Postgraduate Divinity 2026-2027

This course introduces a number of historically core themes within Christian theological ethics. It aims to develop understanding of academic debates concerning their nature, development, and significance, together with skills in engaging with them critically. The course will consist of in-depth engagement with texts in theological ethics, primarily through the discussion of texts in a seminar format.

This course will examine the manifestations of religious revivals in Scotland from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries within their economic, political, religious and social historical contexts. Firstly, it will explore the various traditions of revival that have emerged during the course of the previous 300 years. Secondly, it will review the historiography of revival studies and will consider the theories that surround religious movements. Thirdly, it will consider the timing and manner of these demonstrations of religious enthusiasm. Fourthly, it will analyse the people who were affected by revivals. Fifthly, it will investigate the effects of religious movements within the lives of the communities where they have been experienced. Finally, the course will appraise the significance of revival within the wider tradition of the Christian church in Scotland in modern times.

This course engages at length and in depth with the classic topics of God, Christ, and salvation in the Christian theological tradition, aiming to foster critical reflection on the scope and coherence of Christian teachings as well as on the defining concerns and conventions of Christian systematic theology, and to cultivate in students the interpretative and analytical skills required for advanced work in the discipline. In this course, students will engage intensively with one or more major texts from the Christian doctrinal tradition, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary sources.

This course will examine various ways that Israel’s Scriptures were used and transmitted by other ancient religious texts - Jewish and/or Christian - around the turn of common era. In doing so, this course will engage areas of scholarly debate, such as ancient interpretative practices, conceptions of ""intertextuality," dynamics of conventionality and innovation, and the linguistic contexts of developing traditions. The particular topic of the course will vary year on year.

This course will introduce students to the literature and practices of Spiritual Formation within the Christian tradition.

Spiritual Formation involves the transformation of the whole person to the character of Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit within the Christian community.

This course engages select ethical topics of contemporary relevance, considering what it means to engage them by drawing on the disciplinary resources of Christian theological ethics. It aims to develop skills in finding appropriate ways of framing Christian ethical concerns, understanding core ethical questions, locating theological sources that illumine these questions, and formulating normative proposals. The course will consist of in-depth engagement with texts in theological ethics, primarily through the discussion of texts in a seminar format.

This course engages at length and in depth with the classic topics of Spirit, church and world in the Christian theological tradition, aiming to foster critical reflection on the scope and coherence of Christian teaching as well as on the defining concerns and conventions of Christian systematic theology, and to cultivate in students the interpretative and analytical skills required for advanced work in the discipline. In this course, students will engage intensively with one or more major texts from the Christian doctrinal tradition, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary sources. 

In this course, students will engage in a close, sustained, and guided analysis of a selected primary text or corpus from Christian antiquity. Analysis will consider elements of language, transmission, literary form and influences, historical and geographical contexts, theological and thematic content, and reception. Students will therefore gain not only deep knowledge of the selected text(s), but also analytical frameworks and reading skills applicable to other early Christian literature.