Religion and Theology (BA)

You will be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, amounting to approximately eight to ten hours a week of formal teaching. This will be supplemented by independent research and study through which you will acquire more advanced knowledge and understanding.  If you take a scriptural language, you will be taught in small classes (of c. 20 students).

How will I be supported?

You will be allocated a personal tutor who will help you reflect on your performance on the course and advise you on study techniques, module selection and career planning (in conjunction with the University’s Career Service). They will also provide a first point of contact if you experience any difficulties with your studies or in your wider life.

An extensive programme of careers lectures and workshops is also delivered within the School.

We also provide a range of staff that are available to provide further support, including a senior academic support tutor, a scheme co-ordinator and specialist librarians. A member of academic staff acts as a designated Disability and Diversity Officer and ensures that reasonable adjustments are made for students with disabilities.

The school also has a dedicated employability and placement officer, who can help you in preparing for your chosen career (from C.V. development to the facilitation of placements and internships).

Feedback

Feedback on formative work is given frequently and in a wide variety of formats and is intended to help you to identify strengths and weaknesses in your learning.

Summative Feedback will be given to you in writing and will provide details of both how a decision with regard to the final mark of a piece of work was arrived at and suggestions for future improvements.

How will I be assessed?

Modules are assessed by means of written examination or coursework, or by a combination of the two (with staggered deadlines in the first and second semesters). You will receive a timetable of the assessments that determine your final marks at the beginning of each year, which will help you to organise your studies. These final, or summative, assessment deadlines will be staggered across the final four weeks of each semester.

The format of coursework varies, encompassing standard essays, reviews, extended essays, portfolios of work produced across a whole academic year and gobbet or film analyses, as well as presentations (both individual and group). You will also be required to complete various pieces of formative work, which are designed to assist you in achieving the learning outcomes of modules.

Formative Assessment (does not contribute to your final mark). This may be written or oral and may be submitted formally to a tutor or presented during seminars. Preparation for formative work will normally be done during your independent study time.

Formative assessment will rarely be of draft work for summative assessments (though essay plans might be the subject of formative feedback). Instead, knowledge and competency will be developed by means of formative assessment tasks that complement, but rarely overlap with, final assessment.  

What skills will I practise and develop?

On completion of this programme you will have the ability to:

• describe key texts and historical and contemporary developments from a range of religious traditions.
• discuss key themes and issues relevant to the subject area.
• explain technical issues and terminology relevant to religions and the study of religion.
• use a variety of approaches to the study of religion and theology (incorporating historical, exegetical, philological, sociological and anthropological methods).
• apply varied approaches to the development of answers to questions about the nature and development of religious thought and practice.
• organise and examine a range of evidence sources (text, film, ethnography, survey data, material and visual culture) in relation to specific assessment tasks.
• evaluate the nature of religion as a category of human behaviour.
• analyse processes of change and their causal factors in relation to religion and theology in human society.
• critique received understandings of the place of religions in societies.
• judge the ethical impact of religious dialogues in historic and contemporary societies (e.g. the role of religious concepts in legitimating or questioning political authority and social hierarchy).
• plan a research process in order to answer a question in an evidence-based fashion.
• reframe the study of the ancient in the light of the modern and the modern in the light of the ancient (in selected modules).
• formulate hypotheses and subordinate hypothesis in a logical fashion with evidence.
• effectively communicate information and ideas, both orally and in writing
• prepare and give an oral presentation and provide clear and accurate supporting materials in an appropriate format.
• take responsibility for structuring, managing and reporting, orally and/or in writing, a small research project.
• contribute constructively and reliably to a group task.
• effectively manage time and conduct self-directed study in the context of a structured timetable, prescribed learning activities and task deadlines.
• reflect on your own learning, identify gaps in your knowledge and plan strategies for closing those gaps.