RS11: Philosophy of Religion

No, I'm only doing the Philosophy exam for RS as I'm not doing the Islam paper, I did New Testament instead last Wednesday. Thank goodness, if I had two RS exams and my Law Synoptic that would be bad!

We don't get breaks in-between exams either, which seems unfair. We're also not allowed to leave the exam room before the exam has finished, when in many other schools people are allowed to go after a certain time has elapsed (although I do tend to be one of the people who run out of time ). So are you doing the whole A-Level RS this year then? That's brave .

Sounds like your school has the same policy as us - archaic and unfair! At least my very quirky but brilliant tutor brought us round some Jaffa Cakes after the first exam!

Yeah I'm doing it all in one year. It's not been too bad actually, it's just a pity I won't be able resit any other my AS papers - but I'm sure I've done alright. I got full marks on the first unit (Islam), and I think I did pretty well on the Religious Authority unit two weeks ago. The Ethics I had the knowledge for, but I ran out of time on the last question! I hardly wrote anything and I know I've dropped loads of marks on it. Ah well, can't do anything about it now.

I'm going to ask for "special dispensation" on Thursday, hehe, and demand a break in-between! I've got an awful "writer's bump" on my middle finger and it stings to touch.

I don't have any notes online for the Synoptic unit unfortunately, but obviously most of what's needed can be found within the work over the past two years. I'm going to look at the mark schemes on the AQA website to gauge what kind of response they are looking for.

Anyone with Mysticism notes or where i can compile some type of mysticism?

Excellent notes, thanks!

Here's a tip we were giving for remember William James' characteristics of mystical experiences:
rearrange the first letters into an anagram = PINT. Passivity, Ineffability, Noetic Quality, Transiency.

Thanks! I think the biggest benefit to me this past year has been the fact that I started the course as an agnostic. I wasn't a religionist so I could be more objective than the vast majority of Muslims in my class, who for some found it difficult to look critically at aspects of their faith.

Did you know much about religion before you started the course? I personally didn't know too much, I guess much of what I knew about Islam was that of which is projected by the media - but I've always been far too savvy not to take on board what I see, hear and read without a hefty pinch of salt.

What I've found since studying Islam is that, like Christianity there are many different sects with contrasting views. The media seems to lump all these different traditions together and present it as one - unlike Christianity, where there is a clear distinction between Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Anyhoo, I didn't know what to expect, as our college called religious studies: Philosophy, Religious and Islamic Studies. My guess is it is to attract Muslim students who may be drawn to discovering more about their faith. That was reflected in the fact that in AS classes, I was the only male, the only white, and the only non-Muslim. That didn't bother me at all however, and I've made some great friends and had some lively debates. The A2 class was slightly more mixed, with one Roman Catholic girl. At the end of it all, I've learned so much it's unreal, and I'm really interested in learning more about religion and philosophy.

Thanks all for the notes. I'm not trying to copy anyone or anything, but attatched is a word document for AQA Philosophy 11. It has NDEs, Mysticism and evil and suffering all summarised in one word document, with content drawn from Browns mysticism, a few bits i have and tom toms ppts. I hope this is okay with you, if i post it, as i know i find it easier if its all in one document together in an easy to read bullet point format. So thats what i have done and i hope it is of use to others.