← Religious, Moral & Philosophical Studies syllabus

ScotlandReligious, Moral & Philosophical Studies

World Religion

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What does your chosen world religion teach about the nature of the divine, God or ultimate reality, and how does that shape the rest of its teaching?

The religion's beliefs about the nature of the divine, God or ultimate reality, and how those beliefs underpin its account of the human condition, the goal and the means.
An SQA Higher RMPS answer on beliefs about the divine in World Religion, explaining how a chosen religion understands God, the divine or ultimate reality (with Buddhism's non-theistic stance and the theistic contrast as the worked example), and how those beliefs shape the human condition, the goal and the means.
12 min answer →

What does your chosen world religion teach is the goal, the ultimate aim or desired state that answers the human condition?

The religion's account of the goal: the ultimate aim of the spiritual life, what it consists of, and how it answers the problem set out in the human condition.
An SQA Higher RMPS answer on the goal in World Religion, explaining the ultimate aim a chosen religion sets (with Buddhism as the worked example), what nibbana, salvation or liberation consists of, and how the goal directly answers the diagnosis of the human condition.
12 min answer →

What does your chosen world religion teach about the human condition, the problem or predicament that human beings face?

The religion's analysis of the human condition: the fundamental problem facing human beings, its causes, and why the religion sees it as the starting point for the spiritual life.
An SQA Higher RMPS answer on the human condition in World Religion, explaining how a chosen religion (with Buddhism as the worked example) diagnoses the fundamental problem facing humanity, its causes such as ignorance, craving or sin, and why this diagnosis is the starting point for the goal and the means.
12 min answer →

What does your chosen world religion teach are the means, the path or practices by which a person reaches the goal?

The religion's account of the means: the path, practices and disciplines by which a follower moves from the human condition towards the goal.
An SQA Higher RMPS answer on the means in World Religion, explaining the path and practices a chosen religion prescribes (with Buddhism and the Noble Eightfold Path as the worked example), how the means are organised, and how they move a follower from the human condition towards the goal.
13 min answer →