OCR A Level Religious Studies (H573)
The Complete Revision Guide
Philosophy of Religion · Religion and Ethics · Developments in Christian Thought
Every Topic · Every Scholar · Every Essay — One Guide
, OCR H573 — Complete Revision Guide
Contents
Click any entry to jump to it (Word/most PDF viewers), or use your app’s navigation pane / bookmarks panel.
About this guide
How to use this guide
How this guide is marked
Command words: what the question is actually asking
Timing and structure: making the most of 40 minutes
What actually separates a top-band answer from a mid-band one
Mark scheme self-check
Technical terms glossary
What this guide covers
Synoptic Links: Connections Across the Specification
How Developments in Christian Thought Maps onto the Wider Specification
PART ONE: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
SECTION 1: PHILOSOPHICAL LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
1.1 Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato and Aristotle on Reality
1.2 Soul, Mind and Body
SECTION 2: THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
2.1 Arguments Based on Observation: The Cosmological and Teleological Arguments
2.2 Arguments Based on Reason: The Ontological Argument
SECTION 3: GOD AND THE WORLD
3.1 Religious Experience
3.2 The Problem of Evil
SECTION 4: THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEVELOPMENTS
4.1 The Nature or Attributes of God
SECTION 5: RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE
5.1 Religious Language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic
5.2 Religious Language: Twentieth Century Perspectives
PART TWO: RELIGION AND ETHICS
SECTION 1: NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES — RELIGIOUS APPROACHES
1.1 Natural Law
1.2 Situation Ethics
SECTION 2: NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES
2.1 Kantian Ethics
Page 2 of 122
, OCR H573 — Complete Revision Guide
2.2 Utilitarianism
SECTION 3: APPLIED ETHICS
3.1 Euthanasia
3.2 Business Ethics
SECTION 4: ETHICAL LANGUAGE — META-ETHICS
4.1 Naturalism, Intuitionism and Emotivism
SECTION 5: SIGNIFICANT IDEAS
5.1 Conscience: Aquinas and Freud
SECTION 6: DEVELOPMENTS IN ETHICAL THOUGHT
6.1 Sexual Ethics
PART THREE: DEVELOPMENTS IN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT
SECTION 1: INSIGHT — Human Life, the World and Ultimate Reality
1.1 Augustine's Teaching on Human Nature
1.2 Death and the Afterlife
SECTION 2: FOUNDATIONS — The Origins and Sources of Christianity
2.1 Knowledge of God's Existence
2.2 The Person of Jesus Christ
SECTION 3: LIVING — Christian Ethics and Its Sources
3.1 Christian Moral Principles
3.2 Christian Moral Action: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
SECTION 4: DEVELOPMENT — Christianity, Pluralism and Gender
4.1 Religious Pluralism and Theology
4.2 Religious Pluralism and Society
4.3 Gender and Society
4.4 Gender and Theology: Rosemary Radford Ruether and Mary Daly
SECTION 5: CHALLENGES
5.1 The Challenge of Secularism
5.2 Liberation Theology and Marx
Quotable Quotes, by Scholar
Quick Reference: Master Scholar Index
Page 3 of 122
, OCR H573 — Complete Revision Guide
About this guide
This guide was written entirely by a student who achieved an A* in OCR H573 Religious Studies and went
on to study at the University of Cambridge — compiled from their own revision notes, essay plans and
exam technique across all three papers, then organised, deduplicated and checked against the published
OCR specification (Version 2.0, July 2026).
It is not an official OCR or Cambridge Assessment publication, and it is not endorsed, authorised, reviewed
or sponsored by OCR, Cambridge Assessment, or any awarding body. "OCR" and "H573" refer to the
examination and specification set by OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA, now trading as Cambridge OCR); all
such references are used only to identify the syllabus this guide supports. Short extracts from the OCR
specification are quoted or paraphrased for identification and study purposes only, and remain the
property of OCR/Cambridge OCR.
This guide is intended to support revision alongside your own class notes, set texts and teacher guidance
— not to replace them. Specifications are periodically updated, so always check the current live version of
the OCR H573 specification on the OCR website for the definitive statement of what may be examined in
your series.
How to use this guide
This single volume brings together all three OCR H573 components — Philosophy of Religion (H573/01),
Religion and Ethics (H573/02), and Developments in Christian Thought (H573/03) — everything you need
for the full A Level, in one place. Every topic follows the same structure:
● Spec focus — exactly what the OCR specification requires for this topic, so you always know the
boundary of what can be examined.
● Key scholars and ideas at a glance — a single, deduplicated reference bank of every scholar, thinker
and key idea relevant to the topic. Your own notes will often say the same thing three times across
three different essay drafts; this guide says it once, properly, so revision time goes further.
● Likely essay questions — a question-spotting list gathering the range of ways this content has been,
and could be, examined.
● Essay plans — fully worked plans (introduction, three points, conclusion) for the most important or
most distinctive questions, written so each point expands into an A-level length paragraph in the
exam. Several topics also include a full worked model essay.
A master scholar index at the very end cross-references every thinker across all three papers — use it to
spot synoptic links (the same scholar, or the same idea, showing up in more than one place), which the
exam explicitly rewards (see below).
HOW TO ACTUALLY REVISE WITH THIS
Don't just read it. Read a topic's scholar bank once, then close the guide and try to write the essay
plan from memory before checking it against the one here. The gap between what you remembered
and what's on the page is exactly what to revise next.
Page 4 of 122
The Complete Revision Guide
Philosophy of Religion · Religion and Ethics · Developments in Christian Thought
Every Topic · Every Scholar · Every Essay — One Guide
, OCR H573 — Complete Revision Guide
Contents
Click any entry to jump to it (Word/most PDF viewers), or use your app’s navigation pane / bookmarks panel.
About this guide
How to use this guide
How this guide is marked
Command words: what the question is actually asking
Timing and structure: making the most of 40 minutes
What actually separates a top-band answer from a mid-band one
Mark scheme self-check
Technical terms glossary
What this guide covers
Synoptic Links: Connections Across the Specification
How Developments in Christian Thought Maps onto the Wider Specification
PART ONE: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
SECTION 1: PHILOSOPHICAL LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
1.1 Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato and Aristotle on Reality
1.2 Soul, Mind and Body
SECTION 2: THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
2.1 Arguments Based on Observation: The Cosmological and Teleological Arguments
2.2 Arguments Based on Reason: The Ontological Argument
SECTION 3: GOD AND THE WORLD
3.1 Religious Experience
3.2 The Problem of Evil
SECTION 4: THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEVELOPMENTS
4.1 The Nature or Attributes of God
SECTION 5: RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE
5.1 Religious Language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic
5.2 Religious Language: Twentieth Century Perspectives
PART TWO: RELIGION AND ETHICS
SECTION 1: NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES — RELIGIOUS APPROACHES
1.1 Natural Law
1.2 Situation Ethics
SECTION 2: NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES
2.1 Kantian Ethics
Page 2 of 122
, OCR H573 — Complete Revision Guide
2.2 Utilitarianism
SECTION 3: APPLIED ETHICS
3.1 Euthanasia
3.2 Business Ethics
SECTION 4: ETHICAL LANGUAGE — META-ETHICS
4.1 Naturalism, Intuitionism and Emotivism
SECTION 5: SIGNIFICANT IDEAS
5.1 Conscience: Aquinas and Freud
SECTION 6: DEVELOPMENTS IN ETHICAL THOUGHT
6.1 Sexual Ethics
PART THREE: DEVELOPMENTS IN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT
SECTION 1: INSIGHT — Human Life, the World and Ultimate Reality
1.1 Augustine's Teaching on Human Nature
1.2 Death and the Afterlife
SECTION 2: FOUNDATIONS — The Origins and Sources of Christianity
2.1 Knowledge of God's Existence
2.2 The Person of Jesus Christ
SECTION 3: LIVING — Christian Ethics and Its Sources
3.1 Christian Moral Principles
3.2 Christian Moral Action: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
SECTION 4: DEVELOPMENT — Christianity, Pluralism and Gender
4.1 Religious Pluralism and Theology
4.2 Religious Pluralism and Society
4.3 Gender and Society
4.4 Gender and Theology: Rosemary Radford Ruether and Mary Daly
SECTION 5: CHALLENGES
5.1 The Challenge of Secularism
5.2 Liberation Theology and Marx
Quotable Quotes, by Scholar
Quick Reference: Master Scholar Index
Page 3 of 122
, OCR H573 — Complete Revision Guide
About this guide
This guide was written entirely by a student who achieved an A* in OCR H573 Religious Studies and went
on to study at the University of Cambridge — compiled from their own revision notes, essay plans and
exam technique across all three papers, then organised, deduplicated and checked against the published
OCR specification (Version 2.0, July 2026).
It is not an official OCR or Cambridge Assessment publication, and it is not endorsed, authorised, reviewed
or sponsored by OCR, Cambridge Assessment, or any awarding body. "OCR" and "H573" refer to the
examination and specification set by OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA, now trading as Cambridge OCR); all
such references are used only to identify the syllabus this guide supports. Short extracts from the OCR
specification are quoted or paraphrased for identification and study purposes only, and remain the
property of OCR/Cambridge OCR.
This guide is intended to support revision alongside your own class notes, set texts and teacher guidance
— not to replace them. Specifications are periodically updated, so always check the current live version of
the OCR H573 specification on the OCR website for the definitive statement of what may be examined in
your series.
How to use this guide
This single volume brings together all three OCR H573 components — Philosophy of Religion (H573/01),
Religion and Ethics (H573/02), and Developments in Christian Thought (H573/03) — everything you need
for the full A Level, in one place. Every topic follows the same structure:
● Spec focus — exactly what the OCR specification requires for this topic, so you always know the
boundary of what can be examined.
● Key scholars and ideas at a glance — a single, deduplicated reference bank of every scholar, thinker
and key idea relevant to the topic. Your own notes will often say the same thing three times across
three different essay drafts; this guide says it once, properly, so revision time goes further.
● Likely essay questions — a question-spotting list gathering the range of ways this content has been,
and could be, examined.
● Essay plans — fully worked plans (introduction, three points, conclusion) for the most important or
most distinctive questions, written so each point expands into an A-level length paragraph in the
exam. Several topics also include a full worked model essay.
A master scholar index at the very end cross-references every thinker across all three papers — use it to
spot synoptic links (the same scholar, or the same idea, showing up in more than one place), which the
exam explicitly rewards (see below).
HOW TO ACTUALLY REVISE WITH THIS
Don't just read it. Read a topic's scholar bank once, then close the guide and try to write the essay
plan from memory before checking it against the one here. The gap between what you remembered
and what's on the page is exactly what to revise next.
Page 4 of 122
