Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Paper 3 New Testament Studies: a complete overview
A complete overview of Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Paper 3, New Testament Studies. Explains the structure of the exam, the AO1 and AO2 split, and ties together the historical context and person of Jesus, the Kingdom of God and the resurrection, and interpreting scripture and the work of scholars.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Jump to a section
Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Paper 3 is New Testament Studies, an extended textual study of the Gospels in their world. It studies the context of the New Testament, the person of Jesus, the Kingdom of God, the death and resurrection, and the critical methods scholars use to interpret the text. This overview ties together the three topic pages. A candidate cannot combine it with Paper 4B Christianity.
How Paper 3 works
Paper 3 is a two-hour written exam worth 80 marks. It covers the social, historical and religious context, the person of Jesus, ways of interpreting scripture, the Kingdom of God, the death and resurrection, scientific and historical-critical challenges, ethical living, and the works of scholars. Questions include structured tasks, a textual-reasoning question on a set passage, and an extended evaluative essay, with AO1 and AO2 weighted equally.
The historical context and person of Jesus
The Gospels arose in first-century Palestine under Roman occupation, amid Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes and the hope for a Messiah. The titles of Jesus (Messiah, Son of Man, Son of God) frame the debate over his identity: a Jewish teacher and prophet (Vermes, Sanders), a political figure (Brandon), or the divine Son of God, with the "Jesus of history versus Christ of faith" distinction running throughout.
The Kingdom of God and the resurrection
The Kingdom of God is taught through parables and a demanding ethic, and its timing is debated: Schweitzer (futurist), Dodd (realised) and Jeremias (inaugurated). The death is read through theories of atonement, and the resurrection through the empty tomb and appearances, with N T Wright defending a bodily resurrection and Bultmann demythologising it.
Interpreting scripture and the work of scholars
The historical-critical methods are source criticism (the Synoptic Problem, Markan priority, Q), form criticism (Bultmann, the oral units) and redaction criticism (each evangelist's theology). Demythologisation reinterprets the mythological language. The central question is whether these methods undermine or illuminate the authority of the text.
How Paper 3 is examined
- The textual-reasoning question. Explain and evaluate a set Gospel passage.
- The extended essay (AO2-heavy). Weigh a scholarly debate against the text and reach a justified conclusion.
Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies (9RS0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2016)