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EnglandReligious Studies

Christianity: Developments and Practices (Component 1)

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do baptism and the Eucharist shape Christian identity, and does disagreement over their meaning unite or divide the Church?

Component 1 religious identity through practice: baptism (infant and believers') and the Eucharist (transubstantiation, consubstantiation, memorialism, spiritual presence) as practices that form and divide Christian identity.
An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to baptism and the Eucharist as practices that shape religious identity. Covers infant versus believers' baptism, the meaning of initiation, and the rival theologies of the Eucharist (transubstantiation, consubstantiation, memorialism, spiritual presence), and asks whether these practices unite or divide the Church, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Is Western society becoming inevitably more secular, and how should Christianity respond to the decline of religious belief and practice?

Component 1 religion, secularisation and Christian response: the meaning and evidence of secularisation, secularism as ideology, and the range of Christian responses (accommodation, resistance, re-evangelisation).
An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to secularisation and the Christian response. Covers the meaning and evidence of secularisation, the difference between secularisation and secularism, the New Atheist critique, and the range of Christian responses (accommodation, resistance, re-evangelisation), with the evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Should Christianity confront poverty and injustice through structural change and political action, and is liberation theology's use of Marx a legitimate development of the gospel?

Component 1 religion and the challenge of poverty and injustice: Christian approaches to poverty (charity versus structural change), liberation theology (Gutierrez and Boff), the preferential option for the poor, and the use of Marxist analysis.
An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to religion and the challenge of poverty and injustice. Covers Christian responses to poverty (charitable relief versus structural change and political activism), liberation theology (Gutierrez, Boff), the preferential option for the poor, orthopraxis, the use of Marxist analysis, and the Vatican's criticisms, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Did the conversion of Constantine and the alliance of Church and state strengthen Christianity or corrupt it?

Component 1 the early Church and the state: persecution and martyrdom, the conversion of Constantine and the Edict of Milan, the move from persecuted sect to imperial religion, and the consolidation of doctrine and authority.
An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to the early Church and the state. Covers the persecution and martyrdom of the early Christians, the conversion of Constantine and the Edict of Milan (313), the shift from persecuted sect to imperial religion under Theodosius, the consolidation of creeds and authority, and the debate over whether establishment strengthened or corrupted the Church.
16 min answer →

What do Christians teach about wealth, migration and equality, and how far do these issues divide Christians and shape distinct religious identities?

Component 1 religious identity in the context of wealth, migration and equality: Christian attitudes to wealth and poverty, to migrants and refugees, and to equality and discrimination (gender, race), and how differing interpretations shape identity.
An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to religious identity in the context of wealth, migration and equality. Covers Christian attitudes to wealth and poverty, hospitality to migrants and refugees, and teaching on equality and discrimination (gender and race), and how differing interpretations shape distinct Christian identities, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →