Language on www.candleconferences.com

On-demand lecture-series for Year 13 students of A Level Religious Studies

With Dr Peter Vardy and Charlotte Vardy

Academic Year 2021-22
Launches 1st November 2021

“Language” is Candle Conferences’ first series of on-demand lectures specifically designed for Y13 students of A Level Religious Studies. Exploring content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS for Year 2 study, “Language” will take students on a “deep dive” into the Philosophy of Language, helping them to appreciate implications across and between the Philosophy of Religion, Ethics and Study of Religion papers and to evaluate different approaches to assessing the meaning of claims made in these contexts.

Each pacy, engaging lecture will be accompanied by a detailed .pdf student resources booklet, containing notes on each topic which include lots of useful scholars and quotations as well as a range of learning activities to be completed both during and after the lecture, focused on writing effective essays on these topics.

Language and Meaning

This introductory lecture considers how language conveys meaning and the implications this has for the Philosophy of Religion, Ethics and the Study of Religion. Are words auditory signs, pointing towards a meaning beyond themselves and taking their meaning from what they refer to? Or, does the meaning of language come from how we use it? The lecture will end with an activity for students to complete.

Piercing the Veil

This second lecture will explore the medieval debate about meaning in religious claims. Cataphatic and apophatic approaches to speaking about God will be outlined and evaluated, before we explore Aquinas’ doctrine of analogy in greater depth. The lecture will end by focusing on a typical essay-question, which students can plan and/or write afterwards.

Are religious claims meaningless?

The third lecture will move forward to consider 20th Century challenges to the meaningfulness of religious language from verificationism, falsificationism, Wittgenstein’s theory of language games and postmodernism, as well as responses to these challenges including in the work of Tillich and Randall on symbol. The lecture will end with an activity for students to complete.

Meta-Ethics: What does “good” mean?

In the final lecture, we will turn to the relationship between language and ethics, exploring ethical naturalism, intuitionism and emotivism and how they relate to both normative ethical systems and ethical decision-making. The lecture will end by focusing on a typical essay-question, which students can plan and/or write afterwards.

These lectures offer excellent support for Year 13 students and teachers completing the A Level course. Lectures can be used in class or set for homework or revision activities; you can even use them as a ready-made co-curricular activity or as the basis for an enrichment or revision day.

To Book

A school-license to access the “Language” lecture series for the academic year 2021-22 (from 1/11/21 until 10/09/22) costs £100, including the rights to print and photocopy the .pdf resource booklets for unlimited numbers of participating students within that school/college during that time.

Alternatively, individual students can buy access to the course for the same period for £10 – this includes the right to print and use the resources for that student only.

With Candle you get:

○ Up-to-date scholarly content made engaging and tailored to the real needs of A Level students.

○ Sessions and resources designed by practicing teachers with a record of engaging students of all abilities.

○ Easy, secure online bookings and social media support on twitter @puzzlevardy and on facebook @CandleConfs

e-mail: info@candleconferences.com

Tel: 0208 133 2241