Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit examines various areas in the philosophy of religion and philosophical theology, and in this way it provides an important complement to studies in Christian theology. Students explore a range of issues arising within the philosophical study of religion and philosophical reflection on contemporary theology. These include issues such as God’s existence and nature, the meaning of religious thought and language, the nature of religious faith and its relationship to rationality, and the challenges posed by evil and suffering. In exploring influential historical and contemporary perspectives regarding those debates, students are required to develop reasoned positions of their own. In this way, the unit aims both to facilitate students’ understanding of some key theories and debates in the philosophy of religion, as well as to enhance their skills in critical analysis.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Identify and accurately explain some of the centra...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically analyse and evaluate selected contempor...
Learning Outcome 02
Demonstrate strong skills in philosophical researc...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
Topics will include many of the following:
- rational arguments for and against the existence of God;
- models of God’s nature and interaction with the world;
- the problem of evil and suffering;
- the relation between rationality and faith, and the possibility of religious knowledge;
- the nature of religious language.
- the philosophy of religious experience;
- the relationship between science and religion;
- the relationship between ethics and religion;
- understandings of death and afterlife;
- the significance of religious diversity;
- the meaning and significance of agnosticism and atheism
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy for this unit has been designed to examine students’ understanding of the philosophical issues and theories under consideration, as well as their ability to critically analyse those issues and theories. It does so through a series of three graduated assessment tasks. The first task examines students’ ability to demonstrate understanding of selected key concepts and debates in the field of philosophy of religion, while the second task requires them to apply this knowledge to critical reading and reflection of key texts in the history of this tradition of inquiry. Both of these early tasks prepare students for the third and principal task of writing an extended research essay, which examines students’ abilities to research and critically analyse an important issue in the philosophy of religion, and to develop and defend a coherent position of their own in a formally structured argumentative essay.
Overview of assessments
Written Analysis task 1 Requires students to dem...
Written Analysis task 1
Requires students to demonstrate understanding of key concepts, debates and/or texts in the field
20%
Written Analysis task 2 Requires students to cri...
Written Analysis task 2
Requires students to critically analyse important text/s in the history of philosophical theology
30%
Research Essay Requires students to further rese...
Research Essay
Requires students to further research and analyse an important issue in the philosophy of religion, and argue for a coherent position.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit, that is offered in attendance mode, involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, tutorials and online learning. The remaining hours typically involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment.
The unit has been designed as a blend of project learning along with direct instruction within a collaborative context. The direct instruction ensures that students develop a grounding in understanding basic problems, concepts and arguments in the philosophy of religion (LO1). The project learning enables the students to apply those concepts and theories critically and reflectively to problems in the field, and this feeds into the achievement of the other aim of the unit concerning the development of philosophical skills of analysis, interpretation and argumentation (LO 2-3). The collaborative context of the unit is focused especially on the weekly tutorial, during which the emphasis is on small group discussion of the weekly readings. Students engage in class discussions, provide written critiques of significant theories, and present their reasoned position on matters at issue, after being introduced to them through readings and lectures.