Unit 1: Religion and Philosophical Themes - a complete overview for WJEC GCSE Religious Studies

What this covers

Unit 1: Religion and Philosophical Themes is one of the two units of the full WJEC GCSE Religious Studies course, a written exam worth 50 percent (and the whole of the short course). This overview ties the dot points together: Part A is the beliefs and teachings of Christianity and one other religion, and Part B is the two philosophical themes, Life and Death and Good and Evil, studied through religious and non-religious responses.

Part A: beliefs and teachings

In Part A you study the core beliefs of Christianity (or Catholic Christianity) and one other religion chosen from Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism. This site uses Christianity and Islam. For Christianity, the key beliefs are the nature of God, the Trinity, creation, the Incarnation and Jesus, the crucifixion and resurrection, salvation and life after death. For Islam, the key beliefs are Tawhid and the nature of Allah, the Six Beliefs (and Shi'a Five Roots), prophethood and Muhammad, the Qur'an, and akhirah (life after death). The exam rewards belief plus a source of wisdom.

Part B: the philosophical themes

Part B studies two philosophical themes through religious and non-religious responses.

Theme 1: Issues of Life and Death. The origins of the universe and humanity (creation and science), the sanctity and quality of life, abortion, euthanasia and life after death, with Humanist as well as religious views.

Theme 2: Issues of Good and Evil. The problem of evil and suffering, sources of morality, crime and punishment, the aims of punishment, forgiveness and the death penalty, again with non-religious responses.

The assessment objectives and question types

Unit 1 marks are split evenly between AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation). Questions follow a ladder: a short (a) definition, a (b) describe, a (c) explain (often with a source of wisdom), and a (d) evaluation ("Discuss this statement"), on which SPaG is marked. Plan the (d) answer with religious and non-religious views and a clear judgement.

Check your knowledge

1. What two parts make up Unit 1? (2 marks)
2. Name the two philosophical themes in Part B. (2 marks)
3. What is the Trinity? (2 marks)
4. What is Tawhid? (2 marks)
5. What is the "sanctity of life"? (2 marks)
6. What is the "problem of evil"? (2 marks)
7. Name two aims of punishment. (2 marks)
8. Why must Part B include non-religious views? (2 marks)