“The Religious Experience” is Candle Conferences first live event for students of A Level Religious Studies since the pandemic. 

 Exploring content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS the event aims to get students really excited about the subject, enriching and extending their knowledge and understanding as well as supporting them in analysing, evaluating and making informed, well-reasoned academic judgements.

● Tickets to the live event come with access to an exclusive online resource-area, which provides participants with video-clips, detailed notes on each topic as well as activities, model-essays, revision-tips, reading lists and more.

1) The Religious Experience

The first lecture will explore the topic of Religious Experience. What are religious experiences? How common are they? Can science explain all Religious Experiences away? Are they a good basis for faith… and for who? In particular, Dr Vardy will outline and evaluate the ideas of William James and Richard Swinburne. This lecture will end with an activity, designed to boost essay-writing skills.

2) Experiencing God

The second lecture builds on the first, considering what Religious Experiences suggest about the nature of God and the extent to which the God they reveal is consistent with the God supported by the classical Arguments for God’s existence. This lecture aims to demonstrate the synoptic links between core topics in the Philosophy of Religion, which students must appreciate and use to write good essays and attain the higher grades, and it will end with a brief activity designed to help with this.

3) By Divine Command?

After coffee, the third lecture will consider how religious experience relates to Ethics, asking whether we need God to underpin morality or not. The lecture will touch on Divine Command Ethics and the Euthyphro Dilemma, Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Kantian Ethics and Utilitarianism, as well as Aquinas’ teaching on the Conscience and Bonhoeffer’s Ethic. The morning will end with a discussion and opportunity for Q&A.

4) An awareness of what is missing

After lunch, the final lecture will begin by asking what a Religion really is, suggesting the limitations of different definitions and what is missing from them. It will then consider whether “The Religious Experience” is over and, if it is, what we will miss as a society, introducing the ideas of Jurgen Habermas and Charles Taylor.

This house believes that God exists!

The event will conclude with a formal debate. Participating schools are invited to submit video-contributions (whether from students or teachers) which can propose or oppose the motion above (max. 4 minutes) or “Second” the proposition or opposition (max 2 minutes). More detailed guidelines on how to prepare and submit these contributions will be sent out to booking e-mail addresses. Dr Vardy will choose the best contributions and use them as part of his introduction to the debate, before inviting live contributions on each side of the debate from the floor and then calling a vote. Winning contributions will also receive a prize!

To Book

Student tickets to attend the LIVE “The Religious Experience” event cost £20, with a 10% discount available if you book 10+ tickets together online.  Please e-mail for your ACCESS CODE.

● We offer one free teacher-place per 10 students, otherwise accompanying teachers cost £20.  Free teacher places are authorized by our administrator after student bookings have been made; please e-mail.
● Teachers attending alone for CPD purposes cost £100
● Trainee teachers and extra adults supporting individual students to access the event attend for free.

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 

@CandleConfs

e-mail: info@candleconferences.com

Tel: 0208 133 2241