Our students are preparing to take their place in a society that is multi-cultural, global and technologically-advanced and where there are deep divisions amongst many of the constituent communities.

We aim to support them in their individual journeys of life through this complex, challenging yet exciting world by helping them:

•  acquire and develop a knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in the UK
• develop an understanding of the influence that beliefs, values and traditions exercise over individuals, communities, societies and culture
• develop the ability to make reasoned and informed personal judgements about religious and moral issues, drawing upon the beliefs and practices of Christianity and other principal religions
• enhance their spiritual, moral, cultural and social development by:-

1. becoming increasingly aware of the fundamental questions of life raised by human experience and how religious belief can relate to them

2. responding personally to such questions with reference to religious belief and their own experience

3. reflecting on their own beliefs, values and experiences in the light of their encounter with those of others

We encourage our students to be respectful of the beliefs and values of others whilst at the same time to be questioning and challenging. We hope they will take to heart the famous teaching of Socrates: ‘the unexamined life is not worth living for mortal man’. We respect and revere all the principal world faiths and encourage our students to do likewise.

Staff profiles

Fr Jonathan Hemmings  (Head of Department) BA Sheffield, MTh Wales, CTM Oxford, PGCE St Martin’s College

Father Jonathan has taught in a number of mixed church comprehensive schools in the Midlands and at the King’s School, Devon. He is concurrently Orthodox Chaplain to Lancaster University. He has written articles on spirituality and church history.

Andrew Nicholson M A Oxford, M A Lancaster University, PGCE St Martin’s College

Andrew is an Old Lancastrian and has returned to LRGS after teaching in several comprehensive schools in the North West. He has a particular interest in making RE challenging and exciting for learners of all abilities and has written about this for the Farmington Institute for Christian Studies, Oxford.

Julian Davies B Mus, University of Wales, MA, MPhil, Adv Dip M Tech

Julian is the longest-serving member of the Department and provides invaluable support to the full-time staff by teaching classes of younger pupils. Julian makes a major contribution to music at LRGS. He is himself an accomplished musician – in both performance and composition.

Religious Studies - 11+

First Year/Year 7

Michaelmas: Living Signposts

• How do we communicate?
• Is there a God? How might he communicate?
• The Bible – its nature and con tent
• People with a Purpose – exemplary Bible people and stories

Lent: Being a Jew

• Who are the Jews – an outline of their history?
• The Jewish Family and Home
• The Synagogue
• The Jewish Life-Cycle – observing rites of passage
• Festivals – Passover, Sukkoth, Simhat Torah, Shavuot, Hanukah

Summer: Local Church Project

• Individual projects on local churches/places of worship
• history, layout & design, worship, community outreach

Introduction to Buddhism

• Life and example of the Buddha
• The Four Noble Truths and Eight-fold path

Second Year/Year 8

Michaelmas: Being a Muslim

• Muhammad (PBUH), The Giving of the Holy Qu’ran – its nature and content
• Muslim Belief and Practice – The Five Pillars
• The Muslim Life-Cycle – observing rites of passage
• The Muslim Home – social customs
• The Contribution of Islam

Lent: The Jesus Course

• The World of Jesus
• Knowing about Jesus – the Gospels; other sources
• The Ministry of Jesus
• The Death and Resurrection of Jesus
• Following Jesus
• Worship, public and private
• Observing rites of passage
• Christian values and action

Summer: Introduction to Hinduism

• The Origins of Hinduism
• Beliefs about God – one God in many forms
• Beliefs about human life and destiny
• Dharma, karma, samsara, moksha, the caste system

Introduction to Sikhism

• The foundation of Sikhism – Guru Nanak and Guru Gobindh Singh
• The Sikh Community – Gurdwara, Khalsa, he Five ‘K’s
• Beliefs about human life and destiny

Religious Studies - 13+

Third Year/Year 9

Michaelmas: Challenges to Faith

• Martyrdom and Oppression in the Early Church and contemporary world
• Fragmentation and Disunity
• The Great Schism, Reformation and subsequent fragmentation
• Controversy in Contemporary Christianity, eg. the ministry of women, homosexuality
• God and Rationality
• Arguing for God; Aquinas, Paley
• Arguing against God; Feuerbach, Marx, Russell, Dawkins
• Evil and Suffering
• Natural and Moral Evil; the challenge to faith
• Theodicies: Free Will and Greater Goods Defences

Lent: Contemporary Society

• Sources of Authority that shape our views, eg friends, The Media
• The Vision of Life’s Purpose presented in TV, Film, Music etc
• Secular Solutions to Ultimate Questions
• Consequences of a Multi-Cultural Society
• The Rise of Fundamentalism
• Examples and Consequences of Fundamentalism

Challenges of Faith

• To be different / eg Jonathan, Eric Liddell
• To be involved in political struggle / eg Desmond Tutu, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King
• To be involved in meeting human need
• Internationally, eg Mother Theresa
• Locally, eg Christ Church Homeless Action, working in prisons, education, the Hospice Movement

Summer: to respond to social and moral issues

• Christian attitudes to issues such as abortion, euthanasia, drug misuse, animal welfare, the environment etc.

‘Living the Faith, Nominate a Saint

• Individual Presentations on people whose lives exemplify Christian values and who deserve recognition as saints

Fourth Year/Year10

Edexcel GCSE: Unit B: Religion and Life based on a study of Christianity
Unit I: Christianity

Michaelmas: Beliefs and Values

• Beliefs about the nature of God: The Father, the Creator, unity, trinity
• Beliefs about the nature of God the Son: incarnation, virgin birth, crucifixion, resurrection
• Beliefs about God the Holy Spirit: symbols of wind, fire, dove
• Sin and Salvation: repentance, faith, forgiveness, reconciliation
• Christian Values; love of God and love of others

Community and Tradition

• The Bible: the nature of the Old and New Testaments
• Interpreting the Bible: its authority for Christians
• Using the Bible in public and private prayer
• The Church: the means to faith and salvation
• The Church: one, holy, catholic, apostolic, the Body of Christ
• The Communion of Saints

Lent: Christian Ministry: bishops, priests, deacons

• The role of laity
• Celibacy of clergy
• Ordination of women

Worship and Celebration

• Liturgical and non-liturgical worship
• Holy Communion – meaning and ways of celebrating
• Charismatic Worship
• Baptism – Infant and Believer’s, Confirmation
• The Christian Year and Christian Festivals and Seasons

Living the Christian Life

• The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount
• Christian compassion, concern and service for those in need
• Two exemplary C20th Christians

A Place of Christian Worship

• Architecture and man features of a church; reasons for these
• The role and function of a minister or priest
• The role and function of the church in the local community
• Reasons for differences in places and forms of Christian worship

Summer: Believing in God

• Religious Upbringing
• Religious Experiences: numinous, conversion, miracles, prayer
• Belief in God from appearance of world (Design and Causation)

Fifth Year/Year11

Michaelmas: Believing in God (continued)

• Atheism, Agnosticism – supporting reasons
• Evil and Suffering: moral and natural evil; Christian responses

Matters of Life and Death

• Life after Death; beliefs in resurrection, immortality of soul
• Reasons for believing/disbelieving in life after death
• Sanctity of Life, Abortion, Euthanasia, Contraception

Marriage and Family Life

• Changing attitudes to marriage and cohabitation
• Purposes of Christian Marriage, Wedding Ceremony
• Sex outside marriage: premarital sex, adultery
• Divorce
• Family Life, different forms of families
• Homosexuality

Lent: Social Harmony

• Equality and Sexism
• Role of women in Christianity
• Britain as a multi-ethnic society, prejudice and discrimination
• Britain as a multi-faith society; religious freedom and pluralism

Religion and the Media

• Variety of religious programmes on terrestrial TV
• Moral/Social issues in TV Soap of national newspaper
• Religious themes in TV drama or film

Examination

• Each Unit has a separate examination paper divided into 5 sections, 2 hours long
• Each section requires candidates to answer one question from a choice of two
• Each question is subdivided into 4 parts structured on an incline of difficulty
• Candidates are required to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, and the ability to evaluate alternative points of view

Religious Studies - Sixth Form

Lower Sixth

Edexcel Advanced Subsidiary GCE

This comprises 2 Units - Unit 1: Foundations and Unit 2: Investigations

Unit 1: Foundations:

This includes 2 Areas of Study:

1  Philosophy of Religion

A study of philosophical arguments about the existence of God:

• Design & Cosmological – key ideas, strengths and weaknesses

A study of selected problems in the philosophy of religion

• Problems of Evil and Suffering, different types of problems and solutions
• Study of philosophical debates about miracles: concepts of miracle; reasons to believe in miracles; philosophical problems with reference to Hume

2   New Testament

Key issues in the study of the teachings of Jesus Christ

• The ‘I am’ sayings (Fourth Gospel)
• The meaning and significance of the miracles (Fourth Gospel)

Key Emphases

• Women (Fourth Gospel)
• The nature and demands of discipleship (Fourth Gospel)

Examination

• This Unit is assessed by an examination of 1 hour 45 minutes
• Candidates answer 3 questions from a choice of 18
• At least 1 question must be selected from each area of study

Unit 2: Investigations

Candidates undertake an independent study of one topic selected from seven areas which cover:

• Religion
• Philosophy of Religion
• Ethics
• World Religions
• Old Testament/Jewish Bible
• New Testament
• Christianity and Christian Church

Examination

• This Unit is assessed by an examination of 1 hour 15 minutes
• Candidates answer one question relating to their chosen topic

Upper Sixth

Edexcel Advanced GCE

This comprises 2 Units - Unit 3: Developments and Unit 4: Implications

Unit 3: Developments

This includes 2 Areas of Study:

1  Philosophy of Religion

A study of philosophical arguments about the existence of God:

• Religious experience – key concepts, strengths and weaknesses
• Ontological - key concepts, strengths and weaknesses
• Non – existence of God and critiques of religious belief

A study of selected problems in the philosophy of religion

• Beliefs about life after death: reincarnation; rebirth; resurrection; immortality of the soul
• A study of religious language: analogy; language games; myth and symbol; verification and falsification debates

2   New Testament

Theology and Christology

• The Prologue (Fourth Gospel)
• The purpose of the Fourth Gospel

Selected concepts and texts

• Conflict with the religious and political authorities (Fourth Gospel)
• The crucifixion and resurrection (Fourth Gospel)

Examination

• This Unit is assessed by an examination of 1 hour 45 minutes
• Candidates answer 3 questions from a choice of 18
• At least 1 question must be selected from each area of study

Unit 4: Implications

Candidates are required to study an anthology of scholarly articles (prescribed by Edexcel) on an Area of Study chosen from the following:

• Philosophy of Religion
• Ethics
• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Hinduism
• Islam
• Judaism
• Sikhism
• New Testament

Examination

• This Unit is assessed by an examination of 1 hour 15 minutes
• Candidates answer one question relating to their chosen anthology