Year 2

Compulsory module:

Dissertation Preparation (20 credits - if taking a dissertation in Theology)

This module provides a structured framework enabling you to gain professional skills in presentation and teamwork, as well as identifying an appropriate dissertation area, research question and supervisor, and completing the initial planning and research for your dissertation.

Optional modules may include: 

Religion in the Public Sphere (20 credits)

This module focuses on issues of policy and public concern for religions in the contemporary world. Students learn to offer analysis and advice in public arenas on religious, political and philosophical issues in an informed and robust manner and can explain the value and skills of their degree studies to prospective employers. Students will be able to apply these principles and approaches to the analysis of current issues in a variety of contexts around the contemporary world. 

Auschwitz in History and Memory (20 credits) 

This interdisciplinary Holocaust studies module explores Auschwitz in history and memory. Topics covered relating to KL Auschwitz include the evolution and multi-functionality of the site; the experience of non-Jews; gendered experiences; the nature of survival and resistance in KL Auschwitz; the Auschwitz Sonderkommando; perpetrators and perpetrator texts. Study of Auschwitz in memory will focus on the ‘afterlife’ of the site, both as a physical location/memorial and as a symbol: visual representations of Auschwitz; memorialization of the site; the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; Auschwitz as a site of mass/dark/Holocaust tourism, and a site of pilgrimage and (contested) sacred space.

Religion and the Arts (20 credits)

This module will assess the importance and significance of art – and ‘the arts’ more broadly framed – in its many different forms as a tool for communication, interpretation and critique of religious and theological ideas and ideologies. It will focus on, for example, a range of artefacts, including works of fine art, stained glass, sculpture, literature, film and music, and upon buildings and architectural features, offering and introduction to the development of religious art and seeking to read a range of works from religious and secular perspectives. Students will learn how to read and appreciate such artefacts as theological resources as well as cultural ones, and reflect upon issues such as what it is that makes art religious and how cultural outputs and artefacts can have spiritual impact.

Boundaries of Truth in Christian Theologies (20 credits)

This second year module introduces students to the development and content of central Christian doctrines, with particular focus, but not limited to, Christology, Soteriology and Ecclesiology. It highlights key events and ideas that have impacted the development of Christian thought, such as church councils, heresies and schisms.

Dharmic Religions and Traditions (20 credits)

Dharmic traditions such as – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism – cannot be confined under the Western construct of “religion” and this module will encourage students to look beyond Western perspectives. This module will introduce students to one or more Indic dharmic traditions, exploring the concept of dharma through that tradition. Students will study key concepts, ideas and practices such as attitudes towards the afterlife, reincarnation, liberation, and concepts such as compassion, selfless service, environment to understand notions of duty, doing good deeds, religious practice, and achieving fulfilment. By addressing the ‘central and fundamental’ beliefs of a tradition students will learn the distinctive features of how dharma has been understood and developed in that tradition. There will also be opportunity to consider some and connect the common features and differences by a comparative focus with on Indic encounters and engagement with key Dharmic concepts, through another tradition, such as Indic Sufism. It will also encourage students to see how these religions and their communities have influenced, engaged with, and adapted through encounters with, and by living in, the ‘West’.

Global Islam (20 credits)

This module explores the global diversity of contemporary Islam. By investigating the place of Islam in a variety of cultures and societies, the module questions the perception of Islam as being primarily a religion of the Middle East and illustrates Islam’s global reach. The module has two elements: (1) it includes a number of case studies of how is Islam is lived and practised in different geographical, social and cultural settings. Case studies cover contexts in which Muslims constitute majorities but also minority contexts in the West. The aim is to illustrate Islam’s contemporary diversity while also exploring unifying features of Muslim communities and societies across its varied cultural and social manifestations. (2) The module also engages with core analytical concepts such as transnationalism, diaspora, postcolonialism and gender and their relevance in understanding global dynamics in contemporary Islam.

The Human Condition (20 credits) 

This module will address issues and questions that occur at the ‘borderlands’ between Philosophy and Theology/Religion. The module will focus on: a) the human predicament as described in a number of selected religious and philosophical traditions; and b) the meaning and goal of human life, again, as understood in a number of selected religious or philosophical traditions.

Islamic Ethics (20 credits)

How should human beings live? What are the standards that should govern their behaviour? Ethical concerns lie at the heart of the Islamic tradition. Scriptural texts such as the Qur’an and the hadith provide the foundations of the Islamic moral outlook, but historically this outlook has been articulated and refined in a variety of ways across different disciplines including law and legal theory, Sufism, and speculative theology (kalām). Within this broader tradition, practical questions about how human beings should live have often been intertwined with higher-level theological and philosophical questions about the foundations of ethical value, the relationship between reason and revelation, and the moral nature of God. The purpose of this module is to introduce this rich tradition of ethical reflection in both its practical and reflective dimensions. Having explored the different genres and sources of Islamic ethics, part of the module will focus on selective questions of applied ethics, such as sexual ethics, environmental ethics, or the ethics of life and death.

Critical Issues in Theology, Religion and Education (20 credits)

This module introduces students to key, critical issues in British Religious Education and orients them to the current climate and significant debates defining the subject area. Students will gain insight into educational theory and practice alongside engagement with disciplinary research in Theology and Religion and its applicability in the classroom. The module allows students to examine closely areas of current curriculum focus with guided insight into the challenges and potential impact of exploring these in classroom settings. Throughout the module, students will gain an appreciation of teaching and learning in religion that is closely integrated with educational perspectives, asking what is meant by the ‘religious’ aspect of Religious Education in contemporary, multifaith society.