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What religious studies essays cover
Our religious studies writers work across the whole discipline and the texts and debates UK markers expect you to engage with:
| World religions | Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and others. |
| Philosophy of religion | arguments for and against the existence of God and the problem of evil. |
| Ethics and religion | religious approaches to moral questions. |
| Sacred texts and hermeneutics | interpreting scripture and religious language. |
| Religion and society | secularisation, gender and religion in the modern world. |
| Theology | doctrine, belief and religious thought. |
| Comparative religion | themes and practices across traditions. |
How to write a first-class religious studies essay
Strong religious studies marks come from combining close reading of sources with critical argument, not just description. This is the structure UK markers reward:
- Introduction — define the key terms and state your line of argument.
- Set out the evidence — explain the relevant texts, traditions and scholarship accurately and concisely.
- Apply and analyse — link directly to the exact question and to real examples.
- Evaluate critically — weigh competing interpretations, sources and scholarly views. This is where most marks are won.
- Conclusion — reach a justified judgement that answers the question.
- References — a complete Harvard, MHRA or Chicago reference list, with every claim cited.
Send us your title and marking criteria and we will produce a model essay that shows exactly this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Prices start from 6.99 per page. The final price depends on academic level, word count, and deadline.
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Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago, OSCOLA, Vancouver, and any other style your university requires.
Explain the relevant texts, traditions and scholarship, apply them to the exact question, and critically evaluate competing interpretations and the evidence rather than just describing. Our writers can produce a model essay that shows exactly this.
Most UK religious studies courses use Harvard, MHRA or Chicago. We follow your department’s exact style, with every source cited and a complete reference list.
All of them, including world religions, philosophy of religion, ethics and religion, sacred texts and hermeneutics, religion and society, theology, comparative religion.
What UK Students Say About Religious Studies Essays
★★★★★
"My philosophy of religion essay required applying classical arguments for God's existence (Anselm — Proslogion II — ontological argument — God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived — necessary existence — Kant's objection — existence is not a predicate; Aquinas — Summa Theologica — Five Ways — cosmological arguments — first mover; first cause; contingency — Leibniz — sufficient reason; teleological argument — Paley — watchmaker analogy — natural theology; Hume — Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion — inductive argument — disanalogy; Darwin — evolution undermines design; Swinburne — The Existence of God — cumulative case — inductive probability — Bayesian theism; problem of evil — Mackie — 'Evil and Omnipotence' — logical problem; Plantinga — free will defence — greater goods theodicy; Hick — soul-making theodicy — Irenaeus). EasyMarks delivered the philosophical theology depth my St Andrews essay required."
— MA Religious Studies, University of St Andrews
★★★★★
"Writing about world religions required applying comparative religious studies methodology (Eliade — The Sacred and the Profane — hierophany — sacred time and space; Otto — The Idea of the Holy — mysterium tremendum et fascinans — the numinous — non-rational religious experience; Smart — The World's Religions — seven dimensions: doctrinal; mythological; ethical; ritual; experiential; social; material; Clifford Geertz — Religion as a Cultural System — thick description; Weber — The Sociology of Religion — Protestant Ethic — elective affinity; charisma — routinisation; Durkheim — The Elementary Forms of Religious Life — totemism — sacred and profane — collective effervescence — functionalism; Berger — The Social Reality of Religion — plausibility structures; sacred canopy; secularisation thesis). EasyMarks understood the comparative religion depth my Durham essay demanded."
— BA Theology and Religion, University of Durham
★★★★★
"My essay on religion and ethics required applying major ethical frameworks to religious contexts (natural law theory — Aquinas — four types: eternal; divine; natural; human — primary precepts — life; reproduction; knowledge; sociality; worship — secondary precepts — contraception controversy; double effect; virtue ethics — Aristotle — eudaimonia — four cardinal virtues — Aquinas Christianisation — seven virtues — MacIntyre — After Virtue — narrative ethics — practices and traditions; deontological ethics — Kant — categorical imperative — Formula of Universal Law; Formula of Humanity — duty ethics — divine command theory — Euthyphro dilemma — Plato — is something good because God wills it or does God will it because it is good?; consequentialism — Bentham; Mill — utilitarianism — hedonic calculus — preference utilitarianism — Singer — practical ethics — animal liberation). EasyMarks delivered the religious ethics precision my Aberdeen essay required."
— BD Divinity, University of Aberdeen
Common Religious Studies Essay Challenges
Philosophy of Religion
Arguments for God's existence and atheism (cosmological arguments: Aquinas — Summa Theologica Ia.2.3 — Five Ways — ex motu — first mover — ex causa — first cause — ex contingentia — contingency argument — Leibniz — sufficient reason principle — why is there something rather than nothing?; Kalam cosmological argument — al-Kindi; al-Ghazali — Craig — everything that begins to exist has a cause — universe began — therefore caused by something outside the universe — personal agent with libertarian free will; Craig and Sinnott-Armstrong debate; ontological arguments — Anselm — Proslogion II — God as id quo maius cogitari nequit — that than which nothing greater can be conceived — if exists only in intellect it could be greater — therefore must exist in reality — God necessarily exists; Gaunilo — perfect island objection — absurd consequences; Descartes — Meditations V — clear and distinct idea of God includes existence — existence perfection — ontological argument; Kant — existence is not a predicate — first Critique — pure concepts of understanding do not apply to God — transcendental dialectic; Plantinga — free logic modal ontological argument — possible worlds — God is maximally great — if possible then necessary — S5 axiom; teleological arguments — Paley — Natural Theology 1802 — watchmaker analogy — complexity implies designer — Hume — Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion — Philo vs Cleanthes — inductive leap from design to designer — multiple designers?; disanalogy — universe not like watch; Darwin — evolution by natural selection — natural design without designer — Dawkins — The Blind Watchmaker — illusion of design; Swinburne — cumulative case for theism — probability calculus — P-inductive argument — simplicity of theism; fine-tuning argument — anthropic principle — cosmological constants — weak and strong anthropic principle — Collins — fine-tuning and intelligent design). Problem of evil and theodicy (logical problem of evil — Mackie — 'Evil and Omnipotence' 1955 — omnipotent; omniscient; omnibenevolent God is logically incompatible with evil — inconsistent triad; Plantinga — free will defence — God cannot create free creatures who always choose good — possible worlds semantics — natural evil — Plantinga — Satan hypothesis; greater goods theodicy — soul-making theodicy — Hick — Evil and the God of Love — Irenaeus vs Augustine — human beings made in image not likeness — developing towards likeness through moral struggle — epistemic distance; Swinburne — The Existence of God — natural evil enables free choice and moral learning; open theism — God has limited foreknowledge — Sanders; Pinnock — different doctrine of God; process theology — Whitehead; Griffin — God is not omnipotent in classical sense — creative persuasion not coercive control; evidential problem of evil — Rowe — fawn example — gratuitous evil — theistic scepticism — Wykstra — CORNEA — cognitive access — we cannot know what God's reasons are — Plantinga — defence not theodicy; feminist critique — pastoral concern — Noddings; Young — theodicy ignores real suffering; Holocaust theodicy — Rubenstein; Fackenheim — 614th commandment — post-Holocaust theology — Wiesel — Night — theological implications).
World Religions
Christianity (origins — Jesus — Nazareth — Palestine — Roman occupation — crucifixion c.30 CE — resurrection — kerygma — Paul — epistles — Q source — synoptic gospels — Marcan priority — Two Source Hypothesis; councils — Nicaea 325 CE — Arian controversy — homoousios — Trinity formulation; Chalcedon 451 CE — two natures; one person — Christology; schisms — Great Schism 1054 — Eastern Orthodoxy vs Western Catholicism — filioque controversy — papal primacy; Protestant Reformation — Luther — 95 Theses 1517 — sola scriptura; sola fide; sola gratia — indulgences — Council of Trent 1545-63 — Counter-Reformation; Anglicanism — via media — Thirty-Nine Articles; modern theology — Barth — Church Dogmatics — neo-orthodoxy — Word of God; Tillich — Systematic Theology — ultimate concern — God as ground of being; Bultmann — demythologisation — existentialist interpretation; liberation theology — Gutiérrez — A Theology of Liberation — preferential option for the poor; feminist theology — Ruether; Schüssler Fiorenza). Islam (Muhammad — Mecca; Medina — 570-632 CE — revelation — Quran — hadith — sunna — Five Pillars — shahada; salat; zakat; sawm; hajj; Sunni-Shia split — Ali; Umayyad caliphate — Karbala 680 CE — Husayn ibn Ali; Islamic jurisprudence — fiqh — four Sunni madhhabs — Hanafi; Maliki; Shafi'i; Hanbali — usul al-fiqh — Quran; sunna; ijma; qiyas — ijtihad — independent legal reasoning; Islamic theology — kalam — Mutazila — rational theology; Ashari — occasionalism; Sufism — al-Ghazali — Incoherence of the Philosophers — Sufi mysticism — Ibn Arabi — wahdatal-wujud; Islamic modernism — Afghani; Abduh — reform — ijtihad; political Islam — Qutb — Milestones — Islamism; Ramadan — Western Muslims). Hinduism (Vedic tradition — Vedas; Upanishads — Brahman — Atman — karma — dharma — samsara — moksha — four aims of life: dharma; artha; kama; moksha; three paths to moksha: jnana yoga; bhakti yoga; karma yoga; Hindu schools — Advaita Vedanta — Shankaracharya — non-dualism — maya; Vishishtadvaita — Ramanuja; Dvaita — Madhva; major deities — Vishnu — avatars — Rama; Krishna; Bhagavad Gita — Shiva — Shakti — puja; festivals — Diwali; Holi; Navaratri; caste system — varna; jati — Ambedkar — Annihilation of Caste — Dalit liberation; Hindu nationalism — Hindutva — RSS — VHP — Savarkar). Buddhism (Siddhartha Gautama — c.563-483 BCE — India — Four Noble Truths — dukkha; samudaya; nirodha; magga — Eightfold Path — Three Marks of Existence — anicca; dukkha; anatta — nirvana; Theravada — Pali Canon — Tripitaka — arhat ideal — Vipassana meditation; Mahayana — bodhisattva ideal — compassion — Madhyamaka — Nagarjuna — sunyata — Yogacara — Vasubandhu — mind-only; Zen — koan — zazen — sudden enlightenment — koans — Huang Po; Dogen — shikantaza; Tibetan Buddhism — Vajrayana — Dalai Lama — Tenzin Gyatso — Tibetan Book of the Dead; Buddhism in the West — Beat Zen — Kerouac; engaged Buddhism — Thich Nhat Hanh; Ambedkar Buddhism — neo-Buddhism).
Religion and Society
Secularisation and religion (classical secularisation thesis — Comte — law of three stages — theological; metaphysical; positive; Weber — disenchantment of the world — Entzauberung — rationalisation — Protestant Ethic — iron cage of bureaucracy; Durkheim — Religion as social glue — collective consciousness — civil religion; Berger — The Sacred Canopy — plausibility structures — modernity undermines religion — cognitive contamination — religious pluralism — cognitive relativisation — secularising effect; secularisation debate: Casanova — Public Religions in the Modern World — differentiation thesis acceptable; privatisation not; decline not inevitable; Davie — Religion in Britain Since 1945 — believing without belonging — vicarious religion — Evangelical Alpha course; Church of England decline; Stark and Bainbridge — rational choice theory of religion — religious economy — competition increases religiosity; US example vs Europe; post-secular debate — Habermas — Between Naturalism and Religion — public reason and religion — Rawlsian liberalism requires translation of religious arguments; Taylor — A Secular Age — immanent frame — cross-pressure — multiple modernities; Pentecostalism and global Christianity — Jenkins — The Next Christendom — Global South Christianity — Africa; Latin America; Asia; Evangelical growth; fundamentalism — Marty and Appleby — Fundamentalism Project — reaction against secular modernity; Islamism; Christian Right; Hindu nationalism; BJP — India). Religious experience (religious experience as evidence for God — Swinburne — The Existence of God — principle of credulity — principle of testimony — probably God exists; James — The Varieties of Religious Experience 1902 — common core: noetic; transient; ineffable; passive; mysticism; Stace — mystical experience — common core — extrovertive and introvertive mysticism; Zaehner — Mysticism Sacred and Profane — critique of common core — Hindu vs Christian mysticism different; Katz — constructivism — experience shaped by prior concepts — no unmediated mystical experience; Alston — Perceiving God — doxastic practices — mystical perception reliable; naturalistic explanations: Freud — The Future of an Illusion — wish-fulfilment — God as cosmic father; infantile regression; Feuerbach — Essence of Christianity — theology is anthropology — human projections; neuroscience of religion — Newberg — neurotheology — temporal lobe and religious experience; Persinger — God helmet — electromagnetic stimulation of temporal lobe; Hardy — Religious Experience Research Centre — Lampeter; Hay — Exploring Inner Space — UK religious experience surveys; UK — one-third report religious experiences — Church of England liturgy and mysticism; Julian of Norwich — Revelations of Divine Love — medieval mysticism).
Ethics and Moral Theology
Christian ethics and moral theology (natural law tradition — Aquinas — Summa Theologica — eternal law; divine law; natural law; human law — natural inclinations — primary precepts: self-preservation; reproduction; education; society; worship — secondary precepts: specific applications — contraception — Catholic teaching vs Anglican via media; double effect principle — Aquinas — finis bonus; action not intrinsically evil; good effect not means for bad; proportionate reason — applied to abortion; euthanasia; Just War; divine command theory — Ockham — God's will determines morality — voluntarism — Euthyphro dilemma — Plato — is the holy loved by the gods because it is holy or is it holy because the gods love it?; Adams — modified DCT — command by essentially loving God; Kierkegaard — Either/Or — aesthetic; ethical; religious stages — teleological suspension of the ethical — Abraham and Isaac — fear and trembling; Protestant ethics — Luther — two kingdoms doctrine — Barth — theological ethics — command of God; Bonhoeffer — Ethics — penultimate and ultimate — costly grace; liberation theology ethics — Gutiérrez; Segundo — social sin — structural evil — option for the poor). Applied ethics in religious context (bioethics: abortion — personhood debate — Warnock Report 1984 — embryo research; ensoulment — Thomas Aquinas — 40/80 days; Peter Singer — practical ethics — speciesism; sanctity of life vs quality of life — Catholic consistent ethic of life — Bernardin — seamless garment; euthanasia and assisted dying — Diane Pretty case; Tony Nicklinson case — UK law — Suicide Act 1961 — assisted dying debate — House of Lords 2015; Scotland 2021; Rachels — Active and Passive Euthanasia; Keown — palliative care alternative; environmental ethics — stewardship theology — Genesis 1:26-28 — dominion vs stewardship debate — Lynn White Jr — 'The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis' 1967 — Christianity blamed for environmental crisis — deep ecology — Naess; ecotheology — Moltmann — God in Creation; process theology and ecology; sexual ethics — natural law and contraception — Humanae Vitae 1968 — Paul VI — contested reception; gay relationships — Church of England Living in Love and Faith process; Roman Catholic Catechism 2357-58 — intrinsically disordered — pastoral challenge; UK civil partnerships 2004; same-sex marriage 2013 — Archbishop of Canterbury; Christian conscience; Islam and bioethics — fiqh al-nawazil — new legal issues — ijma — scholarly consensus — ijtihad — ISNA; AMJA fatwas).
Biblical Studies and Theology
Biblical studies and hermeneutics (Old Testament/Hebrew Bible: Torah — Pentateuch — Documentary Hypothesis — Wellhausen 1878 — JEDP sources — Yahwist; Elohist; Deuteronomist; Priestly — supplementary hypothesis alternative; Historical-Critical Method — form criticism — Gunkel — Gattungsforschung — Sitz im Leben — genre and life-setting; redaction criticism — Noth — Deuteronomistic History; canonical criticism — Childs — Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture — canonical shape; covenant theology — Hillers — Covenant: History of a Biblical Idea — suzerainty treaties; prophecy — Isaiah — Deutero-Isaiah — Trito-Isaiah — servant songs; wisdom literature — Proverbs; Job; Ecclesiastes — Lady Wisdom; psalms — form criticism — Gunkel — hymns; laments; thanksgiving; New Testament: Q source hypothesis — Two-Source Hypothesis — Streeter — synoptic problem; Marcan priority; Luke's infancy narratives; Gospel of John — logos theology — Prologue — different from synoptics; form criticism — Bultmann — Rudolph Bultmann — demythologisation — post-Easter community created many gospel traditions; historical Jesus — Schweitzer — The Quest of the Historical Jesus — apocalyptic preacher; Third Quest — N.T. Wright — Jesus and the Victory of God; Crossan — Historical Jesus — egalitarian peasant; Sanders — Jesus and Judaism — end-of-world prophet; Pauline theology — justification by faith alone — sola fide — New Perspective on Paul — Sanders — Paul and Palestinian Judaism — covenantal nomism not works-righteousness; Wright — N.T. Wright — Paul and the Faithfulness of God; hermeneutics — Gadamer — Truth and Method — hermeneutical circle — fusion of horizons; Ricoeur — The Symbolism of Evil — semantic innovation; surplus of meaning; feminist hermeneutics — Ruether — Sexism and God-Talk; Schüssler Fiorenza — In Memory of Her — ekklesia of women; liberation hermeneutics — Segundo — The Liberation of Theology — hermeneutical circle of liberation; postcolonial biblical criticism — Sugirtharajah — The Bible and the Third World). Systematic theology (Trinity: Nicene Creed 381 CE — homousios — Eastern and Western formulations — filioque — Cappadocian Fathers — Basil; Gregory of Nyssa; Gregory Nazianzus — social Trinity — Moltmann — The Trinity and the Kingdom — perichoresis — mutual indwelling; Barth — Church Dogmatics I/1 — Trinity as revelation structure; Rahner's Rule — immanent Trinity is economic Trinity; Christology: Chalcedon 451 CE — two natures; one person — dyophysitism — Nestorius; Eutyches; monophysitism condemned — Classical Christology; Logos Christology — John 1:1-14; Kenotic theology — Thomasius — self-emptying — Philippians 2:5-11 — incarnation as kenosis; Feminist Christology — Ruether — can a male saviour save women?; Pannenberg — Jesus: God and Man — resurrection as eschatological validation; Ecclesiology and sacraments: Church — one; holy; catholic; apostolic — Marks of the Church; apostolic succession — Anglican orders; Catholic; Orthodox — Apostolicae Curae 1896 — Vatican response; sacraments — Aquinas — seven sacraments — ex opere operato; Protestant — two sacraments — baptism; Eucharist — Real Presence debate — transubstantiation vs consubstantiation vs memorialist; Eschatology — resurrection of the body — Pannenberg — anticipation; realised eschatology — Dodd; apocalypticism — Schweitzer; universalism — Origen; Moltmann — Theology of Hope).
Religious Studies Research Methods
Methodology in religious studies (approaches to the study of religion: phenomenology of religion — Eliade — The Sacred and the Profane — hierophany — sacred and profane — homo religiosus — epoché — bracketing truth claims; van der Leeuw — Religion in Essence and Manifestation; Kristensen — phenomenological empathy; Smart — phenomenological approach with historical grounding; sociological approaches — Durkheim — The Elementary Forms of Religious Life — totemism — sacred and profane — collective effervescence — social function; Weber — The Sociology of Religion — ideal types — charisma; rationalisation; Protestant Ethic; Berger — social construction of religious reality; Bourdieu — religious field — habitus — cultural capital; psychological approaches — Freud — The Future of an Illusion — wish-fulfilment; Totem and Taboo — primal horde; Jung — archetypes — collective unconscious — anima/animus; individuation; religious symbolism; James — Varieties of Religious Experience — pragmatic approach; Fromm — humanistic religion; anthropological approaches — Tylor — animism as origin of religion — evolutionary unilinear; Frazer — The Golden Bough — magic; religion; science evolutionary sequence; Evans-Pritchard — Witchcraft; Oracles and Magic Among the Azande — critique of rationalist approaches; Turner — The Ritual Process — liminality; communitas — van Gennep — rites of passage; Geertz — Religion as a Cultural System — thick description — Balinese cockfight; linguistics and religion — structuralism — Lévi-Strauss — mythological structure — binary oppositions — raw and cooked; Saussure — langue and parole; semiotics — Barthes — Mythologies — myth as second-order signification; post-structuralism — Derrida — différance — deconstruction of binary oppositions; Foucault — genealogy of religion — power/knowledge — biopolitics; critical theory — Frankfurt School — Habermas — communicative action — religion in post-secular society; feminist studies of religion — Carol Christ — The Laughter of Aphrodite — goddess religion; Mary Daly — Beyond God the Father; Ruether; Schüssler Fiorenza; postcolonial approaches — Said — Orientalism — construction of Eastern religion as Other; Chidester — Savage Systems — colonialism and comparative religion; Masuzawa — The Invention of World Religions — modern classification and power). Religious diversity and pluralism (religious pluralism: Hick — God and the Universe of Faiths — Copernican Revolution — move from Christocentrism to theocentrism — soteriological criterion — all great religions are salvific paths to the same ultimate Reality; An Interpretation of Religion — pluralistic hypothesis — Real-an-sich; tradition-specific appearances; Rahner — Foundations of Christian Faith — anonymous Christians — supernatural existential — salvific grace outside the Church; Barth — Church Dogmatics — religions as human constructs — revelation in Christ alone — uniqueness of Christianity; Sullivan — Salvation Outside the Church — magisterial Catholic tradition; inclusivism vs exclusivism vs pluralism typology — Race — Christians and Religious Pluralism; inter-faith dialogue — World Council of Churches — Dialogue with People of Living Faiths; Vatican II — Nostra Aetate 1965 — positive view of non-Christian religions; Parliament of the World's Religions 1893; 1993 — Hans Küng — global ethic; Swidler — dialogue decalogue; UK context — multi-faith Britain — British Muslim demographics — 2011 census — 2.7m Muslims; Sikhs; Hindus; Jews — Religious Diversity and Public Life — Modood — multiculturalism; integration debate — Community Cohesion — Cantle Report 2001 — parallel lives; RE in UK schools — Religious Education — non-confessional — world religions approach — SACRE — Standing Advisory Council for RE — Smith and Blaylock — Learning from Religion; RE funding debate; new RE curriculum).
Religious Studies Essay Help — FAQs
Religious studies essay writing: (1) Introduction — state the question clearly; identify whether it is philosophy of religion; theology; biblical studies; world religions; religious ethics; or sociology of religion — the approach differs by sub-discipline; define key terms — "religion"; "God"; "sacred"; "secular" — contested concepts; state your thesis — what argument will you make?; religious studies is an academic discipline — analyse objectively using academic methods — do not assume religious or anti-religious conclusions. (2) Engage with scholarship — philosophy of religion essays engage with key arguments: Anselm; Aquinas; Hume; Kant; Swinburne; Plantinga; Mackie — cite name and year; evaluate arguments: identify premises; logical validity; soundness; counterarguments; world religions essays engage with key thinkers: Eliade; Smart; Durkheim; Weber; and traditions' own scholarship; theological essays engage with the tradition's own intellectual resources: Church Fathers; councils; creeds; theological tradition — alongside critical scholarship. (3) Analyse rather than describe — do not just describe what religious traditions believe — analyse the theological; philosophical; social significance; do not simply summarise the plot of a biblical narrative — analyse its theological meaning; interpretive tradition; historical context. (4) Handle contested claims carefully — truth claims about God's existence; miracles; revelation — present these as claims held by believers; evaluate philosophical arguments for and against; do not assume naturalism (religion is false) or supernaturalism (religion is true) — academic religious studies brackets truth claims (epoché); religious experience claims — note that academic study analyses the experience and its interpretation — not whether God actually appeared. (5) Conclusion — evaluate the key arguments; identify what is still contested; state your assessment clearly.
Top UK Religious Studies and Theology departments: Durham (Theology and Religion — consistently top-ranked — Christianity; Islamic studies; Jewish studies; philosophy of religion; biblical studies — well-resourced — Cathedral setting — Durham Cathedral; St Cuthbert's relics — theology in place; strong PhD programme); Oxford (Faculty of Theology and Religion — wide range of sub-disciplines — Old and New Testament; patristics; philosophy of religion; comparative religion; ethics; Oriental Institute — Islam; Judaism; Buddhism; Regius Professor of Divinity — ancient chair; Bodleian Library resources); Cambridge (Faculty of Divinity — Trinity; Westcott House; Ridley Hall — Cambridge Theological Federation — biblical studies; systematic theology; religious ethics; Islamic studies — Faculty of Oriental Studies; Farmington Institute); King's College London (Theology and Religious Studies — biblical studies; systematic theology; philosophy of religion; world religions; Christianity and contemporary society); Lancaster (Religious Studies — Sociology of Religion — Lancaster tradition — Smart; Sutcliffe — empirical and social scientific approaches; Inform — Information Network Focus on Religious Movements — Eileen Barker — new religious movements); St Andrews (School of Divinity — philosophy of religion; biblical studies; church history; practical theology — Scottish context — Kirk — Church of Scotland; strong research culture); Heythrop College merged into UCL 2018 — philosophy and theology tradition. Specialist institutes: Woolf Institute Cambridge — Christianity; Judaism; Islam — interfaith research; Woolf Institute — inter-faith dialogue; Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies — Sultan of Oman; Yarnton Manor; Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations Cambridge; Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre — University of Wales Trinity Saint David — Lampeter — empirical study of religious experience; Faraday Institute for Science and Religion — Cambridge — science and theology; British and Foreign Bible Society — translations; RE Today Services — religious education resources.
Evaluating the ontological argument step by step: (1) Anselm's version (Proslogion II-III) — God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived (id quo maius cogitari nequit); even the fool who says in his heart there is no God understands this concept (God exists in the intellect); but if God exists only in the intellect and not in reality, something greater could be conceived (a being that exists in reality as well); therefore God must exist in reality — contradiction avoided only if God exists in reality; Proslogion III — stronger: God cannot be conceived not to exist — necessary existence — perfection; evaluate: the argument is deductive — valid (conclusion follows from premises); is it sound (premises true)?; key premise: existence in reality is greater than existence in intellect — why should we accept this?. (2) Gaunilo's objection — Perfect Island: replace God with perfect island — parallel argument would prove perfect island must exist — reductio ad absurdum — Anselm's response: islands are contingent; God alone is necessary — the argument only works for a maximally great being. (3) Kant's objection — existence is not a predicate: existence adds nothing to the concept of a thing — 100 actual thalers vs 100 possible thalers — same concept; different existential status — ontological argument confuses the concept of God with the reality of God; evaluate: Kant's point is powerful — the ontological argument seems to derive existence from concepts — a logical leap. (4) Plantinga's modal version — possible worlds: God is defined as a maximally great being; a maximally great being exists in all possible worlds if it exists in any; it is possible a maximally great being exists (S5 modal axiom: if possibly necessarily P then necessarily P); therefore a maximally great being exists necessarily; evaluate: the argument is valid — if premises accepted; but: why should we accept the key premise that it is possible for a maximally great being to exist? — could equally argue: possibly no maximally great being exists — therefore necessarily no maximally great being exists — the argument works equally for atheism; (5) Overall assessment — the ontological argument has remarkable staying power as a philosophical puzzle; most philosophers do not find it persuasive as a proof — Kant's objection resonates; it may be more useful as an exploration of the concept of God than as a proof; Plantinga himself calls it a rational belief-forming device not a proof — Reformed epistemology.
Religious Studies essay referencing (Chicago/MHRA footnotes or Harvard — check your department): Chicago footnotes: Alvin Plantinga, The Nature of Necessity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974), pp. 197–220. J.L. Mackie, 'Evil and Omnipotence', Mind, 64/254 (1955), pp. 200–12. John Hick, Evil and the God of Love, revised edn (London: Macmillan, 1977), p. 291. Harvard author-date: Swinburne, R. (2004) The Existence of God, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smart, N. (1998) The World's Religions, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Geertz, C. (1966) 'Religion as a Cultural System', in M. Banton (ed.) Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion. London: Tavistock, pp. 1–46. Sacred texts (cite translation and editor): The Holy Quran. Trans. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 2:255 (al-Baqara). The Bible. New Revised Standard Version. Matthew 5:3-10. Bhagavad Gita. Trans. B.S. Miller. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986. 2.47. Key journals: Religious Studies (Cambridge); International Journal for Philosophy of Religion; Theology (SPCK); Scottish Journal of Theology; Journal of Theological Studies; Numen (International Association for the History of Religions); Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford); Modern Theology (Blackwell); Studies in Christian Ethics; Journal of Jewish Studies; Buddhist-Christian Studies. Key textbooks: Davies — The Philosophy of Religion (Oxford); Swinburne — The Existence of God; Plantinga — God and Other Minds; Mackie — The Miracle of Theism; Smart — The World's Religions; Bowker — The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions; Eliade — The Sacred and the Profane; Durkheim — The Elementary Forms of Religious Life; Weber — The Sociology of Religion; Hick — An Interpretation of Religion; Ruether — Sexism and God-Talk; Aquinas — Summa Theologica (Blackfriars edition with Latin and English); New Oxford Annotated Bible; NRSV. Online: Oxford Biblical Studies Online; Oxford Reference — Oxford Companion to Christian Thought; Christian Classics Ethereal Library CCEL — Aquinas; Anselm; Augustine primary texts online.
Problem of evil essay structure: (1) The logical problem (deductive) — Mackie 1955 — if God is omnipotent; omniscient; omnibenevolent; then God can prevent evil; knows about evil; wants to prevent evil — but evil exists — contradiction — at least one divine attribute must be false or God does not exist; state the argument precisely — Mackie's formulation: God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; evil exists — these three propositions are inconsistent — any theist committed to classical theism faces this problem; (2) The free will defence — Plantinga — God and Other Minds; The Nature of Necessity — God cannot create free creatures who always freely choose good — this is a logical impossibility — not a limitation on God's power — the possible world in which all free creatures always choose good may not be feasible for God; even if God could create such a world it might not contain as much good — moral good requires genuine free choice; evaluate: does the FWD handle natural evil? — Plantinga suggests Satan and fallen angels — assess plausibility; does it make God responsible for creating beings he knew would choose evil?; compatibilist response — compatibilist free will is sufficient for moral responsibility — incompatibilist free will is required for the FWD; (3) Soul-making theodicy — Hick — Evil and the God of Love — humans created immature — in the image (imago Dei) not yet in the likeness (similitudo Dei) — need to develop virtues through struggle — natural evil provides the environment for moral growth — epistemic distance necessary — God cannot be overwhelmingly obvious or free response impossible; evaluate: does all evil serve soul-making?; gratuitous evil — pointless suffering — animals; children — does this serve anyone's soul-making?; Dostoevsky — The Brothers Karamazov — Ivan's rebellion — could the suffering of one innocent child ever be justified by a future harmony?; (4) Evidential problem — Rowe 1979 — fawn example — a fawn burns slowly in a forest fire — no one to know; to learn; to be morally developed — apparently pointless suffering — probably no God; theistic scepticism response — Wykstra — CORNEA — Condition of Reasonable Epistemic Access — we cannot see what God's reasons are any more than a child understands a doctor's medical procedures — but is this satisfying? — God seems hidden; pastoral context — Job — God's answer from the whirlwind — mystery not theodicy — Soelle — Suffering — theodicy as ideology that justifies suffering; (5) Post-Holocaust theology — the Holocaust challenges all theodicies — Wiesel — Night — where was God at Auschwitz?; Rubenstein — After Auschwitz — death of the God of history; Fackenheim — 614th commandment — Jews must not give Hitler posthumous victories — forbidden to abandon Judaism; Metz — theology after Auschwitz — memory of suffering — memoria passionis; Barth — No! — God's response to evil is through the cross — incarnation as divine solidarity.
Comparative religion essay methodology: (1) Methodological foundations — epoché and empathy — Husserl — phenomenological method — bracket your own beliefs; Eliade — approach religions on their own terms — do not reduce to social or psychological factors; but: phenomenology accused of creating an abstract "religion in general" that no real tradition holds — critics: Smart's more historically grounded approach; Hick's pluralistic hypothesis — philosophical foundation for comparison — all traditions are responses to the Real; critical theory critique — Masuzawa — The Invention of World Religions — "world religions" as a modern Western academic construct — comparison itself is a power relationship — who gets to compare?; postcolonial critique — Sugirtharajah — Edward Said — constructing the Oriental Other; comparative categories must be justified: "mysticism" as a cross-cultural category — Stace vs Katz — is there a common mystical experience or is mysticism always tradition-specific?; (2) Choosing your tertium comparationis — the basis of comparison — what specific features are you comparing? — not "compare Christianity and Islam" generically — compare specific doctrines; practices; communities; texts; historical moments; examples: compare Christian and Buddhist concepts of salvation/liberation — soteriology; compare Jewish and Islamic approaches to law — halakha and sharia; compare Hindu and Christian mystical traditions — Advaita Vedanta and Cloud of Unknowing; compare the role of scripture in Quaker Christianity and Sunni Islam; compare Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist ethics — bodhisattva vs arhat ideal; (3) Avoiding errors — do not treat any tradition as monolithic — "Christianity says..." — which Christianity?; Catholic; Orthodox; Reformed; Liberation; Evangelical — enormous internal diversity; do not assume Western Christianity is normative Christianity — global Christianity is diverse; do not evaluate all religions by the standards of one (ethnocentrism; crypto-Christianism — treating "religion" as if monotheism is paradigmatic); avoid false equivalences — some traditions really do differ significantly on key questions; (4) Engage insider and outsider perspectives — emic (insider) accounts: how do practitioners understand their own tradition?; etic (outsider) accounts: academic analysis — social; historical; philosophical; the best comparative essays engage both; quote from primary sources of each tradition; cite scholars who specialise in each tradition — do not rely on one comparativist for all your knowledge of non-Christian traditions; (5) Structure options for a comparative essay: thematic structure — compare specific theme (e.g. concept of God; prayer; ethics) across traditions; historical structure — compare traditions at a specific historical moment of contact or conflict; dialectical structure — present each tradition's view then evaluate similarities and differences; conclude with what comparison reveals about each tradition and about religion as a category.
Related Subject Areas
Religious Studies — Comparative, Phenomenological, Critical
UK Religious Studies (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, SOAS, Bristol, Lancaster) treats religion academically, drawing on phenomenology (Eliade), sociology (Berger, Davie), critical theory (Asad, McCutcheon), across Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, indigenous traditions.
Assignments
- Textual analysis (biblical Hebrew, Quranic Arabic, Pali)
- Comparative essays; ethnography
- Philosophy of religion (Plantinga, Swinburne)
- Sociology of religion (secularisation, vicarious religion)
- Ethics (Singer, MacIntyre)
Theorists
- Mircea Eliade; Wilfred Cantwell Smith
- Talal Asad; Grace Davie; Saba Mahmood
FAQ
UK theology / ministerial training (Cranmer Hall, Wycliffe, Trinity Bristol)?
Yes — we differentiate Religious Studies essays from theological/pastoral assignments and supply SBL or Chicago referencing for theology.
