Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion

Teaching is provided through lectures, classes and supervisions. You can expect up to nine hours of classes and lectures each week (including six for non-language papers and three for languages), as well as a weekly supervision.

Assessment is mainly by three-hour written examinations, but some papers are assessed by coursework.

You take five papers designed to give you a broad introduction to the concepts, knowledge and skills required in the main areas of study.

There are two compulsory subjects:

• one scriptural language (studied from scratch, no prior knowledge is expected) – Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Qur’anic Arabic or Sanskrit
• a paper in biblical studies, either David: Israel’s Greatest Hero? or Jesus and the Origins of the Gospel (you can take the other in place of one of the choices below)

Plus three other papers from a choice of five, currently:

• Christianity and the Transformation of Culture – a detailed investigation of Christianity in England before, during and after the Reformation
• Who is Jesus Christ? – exploring some of the major themes of Christian theology
• Understanding Contemporary Religion – an introduction to the sociological study of religion
• World Religions in Comparative Perspective – looking at the history, beliefs and practices of the main world religions and the problems of comparing them
• Philosophy of Religion and Ethics – introducing key questions in philosophy of religion and religion and ethics, ranging from antiquity to contemporary controversies

This builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in Part I. You may wish to continue to study any of the four scriptural languages at a higher level, or you can drop the study of languages at this stage.

A wide choice of options is available, enabling you to develop a course suited to your own interests. You choose four papers out of 17, currently including:

• Themes in World Christianities
• Philosophy of Religion: God, Freedom and the Soul
• Ethics and Faith
• Theology and the Natural Sciences
• Life and Thought of Religious Hinduism and of Buddhism
• Introduction to Islam
• Religious Themes in Literature

You can also choose to take the Part IA Logic paper from the Philosophy course.

In your final year, you choose four from a wide range of Special Subjects and interdisciplinary papers (topics may vary), such as:

• Religious Experience: Mesmerism, Spiritualism and Psychical Research
• Christianity and Society in Africa and its Diaspora
• The Doctrine of God: Love and Desire
• Self and Salvation in Indian and Western Thought
• Metaphysics
• Imagination

You can choose to write a dissertation of 10,000 words in your third year instead of one paper.

For further information about studying Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge see the Faculty of Divinity website.