Congratulations on completing all of your mock exams!

I can’t give you your grades for Ethics but I can say that there

were some really good answers!

Now that we have completely finished our Ethics content and gone through revision we will be turning our attention back to Philosophy. We have not covered this information since May of year 10 so it is important that you get all of your notes together. Before the Easter Holiday’s we will go through the main features of Philosophy so you can do your own revision over the break and come back with specific questions!

What was Philosophy? Like with Ethics Philosophy was broken down into 2 units and each unit had a selection of topics. Philosophy 1: Topic 1 – Beliefs about deity Topic 2 – Religious and Spiritual Experience Topic 3 – The End of Life Philosophy 2: Topic 4 – Good and Evil Topic 5 – Reason and Revelation Topic 6 – Religion and Science

As with Ethics you only need to know two from each unit

so in P1 we will look at Topic 1 and Topic 3 and in P2 we will

look at T4 and T6.

Remember – the exam paper asks you to ‘choose 2 from the three topics’ so we just

don’t learn one of them!

How will these next few weeks work? Each lesson I will go through the basics of one of the Philosophy topics (one per lesson). This will give you the basic headings and some of the key content. This will not be enough to class as ‘revision’ but have been designed to revisit the information to make work at home easier (and to remind you that this isn’t as difficult as you might think).

Remember, the exam skills are identical in Philosophy

and Ethics – we are still working on 6 and 12

markers!

Revision = Party Time!

Philosophy 1: Topic 1: Beliefs about Deity

That is just a posh word for God!

What do you need to know?

1.Philosophical ideas of who God is 2.Christian ideas of who God is

3.The Holy Trinity 4.The Cosmological Argument 5.The Ontological Argument 6.The Teleological Argument

7.Morality, Experience and Upbringing 8.Miracles

9.Religious interpretation of Miracles

Who is the Christian God? For a Christian, God is the creator and ‘sustainer’ of the entire world. This means that God is the most important force that has ever, can ever and will ever exist. Christians have faith in this. To help Christians understand this force they need to try and describe it. To help them do this Christians have studied the Bible very closely and tried to pull out some of the abilities that God has from the stories. Other Christians turned to Philosophy to try and figure out using logic what powers a God might have.

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is

anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” 1 John

4:16

“But while mortals rise and perish God endures

unchanging on” H. F. Lyte

Be aware, not all Christians are happy with using these words to describe God. They argue that if God truly is impersonal and transcendent then we should be unable to describe God. Other’s argue that because God is the creator He must be so different to human beings that any attempt to describe God would fail. Of course, don’t forget your atheists who believe God is just made up!

For Christians these characteristics describe everything you need to know about God (key words and imagery). However, in the Bible there are also additional beliefs (these are purely religious ideas, not Philosophical). One of the most important (and confusing ideas) is the view of the TRINITY.

The Trinity is the idea that God is one being but that He can be understood in three different ways (like water can become Ice, Water and Steam). For Christians these complex ideas about God can be understood as: The Father, The Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. Each part of the Trinity has a different function and is revealed at different points in the Bible. The main reference to the Trinity in the Bible comes from the Apostles Creed (though this never actually uses the word ‘Trinity’).

God the Father

The Father is taken from

Genesis and the Old Testament where God is described as

creating the world and all of mankind

God the Son

The Son is taken from the

New Testament

where Jesus declared that

he was God on Earth

The Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is when God’s

force is felt by normal people

(in the Bible the Holy Spirit is

described as a dove).

It is really important that you are clear that even though most Christians believe that God can be understood in three different ways this is not the same as saying God is split into three different beings.

God is one entity. But humans understand God in many ways.

How do Christians prove that God is real? This is the most important part of this course and involves becoming experts of the 6 main arguments (3 really hard ones and 3 really easy ones). Each of the next 6 slides will cover one of the arguments – make sure you are clear on how it works! Remember – the names of the people count as evidence in 6 markers because they are famous Christians!

The Cosmological Argument was created in the 13th Century by the Christian Monk St. Thomas Aquinas. He argued that everything in existence has a cause Aquinas argued that if everything has a cause there must be a cause at the very beginning, something to knock over that first domino. Aquinas argued that this cause must have existed without a cause itself (since this is the start and infinity makes no sense) and this proves that God must exist because God is this ‘First Cause’.

Aquinas used the 5 Ways as ‘evidence’ for his view:

1. Motion (God caused everything to

change like the seasons) 2. Cause (God is the first cause of

everything in existence) 3. Possibility and Necessity (We don’t

need to exist for the world to exist, we are possible. God needs to exist

for the world to exist, God is necessary)

4. Goodness (God is the source of everything that is good)

5. Design (God made the world work like clockwork)

The Ontological Argument is the hardest of them all and tries to prove God based on examining the word ‘God’. This was designed by Anselm who argued that God is (by definition) “That than which nothing greater can be conceived”. Anselm’s argument is simple – if God is the greatest then it is greater to be real than fake, therefore God must be real!

This argument has been heavily criticised and Gaunilo gave the

example of an island. Just because I call something the greatest it doesn’t actually make it real!

The best line to use is that you “can’t define something into

existence”.

The Teleological Argument was the newest of the ‘classical’ arguments and was created by William Paley. Paley noticed that everything in our world looked like it was designed for some special reason. He used the example of a watch – everything works together to produce the intended outcome (telling time). For Paley, the world was exactly the same and just like the watch had a watch maker the universe must have a universe maker – this is God.

Today this theory has been challenged by Darwin who

says that everything evolved into the way it is

today!

Paley gave several examples of ‘evidence’ for his theory

and suggested that they eye and the leaf were examples

of things that had been perfectly created.

Experience: People ‘prove’ God by seeing God in a vision or a dream. Famous examples include St. Paul. You can also use miracles here to add extra evidence. Be careful – these experiences are usually subjective (they only happen to one or two people).

Morality: God must be real because everyone is hard-wired with the ideas of a conscience and knows right and wrong. Psychologists say this is learned behaviour. Some people don’t have the same ideas about what is right and wrong.

Upbringing: God must be real because my parents and their parents and their parents believed in God. This provides no proof, just a social custom!

Be very careful – some questions (12 markers) ask you if there is any EVIDENCE for God.

Here you cannot just say the different arguments but have to

identify what would be evidence.

The evidence you can use is…

1. Examples of cause (I need a mum so the universe needs a creator)

2. Miracles – Jesus’ miracles and modern one’s 3. Design in Nature – look how perfect it is

The other arguments don’t provide evidence, just arguments, so be very careful with the wording of the question!

What about this Miracle stuff? Miracles in Christianity are INCREDIBLY important. This is because the whole religion is based on them: 1. Jesus’ birth is the result of an

immaculate conception which if it didn’t happen removes the Trinity

2. Jesus performed miracles in his life to show that he was powerful

3. Jesus died and was resurrection – without this there is no belief in the afterlife!

Without miracles there is no Christianity, so if you get a question about explain why they are important you need to be crystal clear!

Remember, a miracle is described as ‘a

violation of the laws of nature’. This means

that a miracle is when something that

shouldn’t happen, happens

In Christianity there are five major types of miracle. You need to know them and examples of each (and why they are important)

Healing Miracles – When someone who is unwell immediately returns to

health, or when someone who has been told they will die recovers. Examples include Jesus healing the leper – these show Jesus is omni-

benevolent Miracles over nature – When the natural elements are controlled, for

example, when a storm suddenly ceases, or the weather is controlled. God parts the Red Sea for Moses, Jesus calms the storm. These show

omnipotence. Raising the Dead – When someone who is declared medically dead returns to life. This includes the raising of Lazarus and shows Jesus as omnipotent

and omni-benevolent. Proves the Trinity. Exorcisms – When someone who is unwell immediately returns to health, or

when someone who has been told they will die recovers. Jesus banishes spirits from many people. Proves the Trinity and suggests the devil is real

which helps support a life after death. Jesus’ Miracles – Miracles performed by Jesus that don’t fit into the above

categories. This is the stuff Jesus did, like make water become wine.

Biblical miracles are one thing, but Christians also need evidence of modern day miracles. These are important because: 1. They show the God and Jesus are

still involved in the world (proving the Trinity and omni-benevolence)

2. They give believers faith that they can also be healed (shows that they are special)

3. Proves that Jesus was really the Son of God

4. Provides believers with hope and guidance (through the Holy Spirit and the Trinity)

However, not everyone agrees on Miracles (including Christians)

1. Literal – Some Christians believe that miracles in the Bible are the absolute word of God. If they are written down they actually happened. These Christians will see the events in the Old Testament as being historically accurate and believe that miracles

still happen today and are caused by God. Many of these Christians are what we would call ‘fundamental’.

2. Metaphor – Some Christians, particularly modern Churches, believe that miracles are a metaphor or special way of describing God helping humans. These Christians

might not believe that they literally happened, but that God helped people in a way that they could not describe.

3. Only Jesus – Some Christians believe that miracles can only happen if they are performed by Jesus because he is God on Earth (the Trinity). Modern miracles do not

happen because there is no one causing them to happen 4. Miracles are performed by the Holy Spirit – Some Christians believe that the Holy

Spirit can work through people and nature to make miracles happen – this is why people today can be cured from illnesses or apparent laws of nature can be broken

5. Rational Explanations – Some Christians will argue that what happened 2,000 years ago may have been seen as a miracle then, but today it can be explained by science. These Christians would still consider themselves faithful, but argue that science can

shed light on some things that were previously hidden. 6. Atheists – Miracles are a misunderstanding of science / coincidence

6 Mark Exam Questions

Again, 3 points and 3 paragraphs.

Each point needs to be

supported with evidence.

Remember, evidence includes famous

Christians (so the guys who created each of the major ‘arguments’ also

count)

12 markers:

Intro, 2 for, 2 against, conc.

This time you need to be very aware that atheists will be one of those four

points!

12 markers on this side of the course look scary but are actually really nice!

KEY QUOTES

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him”

1 John 4:16

“But while mortals rise and perish God endures unchanging on” H. F. Lyte

“God’s spirit lives in you” 1 Corinthians 3:16

“So the Holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” Luke

1:35

“God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived”

Part (d) These questions usually focus on the nature of God and miracles. The last 4 exam papers have asked the following:

1. Explain why there are different beliefs about miracles from within Christianity

2. Explain why Christians believe God exists 3. Explain Christian beliefs about Miracles 4. Explain why Christians believe in God

Part (e) These are the hardest questions to anticipate. You need to be really prepared for these and know the information inside out. Remember, the questions will not be nicely linked to our lesson objectives because the

examiner wants to see how you handle the information. The last 4 exam papers have asked the following:

1. “God cannot be described” Discuss this statement… 2. “It is important for Christians to believe in miracles” Discuss this

statement… 3. “There is a lot of evidence to prove that there is a God” Discuss this

statement… 4. “If God existed we would know it” Discuss this statement…