Theology and Religious Studies BA

This module introduces students to the development of Western Christian theology, both Protestant and Catholic, from the Enlightenment to the present.

It surveys the challenges posed to Christian faith by modernity and a range of theological responses to these challenges.

It also introduces modern Christian approaches to ethics.

Watch Dr Michael Burdett give an overview of this module in less that 90 seconds.

This module is an introduction to the literature, history and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament or Tanakh.

Attention will be paid to the biblical text as history, as literature and as scripture in the Jewish and Christian traditions, both in general and with particular reference to specific texts.

Watch Dr Cat Quine explain why she thinks teaching biblical studies is far from boring.

This module examines the narrative and textual foundations of the Islamic tradition including the Qur'an, the prophetic tradition and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. You’ll also look at the development and structure of Islamic society, law, doctrine and spirituality through the classical period, and Muslim responses to challenges posed by modernity including questions of gender and the nation state.

This module will introduce Judaism in the period from its formation to modernity. We will study major texts of Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism, the developments of medieval Jewish culture under Islamic and Christian rule, and key topics in early modern and contemporary Judaism. Special emphasis will be given to the textual strategies of Jewish readings of the Bible, to the continuing important of the Temple as a central religious symbol, and to the impact of the foundation of the state of Israel. The module will give students an overview of Judaism as a diverse tradition that has always engaged its Roman, Christian, Persian, Muslim and modern Western surroundings.

This module will cover the following themes: the canon and text of the New Testament; the Roman, Greek and Jewish background to the New Testament; source, form and redaction criticism of the Synoptic Gospels; the historicity of the Synoptic Gospels and Acts, and the authenticity of Paul's letters.

This module will provide an overview of the most important philosophical ideas, theories, and arguments that are of special interest to students of theology. The module will begin with the Greek 'natural theology' of the pre-Socratic thinkers and end with the post-modern 'turn to religion' of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida. 

This module provides an introduction to key skills required for the discipline of Theology and Religious Studies in the understanding and analysis of primary texts in world religions, and in a range of broader abilities necessary for university level study, including bibliographical and footnoting skills, the use of scholarly journals and monographs, argumentation and essay writing. 

The Bible is a perennial bestseller and its influence on Western culture is unparalleled. This influence is not always obvious though, nor limited to the 'religious sphere'. In the Arts - whether Bach or The Beatles, Michelangelo or Monty Python - the use of the Bible is extremely varied. This module explores the ways the Bible is drawn upon in art, music and literature ranging from ancient Jewish synagogue mosaics and early Christian iconography, to contemporary - secular - films and music. Students are encouraged not only to engage with case studies of works of art which demonstrate the use and influence of the Bible, but also to consider critically the way in which art, music and literature - both 'religious' and 'secular' - function as biblical interpretations, and as part of the Bible's 'reception-history'. The module is taught by a variety of theologians in the department specialising in different areas of the Bible's reception. Introductory contributions on the influence of the Bible on, and through, a range of authors, musicians and artists can be seen in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies' Bibledex video project.

By its very nature theology and religious studies involves big questions. You’ll look at what these are across the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. 

We’ll examine the core challenges to, and advances in:

• religious beliefs and practices
• sacred texts

We’ll also look at the social scientific study of religion and how the big questions relate to ethical and philosophical issues.

This is one of the first modules you’ll study on your degree. It will help you to gain a common understanding of the questions and challenges faced by religious thought, both historically and in the present day, and prepare you for further study.

This module is worth 20 credits.

We live in a media environment, surrounded by social media, videogames, TV, movies, 24-hour news and more.

The media teach us what to think about each other, how to talk to each other, and who we want to be.

This course invites us to think more critically and imaginatively about the media.

Together we will:

• explore how the media portrays religion, and ask why stereotypes persist
• see how the media challenges religion, and provokes new religious creativity
• ask what the big ideas of religious ethics could teach us about how to use media more wisely
• start to learn the key skills we need to be more effective media communicators

Watch Dr Tim Hutchings give an overview of this module in just 80 seconds.

Introduction to the grammar, syntax and vocabulary of the Greek language, as found in the New Testament; no previous knowledge of the language is assumed.

Explore the landscape of religions in modern British society, with particular emphasis on:

• Christianity
• Judaism
• Islam
• secularism
• nonreligion

You'll be introduced to leading theories of the sociological study of religion, including models for interfaith contact and dialogue, and examine how these theories and approaches developed.

Through groupwork you'll research an interfaith topic for a class presentation, learning to communicate your ideas to a supportive audience.

This module is worth 20 credits.

In this module you’ll explore significant problems in the philosophy of religion, such as the credibility of the existence of God, the relation between religion and science, the relation between religion and morality, the problem of evil, and the possibility of an after-life. There will also be discussion of significant themes, such as the nature of being, of faith, of religious experience, of religious language, and of religious love.  This module is taught through four hours of lecture and an hour-long seminar weekly.

Watch Dr Conor Cunningham give an overview of this video in just over 60 seconds.

This module examines how Muslims have addressed fundamental theological and philosophical questions relating to their faith. These questions concern the foundations of religious knowledge and authority, God's unity and attributes, God's relationship to the world, divine determinism and human freedom, prophecy, and eschatology. Key figures will include the rationalist Mu'tazili and Ash'ari theologians, the philosophers Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and the influential medieval intellectuals al-Ghazali, Ibn al-'Arabi, and Ibn Taymiyya. Selections from primary sources will be read in translation, and special attention will be given to the integration of late antique philosophical traditions into Islamic theology.

Watch Dr Jon Hoover give an overview of this module in just 60 seconds.

Explore a range of historical, ethical, and theological issues relating to women and warfare in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Israel.

You'll start by looking at the Hebrew Bible's portrayals of women and the feminine, including:

• goddesses
• biblical queens
• the role of women in the community.

Next, you'll move on to warfare, considering, for example:

• the relationship between military victory and righteousness in the Bible
• the theological implications of YHWH being a god who fights in battle
• how Judah's greatest ever military defeat became the defining point of its theology.

Watch Dr Cat Quine give and overview of this module in less than 100 seconds.

Virtue ethics is an ancient form of moral practice, which has also come back into prominence in recent years. It believes that ethics belongs to the lived experience of a tradition and is therefore narrative in character, offering itself naturally to literary embodiment. We shall study key ancient Greek texts, such as Aristotle's Nichomachaen Ethics and Theophrastus' work on character, as well as Cicero, Aquinas and contemporary reconsturals of the virtue tradition by Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas. Virtue ethics will then be analysed in literary texts, such as Homer's Iliad, the medieval poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and Graham Green's Brighton Rock. Students will also do a short presentation, applying virtue ethics to a particular moral problem or specific form of activity, e.g nursing, war, or teaching.

Watch Professor Alison Milbank give an overview of this module in less than 80 seconds.

The module provides an overview of the most important theological and philosophical ideas, theories and arguments that Jewish thought developed from the Hellenistic period of Philo of Alexandria to the postmodern times of Emmanuel Levinas. The method of instruction will combine historical and speculative approaches, using the perspective of the 'history of ideas'. 

Explore the theology of Paul as found in the seven letters that are generally considered to be written by him (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon).

The major themes explored are:

• law
• reconciliation
• justification
• grace
• faith
• sacrifice
• word of God
• Christology
• Israel
• the church
• ethics
• the ‘last things’.

Watch Professor Richard Bell give an overview of this module in less than 60 seconds.

This module builds on level 1 Biblical Greek language modules in developing the ability to handle the biblical text in its original languages. The basis of the module is the study and translation of individual texts (which will vary from year to year) with analysis of vocabulary, grammar and style.

This is an introduction to the grammar, syntax and vocabulary of the Hebrew language, as found in the Hebrew Bible; no previous knowledge of the language is assumed.

You will undertake an extended piece of investigative and synthesising work on a subject of particular interest and produce a final written dissertation of 8000 words.

This will:

• provide practice in researching a topic independently and in depth
• involve use of a range of primary and/or secondary information sources
• create coherent and sustained analysis and argument in both writing and speech.

Examining the major theologians of the last century this module will ask – what is nature, and what is grace? Likewise, what is natural and what is supernatural? This module will explore how theologians (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) have articulated this division and the many profound consequences that have arisen from such attempts This module will trace the development of various heated debates that tackled the above questions and in so doing influenced the shape of twentieth century theology, the idea of secularism, the relation between philosophy and theology, and lastly, between theology and science. 

You will:

• explore the rise and development of the fantasy genre in its historical and theological context
• investigate the contemporary critical debate about the value and function of religious fantasy.

Authors covered may include:

• George MacDonald - Christian Platonism in a short tale
• G. K. Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday and his essay, 'Orthodoxy'
• Charles Williams - The Descent into Hell and his theology of exchange
• J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings and his essay 'On Fairy-Stories'
• C.S. Lewis - Out of the Silent Planet
• a collection of modern Jewish fantasy tales, Wandering Stars.

 

How is it all going to end? Global devastation or universal harmony?

All religions have their answer to the end but it may change over time or depend on who you ask.

Together we’ll analyse rival understandings of the end of the world across a range of apocalyptic groups. We’ll explore thinking in Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other religions, both historical and contemporary.

In particular we’ll consider:

• why death and the end play such a prominent role in human mythology and religion
• the capacity of religion to inspire both peace and violence
• how a vision of the future can give purpose and meaning to the present and the past
• how ideas of the end change over time

You’ll use key theories and methods from history, philosophy, theology and sociology.

We’ll also explore the ideas that visions about the end:

• arise from intellectual traditions in particular historical contexts
• play a political role in struggles for power
• are shaped by social forces and historical events.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Examine the ethical, theological, and historical aspects of Muslim interaction with non-Muslims.

You will:

• assess Qur’anic attitudes to religious others
• look at a spectrum of Muslim ethical approaches to social relations with non-Muslims
• analyse theological exchanges with Christians and Jews
• explore Muslim theologies of other religions and the eternal destiny of non-Muslims
• examine shifts in Muslim relations with Christians, Jews and Yazidis in response to modernity and the rise of western power.

Students will read the novel The Qadi and the Fortune Teller set in 19th century Lebanon as a case study in legal, political, and religious relations between Sunnis, Shi‘is, Druze, Christians, and Jews.

This module provides a historical introduction to the life of Jesus. It will involve a critical evaluation of the relevant sources for Jesus’ life, an overview of developments in the search for the historical Jesus, and a discussion of the perceived tensions between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

Ancient Israel and Judah existed in the shadow of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires which dominated them, influenced their culture and shaped their beliefs. We'll look at how this experience of empire shaped the Biblical texts, their conceptions of god, and their visions of the longed-for New World Order, where their god and nation would rule above all others.

We’ll explore:

• historical interactions between the empires, Israel and Judah, including vassalhood, trade, rebellion, and defeats
• cultural implications of empire, including diverse religious practices, movement of peoples and awareness of nations like the kingdom of Kush
• theological implications of the God of the Hebrew Bible being a vassal to imperial deities and later becoming God of the whole world
• development of Israel and Judah’s theology, including monotheism, the imperialization of Yhwh, changing understandings of the ‘chosen people’ of Yhwh, and visions of a new world order
• anthropological research into migration and trauma, and post-colonial studies of biblical texts

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module will present modern Jewish thought from a theologicophilosophical perspective as an interesting alternative to both Christian and secular models of thinking. Modern Jewish thought emerges from 'the crisis of tradition' (Gershom Scholem) which it tries to resolve in many different ways: either intrinsic to Judaism itself (e.g. Lurianic Kabbalah) or in dialogue with Western philosophy (from Spinoza to Derrida). The module will emphasize the creative impact of Jewish thinkers on the development of modernity by showing the various ways in which these thinkers renegotiate and redefine the most crucial opposition between Athens and Jerusalem, or, in their own rendering, between Yaphet and Shem. Target students: Level 3 Single and Joint Honours Theology and Religious Studies students, exchange and subsidiary students.

This module builds on Level 1 introductory Hebrew language modules in developing the ability to handle the text of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), an edition of the Hebrew Masoretic Text with its own invaluable contribution, the critical apparatus. This apparatus has a system of sigla (symbols and abbreviations) that, when learned, enable the Hebrew student to quickly compare variations of the text through the course of written history. The ability to navigate the BHS is key for examining some of the most mysterious and debated concepts in the Hebrew Bible. The basis of the module is the study and translation of individual texts (which will vary from year to year) with analysis of vocabulary, grammar, and style.