The big idea: The guide's first ethical item is peace and conflict; pacifism and "just war" theory.
Christianity produced both, from the same scriptures — which makes it the best case in the course for the Theme 5 question about applying core teachings.
Christian positions on force. In no order of merit — both are argued from the same Gospels.
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The comparison across the course: Christianity: pacifism and just war. Sikhism: dharam yudh, developed to limit war. Judaism: war legitimate, the commandment forbidding murder. Buddhism: no doctrine of righteous war at all.
Four traditions on one question. That table is worth memorising — Part 1 and Part 2 both reward it.
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Medical issues
- Euthanasia
- Embryo research
- Genetic engineering
- Abortion
- All four are the guide's own words
Poverty and money
- Focus on poverty — a heading in its own right
- Ethical banking and business practice
- Rooted in the two great commandments
- And an area of strong ecumenical agreement
Environment
- Stewardship — humanity entrusted with creation
- Animal rights
- Drawn from Genesis 1 and 2
- Also an area of common Christian statements
Stewardship is the key term: It appears twice in the guide — under religious experience among the Christian practices, and under environment in the ethics list.
The idea is that creation is entrusted rather than owned, which makes environmental care a religious obligation rather than a preference. Say stewardship and you have the doctrine and the ethic in one word.
On the medical questions: Christians differ, and the differences follow the pattern of this unit: the Roman Catholic Church teaches from the sanctity of life through its encyclicals; other churches weigh scripture, tradition, reason and conscience and reach a range of positions.
Report the positions and the reasoning, attributed. The question asks how a tradition applies its teachings, not which application is correct.
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| The guide's remaining items | What the question is |
|---|---|
| Homosexuals in ministry; homosexual marriages | Whether people in same-sex relationships may be ordained, and whether churches marry same-sex couples |
| Family law | Marriage, divorce and remarriage — on which the churches differ, as they do on the sacramental status of marriage |
| Church and state | Whether a church should be established, and how far it should speak to government |
| Blasphemy laws | Whether the state should protect religion from insult, and whether Christians should want it to |
How to write about the contested questions: On homosexuals in ministry and homosexual marriages, Christians hold sharply opposed positions, and some churches have divided over them.
What the syllabus asks for is the range of church teaching and the reasoning each gives, attributed by name.
Traditionalist arguments run from scripture and from the tradition's reading of marriage; affirming arguments run from the same scriptures and from conscience. Report both, rank neither, and write about people as people.
The same discipline applies to family law, church and state, and blasphemy laws. In each case the examinable content is which source of authority a church is leading with — scripture, the teaching office, tradition and reason, or conscience — and what follows from that.
An answer built on that structure is analysing a disagreement, which is what the markbands describe, rather than joining one.
How this is tested. Theme 5 is taught through no more than three contemporary case studies, and the guide's Christian list is the longest in the syllabus.
“Christianity has no single answer to modern ethical questions.” Discuss.
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