Religious Language | AQA A-Level Religious Studies (7062)
Religious Language
- 35 questions
- 3 subtopics
- Component 1 Section A: philosophy of religion
- Component 1
Whether talk of God is cognitive or non-cognitive, the verification and falsification challenges, and the responses of analogy, symbol and language games..
It covers verification, Falsification and Language Games, tillich's Symbols, Analogy and the Via Negativa and strengths and Weaknesses of Religious Language Theories.
Sample questions from Religious Language
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Verification, Falsification and Language Games
What is Flew's falsification principle?
Show the answer
A statement is only meaningful if there is something that could count against it or prove it false. -
Verification, Falsification and Language Games
Why does Hare argue that the falsification challenge does not apply to religious language?
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Because religious language expresses a blik rather than making factual claims, so it is not the kind of statement that needs to be falsifiable. -
Tillich's Symbols, Analogy and the Via Negativa
What is Tillich's concept of God as the 'ground of being'?
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God is ultimate reality, and religious symbols participate in the power of this ultimate reality they point to. -
Tillich's Symbols, Analogy and the Via Negativa
Explain Aquinas's analogy of proportion.
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God possesses qualities in proportion to his nature as infinite being, while creatures possess them in proportion to their finite nature. -
Strengths and Weaknesses of Religious Language Theories
What is a weakness of eschatological verification?
Show the answer
It only allows verification after death, which may be too late to be practically meaningful. -
Strengths and Weaknesses of Religious Language Theories
What is a strength of Aquinas's use of analogy?
Show the answer
It provides a middle way between saying nothing about God and making inappropriate literal claims.
The 3 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Verification, Falsification and Language Games | Recall questions on cognitive and non-cognitive language, the verification principle, Flew's falsification challenge, Hick's Celestial City, Hare's bliks and the paranoid student, and Wittgenstein's language games. | 13 |
| Tillich's Symbols, Analogy and the Via Negativa | Recall questions on Tillich's distinction between signs and symbols and God as the ground of being, Aquinas's analogies of attribution and proportion, and how the Via Negativa preserves divine transcendence. | 8 |
| Strengths and Weaknesses of Religious Language Theories | Recall questions on a strength and a weakness of each approach: verification and falsification, eschatological verification, Hare's bliks, language games, Tillich's symbols, Aquinas's analogy and the Via Negativa. | 14 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA A-Level Religious Studies Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 3,683 questions with their answers.