Revision Q&A With Dr Roy Jackson.

OK!  See below: we received some questions and have made a video response for revising students: here it is:

-----------

Hi,

Following some conversations with teachers, and the publication of the 2nd edition of The God of Philosophy, we are going to record a revision Q and A session with Dr Roy Jackson.

Our plan is:
Teachers: get your students (GCSE/AS/A2 level) to think of Philosophy of Religion questions and send them to dwebster@glos.ac.uk by the end of FRIDAY 5TH MAY. 


Then next week - I will will quiz Dr Jackson - on video - and post the resulting set of answers on this blog (and YouTube). Be sure to include the person who asked the question - and the school name - so I can tell Roy who is asking it.

Roy is Course Leader for the Religion, Philosophy and Ethics course here, and I will be asking Roy the questions...

You can also ask the questions via our FaceBook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPEglos/ 

[you may need to join but all are welcome, the group contains our students, ex-students, teachers, staff elsewhere, and people studying these subjects at colleges & schools too]

Atheism, Religion & Ethics

There is a new piece at http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/04/17/3478816.htm by Zizek: where he looks at the idea that we need religion in order to be moral people..

I like the bit below, not that I am sure I am totally persuaded by it:

..a quick look at our moral landscape confirms that it is a much more appropriate description of the atheist liberal/hedonist behaviour: they dedicate their life to the pursuit of pleasures, but since there is no external authority which would guarantee them personal space for this pursuit, they get entangled in a thick network of self-imposed "Politically Correct" regulations, as if they are answerable to a superego far more severe than that of the traditional morality. They thus become obsessed with the concern that, in pursuing their pleasures, they may violate the space of others, and so regulate their behaviour by adopting detailed prescriptions about how to avoid "harassing" others, along with the no less complex regime of the care-of-the-self (physical fitness, health food, spiritual relaxation, and so on).

Today, nothing is more oppressive and regulated than being a simple hedonist.

------------
As always with articles with hundreds and hundreds of comments: BE VERY WARY of reading them.. 

New Blogs: Philosophy of Religion, and 'spiritual' images..

Dr Roy Jackson, the RPE Course Leader has a new blog at http://www.godofphilosophy.com/ - which has loads of material on the Philosophy of Religion.

This includes short videos, blog posts, a sample chapter from the 2nd edition of his book The God of Philosophy, web-links, and more. He will also be expanding it as time goes on. It will be of interest to our students, but also to those revising for religion, philosophy and ethics in an A Level context...

While on the subject of blogs - I have a new one at http://dispirited-dave.tumblr.com/ for my (ever-growing) collections of odd/unusual Buddha images, and for images related to my interest in Mind/Body/Spirit self-presentations..

Feel free to look at the picture blog too (the Budha stuff may need you to look at some of the past pages, as there is a growing archive in them). You can also submit images to this gallery/photo-blog at http://dispirited-dave.tumblr.com/submit

Cheers,
Dave

Want to be an RE Teacher?

On Wednesday April 25th at 5pm, two former RPE students, and now RE teachers, will come in to FCH to talk about their teaching experiences and answer any questions you may have. Jason Chambers and Kt Green are products of the class of 2008 and so they were the first to graduate from the RPE degree. This will be an informal session and it is a chance for you to find out more about the experience of becoming and being a teacher generally, and in the subject of religion and philosophy more specifically.

If you can’t make the session, then put in a question in the comments and hopefully I can read some of them out on the day. 

Wednesday 5pm at FCH HC204