DIVINITY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr J Heath

Pre-requisites

This is a beginners course and it is not available for native Greek speakers.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course offers students the chance to acquire an introduction to first century Greek, the original language of the New Testament. It is aimed at complete beginners and does not assume any prior knowledge or linguistic ability. The course covers basic Greek grammar and sentence structure and, by the end, students will be able to read simplified texts from the New Testament itself.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination paper (60%) and language exercises, internal examination (40%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr L S Tiemeyer

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course is concerned with an introduction to classical biblical Hebrew without presupposing any prior knowledge. It involves the study of grammar and syntax and the translation of simple Hebrew prose texts.

Structure

2 one-hour tutorials per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination paper (50%) and continuous assessment, including one class test (20%) homework and quizzes (30%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr T Bokedal

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course introduces the study of the life and teaching of Jesus within his first century historical context. It will try to shed light on the many questions that arise from the Gospels’ presentation of Jesus’ teaching and activity. Among other things, we shall ask how much we can know about the course of Jesus’ life; what he meant by the ‘kingdom of God’; whether he regarded himself as ‘the Messiah’; and why he ran into such opposition. The course will also use material from outside the New Testament to construct a fuller picture of the broad historical and cultural context of Jesus’ ministry.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week, some replaced by tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr M L Ehrenscwendtner

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course is intended to introduce students to the life and thought of the church in the first five centuries, through studying documents, through lectures on key subjects, and through reading. The focus will be both on the historical rise of Christianity to its position of cultural dominance, and on the development of Christian thought and spirituality during the same period, from the post-Apostolic beginnings to the sixth century.

Structure

4 lectures per week - some lectures will be replaced by tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 examination (60%) and 1 essay (25%), seminar assessment (15%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr C Brittain

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be avaiable in 2009/10 as DR 1533.

Overview

This course introduces students to issues in practical theology and Christian ethics, through an exploration of theological responses to human tragedy and cultural shock. The course focuses on popular reactions to the terrorist attacks on the USA in 2001, but includes attention to the two European world wars and the Holocaust, the Tsunami in South-East Asia, and Hurricane Katrina. Attention will be given to themes such as the theodicy question, the function of religious discourse in the face of tragedy, and the relationship between religion and politics. The course concludes by moving from these analyses to an exploration of the peril and promise of speaking of God in times of terror.

Structure

2 two-hours lectures per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%); one essay (25%) and three short papers (15%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr L S Tiemeyer

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The basic aim of this course is to provide an overview of the literature of the Hebrew Bible. The course will focus on the formation of the various texts of the Hebrew Bible and on their respective ideology. Furthermore, this course seeks to teach the students how to critically evaluate this literature and, as a result, how to reach independent and informed interpretations of the Biblical text.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week, some replaced by tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination (50%), 2 web-based classroom examinations (10% each) and 2 tutorial papers (30%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr M Mills

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This is a foundational course in world religions. Each year, the course will examine three of the following four religious traditions: the Semitic traditions of Judaism and Islam; and the Indic traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism. Students will receive a basic introduction to the texts, traditions and social institutions of these religions as well as an introduction to the questions surrounding how we should understand religion as a whole.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 examination (60%) and 4 short writing assignments (40%)

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr J Leonhardt-Balzer

Pre-requisites

DR 1023

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course, which builds on the foundations laid in DR 1023, introduces further study of the grammar and vocabulary of New Testament Greek. The intention is to improve the students' confidence in handling the New Testament in its original language as well as develop greater fluency in translating portions of the New Testament.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination paper (60%) and language exercises, internal examination (40%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr L S Tiemeyer

Pre-requisites

DR 1024

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course continues the study of classical biblical Hebrew begun in Hebrew Language 1 with more advanced study of grammar and syntax and the reading of selected texts from the Hebrew Bible.

Structure

2 one-hour tutorials per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination paper (50%) and 1 internal examination (20%), and continuous assessment including homework and quizzes (30%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr T Bokedal

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

Each of the four gospels presents its own distinctive portrait of the life and teaching of Jesus, and the main aim of this course is to bring out the particular characteristics of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and to compare and contrast them with one another. The four canonical gospels were selected from a wider range of material about Jesus, and the course will look at surviving non-canonical texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and examine the reasons why some texts were included in the New Testament and others excluded. In addition, selected passages from the Gospel of Mark will be studied in more detail. This course can be taken in conjunction with DR 1026 or on its own.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, with some lectures replaced by tutorial groups.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination (60%) and 1 essay (40%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Professor F Murphy

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course will consider the range of criticisms advanced against the central elements of Christian belief from the Enlightenment to the present day with particular attention to Christian claims about God, Jesus and the natural world. Attention will be devoted to criticism of the traditional arguments for the existence of God, historical scepticism, miracles, and the problem of evil. Tutorials will study recent attempts to re-articulate belief in light of these challenges.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 essay (20%), seminar assessments (20%), and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr W Tuladhar-Douglas

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Follows on from DR 1027 to give a complete offering in level 1 for RS available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course will be taught in four modules: Theories; Monasticism and social reproduction; Sex, gender and ritual; and Gender among Muslims.

Structure

3 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%); one 2,500 word paper (40%); participation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr L-S Tieymeyer

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in 2009/10.

Overview

Discussion of the need for different methods when studying the Hebrew Bible
Overview and discussion of the various readings:

1. Technical methods (ie source criticism, redaction criticism and form criticism)


2. Faith-driven readings (ie canonical readings, midrashic readings)


3. Modern readings (ie feminist readings, post-colonialist readings)

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%) based on two essays (20% each).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%) provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr D Wood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course will link together a series of interlocking doctrines associated with the third article of the Apostle's Creed. Following from an initial examination of the doctrine of the Spirit, the course will examine the doctrine of the Church and its implications for ecclesiastical order (including sacraments, ministry, and liturgy), as well as eschatology (the church's hope). The course will then examine a range of ethical questions touching on the shape of life within the church before proceeding to the topics of missiology (how the church's boundaries are extended) and pastoral care (how alienation within the church is healed).

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour seminar per week, plus 3 one-hour tutorials over the course of the half-session.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%), 2 essays and tutorial assignments (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Heath

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above or who have DR 1524.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The Johannine literature - consisting of John’s gospel, and the three Epistles - constitutes a large part of the New Testament. This course will pay particular attention to the gospel and the letters. We investigate the origins of the community which produced these texts; examine allegations of anti-Jewishness and Christian sectarianism; uncover the distinctive Christology and the ideas of salvation within the literature; and look at the background to some of the best known images within the whole New Testament. We will read selected passages from John’s gospel and 1 John in the original Greek.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures each week and 1 one-hour tutorial each alternate week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Heath

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The Johannine literature - consisting of John’s gospel, and the three Epistles - constitutes a large part of the New Testament. This course will pay particular attention to the gospel and the letters. We investigate the origins of the community which produced these texts; examine allegations of anti-Jewishness and Christian sectarianism; uncover the distinctive Christology and ideas of salvation within the literature; and look at the background to some of the best known images within the whole New Testament. We will read passages from John’s gospel and 1 John in English.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures each week and 1 one-hour tutorial each alternate week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Requirement for single honours RS, recommended for joint honours RS.

Overview

A survey of leading theories of religion from the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and religious studies. Of each theory, the same questions will be asked: what aspects of religion is the theory trying to explain, what aspects does the theory succeed in explaining, and how does the theory reflect the field from which it comes?

Structure

2 two-hour classes/week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Two hour examination (60%), one 3,000 word paper (40%).

Resit: Two hour examination (100%) provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr K Aitken

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course will study central theological themes and concepts of the Old Testament and will include the exegesis of key texts from Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Psalms in English.

Structure

5 one-hour lectures per fortnight, some replaced by tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination (50%), 2 tutorial papers (30%), 1 class examination (20%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr K Aitken

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course will study central theological themes and concepts of the Old Testament and will include the exegesis of key texts from Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Psalms in Hebrew.

Structure

5 one-hour lectures per fortnight, some replaced by tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 one-hour written examination (50%), 2 tutorial papers (30%), 1 class exam (20%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Droeber

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2008/09 and every year thereafter.

Overview

The course introduces students to an understanding of Islam through classical and anthropological approaches. An introduction to the history and doctrine of Islam is provided, including the study of primary sources, such as the Qur'an, hadith, and scholars' commentaries. In the second half of the course, this is compared and contrasted to the experience of ordinary Muslims in different contexts and places. One focus is on some of the ways in which Scriptural premises and regulations have been, and continue to be, interpreted and translated into various local and historical contexts. The course interrogates the differentiation between Islamic beliefs and Muslim practice, and examines the impact of such a differentiation on our understanding of the lives of contemporary Muslims. Finally, the course problematises research on Islam and Muslims.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour seminar (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (55%), 1 essay about 3,000 words (35%) and 1 Power Point (or overhead) presentation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Clarke

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

On the road to Damascus Saul the Persecutor became Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ. He went on to take the gospel to the Gentile world against considerable opposition. This course traces the progress of his mission, studying each of his letters in historical context; sections from at least one Pauline letter will be studied in detail (in English). Paul was the first and most influential Christian theologian. We will also attempt a synthesis of his thought.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour lecture or tutorial every alternate week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Clarke

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have DR 1524 or DR 2021.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

On the road to Damascus Saul the Persecutor became Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ. He went on to take the gospel to the Gentile world against considerable opposition. This course traces the progress of his mission, studying each of his letters in historical context; sections from at least one Pauline letter will be studied in detail (in Greek). Paul was the first and most influential Christian theologian. We will also attempt a synthesis and integration of his thought.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour lecture or tutorial every alternate week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M L Ehrenschwendtner

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course traces the history of Christianity from its establishment as the religion of the Roman Empire to its arrival in the Americas in the late 15th century. Lectures and seminars examine the main strands of Christian theology, spirituality and institutional life in this period. They also consider marginal groups such as the Cathars, Waldensians and Lollards and Medieval Christianity's relationship with Islam, Judaism and the religions of pre-Christian Europe and the Americas. The course provides useful historical and theological background for students interested in the Early Modern period and for students interested in Medieval art, literature and history.

Structure

3 hours of lectures per week, 1 tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); one 2,000 word essay (25%); 1 documentary commentary (15%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr W Tuladhar-Douglas

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course introduces students to the history and anthropology of some of the many forms of Buddhism. We will consider ritual, narrative, art and doctrine as related zones of investigation. We will begin with a review of Buddhist philosophy, then look at three monographs in depth, considering different schools and religions of Buddhism. Ethnographic films are part of the reading list. Students will be expected to make a substantial contribution to the class through a presentation.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%), 1 essay (40%) and 1 presentation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L-S Tiemeyer

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The study of biblical and non-biblical texts in order to reconstruct the history of Ancient Israel and Judah.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures each week, and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment (50%) consisting of 1 essay (30%), 1 web-based examination, using WebCT quiz-tool (20%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L-S Tiemeyer

Pre-requisites

DR 1024 and DR 1525

Co-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The study of biblical and non-biblical texts in order to reconstruct the history of Ancient Israel and Judah.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures each week, and 1 hour tutorial every second week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%), continuous assessment (50%) consisting of 1 essay (30%), 1 web-based examination, using WebCT quiz-tool (20%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr A Clarke

Pre-requisites

Available only to students who have passed DR 1023 or DR 1524.

Notes

This is a 6 week course. This course may not be taken by students who have taken or wish to take DR 2021 or DR 2522. It is a course which will allow students entry to Honours courses in New Testament texts in Greek. This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course is concerned with reading selected texts from the gospels and 1 John in Greek, looking especially at issues of grammar, language and translation. Students will be expected to prepare sections of text for translation and comment in class.

Structure

2 one-hour tutorials per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Resit: 1 one-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr F A Murphy

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

An overview of the impact of philosophy upon religious thought in the West since the Enlightenment. Special reference will be made to the problems raised by the plurality of world religions and to some leading responses.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and 2 short essays (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Clarke

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

Selected texts from the Gospels and Acts will be studied in detail. Attention will be concentrated on the interpretation of the texts, but the course will also cover historical, literary and theological questions.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. The course will run in the second half-session in 2008/09 as DR 3570 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course will be based upon a coherent selection of theological topics that will be studied in detail. The course will involve the detailed exegesis of texts and a critical analysis of the system of thought they represent. Comparison will also be made between the theology of New Testament texts and the context in which the texts arose. There will be the option for students to use Greek in their study of certain topics.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); in-course assessment - essay of 2000 words (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K T Aitken

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The course is concerned with the exegesis of selected texts from the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr B Brock

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session of 2009/10 as DR 3574.

Overview

This course provides an opportunity for students to participate in the Christian tradition of moral reflection. It does so by looking at how moral questions have been resolved by the main thinkers in that tradition. Students will learn how Christians approach moral problems in the light of Christian faith as they trace the 2,000 year development of Christian moral thought left by the wrestling of Christians of different ages with specific ethical questions (such as war, the death penalty, or truth-telling).

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 2 one-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (40%), continuous assessment (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Leonhardt-Balzer

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available only to students in programme year 3 or above who have passed any level 2 course in New Testament.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
This course will next be available in the first half-session of 2009/10 as DR 3075 and in alternate years thereafter.

Overview

Selected texts from the New Testament will be studied in detail. Attention will be concentrated on the interpretation of the texts, but the course will also cover historical, literary and theological questions.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Aitken

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session 2008/09 as DR 3577 and in alternate sessions thereafter. This course will alternate with DR 3078 / DR 3578.

Overview

There will be an overview of the Semitic languages and then the focus on one specific Semitic language from among Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, or Ugaritic. Texts in that language will be studied from the perspective of comparative linguistics.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); in-course assessment consisting of four written grammatical and/or translation exercises (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor J Webster

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as DR 3579.

Overview

After initial orientation to the subject through lectures, the course will consist of seminars on selected texts and themes in Barth's work, including:

• The 'early' Barth.


• The rediscovery of the biblical world; Barth's Romans commentary and associated writings.


• Early lectures on the historical theology of the Reformation.


• Barth's first systematic theology.


• The Ethics.


• Barth's interpretation of Anslem.


• Themes from the four volumes of the Church Dogmatics


• Selected minor writings.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (30%), essay (50%) and literature report (20%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr B Brock

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2009/10.

Overview

The psalms have played a central role in Christian prayer, worship and self-discovery throughout the Christian tradition. This class will introduce the psalms as templates for understanding the contours of human life with God. This entails a descriptive task which will be aided by engaging with a wide range of theological and biblical discussions of the content of the psalms. This will be complimented by practical explorations as students privately engage in the practice of praying the psalms. Several Psalms will be studied closely each week and their theological and pastoral implications outlined.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%) provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr P G Ziegler

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course is not available in 2009/10 as DR 3584.

Overview

The Christian tradition speaks of the world as creation a reality that is Gods from beginning to end. Through programmatic lectures and close readings and seminar dicussion of selected texts, this course will consider what some classic texts from this tradition have to say about the origin and destiny of creation and about the coherence of the world and our place within it. By examining such questions, we win a better understanding of contemporary debates about where we have come from and where it is all going.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour lecture.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (40%); 1 literature review essay (30%); 1 research essay (30%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%) provided reach element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Brittain

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will alternate with: DR 3083 Psalms for the Practice of Life. This course will be available in 2009/10.

Overview

In a multicultural country in which traditional cultural norms are being renegotiated, appeals are often made to the normative status of "human nature" or the "natural laws" of society. This course explores contemporary ethical disputes over the status of marriage, human procreation, and genetic manipulation. Particular attention will be given to how such developments are sometimes accused of "playing God" by modifying what are taken to be the "natural" order of things. A secondary theme for the course will be the relationship between the Christian understandings of Creation, human nature, and grace.

Structure

2 two-hour sessions per week, following a lecture/seminar format.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (40%) one 1,000 word essay (15%), one 2,500 word essay (35%), class participation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%) provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Droeber

Pre-requisites

DR 2030.
Available to students in Programme Year 3 and above.
Students with relevant experience form other disciplines may attend, dependent on the agreement of the Course Co-ordinator.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 in the second half-session and in alternate years thereafter.

Overview

This course presents a detailed study of religious and political dynamics in the Middle East. The course provides a social scientific approach to the understanding of the globalisation of hte Middle Eastern conflicts and the role of religious identities and religious movements within them. Particular attention will be paid to the Middle Eastern diasporas and the discussion, and virtual conflict, existing within the Internet forums and web-sites dedicates to the Middle East.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 presentation (10%), one 4,000 essay (50%), 1 two-hour written examination (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

Available to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in session 2009/10 as DR 3088.

Overview

This course traces the history of Christianity from the reformations in the 16th century Europe to the Enlightenment, religious revivals and political revolutions in 18th century Europe and America. Lectures will offer students a broad introduction to developments of Christian theology, spiritually and institutional life in this period; text seminars will allow them to consider individual items of historical evidence in greater depth. The course focuses on the history of Christianity in Europe and North America, but attention will also be paid to the spread of Christianity in South America, Asia and Africa in this period.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour text seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); 1 book of literature review (20%); one 2,000 word essay (30%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%) provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in session 2009/10 as DR 3589.

Overview

This course examines the intellectual development of Protestantism with particular reference to the two most influential Reformation theologians, Martin Luther and John Calvin.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and two essays (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Mills

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students ar not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course closely analyses the methodologies and theories developed by social anthropologists for studying religion and how those have influenced how we think about religion in the modern day. It particularly focuses on ritual, symbolism and myth. The course introduces a wide range of ethnographic material and the opportunity for the fieldwork study of religious communities.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); one essay (40%); one presentation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

MR A DRAYCOTT

Pre-requisites

Available to students from any discipline in Programme Year 3.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course begins examining the portrayal of mission given in Scripture. It examines the distinctiveness of mission in relation to the Trinity, and doctrines of God, Christ and Holy Spirit. Mission is also studied historically and recent typologies of mission will be examined. A study of mission throws light on the nature of the church in its practical life on its frontier with the world. Mission will be explored in its modes of proclamation and service, engaging in a range of cultural phenomena which may include environmental concerns, fears of religious coercion, immigration and 'reverse mission', freedom of speech.

Structure

2 two-hour sessions, using a combination of lectures and seminars.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%), 1 essay (40%), 1 short paper (10%)

Re-sit: 1 two-hour exam (100%)

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr W B Tuladhar-Douglas

Pre-requisites

Honours standing in Religious Studies or Philosophy, or consent of co-ordinator.

Notes

Students may only join in the first two weeks of the course.

Overview

In the first half of the course we will read Nagarjuna and Candrakirti on Madhyamika ontology, Dharkamirti on valid inference from meditative experience and language, and key texts in Yogacara and path doctrine.

In the second half of the course we will look at how these postulates and methods are deployed by later thinkers in Himalayan, East Asian and Western Buddhist traditions for problems such as the sudden/gradual debate, Engaged Buddhism, and anthropological method.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st attempt: online presentation (blog, journal or other) (20%), 3,000 word paper (40%), 3-hour exam (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

Available to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in session 2009/10 and alternate sessions thereafter. This course will run in the second half-session as DR 3595.

Overview

The advent of the Reformation brought with it a flood of literature through which the now diverging churches sought to distinguish their own profession of faith in Jesus from that of other Christian groups, whom they felt had betrayed that faith to varying degrees. This literature included the major confessions of the Reformation era (e.g. the Augsburg and French Confessions) but also formative catechisms, orders of worship and conciliar documents. This course will introduce students to a representative range of such 16th century confessional documents and will provide historical and theological background within which to analyse and assess their contents.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); 1 2,500 word essay (30%); 1 class presentation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr F Murphy

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

Twelve central issues in contemporary Christian doctrine will be dealt with. Lectures will outline the history of each theme and the central questions surrounding its contemporary restatement. Seminars will study key texts in each area. Topics to be dealt with include divine impassibility, providence, universalism, political and feminist theologies, and the relationship of Christianity to other faiths.

Structure

1 two-hour written examination (60%), 2 essays (15% each), seminar participation (10%) course review.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 2 essays (40%) and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Mills

Pre-requisites

DR 1027 or DR 2535 (or its precursors). Students with relevant experience in other disciplines may join, conditional on agreement from the Course Coordinator. This course is available to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2008/09 and in alternate years thereafter.

Overview

An ethnographic and historical examination of the relationship between religious traditions and political and social power in Tibet, Nepal and India. The course will concentrate on three areas:

• The structure and history of pre-colonial Hindu and Buddhist rule in South Asia, and the nature of religious conflict in this context.


• An examination of the rise of South Asian religious nationalism within the colonial and post-colonial period, centering on (a) the religious disputes of Partition in the sub-continent, and the subsequent influence of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism; (b) the Hindu-Buddist conflict in Sri Lanka, and the origins of Buddhist nationalism; and (c) the history of invasion and ethnic conflict within modern Tibet.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%); in-course assessment (50%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination paper (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr L-S Tiemeyer

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above. From the year 2006/07 onwards it will be available only to students who have passed DR 2029 or DR 2529. However, for certain languages DR 2021, DR 2523, or DR 2801 may be required as well.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in alternate years, alternating with DR 3077 / DR 3577 'Comparative Semitic Languages'. This course will run in 2009/10.

Overview

The course will involve learning one of the following languages: Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Classical Greek, Coptic, Ugaritic and the study of texts relevant to biblical studies from within that language. In all cases except for Classical Greek the languages will be taught without assuming prior knowledge of that language.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); in-course assessment consisting of four written grammatical and/or translation exercises (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Will Tuladhar-Douglas

Pre-requisites

Honours standing in Religious Studies or Anthropology.

Notes

Students may only join in the first two weeks of the course. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course will begin with a study of environmentality and the use of 'religion' and 'sacred' as categories in UN and donor discourse. We will then look at the neo-colonial creation of people-free national parks and the rise of eco-tourism. Finally we will look at ethnographic accounts of societies creating landscapes through rituals, architecture, land management or other practices in the context of globalisation.

Structure

1 three-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

Assessed online work (30%); 4,000 word paper (30%); 3-hour exam (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Leonhardt-Balzer

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will next be available in the second half session of 2009/10 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The Graeco-Roman world of the first century CE was the multi-cultural context in which the first Christians lived and within which they endeavoured to express their faith. These people, whether Jews or Gentiles, were deeply integrated into the fabric of that society before they encountered the Gospel. They also regarded themselves in continuity with that rich and ancient heritage which was reflected in the practices and literature of contemporary Judaism. This course assesses some of the political, social and religious influences which dominated that multi-cultural world of the New Testament.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr D Wood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by special permission of the Head of School.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10. Either this course or DR 4048 is required of Church of Scotland ministerial candidates.

Overview

This course is designed to provide advanced study of major themes and figures in Scottish Theology from 1560 to the present day. Particular attention will be given to the theology of the Scots Confession and the Westminster Confession and to their subsequent interpretation in Scotland. The latter half of the course will focus on major Scottish theologians of the 20th century, including the Baillie brothers and TF Torrance.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week, plus 1 one-hour individual tutorial on the preparation of the in-course essay.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Various

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 and by permission of the Head of the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Only one special subject may be taken.

Overview

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. Recommended courses are HI 4015 Early Modern Catholicism or Religious Women.

Structure

1 hour of tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 six thousand word essay (60%) and 1 three-hour examination (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr P Ziegler

Pre-requisites

This course is only available to Senior Honours candidates in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course applies to all sections of Divinity and Religious Studies.

Overview

A dissertation on a subject in either Church History or Hebrew Bible or New Testament or Practical Theology or Religious Studies or Systematic Theology to be approved by the Head of School.

Structure

Candidates are permitted to submit one dissertation (max 10,000 words) as part of their degree programme.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4, or by special permission of the Head of School.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10. Either this course or DR 4041 is required of Church of Scotland Ministerial candidates.

Overview

This course examines the radical changes, as well as the continuities, in Scottish religious life and thought between c1470 and the Covenanting revolution of the 17th century. Students will be introduced to a range of primary sources - textual, visual and material - relating to the following topics: religious life and thought on the eve of the Reformation, Christian humanism, martyrdom, the privy kirks, poetry and drama in the service of reform, Catholic reformers and controversialists, the reformed confessions of faith, the establishment of a reformed ministry, fasting and communion seasons, poor relief and education, discipline and repentance, reformed piety, Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, theologies of resistance and obedience, the National Covenant and the Covenanting revolution.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2500 word essay (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor J Schaper

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 who have passed one or more courses in Old Testament at Level 2.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session of 2009/10 as DR 4553.

Overview

The courses involves study of a range of issues in the study of the literature and theology of the Hebrew Bible.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr D Wood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. This course will not be available in 2009/10 as DR 4055.

Co-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Through lectures and close readings of selected texts, this course will introduce students to major themes in a Christian account of God and his effective presence in Jesus Christ. The first half of the course will treat the doctrine of the trinity and the divine perfections; the second half will treat the enacted identity of Jesus.

Structure

2 hour seminar, 1 hour lecture per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (40%), 2 essays (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Brittain

Pre-requisites

Available to students from Programme Year 4.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available in 2009/10 and alternate years.

Overview

This course in social and political theology explores the tension between the theological concepts of forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice. How does one, or should one, forgive those who have committed unjust and terrible crimes? To what extent must justice be retributive? This analysis of the different work of reconciliation gives particular attention to how the churches in Latin America and South Africa have wrestled with this issue in their own social and political contexts. Lectures and seminars will examine the complexity involved in the relationship between violence and forgiveness, particularly as this relates to the concept of Justice ethics, an understanding of "community", and the formation of the moral subject. Some attention will be given to the emotional and spiritual tensions that individuals face when confronted with the complexities involved in living through periods of conflict and reconciliation.

Structure

1 one-hour and 1 two-hour sessions per week using a combination of lecture/seminar format.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%), 2 essays (40%), seminar participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Brittain

Pre-requisites

Available to students from any discipline in Programme Year 4.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will cycle with DR 3582. The course will no tbe available in 2009/10 as DR 4558.

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 theoligical discourse has in the public sphere.

Structure

1 one-hour session and 1 two-hour session per week, using a combination on lectures and seminar formats.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%), 1 essay (40%), seminar presentation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10 as DR 4059.

Overview

This course introduces students to questions of interpretation and method facing church historians today. These questions will be exemplified through the study of two topics from the medieval and early modern periods. The topics will vary from year to year, but may include one or more of the following: literacy and the Bible in the Middle Ages, piety and spiritually in the High and Late Middle Ages, continuity and change in the Reformation, confessional identity in the Reformation.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%), one essay of 3,000 words (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor J Swinton

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course is available to RGU students as a 15 credit version under the code DR 3064 (different assessment methods will apply). This course will be available in 2009/10.

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 and Nursing 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; psychiatry and religion; and alternative medicine.

Structure

1 three-hour session per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 essay (40%) and 1 two-hour written exam (60%).

Resit: in-course assessment (100%), provided each element of assessment is CAS 6 or above. New coursework can be submitted. NB: New in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr F A Murphy

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2009/10 as DR 4061.

Overview

Students will study work such as Augustine's De Trinitate, the Trinitarian treatise in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae (and the Trinitarian sections of his other writings), Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, and the Theo-Drama of Hans Urs von Balthasar. They will read these texts within the context of lectures on the history of trinitarian doctrine.

Structure

A two-hour seminar per week plus a one-hour lecture per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (40%) and continuous assessment (60%). The latter involving two 3,000 word essays chosen from a list of topics provided by the Course Co-ordinator.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr F A Murphy

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session 2009/10 as DR 4563.

Overview

The course provides an overview of Catholic theological, philosophical and cultural thought in the era between Vatican I and Vatican II.l In the first part of the course, we examine Roman Catholic attempts to speak to modern culture, taking as examples, the philosophy of Etienne Gilson, the aesthetics of Jacques Maritain, the novels of Georges Bernanos, the films of Robert Bresson and the philosophy of history of Christopher Dawson. The second half of the course is theological, examining the ecclesiologies of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, Yves Congar and Vatican II.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture per week and one weekly tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (40%) and 2 essays of approximately 2,000 words (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr F A Murphy

Pre-requisites

Only available to students at Level 4.

Notes

This course will be avaiable in 2009/10 as DR 4564.

Overview

Beginning with the French Revolution, this course considers Catholic social and political thought in relation to the history of the Church in the modern world. We look at the debates occasioned by papal power and the Italian risorgiomento. We discuss the attitude to church and state, and to 'liberty and liberalism' in 19th century papal encyclicals such as Mirari Vos, Rerum Novarum, Immortale Dei and Libertas. We consider Catholic responses to the rise of communism and fascism in Europe by reference to Austria, 1920-1938. We devote some time to political Catholicism in France 1900-1945, discussing the attachment of French Catholics to royalist ideologies, such as the Action Francaise, and analysing Catholic responses to Occupation during World War II and war-time Thomist defences of democracy and liberalism, such as that of Jacques Maritain. We discuss the involvement of Catholics in religious and racial anti-Semitism, and the controversy about Catholic responsibility of the holocaust. We study the social and political documents of the second Vatican Council (1962-1965). We look at socialist and conservative 'liberation theology', and 'Whig Thomism'. The course concludes by considering whether Catholicism can have any cultural or political relevance in Europe today.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture per week and one weekly tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (40%) and 2 essay of approximately 2,000 words (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr P G Ziegler

Pre-requisites

Only available to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2009/10 as DR 4065.

Overview

Select developments in modern Christian thought including the 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 seminar will involve reading important primary texts by leading Protestant and Catholic figures from the modern era.

Structure

A two-hour seminar per week plus a one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (40%) and continuous assessment (60%). The latter involving two 3,000 word essays on topics decided upon in consultation with the Course Co-ordinator.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A D Clarke

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available only to students in Programme Year 4 who have passed either DR2021, DR2523 or DR2801 (or with special permission of the Head of School, to students in Programme Year 3 who have passed DR2021, DR2523 or DR2801).

Notes

This course is run on a cycle with DR4045 and will be available in the first half-session of 2009/10 and alternate years thereafter.

Overview

Selected texts from the Epistles will be studied in detail. The aim of the course is that students may gain experience in advanced reading of the New Testament in Greek; attention will be concentrated on the translation and interpretation of the texts, but the course will also cover historical, literary and theological questions.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A D Clarke

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 4 who have passed either DR2021, DR2523 or DR2801, or with special permission of the Head of School, to students in programme year 3 who have passed DR2021, DR2523 or DR2801.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course is run on a cycle with DR 4045 and will be available in 2010/11 and in alternate years thereafter.

Overview

Selected texts from the Gospels and Acts will be studied in detail. The aim of the course is that students may develop experience in advanced reading of the New Testament in Greek. Attention will be concentrated on the translation and interpretation of the texts, but the course will also cover historical, literary and theological questions.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Mills

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course examines the development of evolutionary approaches to the study of religion, as they have emerged within the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences over the last two hundred years. This will include a review of theories of social and cultural evolution, evolutionary biology, and evolutionary psychology approaches to questions of religious and magical belief, representation and practice. Particular attention will be paid to cognitive approaches to religion.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%); 2 essays (50%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TDB

Pre-requisites

Only available to students in Programme Year 4. This course will be available in the second half-session of 2009/10 as DR 4554.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Selections from primary sources - from the writings of the following theorists of myth: E B Tylor, Mircea Eliade, Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank, C G Jung and Joseph Campbell, Rudolf Bultmann, J G Frazer and Lord Raglan, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Claude Levi-Strauss.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); one essay of 3,000 words (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr W Tuladhar-Douglas

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or above who have completed DR 2535 (or its precursors), DR 3571 or DR 3057 or DR 3090. Year 3 students may join with the consent of the course co-ordinator.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. For students with Sanskrit there may be a separate reading group. This course is not available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course is built around the close reading of Vajrayana Buddhist ritual and iconographic texts from the origins of Vajrayana in the 7th century to its post-Pala localisation in Newar and Tibetan forms in the 15th century. Students will acquire fluency in the basic ritual and iconographic elements in these texts, study their historical development and proceed to assess whether they are intended primarily as instruments of healing and immortality, of personal and political domination, or of inducing englightenment. We may look at some comparative material from the Shaiva and Pañcaratra traditions.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 3,000 word paper (40%), 1 in-class presentation (10%) and 1 three-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Anja Finger

Pre-requisites

Available to students from any discipline in Programme Year 4.

Overview

In this course we will explore what the authors of the so-called 'Frankfurt School' with Theodor W Adorno and Max Horkheimer most prominently at the centre of the Institute for Social Research but also extending to eg Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm and possibly to Jürgen Habermas have had to say about religion. 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 Massianic 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 discontinuities 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.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: One oral presentation (10%), one essay of 3,000 words (45%), and 1 two-hour written examination (45%).