changed or abandoned?
Medium
‘A male saviour cannot save women’ – Discuss.
Is Ruether or Daly more convincing regarding sexism and patriarchy in Christianity
‘Only women can develop a genuine spirituality’- Discuss.
Can the Christian God be presented in female terms?
‘if God is male then the male is God’ – Discuss.
Is the Unholy trinity the real trinity of Christianity?
Critically assess Ruether’s view of Jesus.
Assess Ruether’s views on the implications for salvation of the maleness of Christ.
“Viewing Jesus as the incarnation of wisdom cannot justify Ruether’s feminist theology” – Discuss.
Hard
Is Ruether or Daly more convincing regarding sexism and patriarchy in mainstream Churches
Critically compare Reuther and Daly’s views on the maleness of Christ and God.
What are the implications of Jesus’ challenge to the male warrior-massiah expectation?
“The female wisdom principle has nothing to do with the Christian God” – Discuss.
The Challenge of Secularism
Easy
Does Christianity cause personal and social problems?
Should Christianity be a significant contributor to society’s culture and values?
‘Christianity is infantile, repressive and causes conflict’ – How far do you agree?
Medium
Are spiritual values just human values?
If we get rid of religion will there be no basis for morality?
‘Christianity significantly defines today’s culture and values’ – How far do you agree?
Would society be happier without Christianity?
Is Christianity the result of wish fulfilment?
Hard
Can Christianity learn and develop from secularism?
Assess the views and goals of secular humanism
Is Christian belief a personal or public matter?
‘Christianity has no place in education or schools’ – Discuss.
‘Society has improved because religion was divorced from political power’ – How far do you agree?
Liberation Theology and Marx
Easy
Should Christian theology engage with atheist secular ideologies?
Is it right for Christians to prioritise one group over another?
‘Christians have nothing to learn from Marx’ – How far do you agree?
Should Christians have a preferential option for the poor?
How should Christians tackle the issue of social sin?
Medium
Does Christianity tackle social issues more effectively than Marxism?
How appropriate is liberation theology’s use of Marx to analyse social sin?
Should the Church concern itself with ‘structural’ causes of social sin?
‘The Gospel demands that Christians must give priority to the poor’ – Discuss.
‘Christianity has nothing to say about capitalism’ – Discuss.
“Marx’s teaching on alienation and exploitation has no relevance for Christianity” – Discuss.
How important in Christianity is solidarity with the poor?
Should Christians criticise capitalism?
What do Christians have to learn from Marx’s concepts of alienation and exploitation?
Hard
Has liberation theology engaged with Marxism fully enough?
Should orthopraxis occur before orthodoxy?
“Capitalism and institutions are the cause of social sin” – Discuss.