Theology
Entry requirements
A level: AAA IB: 36 (HL 6,6,5)
About this course
MTheol (Honours) in Theology is a theology and religion degree focused on biblical and theological studies. Core topics include Global & Comparative Perspective. The course includes opportunities to specialise through optional subjects and interdisciplinary choices across arts and science faculties. The first year introduces foundational subjects through God and the World: Introducing Theology, Jesus and the Gospels, The Art of Biblical Literature: Introducing the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and The Good Life, Christian Ethics and Human Flourishing. The second year develops these studies further with Christ, Paul, and the Origins of Christianity (English Texts), Philosophical Theology, Early and Medieval Christianity, and Religion Today. Optional modules allow students to study subjects such as world religions, ancient languages, anthropology of religion, and moral reasoning. Students can also take advantage of interdisciplinary modules drawing on anthropology, philosophy, and the sciences.
Modules
- God and the World: Introducing Theology: addresses a variety of themes within Christian theology. Each theme will be approached with a view to its biblical roots and historical development, its critical reception and restatement in the modern period, and its significance for contemporary theological reflection
- Jesus and the Gospels: considers the historical contexts of the New Testament texts; then studies the Gospels with a view to determining the particular interests of their authors, and with a view to assessing their portraits of Jesus in relation to the historical Jesus
- The Art of Biblical Literature: Introducing the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: introduces the life, literature and religion of Ancient Israel, with particular consideration of the main literary types of the Old Testament literature
- The Good Life, Christian Ethics and Human Flourishing : explores how leading theologians have agreed and disagreed about human flourishing, and how disagreements about human flourishing have led to competing perspectives on the role of Christianity within historical and contemporary debates on sexual, medical, and political ethics
- Hebrew 1 : Introduction to Hebrew Language: aims to give students a sufficient knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of Old Testament Hebrew to be able to read and analyse prescribed texts
- New Testament Greek 1 : introduces the essential grammar, morphology, and vocabulary of New Testament Greek which will continue into New Testament Greek 2
- Christ, Paul, and the Origins of Christianity (English Texts) : examines the literature and developing theology of the New Testament, paying particular attention to the issue of unity and diversity, and to the themes of Christology and soteriology
- Philosophical Theology : introduces students to the relations between philosophy and theology in thought about God, including themes in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of language
- Early and Medieval Christianity : explores key themes in the organisation, practice and beliefs of the early and medieval church, focusing mostly on the period from the first to the ninth centuries
- Religion Today : will develop your skills in ‘reading religions’, understanding the tradition of a religion, some main concepts, the impact on ethics and politics, the internal structure and how religion shapes the understanding of being human from the internal perspective of one’s own religion, and with regard to other traditions to gain orientation in a religiously pluralist world
- Reading the Women of the Old Testament A (English Texts) : examines depictions of women and the feminine in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, including named and unnamed female characters in narrative, women in legal texts, female characters in Wisdom Literature, and the metaphorical depiction of cities as women in prophetic texts, as well as the use of female imagery for God, textual depictions of gendered violence, the gendering of religious disobedience, and the religious roles of women in ancient Israel
- Christianity and Modernity in Global Perspective : explores theological engagements with developing modernity with a particular focus on understanding how the shift from a European to a world faith has both influenced and been influenced by theological developments