History and Theology and Religious Studies

A joint honours degree allows you to study the same core topics as students on each single honours course, but you’ll take fewer optional and discovery modules so you can fit in both subjects.

In your first year you’ll take core modules introducing you to issues and methods in historical study, such as historiography. You’ll also choose from optional modules introducing specific religious traditions, or themes such as philosophy of religion or religion in modern Britain or Africa.

This will give you a firm knowledge base to build on in the following year, when you’ll study religion in contemporary contexts and choose from optional modules in both subjects. You’ll take at least one modern history module and one from an earlier period, from the earliest medieval times to modern Japan or twentieth-century Africa. You’ll also choose from optional modules in theology and religious studies, covering topics such as religion, gender and society.

By your final year, you’ll be developing strong research and analytical skills. You’ll be able to showcase these when you undertake an independent research project or dissertation on a topic of your choice, as well as focusing on a specific historical topic in your special subject. You’ll also choose from further optional modules in theology and religious studies.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Historiography and Historical Skills 20 credits
• Primary Sources for the Historian: An Introduction to Documentary study 20 credits
• Introduction to Academic Skills 5 credits
• Introduction to the Study of Religion/s 10 credits
• Introducing Theology 10 credits

Optional modules

• Magic, Science and Religion 10 credits
• Introducing Medieval European Literature 20 credits
• Visions of Humanity: Philosophical, Religious and Scientific Perspectives 20 credits
• Introduction to South Asian Religions 10 credits
• Religion, Politics and Society in the Modern World 10 credits
• Religion in Modern Britain 10 credits

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Studying Religion in Context 20 credits

Optional modules

• The Tudors: Princes, Politics, and Piety, 1485-1603 20 credits
• Jewish Communities in Medieval Europe 20 credits
• The History of Africa since 1900 20 credits
• History on the High Street 20 credits
• Religion, Gender and Society 20 credits

Year 3

Optional modules

• Caribbean Mobilities: Travel, Culture and Politics, 1838-1939 40 credits
• Popular Belief in the Medieval West 1000-c.1500 40 credits
• The Troubles: The Northern Ireland Conflict, 1968-Present 40 credits
• Muslims in Britain: Transnational Communities and Multicultural Politics 20 credits
• Religions and Global Development 20 credits