Postgraduate Divinity 2017-2018

Can properly theological ways of thinking and acting allow us to attend and respond to concrete challenges and problems confronting the world today? Or does theology continually (and inherently) tempt us to look above and beyond reality and its claims?  This course is organised around a series of engagements with prominent modern theologians and their texts. In particular, we will engage this material with a particular view to questions of concreteness, embodiment, and identity. 

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity 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. 

How did the Jesus of history become the proclaimed Christ of faith? At the heart of the earliest Christian Christology is the variously expressed association of the pre-Easter Jesus and his message with the post-Easter proclamation of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, as testified in the New Testament. This course explores some of the early expressions and trajectories of early Christian conviction to this effect, how these relate to contemporary messianic expectations as well as other relevant Early Jewish and Graeco-Roman concepts and beliefs, and to the focal point of early Christianity: the Christ-event itself. 

Christian Spiritual Formation involves transformation of the whole person to the character of Jesus Christ through work of the Holy Spirit. It is concerned with people’s attitudes, character, intentions and thoughts, and the development of their spiritual maturity. This course will explore and study the personal disciplines and practices which Christians have exercised in their attempts and efforts to grow in their relationship with God over the centuries. Students will have the opportunity to reflect upon the usefulness and relevance of these texts in their own spiritual journeys and to their present spheres of ministry. 

This course engages at length and in depth with the thought of one or more formative thinkers in the Christian theological tradition, aiming to foster critical reflection on the scope and coherence of Christian teaching as well as the defining concerns and conventions of Christian systematic theology, and to cultivate in students the interpretative and analytical skills required for advanced work in the discipline. In this course, students will engage intensively with one or more major works from the Christian doctrinal tradition. 

Opportunities to explore and reflect on principles and patterns of church leadership in both the first and twenty-first centuries. In studying the New Testament sources, the relevance of both informed historical and theological study will be apparent; the relevance of distinguishing between descriptive and prescriptive New Testament content will be evaluated; and the extent to which the context for church may be determinative for patterns of church leadership will be identified. This will provide a basis for reflecting on various issues that surround current practices of church leadership. 

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity 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.

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity 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.

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.

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.

The course provides a survey of Jewish History (from the Persian and Hellenistic periods to the present day) and of Jewish culture (including aspects of religious life) through the ages, in order to provide students, in conjunction with the other courses in the programme, with a full overview of Judaism from its inception to the present.

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

Opportunities to explore and reflect on principles and patterns of church leadership in both the first and twenty-first centuries. In studying the New Testament sources, the relevance of both informed historical and theological study will be apparent; the relevance of distinguishing between descriptive and prescriptive New Testament content will be evaluated; and the extent to which the context for church may be determinative for patterns of church leadership will be identified. This will provide a basis for reflecting on various issues that surround current practices of church leadership.

The course involves a consideration of the development of the Christian doctrine of God and related themes from Scripture to the 20th century. It pays 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.

Christian Spiritual Formation involves the transformation of the whole person to the character of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is concerned with people’s attitudes, character, intentions and thoughts, and the development of their spiritual maturity. This course will explore and study the personal disciplines and practices which Christians have exercised in their attempts and efforts to grow in their relationship with God over the centuries. Students will have the opportunity to reflect upon the usefulness and relevance of these texts in their own spiritual journeys and to their present spheres of ministry.

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity 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.

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity 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.