Religious Studies Shell Trial – November 2017

The Shell Trial will be in the following format:

1. Key terms test and evaluation – 10 marks

2. Description/Explanation question (Explain how…/ Explain what…) – 6 marks

3. Evaluative question (Discuss this statement…) – 15 marks

N.B. You will have a choice between two different questions for both question 2 and 3.
What should you be revising?

1. The whole glossary. You will need to know the meaning of these terms and
understand their importance within the subject of Philosophy.

2. The following topics:

a. The Bible and its interpretation (Fundamentalist; Conservative;

Liberal)

i. Fundamentalists believe in interpreting the

bible literally; they would go as far as to say that scientifically, God
created the world in 7 days

ii. Conservatives take the bible as goods word,

but it has just been put to paper with some ‘artistic licence’ from
the writers

iii. Liberals believe the Bible is not literally God’s

word, it is just a collection of good morals put into a metaphorical
format

b. The Historical Figure of Jesus

i. Jesus it literally translated as ‘God Saves’

ii. He taught kindness and morality

iii. He is thought to have died on the cross directly

because of the orders of Pontius Pilate

c. The teachings of Jesus

i. Even a sinner can arrive in heaven

ii. God is forgiving

iii. You should give things to people in society

with out expecting anything in return

d. The Problem of Evil and its theodicies (solutions)

i. Surely if evil exists, God can not be

omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient

ii. If he is not all three, is he really a god?

e. Religious Experience
 i. Religious experiences are encounters with the
divine

ii. They are noetic; ineffable, transient and

passive
Glossary

1. What is a: Deductive argument/reasoning

a. an argument when premises entail conclusion

2. What is: Inductive argument/reasoning

a. Truth of conclusion is not necessarily entailed by premises

3. What is: A priori knowledge

a. knowledge which is pre-existing before our experiences

4. What is: A posteriori knowledge

a. knowledge which is only based on experience

5. What is a: Analytic statement

a. Can only be true or false

6. What is a: Synthetic statement

a. Can be true or false to different people or could change

7. What is a: Premise

a. a statement

8. What is a: Conclusion
 a. the joining of several premises

9. What is: Philosophy

a. Asking and answering questions about the nature and reality of existence

10. Existence

a. The fact or state of something being in objective reality