Postgraduate Divinity 2020-2021

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. 

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.

The course provides a survey of Jewish History (from the Persian and Hellenistic periods to the present day) and of Jewish culture (Jewish identity, rites and other aspects of religious life) through the ages. It provides students 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 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 engages students in a sustained exploration of theology and practice of preaching in the context of Christian worship with a view to the wider horizon of public communication. Initial investigation of traditional and contemporary theologies of the Word prepares us to focus upon the theological and rhetorical analysis of actual sermons considered in video, audio and textual forms. We will critically examine the theological frameworks within which preaching is understood, various possibilities for understanding the relation of biblical text, contemporary context, preached sermon, as well questions concerning the interplay of form and content in the act of preaching.

The course will efficiently deliver content specific to biblical studies, relevant to students who wish to graduate with the M.Th in Biblical Studies. The content of the course will be delivered through the New Testament research seminar, allowing for a high-level of research-led teaching. 

This course engages at length and in depth with the classic topics of God, Christ, and salvation in the Christian theological tradition, aiming to foster critical reflection on the scope and coherence of Christian teachings as well as on 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 texts from the Christian doctrinal tradition, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary sources.

This course will introduce students to a number of major thinkers in the area of Theological Ethics. Its focus will be on reading and discussing texts by prominent figures who are of ongoing significance.  Moreover, this course will include figures from different theological and confessional backgrounds (Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran, non-Conformist, etc.), and explore whether and how their theological commitments connect with practical stances and approaches (i.e. on issues of war and peace, sexual ethics, bioethics, etc.)

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. 

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. 

Christian practices are not activities as such, and neither are they religious duties. They are, rather, patterns of communal life within the Christian tradition that address fundamental human needs by revealing the presence and power of God. Practices point beyond the individualism of our present culture and disclose the social qualities of the Christian life. This course will explore the role and the effect which a number of Christian practices have played in the lives of local congregations. Students will have the opportunity to reflect upon the potential role of these practices in their own areas of ministry

This course engages at length and in pdeth with the classic topics of Spirit, church and world in the Christian theological tradition, aiming to foster critical reflection on the scope and coherence of Christian teaching as well as on 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 texts from the Christian doctrinal tradition, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary sources. 

This course will bridge OT/Hebrew Bible and New Testament studies by examining the book of Isaiah in its own right alongside Isaiah’s influence on and use by New Testament authors. It will introduce the student to major Isaianic themes and how they are reflected or reinterpreted in the NT. The student will also be equipped to critically consider various methodological approaches to the biblical material along with exploring issues of intertextuality, canonicity, and early Christian exegesis.

This course offers students the opportunity to explore in depth a period of church history from the patristic to the reformation period. It will critically analyse the contexts, causes, key figures and sources, and the resultant trajectories of particular historical ecclesiastical phenomena. Of note, alongside this will be the theological concerns at stake and the influence of given movements on wider Christian thought and practice.

Preparation for 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.