Religion, Politics & Society

Course detail Description

The course explores the complex relationships between religion, politics and society around the world. It offers an innovative approach to the study of politics and society, linking them with sociological and anthropological perspectives to provide a new understanding of one of the central problems of our time: the role of religion in society and domestic, international and transnational politics, and how religion is in turn shaped by global and local cultural, social, and political trends.

Each course has a distinctive core, with a unique pattern of modules (some year-long modules, some over a single term). In your first year there will be some required modules to develop your basic subject knowledge. The range of choice increases substantially in the second and third years, to allow you to follow your developing interests and strengths.

We strongly believe that teaching and research should be closely related. All our teaching staff are research-active, many enjoying international reputations as leaders in their fields. Our commitment to original research means that we can introduce students to new discoveries in a diverse range of fields being explored by our staff.

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Your performance will be assessed through a combination of coursework and written/practical examinations. Forms of assessment may typically include written examinations and essays.

As a capital city and home to a mix of people of hugely diverse backgrounds, London offers great opportunities to you as a student of religion. Many religious groups with very different beliefs, rituals and religious art exist on the Department’s doorstep.

Our central location on the King’s College London Strand Campus means we have access to unrivalled resources, such as the National Archives, the British Library, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Lambeth Palace Library, to name only a few.

Please note that locations are determined by where each module is taught and may vary depending on the optional modules you select.

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Structure

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. Each year you will normally take modules totalling 120 credits.

You are required to take the following modules:

• Academic Methods in Theology and Religious Studies (15 credits)
• Introduction to the Sociology of Religion (15 credits)
• Introduction to the Anthropology of Religion (15 credits)
• Introduction to Religion & Politics (15 credits)

You are also required to take two modules from a list that may typically include:

• Introduction to Islam (15 credits)
• Introduction to Jewish Thought & Practice (15 credits)
• Introduction to Buddhism (15 credits)

You are also required to take a further 30 credits from a wide range of optional modules that may typically include:

• Elements of Ethics (15 credits)
• Introductory New Testament Greek with Texts (30 credits)
• From Machiavelli to Bodin: Renaissance & Reformation Political Thought (15 credits)
• Thinking about Evil (15 credits)
• Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (15 credits)
• Introduction to Modern Christianity & Culture (15 credits)
• Introduction to Early & Medieval Christianity & Culture (15 credits)

Year 2 Required Modules

You are required to take modules totalling 45 credits from a list that may typically include:

• Religion in Ethnographic Perspective (15 credits)
• Religion in International Relations (15 credits)
• Leadership in Religion & Politics (15 credits)
• Modern Islam I: History & Politics (15 credits)
• Religious Differences: Jewish, Christian & Other Perspectives (15 credits)

You are also required to take modules totalling 75 credits from a range of optional modules that may typically include:

• An Introduction to the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (15 credits)
• Paul in Context (15 credits)
• Religion, Culture & Society in Reformation Europe (15 credits)
• Ritual in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (15 credits)
• Salvation & the City: Christian Faith & the Arts (15 credits)
• Applied Ethics (15 credits)
• Philosophy & Film (15 credits)
• The Bible in Modern Imagination (15 credits)
• Theological Themes of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (15 credits)
• ‘What is Christianity?’: Patristic Perspectives (15 credits)
• Between Revolutions: British Christianity 1689–1860 (15 credits)
• Faith & Enlightenment: Philosophies of Religion from Anselm to Kant (15 credits)
• Buddhist Ethics (15 credits)
• Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (30 credits)

Study Abroad

Full-time students have the opportunity to study abroad at one of our partner universities around the world in your second year. Our current partner universities include:

• University of Helsinki
• National University of Singapore
• University of Toronto (semester one or full year only)
• University of North Carolina
• University of Sydney
• George Washington University
• University of Auckland

Year 3 Required Modules

You are required to take 30 credits from a list that may typically include:

• The Anthropology of Dreams, Visions and Shamanism (15 credits)
• Religion, Politics & Global Media (15 credits)
• New Religious Movements in Global Perspective (15 credits)

You are also required to take modules totaling 90 credits from a range of optional modules that may typically include:

• Varieties of Religious Experience: Christianity in Britain 1850–1970 (15 credits)
• The English Reformation (15 credits)
• Exploring New Testament Theology I (15 credits)
• Hebrew Texts – Prose (15 credits)
• Special Questions in Social Ethics (15 credits)
• Principles of Systematic Theology (15 credits)
• Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World (15 credits)
• Law & Ethics in the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament (15 credits)
• Women & Gender in the Bible (15 credits)
• European Jews & the Orient (15 credits
• The Search for Meaning (15 credits)
• Philosophy of Religious Life (15 credits)
• Theravada Buddhism (15 credits)
• Theology, Vulnerability & Culture: Shakespeare & Modernity (15 credits)
• Independent Study Project (30 credits), which should be in the study of religion from the perspectives of anthropology, sociology or politics

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore modules may change.