OCR

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy of Religion essay on the question “God is omniscient, omnibenevolent, and omnipotent – Discuss.” Written by myself achieving an A grade in OCR A Level Religious Studies (2021). It explores the traditional attributes of God, focusing on omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence, alongside key philosophical debates about the nature of God. The essay evaluates different interpretations of God's attributes through the views of thinker...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy of Religion essay on the question “The world was created by chance, not God’s design – Discuss.” Written by myself achieving an A grade in OCR A Level Religious Studies (2021), it explores the teleological argument through the ideas of Aquinas and William Paley, alongside key criticisms from David Hume, John Stuart Mill, Charles Darwin, and Richard Dawkins. The essay evaluates whether the order and complexity of the universe point to a...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy of Religion essay on the question “To what extent is the ontological argument successful in proving the existence of God – Discuss.” Written by myself achieving an A grade in OCR A Level Religious Studies (2021), it explores Anselm’s two forms of the ontological argument and Descartes’ development of the argument, alongside key criticisms from Gaunilo, Aquinas and Kant. The essay evaluates whether the ontological argument successfull...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Developments in Christian Thought essay on the question “Augustine’s view of human nature is deeply pessimistic – Discuss.” Written by myself after achieving an A grade in OCR A Level Religious Studies (2021), it explores Augustine’s understanding of human nature, focusing on original sin, the Fall, free will, grace, and predestination. The essay evaluates whether Augustine’s view is overly pessimistic, considering concepts such as concupisce...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Developments in Christian Thought essay on the question “Humans have an innate knowledge of God – Discuss”, written by myself after achieving an A grade in OCR A Level Religious Studies (2021). It explores the idea of natural knowledge of God, focusing on John Calvin’s concept of sensus divinitatis and the belief that humans have an inbuilt awareness of the divine. The essay evaluates arguments for and against innate knowledge of God, considering...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Ethics essay on the question “Evaluate Aquinas’ theological approach to conscience”, written by myself (grade A). It explores Aquinas’ understanding of conscience through key concepts such as synderesis, conscientia, reason (ratio), practical reason, real and apparent goods, and vincible and invincible ignorance. The essay evaluates whether Aquinas’ theological approach provides a convincing explanation of conscience, considering its strengths...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy of Religion essay on the June 2019 exam question “Critically compare the logical and evidential aspects of the problem of evil as challenges to belief”, written by myself (grade A). It explores the logical and evidential problems of evil, explaining how each challenges belief in an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient God. The essay examines key responses to the problem of evil, including Augustine’s theodicy, the Irenaean theodicy,...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Ethics essay written by myself (grade A) on the question “The only requirement of morality is to do our duty – Discuss.” It focuses on Kantian ethics, explaining key ideas such as duty, good will, the categorical imperative, and treating people as ends in themselves. The essay applies these ideas to moral issues and dilemmas, such as stealing and conflicts of duty, and considers whether reason alone is enough to guide moral decision-making. It also...

Model essay written by myself (Grade A). This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy of Religion essay on religious language, focused on the debate between the cataphatic (via positiva) and apophatic (via negativa) approaches to describing God. The essay weighs up both approaches and considers whether religious language is meaningful, anthropomorphic, or too limited by human understanding. It concludes by arguing that the cataphatic approach is the most useful, as it allows believers to...

This is an OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy of Religion essay stem on the Ontological Argument, designed to help you build full 40-mark answers. Written by myself, I used this for my A level exams as a stem to build essays from on this topic, achieving grade A. It covers Anselm’s original argument from the Proslogion, including the idea of God, and the claim that God must exist necessarily. It also includes key supporting and critical viewpoints from thinkers like Gaunilo (Perfect Is...