Postgraduate Divinity 2026-2027

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity or Religious Studies agreed upon with his or her supervisor and approved by the Head of School. It may be offered in conjunction with the student sitting in on level 4 lectures relating to the subject material. 

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area agreed upon with a student-selected staff member in Divinity and Religious Studies.

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 engage a significant area of debate in New Testament Studies by means of close and sustained evaluation of a particular work, or by a thematically arranged series of discussions. This will allow students to develop awareness of the major questions currently dominating the discipline and their backdrop in scholarship, thus helping students to identify ongoing challenges and prospects for future inquiry. The topic under consideration will vary in each delivery of the course.

15,000 word dissertation written on a topic related to the student's taught Master's programme and agreed to by the supervisor and the programme co-ordinator.

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in Divinity or Religious Studies agreed upon with his or her supervisor and approved by the Head of School. It may be offered in conjunction with the student sitting in on level 4 lectures relating to the subject material. 

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area agreed upon with a student-selected staff member in Divinity and Religious Studies.

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. 

This course offers students the opportunity to explore in depth important thinkers and locales in early Christianity. It will critically analyse the contexts, settings, causes, key figures and sources, and the resultant trajectories of particular historical ecclesiastical phenomena. Of note, alongside this will be the theological concerns at stake and the influence of given movements on wider Christian thought and practice.

From both Jewish and Christian theological perspectives, the Old Testament can be viewed as a record of human and divine interventions into matters of fundamental conceptual importance. How do we see the world as God’s creation? What does it mean to confess and worship the One? How do we imagine God? What is justice and what is love – both human and divine? Familiarized with relevant contexts, in this course you will explore such questions in their timelessness.