Religious Experience

Entry requirements

Normally the entry requirement for this programme is a first-class or upper second class undergraduate degree. In addition, the Faculty encourages students with an equivalent and appropriate professional qualification or significant and relevant professional experience to apply.

A non-graduate may also be admitted to candidature provided that she/he has gained a minimum of three years professional experience relevant and appropriate to the programme and they can demonstrate a satisfactory level of writing /analytical skills.

Months of entry

February, October

Course content

The programme has a unique focus on the anthropology of religion, encouraging students to explore in-depth a range of topics relating to religious experience in contemporary and historical, theoretical and methodological perspectives. The study of religious experience is a long-standing area of research at the university, and our academic team have contributed to the field through publications, specialist research, and participation in international conferences.

The programme is linked to the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre located on the Lampeter campus. It enables further co-operation, and collaboration, with the Alister Hardy Society for the Study of Spiritual Experience. Students will be encouraged to make use of the Alister Hardy Archive with its unique collection of personal accounts of religious experience. The database is available via an online access gate on the website of the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre, where the Alister Hardy Archive of recorded religious experiences is held.

The programme is delivered as a full-time and part-time programme of study as distance learning. All module content is available through the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and students will be supported throughout their studies through regular access to their module tutors, either one to one (by email, skype, phone), in groups (using media such as Skype), or via VLE module discussion forums.

All students will be supported through their studies particularly during the Research phase of their programme which amounts to 120 credits overall. An annual graduate summer school is held for research students where students are able to experience lectures and seminars covering both issues related to generic learning and subject-specific information and to engage with a number of our research students.