Lesson 6 donovan – implications for humans

Donovan – Implications for Humans

By the end of this lesson you will have:

•Recapped the arguments for implications for

religious people• Discovered possible

implications for human experience

• Have begun to plan your final Donovan draft

STARTER - Practise Section

• TASK: Imagine you were to get section 9 in your exam.

• Write a prose of writing which explains what implications this passage has for religious believers.

• You need to refer to specific parts of the passage and elaborate what the implications would be.

Implications for Human Experience

• Similarly to religious experience, we would break this question down depending on which section that we get in the exam.

• If we were to get a section arguing that religious experience CAN be evidence of the existence of God, the implications for humans in general are going to differ vastly to those who believe religious experience CAN’T be evidence of God’s existence.

Implications for Human Experience

• Can you remember which sections portray arguments which state you CAN have religious experience as proof of God?

• Answer: 2, 3, 4, 8

• TASK: Discuss in pairs, what you think the implications for humans in general would be with regards to the section I have given you.

Implications for Human Experience

• There are several paths which you could take for this. Some suggestions are:

• It would disrupt the whole idea of ‘fact’ having to be empirically verified.

• It would undermine what we know as ‘science’ and ‘fact’ now• It would make everyone question what kind of God exists• It would make us question what happens to us after we die• It would make us value human relationships more, and more

emphasis would be placed on value, rather than objective judgements

• As Paul Tillich says, religious experience is an ‘ultimate concern’

Implications for Human Experience

• Now do the same for sections which suggest that religious experience CAN’T be evidence.

• Suggestions:• Religious experiences may just continue, and humans will

continue to hear about and be interested by them.• Don Cuppitt falls into this category – someone who doesn’t

believe in objective evidence of God but believes the values religions have are important

• Maybe religious observance is still an important way of controlling the people, even if it isn’t objectively true.

• Many non-religious people have suffered at the hands of religious people who had ‘visions’ or experiences (i.e. Wars and crusades), has this all been completely unjust?

Further Reading

• As with the investigations paper, it is important to show the examiner you have read around the topic in your own learning time.

• Studzinski’s article on Religious Experience in The New Dictionary of Theology is a great source to quote from as he gives you a comparison between religious and human experience and also refers to many famous scholars who discussed religious experience.

• TASK: Read pps 369-370 and compose 3 interesting sentences and quotes that you could use in your Donovan essay from this text

Essay Structure

• In your booklets find the ‘essay structure’ sheets.

• Complete these individually. Think about what sort of things you will write in the sections.

• Think of scholars and ideas you would discuss.

• Hint: Of course the first bit of part (a) will vary depending on which section you get in the exam.

Homework

• COMPLETE YOUR FIRST DONOVAN DRAFT. • Imagine you are to get section 10 in your question.

The question will always be the same and is:• A) Examine the argument and/or interpretation in

the passage – remember you would get 45mins to answer this question in your exam so detail is necessary! (30)

• B) Do you agree with the ideas expressed? Justify your point of view and discuss it’s implications for understanding religion and human experience – you would get 30mins to answer this in the exam (20)

Donovan – Implications for Humans

By the end of this lesson you will have:

•Recapped the arguments for implications for

religious people• Discovered possible

implications for human experience

• Have begun to plan your final Donovan draft