Divinity and Religious Studies

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Ehrenschwendtner

Pre-requisites

Available to level 5 students

Notes

Overview

‘St Francis called himself and his followers Friars Minor. It was a new name, to signify, he once said, a company of people differing in humility and in poverty from all who had gone before, and content to possess Christ alone.’
(Rosalind B Brooke, The Coming of the Friars, 1975, p. 2)

The aim of the course is to equip students with a thorough understanding of the nature of the Franciscan movement and its reverberations in European religious lifestyle, spirituality, theology, literature and art. It also will familiarise students with appropriate historical sources and methodologies and will provide students with an insight into religious and theological developments during the medieval period.

Structure

12 two hour seminars.
Required reading will be enhanced by the course coordinator.
The class presentation will take the form of a research project.

Assessment

1. a class presentation (30%);


2. an essay, 3000-3500 words (50%);


3. a book review, 1500 words (20%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

John Swinton

Pre-requisites

Current participation in MTH programme. Open to other level 5 students by permission

Notes

Overview

An exploration of Christian theology and spirituality as it relates to medicine and health.
An exploration of Biblical and theological perspectives on health healing in the Old and New Testaments.
An examination of Christian healing today.
Critical reflection on healing and disability.
Critical reflection on contemporary understandings of spirituality without God Vocational issues around ministry, chaplaincy, medicine and psychiatry. Practical issues around mental health, dementia, cancer, death and dying and the relationship between spirituality and medicine.

Structure

One 2-hour lecture and One 1-hour seminar

Assessment

1 x 3000 word essay and 1 x 3-hour exam.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

C. Brittain

Pre-requisites

Available to students in level 5 DHP programmes and to other level 5 Students by permission

Notes

Overview

The place of religion in contemporary pluralistic societies is a pressing and open question. This course explores tensions between the traditional secular state, and an emerging emphasis on particular voices of cultural minorities and religious communities. Particular attention will be given to contemporary criticism of the concept of secularism, as well as to the question of what place theological discourse has in the public sphere. The impact these contemporary forces on the life of the church will receive particular analysis.

Structure

One two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

One 5000 word essay (70%); one seiminar presentation (10%); one book review (20%)

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Anja Finger

Pre-requisites

Available to students on the MLitt Religious Studies Programme

Notes

Overview

In this course we will explore what the authors of the so-called 'Frankfurt School' have had to say about religion: Theodor W Adorno and Max Horkheimer most prominently at the centre of the Institute for Social Research, but also extending to e.g. Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm and possibly to Jurgen Habermas. We shall ask in what ways critical theory is different from traditional theory and what the socio-cultural contexts were in which this re-definition of intellectual work took place. In the process, we will discover a type of thought that is sensitive for suffering and unwilling to simply abandon Utopian and Messianic hopes, but one that is also radical in its diagnosis of contemporary capitalist society and those religious phenomena conforming to and even expressive of it. Differences between authors and dicontinuities within individual lifeworks will be assessed. Finally, we will discuss which of the intuitions of this way or these ways of theorising should and can be preserved in the academic study of religion/s.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

One presentation (10%), one 5000 word essay (40%), one 3-hour exam (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof. T Greggs

Pre-requisites

N/A

Notes

Overview

We study the development of the Christian doctrine of God and related themes from Scripture to the 20th century. We pay close attention to significant texts in the Christian tradition (including creedal statements, and the writings of Origen, Augustine, Barth, and others), and to discussions of the doctrine of the trinity. The course requires careful reading of key primary texts.

Structure

Regular weekly seminars of 2 hours throughout the half-session (24 hours in total)

Assessment

Seminar participation (10%), a 5000 word research essay (50%)and final three-hour examination (40%)

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Philip Ziegler

Pre-requisites

N/A

Notes

Overview

Key topics in the development of modern theology in the West from the Enlightenment to the end of the 20th Century. Themes will include doctrines of God, revelation, anthropology, salvation, history, the idea of 'religion', the nature of the Christian Scriptures and their interpretation, theological method and the nature of Christian doctrine. The work of the seminar will centre on critical examination of the primary and 'agenda setting' texts by leading Protestant and Catholic figures from across the period.

Structure

Regular weekly seminars of 2 hours throughout the half-session (24 hours in total)

Assessment

Seminar participation (10%), a 5000 word research essay (50%) and final three-hour examination (40%)

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Donald Wood

Pre-requisites

Undergraduate degree or equivalent in any area.

Notes

Overview

This course explores the character of theology as a scholarly discipline, particularly its task and method, the relationships between its subdisciplines and its vocation within the university.

Structure

Students will take part in 1 two-hour class session (week 1 of the half-session). In addition, students are to select one of the postgraduate research seimiars within DHP (as agreed with their programme coordinator) and participate fully in the reading and discussions of that seminar.

Assessment

2000 word essay (30%); one 3500 word essay relating to the relevant research seminar(70%)

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor John Swinton

Pre-requisites

Available to level 5 students in appropriate degree programmes

Notes

Overview

The course aims to introduce students to the theology and practice of ministry with people who are considered or consider themselves to be marginalised. It will develop a multidisciplinary approach which will enable students to reflect critically and theologically on the care of people considered ‘outsiders,’ and will develop rigorous practical theological responses to issues of marginalisation. Areas explored will include the theology of disability, mental illness, homelessness, children and disaffection, ministry with people who have HIV and AIDS.

Structure

One two hour seminar once per week.

Assessment

40% 1500-2000 word essay, 60% 3h exam

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor John Swinton

Pre-requisites

Available to level 5 students in appropriate degree programmes

Notes

Overview

This course offers vital practical theological insights and perspectives on the practice of pastoral care and counselling. The course provides skills for practising and thinking critically and theologically about pastoral care. Issues explored include the relationship of Christian practices to issues relating to hospitality, the use of the bible in care and counselling, the theology and spirituality of care and counselling, forgiveness and lament, disability, death and dying, community building and the nature of evil and suffering as they relate to pastoral encounters. The course is suitable as an introduction to advanced studies in practical theology and pastoral care and as a rigorous foundation for further research.

Structure

1 2hr seminar per week

Assessment

Written examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%):
10% for oral presentation and 30% for a 3000 essay.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Donald Wood

Pre-requisites

N/A

Notes

Overview

This course examines historically, from the Patristic period to the present, the ways in which the Bible has been employed in theological discourse.

Structure

12 two-hour seminars.

Assessment

Seminar participation (10%), a 6000 word research essay (50%) and final three-hour examination (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Tomas Bokedal

Pre-requisites

2 years Greek (normally).

Notes

Overview

This course gives an overview of attempts, from the nineteenth century to the present, to synthesize the theology of the New Testament. Theologians such as Wrede, Schlatter and Bultmann will be investigated, in addition to issues such as the canon and theological consistency of the New Testament.

Structure

12 two-hour sessions.

Assessment

5000 word essay 30%; exam (40%); presentation + 2000 word paper (20%); participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Tomas Bokedal

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

This course will run in the second half session for 2013/14.

Structure

4 two-hour class room sessions, plus 2 - 3 individual meetings with an anticipated supervisor.

Assessment

20% Bibliographic Paper 1000-1200 words

35% 2000 word dissertation proposal

35% 2000 word essay

10% Participation

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Zohar Hadromi Allouche

Pre-requisites

Available to level 5 students in DHP MTh and MLitt programmes. Students of non-DRS subjects are required to get permission from the course co-ordinator prior to admission.

Notes

Overview

In this course we will discuss the biography and characterisation of Jesus, a major Muslim prophet and the expected mahdi (Islamic messiah).
The course will look at the existing sources for this biography and the problems that they present to modern scholars. It will examine possible Christian origins of this figure. Through a discussion of the main episodes in the life of the Muslim Jesus we will learn of the various ways for understanding his character. The course will also discuss the status of Jesus against other prophets in Islam, especially Muhammad, and against the Qur'an.

Structure

One two hour and one one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

A 5,000 words essay (70%); presentation in class (10%); two literature reviews (2x10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Michael Mawson

Pre-requisites

For PG students only.

Notes

Overview

While the particular issues covered in a given year may vary, they will typically include assisted reproduction, abortion, genetic screening, organ donation, euthanasia, justice and healthcare distribution.

Structure

A two-hour seminar/ lecture per week.

Assessment

One essay of 5000 words (60%), two oral presentations (10% each), one book review (20%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Brian Brock

Pre-requisites

N/A

Notes

Overview

This course examines the account of creation in the biblical book of Genesis in order to explore the theological account of human moral action it offers. By exploring different movements of the creation story, the course lays out the basic structure of Christian moral theology. The aim is to develop a theological approach to the fundamentals of Christian ethics, clarifying its relevance for issues of sexuality and procreation, economics, work, governance, health, animals and the environment. The course offers a broad theoretical framework for thinking about the whole scope of ethical questions in contemporary society.

Structure

Assessment

3 hour written examination (60%); one 5,000 word paper (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof Joachim Schaper

Pre-requisites

Available only to students on Postgraduate level 5

Notes

Overview

The subjects covered are those which are currently of special importance to the development of Hebrew Bible Studies, namely the history of ancient Israel, Pentateuch Studies and exegetical methodology, anthropology and its use in Hebrew Bible research, and the history and theology of the Septuagint (inasmuch as it pertains to the understanding of the Hebrew Bible).

Structure

12 two-hour seminars.

Assessment

Written examination (60%); 5000 word essay (30%); oral presentation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof Joachim Schaper

Pre-requisites

Available only to students on Postgraduate level 5

Notes

Overview

Key topics in Jewish history in the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Mediaeval and modern periods.
Selected aspects of Jewish culture through the ages, concentrating on religion and ritual.

Structure

12 two hour seminars.

Assessment

Written examination (60%); 5000 word essay (30%); oral presentation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Various

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divnity or Religious Studies agreed upon with his or her supervisor and approved by the Head of School. It may be offered in conjunction with the student sitting in on level 4 lectures relating to the subject material.

Structure

Assessment

Continus assessment (100%), based on one off the following options:

a) 1x 6000-7000 word essay (80%); 1x one small form of assessment (book review, seminar presentation, etc, 100-2000 words)(20%)
b) 2x 2500-3000 word essay (25% each); 1x 2 hour exam (50%)
c) 1x 2500-3000 word essay (40%); 1x 3 hour exam (60%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor John Swinton

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

• The course aims to explore the connection between spirituality, health and healing within the contemporary practice of health care. The course is multi-disciplinary (including Medicine, Nursing, midwifery, theology and Arts students). It examines issues of health and healing within various contexts, highlighting the benefits of a multi-disciplinary approach which incorporates the spiritual as well as the material aspects of human beings. Areas covered will include: the relationship between the ‘medical’ and the ‘spiritual’ within healing; the practice of Christian healing; religious healing; psychiatry and religion; care of the elderly, care of the dying; mental health and illness.

Structure

1x 2hr lecture per week.

Assessment

1 essay of 3000 words (60%) 1 literature review of 2000 words (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof. Segal

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

A survey of eight leading theories of myth from the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and religious studies. The focus will be on the differing answers the theories give to the questions of the origin, the function, and the subject matter of myth. Each theory will be applied to a familiar myth.

Structure

1 x 2 hour seminar plus 1 x 1 hour seminar plus 1 x 1 tutorial per week

Assessment

100% continuous assessment - 6,000 word essay

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor Philip Ziegler

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

Students will study a range of classic texts on the doctrine of the Trinity drawn from across the long history of the Christian theological tradition. Discussion of these texts will be informed by historical and theological analysis of the context of their writing and their place in the development of the doctrine. The following texts are representative of those to be considered in any given iteration of the course:
• Augustine, De Trinitate
• Anselm, On the Trinity
• Selections from Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
• Selections from John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
• Selections, G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures in the Philosophy of Religion
• Selections, Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics I.1
• Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom of God
• Selections, Hans U. Von Balthasar, Theo-Drama

Structure

11 1.5h hour seminars

Assessment

6000 word essay 90%, seminar presentation 10%

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Various

Pre-requisites

Satisfactory progress in Diploma/Master's programme

Overview

20,000 word dissertation written on a topic related to the student's taught Master's programme and agreed to by the supervisor and the programme co-ordinator

Structure

Students will normally have passed the course DR552H (Dissertation Colloquium), in which they will have been assigned a dissertation supervisor and will have developed a dissertation proposal in consultation with the supervisor. During the second half-session and summer months students will meet and consult with their supervisors regularly as they continue their research and bring their project to completion.

Assessment

The dissertation (20,000 words) is to be submitted by the due date (normally 31 August) and is marked by two examiners.

Credit Points

40

Course Coordinator

Dr Brian Brock

Pre-requisites

This course is only available for students doing the Diploma in Pastoral Studies.

Overview

The module comprises of a supervised fieldwork project which will last for a minimum of four weeks. This practical work will be done under arrangements to be approved by the course co-ordinator.

Structure

The student will receive guidance in praxis-reflection from her practice supervisor and from her course co-ordinator. This will comprise of the following elements:

1.The student placement will be designed so that there are specific tasks and areas which it has been determined are suitable to the vocational needs of the individual student. These pastoral goals will be worked out prior to the placement in discussion with the placement supervisor and the course co-ordinator.
2.The student will have regular meetings with the practice supervisor during which the pastoral work that has been done will be reflected on critically and theologically in the light of the previously determined goals. In this the guided learning experience can be maximised.
3.The student will meet fortnightly with the course co-ordinator to discuss their progress, assess the experience and work through issues which emerge from their reflective journal. Advice and guidance will also be given with regard to suitable reading material which will help with the development of their self-directed learning.

Assessment

The student will produce a detailed reflective journal of his or her experience on the placement.