Catholic Christianity: Philosophy of Religion | Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B (1RB0)

Catholic Christianity: Philosophy of Religion

99 questions
8 subtopics
Catholic Christianity, one religion of seven
Paper 3

Catholic Christianity: Philosophy of Religion is examined in Paper 3, Area of Study 3: Religion, Philosophy and Social Justice, if Catholic Christianity is the religion studied for that area.

A student who studies Catholic Christianity may not study Christianity in their other area. It covers Catholic understanding of Jesus as the culmination of revelation, visions and Catholic belief in God, miracles and Catholic belief in God, Catholic attitudes to religious experience, the design argument in Catholic thought, the cosmological argument in Catholic thought, the problem of suffering for Catholic belief in an all-loving God and Catholic responses to the problem of suffering.

Sample questions from Catholic Christianity: Philosophy of Religion

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Catholic understanding of Jesus as the culmination of revelation

What does Hebrews 1:1 say about how God spoke in the past?

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Hebrews 1:1 says God spoke in many and various ways to the ancestors through the prophets. The messages of the prophets were partial and prepared for Christ.
Visions and Catholic belief in God

What happens at the Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1–8?

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Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain, where his face shines like the sun. Moses and Elijah appear, and a voice from a cloud tells the disciples to listen to God's beloved Son.
Miracles and Catholic belief in God

How does the Lourdes Medical Bureau test claimed healings?

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Doctors examine whether a cure is sudden, complete, lasting and medically inexplicable. Only then can the Church declare the cure a miracle.
Catholic attitudes to religious experience

What is public revelation, according to the Catechism (66)?

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Public revelation is God's revelation, completed in Jesus and handed on by the Church. The Catechism says no new public revelation is to be expected before Christ returns in glory.
The design argument in Catholic thought

What does Romans 1:20 teach about knowing God from creation?

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Paul says God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, can be seen in what he has made. People who ignore this are without excuse.
The cosmological argument in Catholic thought

What is the difference between a contingent and a necessary being?

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A contingent being depends on something else for its existence and might never have existed. A necessary being cannot fail to exist and depends on nothing.
The problem of suffering for Catholic belief in an all-loving God

What is natural evil, and why is it harder for Catholics to explain?

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Natural evil is suffering that comes from the natural world, such as floods and disease. Natural evil cannot be blamed on human choices, so it seems to point to God.
Catholic responses to the problem of suffering

How does God answer Job?

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God speaks from a whirlwind and asks where Job was when the earth was made. Job realises that God's wisdom is far beyond human understanding.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Catholic understanding of Jesus as the culmination of revelation	General and special revelation, Dei Verbum, Hebrews 1:1 to 4 on God speaking through the Son, revelation in Jesus as evidence for God, God as personal and immanent, and the non-religious objection.	12
Visions and Catholic belief in God	Abram's vision and covenant in Genesis 15, the Transfiguration and what followed it in Matthew 17, Joan of Arc, visions as grounds for belief, the hallucination objection, and what visions show of God.	13
Miracles and Catholic belief in God	The healing of the official's son in John 4, the Lourdes Medical Bureau and its recognised cures, why miracles might lead to belief, David Hume, scientific explanations, and what miracles show about God.	13
Catholic attitudes to religious experience	Conversion, mystical and numinous experience, public and private revelation in Catechism 66 and 67, how the Church judges a claimed experience, the Vatican's 2024 change of approach, and atheist objections.	12
The design argument in Catholic thought	Aquinas's Fifth Way, Paley's watch, fine-tuning, Romans 1:20 to 24 and the First Vatican Council, what design shows of God, and the challenges from evolution and David Hume.	12
The cosmological argument in Catholic thought	Aquinas's first three Ways, contingent and necessary beings, the work where the Five Ways appear, the 1948 Copleston and Russell radio debate, 'Who caused God?', and the Big Bang objection.	12
The problem of suffering for Catholic belief in an all-loving God	The inconsistent triad, omnibenevolence, moral and natural evil and why the second is harder, Isaiah 45:7 on calamity and 45:9 on questioning God, and how suffering can end or deepen faith.	12
Catholic responses to the problem of suffering	The Psalms and Psalm 119 on God's word, the trials of Job and God's answer, Augustine's free will defence and evil as privation, Irenaeus, prayer and charity, and why each theory falls short.	13

Catholic Christianity: Philosophy of Religion is 99 of the 5,266 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

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.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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.
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.