Religious Studies

Course summary

Philosophy of Religion: ancient philosophical influences; the nature of the soul, mind and body; arguments about the existence or non-existence of God; the nature and impact of religious experience; the challenge for religious belief of the problem of evil; ideas about the nature of God; issues in religious language. Religion and Ethics: normative ethical theories; the application of ethical theory to two contemporary issues of importance; ethical language and thought; debates surrounding the significant idea of conscience; sexual ethics and the influence on ethical thought of developments in religious beliefs. Developments in Religious Thought: religious beliefs, values and teachings, their interconnections and how they vary historically and in the contemporary world; sources of religious wisdom and authority; practices which shape and express religious identity, and how these vary within a tradition; significant social and historical developments in theology and religious thought; key themes related to the relationship between religion and society in the context of one religion.