Birmingham Takes on A-Level Topics

The academics in the University of Birmingham’s Theology and Religion department have a wide range of interests in their teaching and research. In this series, we have recorded short videos of our “takes” on various RE A-level topics.

These take different forms – from reporting original research, or giving broad overviews of topics – and we hope that these will be of interest to RE teachers and students.  Our academics have a wide range of research expertise (e.g., Philosophy and Theology, Psychology of Religion, Public Religion), so some of these “takes” may come from slightly different angles than is traditionally covered on the A-level curriculum.  We hope that this will help to provide new perspectives on these topics.

Undergraduate programmes in Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham

Videos by subject

We have organized these into three sections: Philosophy of Religion, Ethics and Religion, and Study of Religion (with subsections for different religious traditions), in order to map them onto the RE curriculum. 

Philosophy of Religion

Dr Carissa Sharp discusses her research regarding the psychological perspective on people's beliefs about the nature of God.

How do people think about the Christian Trinity?

Dr Carissa Sharp discusses William James and the psychological approach to understanding religious experience

Is religious experience "real"?: A psychological perspective

Ethics and Religion

Dr Karen Wenell looks into the meaning of Christmas and has it changed over the years?

What is Christmas?

 Professor Nick Adams discusses Kant’s Critique of the Ontological Argument for God’s Existence

Kantian ethics

 Dr Amy Daughton talks about Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

Study of Religion

Buddhism

 Dr Marie-Hélène Gorisse considers strategies adopted by Buddhists to address environmental issues, as well as challenges on the way.

Buddhism and ecological challenges

 

Christianity

Dr Carissa Sharp discusses her research regarding the psychological perspective on people's beliefs about the nature of God.

How do people think about the Christian Trinity?

Dr U-Wen Low discusses strategies for reading the Book of Revelation carefully and responsibly.

How do we read the Book of Revelation well?

Dr Amy Daughton discusses Catholic ethics by considering the moral and political principles of Catholic Social Teachingatholic social teaching

Catholic social teaching

Professor Hugh Houghton reflects on the authority and inspiration of Scripture based on the nature of the New Testament writings.

Observations on the authority of the bible

Dr Karen Wenell looks into the meaning of Christmas and has it changed over the years?

What is Christmas?

Dr U-Wen Low discusses the ideas of economic justice found in the Book of Revelation.

What does the Book of Revelation say about justice?

Islam

Dr Katherine Brown asks is being a Salafi Feminist an oxymoron?

Muslim Women's participation in political activism

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