Christian Theology (Catholic Studies)

Entry requirements

The standard entry requirement is a BA (Honours) degree (UK 2:1 or equivalent, for example, a GPA of 3.7 on a 4.0 scale) in Theology, Religious Studies or a related discipline.

The two principal exceptions to this rule are as follows:

• Graduates of other disciplines who have studied at undergraduate or equivalent level in one or more of the areas in which they hope to work, through their first degrees, through training for the ministry of the churches, and so on
• Students from overseas universities who have successfully reached a point in their theological studies comparable with completion of a British BA at the standard noted above - for example, on the German model, passing the Zwischenprüfung or Kolloquium and two semesters at the Hauptseminar level.

The University will contact the referees named in your application directly. Please ensure that your referees are able to provide a reference in a timely fashion. If you are also applying for a Durham MA bursary, please ensure that your referees understand that their references will be used both for admission and for a very competitive funding process.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This course focuses on the Catholic theological tradition, within the more general context of Christian theology. Durham has a strong interest in and engagement with contemporary Catholicism, with a Centre for Catholic Studies, the Bede Chair in Catholic Theology and the St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice.

Course Structure

• Classic Texts in Christian Theology - core module
• Three optional modules
• Dissertation.

Core modules:

• Classic Texts in Christian Theology
• Dissertation.

Examples of optional modules:

Optional modules in previous years have included 2-3 choices from:

• Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology
• Conceiving Change in Contemporary Catholicism
• Christian Gender
• Principles of Theological Ethics
• Patristic Ecclesiology
• Patristic Exegesis
• Catholic Social Thought.

Plus up to 1 choice from:

• The Anglican Theological Vision
• Liturgy and Sacramentality
• Ritual, Symbolism and Belief in the Anthropology of Religion
• Paul and his Interpreters
• Gospels and Canon
• The Bible and Hermeneutics
• Christian Northumbria 600-750
• Theology, Ethics and Medicine
• Social Scientific Methods in the Study of Religion
• Literature and Religion
• Advanced Hebrew Texts
• Advanced Aramaic
• Middle Egyptian
• The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament
• Ecclesiology and Ethnography
• Doctrine of Creation
• The Thought of Thomas Aquinas in Context
• Religion in the Neo-Liberal Age
• Selected modules from the MA in Theology and Ministry course
• Level 3 undergraduate module, or any Level 1 – 2 language module offered by the Department of Theology and Religion, taken in conjunction with the Extended Study in Theology & Religion module
• 30 credits from another Board of Studies (including appropriate credit-bearing language modules offered by the University’s Centre for Foreign Language Study).

Information for international students

Scholarships available for 2022 entry will be determined in September 2021. Over 60 scholarships are available, each year. Some scholarships are awarded to more than one person. For further information see the course listing.

Fees and funding

durham.ac.uk/study/pg/finance