OCR A-Level Religious Studies

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01 Philosophy of religion

1. Philosophical Language and Thought

Ancient philosophical influences - Plato’s Forms and the caveLearn why Plato distinguishes changing appearances from intelligible reality, how the Forms and the Good explain knowledge, and what the cave reveals about education and mistaken belief.
Ancient philosophical influences - Aristotle’s causes and Prime MoverLearn how Aristotle explains real things through form, purpose and four causes, why he proposes an unmoved mover, and how his account compares with Plato's.
Soul, mind and body - Classical souls and Cartesian dualismLearn what Plato, Aristotle and Descartes mean by soul and mind, how each relates human life to the body, and why explaining conscious experience creates a philosophical problem.
Soul, mind and body - Materialism and the mind-body debateLearn how materialists explain consciousness, how dualists challenge that explanation, and why soul language may refer to a spiritual reality, embodied life or a metaphor for personal identity.

2. The Existence of God

Arguments based on observation - Design argumentsLearn how Aquinas and Paley reason from the natural world towards God, why their arguments differ, and what must be justified when observed order is interpreted as design.
Arguments based on observation - Cosmological argumentsLearn Aquinas' first three Ways, distinguish change, causation and contingency, and evaluate whether their conclusions justify belief in a transcendent creator.
Arguments based on observation - Hume, evolution and chanceLearn Hume's challenges to design and cosmological reasoning, distinguish evolution from random assembly, and evaluate what observational arguments can still support.
Arguments based on reason - Anselm’s ontological reasoningLearn the different arguments in Proslogion 2 and 3, why Anselm reasons a priori, and how to distinguish understanding a concept from establishing the existence of its object.
Arguments based on reason - Gaunilo, Kant and logical objectionsLearn how Gaunilo and Kant challenge reasoning from God's concept to God's existence, assess replies, and compare conceptual and observational justification.

3. God and the World

Religious experience - Mysticism, conversion and JamesExplore mystical and conversion experiences, distinguish an experience from its interpretation, and assess William James' reasons for taking religious experience seriously.
Religious experience - Explanations and evidenceCompare divine, psychological and physiological interpretations of religious experience, then judge the evidential strength of individual and corporate testimony.
The problem of evil - Logical evil and AugustineDistinguish logical and evidential challenges from evil, reconstruct Augustine's account of original goodness and the Fall, and assess whether it removes responsibility from God.
The problem of evil - Hick and soul-makingExplain Hick's development of Irenaean soul-making, test its account of natural evil against the extent of suffering, and judge what defending monotheism requires.

5. Religious Language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic

Religious language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic - The apophatic wayExplore why ordinary descriptions may misrepresent a transcendent God, how the via negativa answers that problem, and whether saying what God is not gives enough understanding for theological discussion.
Religious language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic - Aquinas and analogyLearn how Aquinas uses analogy to make positive claims about God while recognising divine transcendence. Distinguish attribution from proper proportion and assess what their relationship allows us to understand.
Religious language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic - Tillich and symbolsExamine Tillich's account of symbolic religious expression, how symbols can disclose meaning, and whether this makes theological discourse comprehensible. Compare its purpose with negation and analogy.

6. Religious Language: Twentieth Century Perspectives

Twentieth-century perspectives and philosophical comparisons - Ayer and verificationUnderstand Ayer's attempt to distinguish factual statements from metaphysical utterances. Apply his verification principle to religious language and assess whether its different versions provide a convincing account of meaning.
Twentieth-century perspectives and philosophical comparisons - Flew, Hare and MitchellFollow the falsification symposium's disagreement about religious assertions, interpret its three parables, and judge whether evidence, bliks or commitment best explains the language of faith.
Twentieth-century perspectives and philosophical comparisons - Wittgenstein and language gamesLearn how language games and forms of life connect meaning with use. Examine non-cognitive readings of religious texts and compare their strengths and limits with Aquinas's truth-claiming analogy.

02 Religion and ethics

1. Normative Ethical Theories: Religious Approaches

Natural Law - Telos, law and the preceptsLearn how Aquinas connects human purposes, reason and God's law, and how general human goods become practical moral precepts.
Natural Law - Moral reasoning and double effectApply Aquinas' account of human goods to moral choices, then examine whether intention, proportionality and double effect can justify harmful side effects.
Situation Ethics - Fletcher’s agape and propositionsExplore how Joseph Fletcher makes agape the governing moral norm, and how his six propositions connect love, justice, neighbours and moral consequences.
Situation Ethics - Working principles and moral choiceUse Fletcher's four working principles to reason through a moral choice, then test whether his account of conscience offers responsible flexibility or excessive subjectivity.

2. Normative Ethical Theories

Kantian Ethics - Duty and the categorical imperativeLearn why Kant grounds morality in rational duty, and use the three formulations of the categorical imperative to test what an agent proposes to do.
Kantian Ethics - Postulates and practical objectionsExplain Kant's postulates of freedom, immortality and God, then judge whether rational duty is too abstract or gives too little place to sympathy, empathy and love.
Utilitarianism - Utility and the hedonic calculusLearn how utility makes consequences morally relevant, use Bentham's hedonic calculus, and examine the difficulties of comparing pleasure, pain and wider good.
Utilitarianism - Act, rule and moral judgementCompare act and rule utilitarian decisions, and evaluate whether maximising utility gives reliable guidance while protecting trust, fairness and individual interests.

3. Applied Ethics

Euthanasia - Life, consent and medical decisionsEnd-of-life decisions involve different claims about a person's worth, wishes and medical care. Clear distinctions help us judge these claims without treating every death following treatment as euthanasia.
Euthanasia - Natural law and situation ethics in practiceNatural law and situation ethics can both value a suffering person while disagreeing about what care permits. Their different accounts of moral goodness explain the disagreement.
Business Ethics - Responsibility and whistle-blowingA business affects people beyond those who own it. Corporate responsibility and whistle-blowing test whether profit, loyalty and moral duty point in the same direction.
Business Ethics - Globalisation and human flourishingGlobalisation connects business decisions to distant people and places. Its ethical value depends on how these connections affect welfare, agency and the conditions of a flourishing life.

03 Christianity — Developments in Christian thought

1. Insight

Augustine’s Teaching on Human Nature - The Fall, desire and human societyExplore how Augustine reads the Fall as a change in human love, freedom and relationships, and assess whether that account needs a historical first sin.
Augustine’s Teaching on Human Nature - Grace and the human goodExamine how divine grace can heal a rebellious will, why Augustine distinguishes ordinary good actions from humanity's highest good, and what this means for hope and human nature.
Death and the Afterlife - Heaven, hell and purgatoryDistinguish places, spiritual states and earthly symbols, and examine what Christian teachings about happiness, punishment and purification claim about life after death.
Death and the Afterlife - Election and salvationExamine how Christians relate salvation to divine choice, grace and human response, and distinguish a restricted scope of salvation from a universal offer and a universal outcome.
Death and the Afterlife - Judgement and renewed creationRead the Sheep and Goats as an account of responsible judgement, compare judgement immediately after death with judgement at history's end, and examine the promise of a transformed creation.

2. Foundations

Knowledge of God’s Existence - Natural knowledge and reasonExamine whether human capacities and the created world disclose God, and distinguish recognising a creator from knowing the full Christian revelation of God.
Knowledge of God’s Existence - Revelation, faith and graceExplore why Christians understand knowledge of God as a response to God's self-disclosure, and test the relationship between reasoned belief, faith and personal trust.
The person of Jesus Christ - Divinity, miracles and resurrectionExamine the Christian claim that Jesus reveals God uniquely, and distinguish what Gospel narratives express from what their evidence can establish about his identity and self-understanding.
The person of Jesus Christ - Wisdom, forgiveness and inner purityStudy how Jesus connects moral conduct with inward motivation, repentance and forgiving love, and assess whether his authority can be explained entirely as wisdom teaching.
The person of Jesus Christ - Liberation and challenges to authorityExamine how Jesus restores marginalised people, challenges religious and political power, and connects liberation with wisdom and the Christian claim to divine authority.

3. Living

Christian moral principles - Bible, Church and reasonCompare biblical authority with Christian reasoning through Scripture, Church and human reason, and examine how a moral guide can shape both personal decisions and communal life.
Christian moral principles - Agape and distinctive Christian ethicsExamine agape as a governing moral principle, work through the reasoning needed to apply it, and assess whether love is sufficient and Christian ethics distinctive.
Christian moral action - Bonhoeffer, Church and StateStudy how Bonhoeffer connects allegiance to Christ, spiritual community and responsible action, and assess when duty to God can require resistance to the state.
Christian moral action - Costly grace and discipleshipExplain why freely given grace can make costly demands, and assess Bonhoeffer's account of suffering, solidarity and discerning God's will through responsible action.

4. Development

Religious pluralism and theology - Exclusivism and inclusivismCompare claims about Christianity's unique saving role with accounts of salvation beyond explicit Christian belief, and test what follows from saying Christ is the truth.
Religious pluralism and theology - Pluralism and the scope of salvationExplore Hick's account of different saving paths, assess its relationship to central Christian beliefs, and distinguish religious plurality from universal salvation and salvation by good deeds.
Religious pluralism and society - Migration, dialogue and missionExplain the development of multifaith societies, compare two Christian statements on dialogue and mission, and assess conversion, non-religious audiences and practical social cohesion.
Religious pluralism and society - Scriptural reasoning and truth claimsLearn how Scriptural Reasoning uses shared reading to deepen understanding, and examine whether openness to another interpretation requires religious beliefs to become relative.

5. Society

Gender and society - Christian teaching and gender rolesChristian arguments about gender involve biblical interpretation, equal dignity and the distribution of authority. Examine two important texts and why Christians draw different conclusions about family and social roles.
Gender and society - Parenthood and changing familiesChanging family forms test how Christians relate inherited teaching to care, commitment and equal dignity. Distinguish the value of parenthood from a compulsory model of gender or family life.
Gender and theology - Ruether, Christ and female wisdomRosemary Radford Ruether asks whether Christian language and salvation can affirm women's full humanity. Explore her reconstruction of Christology and the difference between Jesus' historical sex and the theological significance assigned to it.
Gender and theology - Daly and feminist comparisonsMary Daly questions whether a tradition organised around male divinity can liberate women. Compare her criticism and developing spirituality with Ruether's reconstruction, then assess what genuine transformation would require.

6. Challenges

The Challenge of Secularism - Freud, Dawkins and religious beliefFreud and Dawkins challenge the truth and effects of religion in different ways. Analyse their reasoning without assuming that a belief's origin settles its truth or that isolated examples establish its overall social effects.
The Challenge of Secularism - Christianity in public lifeShould Christianity influence education, government and shared values? Distinguish freedom of public participation from privileged religious authority, then assess how a secular society can protect both equality and conviction.
Liberation Theology and Marx - Alienation, exploitation and social sinLiberation theology asks how Christian faith should respond to poverty sustained by institutions. Examine Marx's analysis of alienation and exploitation, and the arguments for and against using it to identify social sin.
Liberation Theology and Marx - The preferential option for the poorThe preferential option for the poor joins Gospel commitment with practical solidarity. Assess why priority need not deny universal love, and how liberation theology relates action, belief and structural change.

04 Islam — Developments in Islamic thought

1. Foundations

Prophecy and Revelation - Prophets and Abrahamic revelationUnderstand why Muslims regard prophets as carriers of divine guidance, and how Ibrahim, Musa and Isa connect Islam with earlier Abrahamic traditions while also revealing important differences.
Prophecy and Revelation - Muhammad and the final revelationExplore how Muhammad's final prophethood and the Qur'an's authority shape Muslim belief and practice, and assess why neither scripture nor prophetic example is easily understood in isolation.
Tradition - Hadith, Sira and prophetic wisdomLearn how hadith and sira transmit knowledge of Muhammad, compare their accounts of the first revelation, and distinguish historical evidence from claims about religious wisdom and authority.
Tradition - Sunni and Shi’a authorityUnderstand how competing responses to Muhammad's death developed into different accounts of legitimate authority, and why the division concerns transmission and guidance as well as political succession.

2. Insight

God is One - Qur’anic arguments and transcendenceExamine Qur'anic reasoning about God's existence and unity, distinguish a verse from a philosophical reconstruction, and assess what causal, teleological and rival-power arguments can establish.
God is One - Interpreting descriptions of GodCompare Mu'tazili, Ash'ari and Hanbali interpretations of divine descriptions, and assess how each tries to preserve meaningful revelation without making God resemble a creature.
Human Destiny - Creation, worship and moral trialExplore the Qur'an's connected accounts of human existence as knowledge of God, worship and moral testing, and assess how they give life meaning without treating God as needy or ignorant.
Human Destiny - Afterlife, justice and mercyDistinguish the phases of the Islamic afterlife, explain how judgement and mercy are expressed in them, and evaluate why final accountability can inspire hope while raising questions about punishment.
Human Destiny - Divine will and human actionCompare Mu'tazili and Ash'ari accounts of responsibility, study Ghazali's Jerusalem Epistle, and assess whether human accountability can be coherent when God's power encompasses every action.

3. Living

The Shari’a - Ideal law and its sourcesUnderstand how God's guidance becomes a framework for Muslim living, distinguish the ideal from its human interpretation, and explain why scripture, reasoning and communal authority work together.
The Shari’a - Ijtihad, taqlid and schools of lawExplain how jurists and legal schools organise interpretation, assess the relationship between following authority and reasoning, and judge when disagreement supports legitimate diversity.
The Shari’a - Applying law to new problemsWork through legal reasoning about intoxicants, banking and tobacco, then assess how new knowledge can change a ruling while the authority of revealed guidance remains central.
Sufism - Ihsan and mystical selfhoodExplain the spiritual aims of Sufism, connect remembrance and purification to ihsan, and distinguish mystical transformation from a literal claim that a human becomes God.
Sufism - The Sufi path and RumiExplore how a Sufi master guides spiritual training, interpret Rumi's Reed prologue, and assess the relationship between inward transformation and the wider Islamic tradition.

4. Development

Science and Philosophy - Scientific enquiry and GhazaliStudy religious reasons for enquiry and medieval scientific contributions, then explain Ghazali's two crises and his selective assessment of philosophy in Deliverance from Error.
Science and Philosophy - Ibn Rushd and philosophical debateReconstruct Ibn Rushd's religious defence of philosophy, explain his three modes of understanding, and compare his response to Ghazali with the risks each thinker sees in interpretation.
Gender Equality - Spiritual equality, law and cultureDistinguish spiritual equality from identical legal roles, examine women in early Islam and family law, and explain how cultural expectations affect the practice of modesty and rights.
Gender Equality - Feminist interpretation and the hijabStudy feminist readings of the Qur’an, examine the scriptural and interpretive debates about hijab, and judge when veiling can express commitment, resistance or oppression.

5. Society

Tolerance - Religious freedom and minoritiesExplore how a claim to religious truth can coexist with protection of other believers, and why classical toleration and modern equal citizenship answer different questions.
Tolerance - Apostasy and modern interpretationsDistinguish disagreement from abandoning a religion, examine Ghazali's boundaries of theological tolerance, and compare inherited criminal rules with contemporary arguments for freedom of conscience.
Justice and Liberation - Justice, mercy and public interestExamine how Islamic justice joins impartial judgement with mercy, how striving can resist wrongdoing, and how public responsibilities are limited by the rights they aim to protect.
Justice and Liberation - Shari’ati and Murad on liberationCompare Ali Shari’ati's mobilisation against oppression with Abdal Hakim Murad's return to spiritual discipline, and judge how inward formation and social transformation might support or frustrate one another.

6. Challenges

Islam and the State - Pre-modern authority and the UlamaCompare pre-modern Sunni and Shi’a accounts of legitimate rule, and explain why religious authority can constrain political power without always forming a separate institution.
Islam and the State - Secularisation and modern statesDistinguish social secularisation from political secularism, examine modern legal reform and Muslim objections, and compare the different ways states organise religious authority.
Islam in Europe - Minority life and jurisprudenceExplore the religious reasons for migration, invitation and civic commitment, and assess how Muslim legal reasoning addresses life where Muslims are a minority.
Islam in Europe - European identities and coexistenceCompare accounts of integration and European Islam, examine Mustafa Cerić's declaration, and assess how prejudice, security perceptions and public institutions affect peaceful coexistence.

05 Judaism — Developments in Jewish thought

1. Foundations

Jewish Oral and Written Law - Torah, Tanakh and oral transmissionJewish teaching joins written scripture to traditions of interpretation and practice. Learn what these sources are, how their transmission supports authority, and why Jewish communities disagree about what divine revelation requires today.
Jewish Oral and Written Law - Talmud and halakhic developmentThe Talmud preserves reasoning about how inherited teaching governs life. Trace the formation of the Babylonian Talmud, follow an argument about interpretive authority, and explain how later codes and contemporary judgements continue halakhic development.
Jewish Oral and Written Law - Reading Pirkei Avot chapter 1Pirkei Avot is a tractate of the Mishnah whose first chapter connects transmitted Torah with learning, judgement and ethical conduct. Read all eighteen teachings as a developing account of responsibility, recognising both its authority claims and the questions raised by its ancient setting.
Covenant in the Torah - Abrahamic promises and covenant formGenesis presents covenant through promises, ritual and obligations, rather than one abstract definition. Examine Genesis 12:1–3, 7; 15:1–21; and 17:1–21, then assess what ancient treaty comparisons and questions of composition reveal about their meaning.
Covenant in the Torah - Mosaic law and covenant developmentAt Sinai, covenant gives a liberated people a shared moral and religious vocation. Interpret Exodus 19:1–20:20, distinguish its law from the later blood ritual, and compare Mosaic obligations with the Abrahamic promises as a developing relationship.

2. Insight

Maimonides: Jewish Theologian and Philosopher - Principles 1–5 and the nature of GodMaimonides' first five principles connect God's existence, unity, incorporeality and eternity with exclusive worship. Examine each principle's biblical roots, its philosophical interpretation and its reception, distinguishing the original account from later summaries used in Jewish life.
Maimonides: Jewish Theologian and Philosopher - Principles 6–9 and revelationMaimonides' principles about revelation connect human preparation, Moses' distinctive authority and permanent Torah. Examine principles 6–9 individually, then judge how they account for interpretation and why contemporary Jewish approaches differ.
Maimonides: Jewish Theologian and Philosopher - Principles 10–13 and human destinyMaimonides' final four principles connect divine knowledge with accountable action and future fulfilment. Distinguish reward, a messianic age, resurrection and the world to come, and examine both medieval objections and diverse living receptions.
Suffering and hope - Job and undeserved sufferingJob makes undeserved suffering a test of religious explanation as well as trust. Read chapters 1–4, 38 and 42, distinguish the narrator's account from the friends' claims, and judge whether the divine encounter answers or changes the question of suffering.
Suffering and hope - Messianic hope and Jewish responsesJewish messianic hope relates present suffering to a future of restoration, justice and peace. Read Micah 4 alongside Maimonides' account, compare identified contemporary approaches, and assess when hope supports responsible action and when it leaves suffering unexplained.

3. Living

Halakhah - Kashrut and the kosher kitchenKashrut brings religious obligation into ordinary meals. Examine how scriptural rules become a working kitchen, why observance can express holiness and identity, and why Jewish communities differ about its authority and present value.
Halakhah - Loans, trade and deceptionHalakhah regulates relationships as well as ritual. Trace the rules about lending and deception, then judge whether modern financial complexity makes them obsolete or makes their protection of vulnerable people more significant.
Halakhah - Marriage, sexuality and niddahJewish sexual ethics connect bodily life, relationship and religious obligation. Distinguish the positive purposes of sex from rules about niddah and prohibited relationships, then examine how authority, dignity and changing knowledge produce diverse Jewish judgements.
Conversion - Conversion and the Shulkhan ArukhConversion joins a person to a people and a religious way of life. Read the Shulkhan Arukh's procedure as a connected process of commitment, instruction and ritual, then distinguish its legal framework from the arrangements of contemporary communities.
Conversion - Jewishness, descent and diversityJewishness involves peoplehood, religious commitment and recognised membership. Compare descent and conversion, explain modern disagreement about status, and judge how communities can preserve identity while welcoming people whose route into it differs.

4. Development

The Jewish Haskalah and Jewish Emancipation - Mendelssohn, reason and HaskalahThe Haskalah sought new ways for Jews to participate in intellectual and cultural life. Examine Moses Mendelssohn's defence of reason and Judaism, his translation enterprise, and the diverse developments that followed without treating enlightenment as automatic religious abandonment.
The Jewish Haskalah and Jewish Emancipation - Citizenship, reform and Jewish identityEmancipation changed the legal position of Jews and the choices available within Jewish life. Assess citizenship, communal authority and religious reform, recognising both new liberties and the prejudice that legal equality did not automatically remove.
Zionism - Herzl and Ahad Ha’amModern Zionism offered political and cultural responses to Jewish vulnerability and identity. Compare Theodor Herzl's programme of recognised statehood with Ahad Ha'am's cultural centre, then judge how their different aims affect the meaning of success.
Zionism - Zionist diversity and contested identityZionism contains competing political and religious visions and attracts both support and opposition. Examine those differences, assess benefits and harms with stated criteria, and distinguish reasoned political criticism from antisemitic prejudice.

5. Society

State of Israel and the Biblical Promised Land - Land, covenant and stewardshipThe Land of Israel is a place, a covenantal promise and a setting for religious responsibility. Trace its significance through exile and Diaspora, then distinguish attachment to the land from modern sovereignty and the duties of caring for it.
State of Israel and the Biblical Promised Land - The creation and development of IsraelModern Israel emerged through political decisions, migration and conflict rather than a simple transfer of biblical borders. Examine the events of 1945–1948 and later wars, keeping their historical significance distinct from judgements about competing rights.
State of Israel and the Biblical Promised Land - Religious responses and competing claimsJews can agree that the land matters while disagreeing about what statehood means and what justice requires. Compare religious responses and Israeli and Palestinian claims, then judge how religious attachment can relate to political rights.
Rethinking Women: Jewish Feminism - Plaskow, Torah and Jewish memoryJewish feminism asks whose experience shapes authoritative teaching and communal life. Examine Judith Plaskow's reading of Sinai and her reconstruction of Jewish memory, then assess how rethinking Torah affects authority, participation and leadership.
Rethinking Women: Jewish Feminism - Adler and marriage as partnershipRachel Adler asks whether Jewish marriage can embody an equal covenant between partners. Understand her criticism of acquisition and the agunah problem, then examine Brit Ahuvim's formation and dissolution and the disputed meaning of faithful reform.

6. Challenges

Post-Holocaust theology - Rubenstein and the death of GodThe Holocaust challenges confidence in a God who governs history justly and protects a covenant people. Examine Richard Rubenstein's rejection of that confidence, while distinguishing his death-of-God language from the claim that Jewish life must become meaningless.
Post-Holocaust theology - Fackenheim and MaybaumFackenheim and Maybaum retain religious meaning after the Holocaust in markedly different ways. Compare a command to resist Hitler's aims through continued Jewish life with an interpretation of destruction within providence, and assess their ethical consequences.
Post-Holocaust theology - Berkovitz and theological comparisonsBerkovits relates divine hiddenness to human freedom while locating the Holocaust in human history. Test that account against Job and the other three thinkers, distinguishing the possibility of faith from a complete moral explanation of non-intervention.
Chagall: art as resistance - Jewish life in The Fiddler and The Praying JewChagall's early paintings preserve Jewish life through imaginative form rather than documentary realism. Examine the actual prescribed works and their religious objects, relating cultural memory to the later question of art as resistance.
Chagall: art as resistance - Solitude, White Crucifixion and resistanceChagall confronted persecution through images of threatened Jewish life, sacrifice and hope. Read Solitude and White Crucifixion alongside the Nazi attack on modern art, then judge what cultural resistance can achieve during and after destruction.

06 Buddhism — Developments in Buddhist thought

1. Foundations

The Buddha - Siddhartha’s life and the Middle WaySiddhartha's life story explains the problem Buddhism addresses and the kind of practice it recommends. Learn its main stages, distinguish traditional narrative from historical evidence, and judge how an awakened teacher can guide people who must practise for themselves.
The Buddha - Brahmanism, Sramanas and intellectual contextThe Buddha taught within a world of competing accounts of ritual, action, self and liberation. Examine what he criticised, what he adapted, and how cultural influence differs from simply copying an existing religion.
Taking Refuge - Buddha and Dhamma as refugesTaking refuge directs Buddhist trust and practice towards the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Explore why the first two jewels can guide a person after the historical Buddha's death, and judge how commitment relates to independent understanding.
Taking Refuge - Sangha, lay people and Buddhist identitySangha can refer to a spiritually accomplished community, an ordained order or the wider Buddhist community. Learn why those meanings matter, how lay and monastic life support one another, and how refuge shapes belonging without replacing personal responsibility.

2. Insight

Samsara - The six realms and rebirthSamsara is the cycle of conditioned existence, death and rebirth from which Buddhist practice seeks liberation. Learn the six-realm model, why human conditions are especially useful for practice, and how literal and psychological readings differ.
Samsara - Karma, poisons and dependent originationBuddhist accounts of samsara connect harmful motivations, intentional action and conditioned suffering. Learn how the poisons, karmic seeds and twelve links relate, then use that account to distinguish ethical responsibility from fatalism.
The Three Marks of Existence - Impermanence and the kinds of dukkhaImpermanence and dukkha explain why changing experience cannot provide permanent security. Distinguish gross and subtle change, the three kinds of dukkha and the difference between diagnosing suffering and denying that happiness exists.
The Three Marks of Existence - No-self, aggregates and the chariotNo-self challenges an enduring independent owner of experience without denying ordinary persons or moral consequences. Examine the five aggregates and Milinda's chariot dialogue, then judge how the three marks relate and where their claims apply.

3. Living

Four Noble Truths - Suffering, craving and the doctor analogyThe Four Noble Truths connect the problem of suffering with its causes, a liberating goal and a practical response. Explore the Deer Park teaching and doctor analogy, then explain how craving maintains the problem without mistaking Buddhism for a rejection of every desire or pleasure.
Four Noble Truths - Nirvana, cessation and detachmentNirvana is the goal of ending the grasping which sustains samsara. Distinguish living liberation from parinirvana, interpret the required Milinda dilemmas, and judge how an unconditioned goal can guide practice even when ordinary descriptions cannot capture it completely.
Four Noble Truths - The interdependent Eightfold PathThe Eightfold Path trains wisdom, ethical conduct and meditation together towards liberation. Learn its factors and acquired fruits, then evaluate claims that one truth or factor matters more than the others by distinguishing different kinds of priority.
Meditation - Samatha, vipassana and mindfulnessMeditation cultivates attention and understanding within a path of ethical and liberating practice. Compare calm and insight, examine mindfulness and personalised methods, and explain why neither distracted analysis nor concentration without understanding completes the Buddhist aim.
Meditation - Jhanas, benefits and secular practiceMeditative attainment and practical benefit are related but different claims. Examine the jhanas, compare Buddhist liberation with secular therapeutic aims, and judge meditation's importance and social effects without assuming every use has the same purpose or outcome.

4. Development

The Development of Mahayana Buddhism - Emergence, upaya and Lotus parablesMahayana developed new accounts of the path and the Buddha's teaching within a changing Buddhist world. Examine possible reasons for emergence and the three required Lotus parables, then judge whether skilful means can explain diversity without making every religious claim equally true.
The Development of Mahayana Buddhism - Bodhisattvas, vows and perfectionsThe bodhisattva ideal joins wisdom with a commitment to beings' liberation. Examine its vow and six perfections, compare its path with the Theravada arhat, and distinguish ordinary aspiration from the advanced figures of compassion, wisdom and future Buddhahood.
The Development of Mahayana Buddhism - Trikaya and the nature of BuddhaThe trikaya doctrine explains Buddhahood through truth, heavenly and earthly bodies. Learn how the three are related, how they extend understanding beyond Siddhartha's visible life, and why neither three physical persons nor a creator God accurately captures their significance.
Madhyamaka and Prajnaparamita - Nagarjuna, emptiness and the Heart SutraMadhyamaka challenges the assumption that things exist through independent own-being. Examine Nagarjuna's reasoning and the Heart Sutra's perfection of wisdom, then distinguish emptiness from non-existence and compare interpretations without turning emptiness into a new hidden substance.
Madhyamaka and Prajnaparamita - Two truths, nirvana and conventional languageMadhyamaka relates conventional functioning to ultimate emptiness rather than treating them as two separate worlds. Examine that distinction, the relation between samsara and nirvana, and the value of language and practice when no teaching possesses independent own-being.

5. Society

Buddhism in the Far East - Zen, zazen and transmissionZen places direct awakening at the centre of a disciplined Buddhist life. Compare zazen, Rinzai and Soto, then examine how a tradition can question attachment to words and rituals while still using texts, teachers and ceremonies.
Buddhism in the Far East - Pure Land, Amitabha and chantingPure Land traditions place confidence in Amitabha's compassionate vow at the centre of a path available to ordinary people. Explain rebirth and chanting, compare Jōdo-shū with Jōdo Shinshū, and judge what calling this an easy path does and does not establish.
Buddhism in the West - Migration, media and Buddhist imagesBuddhism reached Western societies through moving communities as well as interested converts. Examine why it spread, how popular images shape its reception, and why a public figure can mean different things to Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
Buddhism in the West - Batchelor, Knitter and Western adaptationStephen Batchelor and Paul Knitter both reinterpret Buddhism in Western settings, but pursue different ends. Compare secular enquiry with Christian-Buddhist dual belonging, then judge adaptation through what each retains, changes and claims to establish.

6. Challenges

Engaged Buddhism and Activism - Thich Nhat Hanh and engaged practiceEngaged Buddhism joins inner cultivation to action against social suffering. Explore Thich Nhat Hanh's response to war and his Fourteen Precepts, then judge whether engagement belongs at the centre of the Buddhist path.
Engaged Buddhism and Activism - Environment, justice, war and peaceBuddhist activism applies compassion and non-harm to shared conditions of suffering. Examine environmental and justice examples, compare roles in different contexts, and test whether protecting life could ever justify accepting war.
Buddhism and Gender - Women and the attainment of awakeningDebates about women and awakening combine philosophical claims with social opportunities and textual interpretation. Distinguish liberation from the role of a Buddha, read the Dragon King's daughter carefully, and judge how equality in principle relates to real possibilities.
Buddhism and Gender - Ordination, monastic rules and reformFemale monasticism is shaped by discipline, lineage, recognition and reform. Examine the gurudharma controversy, explain why ordination is disputed, and compare women's institutions without confusing formal status with spiritual capacity.

07 Hinduism — Developments in Hindu thought

1. Foundations

Development and Diversity - Indus origins and the Vedic periodHindu traditions have no single identifiable founder or starting event. Examine what archaeology and Vedic texts can establish about their development, and why historical influence differs from authority for a believer today.
Development and Diversity - Vaishnavism, Shaivism and ShaktismDevotion to Vishnu, Shiva or Devi can organise a whole religious life, rather than merely select a favourite image. Compare their understandings of supreme reality, their practices and the different ways they connect human action with liberation.
Wisdom and authority - Shruti, smriti and sacred textsHindu sacred literature includes different kinds of text and different kinds of authority. Learn how revelation, remembered tradition and actual religious use relate, and why a text's formal status does not tell us everything about its importance.
Wisdom and authority - Holy people, teachers and initiationReligious wisdom is transmitted through people as well as texts. Distinguish overlapping Hindu holy roles, understand initiation and disciplined practice, and assess how spiritual authority can be recognised rather than simply assumed from appearance.

2. Insight

Brahman and the Self - Describing BrahmanHindu thinkers describe ultimate reality through positive terms, negation and the relationship between the whole and the self. Examine what these descriptions mean, why they can be interpreted differently, and how useful they are for understanding Brahman.
Brahman and the Self - Atman, liberation and the required textsThe prescribed Upanishadic and Gita passages ask what survives bodily change and how knowledge changes human life. Follow their arguments and analogies, then compare different understandings of the relation between atman, Brahman and liberation.
Samsara and Karma - Karma, rebirth and moral agencyKarma relates conduct to what a person becomes across lives, while samsara names the cycle from which liberation is sought. Explore the kinds of karma, the role of intention and detached action, and the strengths and difficulties of this account of responsibility.
Samsara and Karma - Grace, surrender and liberationDevotional traditions ask whether human effort can free a bound self or whether liberation ultimately depends on God. Understand grace and surrender, compare the monkey and cat analogies, and assess how dependence can coexist with ethical responsibility.

3. Living

The Concept of Dharma - Dharma, adharma and cosmic orderDharma connects righteous conduct with the order that sustains life. Examine its different meanings, the cyclical decline and restoration of order, and the prescribed texts' challenge to mechanical rule-following.
The Concept of Dharma - Aims of life and ethical contextsThe four aims of life connect ordinary fulfilment with ethical responsibility and liberation. Learn how dharma orders these aims, how merit differs from release, and how communities interpret righteous living in personal, social and professional contexts.
Living in Accordance with Dharma - Varna, ashrama and dutiesVarnashramadharma relates righteous living to social roles and stages of life. Distinguish its ideal categories from lived jati identities, interpret the Purusha Sukta, and connect duties with the aims of life, karma and liberation.
Living in Accordance with Dharma - Virtues, detachment and liberationRighteous living requires more than knowing a social role. Examine non-violence, self-restraint and detachment, then judge whether virtuous conduct prepares liberation, constitutes it, or still needs knowledge and grace.

4. Development

Vedanta - Sankara and AdvaitaVedanta interprets Upanishadic teaching about Brahman, self and liberation. Follow Sankara's account of non-duality, distinguish ignorance from ordinary error, and examine why knowledge is decisive without making ethics or devotion meaningless.
Vedanta - Ramanuja and MadhvaRamanuja and Madhva defend real selves, a real world and devotion to the supreme Lord while disagreeing about their unity. Compare their accounts with Sankara's, and judge how metaphysics changes the meaning of bondage, knowledge, moral action and liberation.
Vedanta - Vivekananda, Neo-Vedanta and influenceVivekananda presented Vedanta to international audiences as a practical and widely accessible spiritual philosophy. Examine his synthesis of paths, its ethical purpose and global influence, then test whether its prominence adequately represents Hindu philosophical diversity.
Hinduism as ‘Religion’ - Naming Hinduism and its diversityA collective name can help people recognise shared traditions while obscuring real differences. Trace the term Hinduism, distinguish universal and eternal dharma, and evaluate whether one religion or a family of religions best describes this diverse inheritance.
Hinduism as ‘Religion’ - Religion, philosophy and liberationLiberation can unite metaphysical enquiry, disciplined conduct and religious practice without giving every Hindu school an identical goal. Evaluate maya, relation to Brahman and the way-of-life description, then test the academic boundaries between religion, philosophy and ethics.

5. Society

Hinduism and India - Holy geography and HindutvaIndia can be a sacred homeland, a place of cultural inheritance and a political nation. Distinguish these meanings, examine Hindutva's account of belonging, and consider what movement beyond India changes.
Hinduism and India - Secular law, diversity and reformIndia's secular constitution operates within a religiously diverse society. Examine how equality, personal law and religious freedom interact, and why changing a law does not automatically change every social practice.
Hinduism and the West - Migration, practice and portrayalHindu communities outside India preserve traditions while responding to new settings. Examine migration, changing social roles, practical adaptations and public portrayals without assuming one universal diaspora experience.
Hinduism and the West - Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and GandhiRamakrishna, Vivekananda and Gandhi influenced encounters between Hindu traditions and the wider world in different ways. Examine their spiritual and social teaching, then judge what their influence reveals—and what it leaves unrepresented.

6. Challenges

Hinduism, Equality and Discrimination - Dalits, caste and untouchabilityCaste can connect identity and responsibility with inherited exclusion. Distinguish its categories, examine untouchability's effects, and assess competing accounts of religious authority and Dalit self-representation.
Hinduism, Equality and Discrimination - Stridharma and gender expectationsIdeas about women's and men's duties can value family relationships while restricting autonomy. Examine stridharma, marriage, children and son preference, then distinguish religious prescriptions from varied practice and changing expectations.
Hinduism and Social Reform - Women’s movements and educationWomen's movements challenge restrictions by changing arguments, opportunities and institutions. Examine widowhood, daughter rights and education, and ask how caste affects whose concerns define reform.
Hinduism and Social Reform - Dalit movements and voices for changeDalit movements challenge caste oppression through argument, education, organisation and rights advocacy. Examine solidarity networks and the problem of representation, then judge how religious and other means can work together.