Undergraduate Divinity 2026-2027

The course will introduce you to the first five centuries of Christian life and belief. It traces the rise of Christianity from its origins as a Jewish sect to a position of cultural and religious dominance in the Roman Empire. It also looks at the development of central themes in early Christian theology and spirituality. The course consists of a series of lectures on key topics, and tutorial seminars on researching and presenting your work, and on various early Christian texts. The course also requires your own reading and research.

What do Christians believe? Why do they believe it? Can it (despite everything!) possibly be true? And if so, what difference does it make? Taking an 'insider's view' of Christian belief, this course asks what it means to think and to speak Christianly--about God, Jesus, creation, religion, human community and responsibility, death, life and other little things.

What do Christians believe? Why do they believe it? Can it (despite everything!) possibly be true? And if so, what difference does it make? Taking an 'insider's view' of Christian belief, this course asks what it means to think and to speak Christianly about God, Jesus, creation, religion, human community and responsibility, death, life and other little things.

The European Reformation was a time of immense ecclesiastical, social, intellectual and political transformation that changed the religious and cultural landscape of the West forever. By way of regular seminars, this course draws students into detailed exploration of critical events, developments, ideas and debates of this tumultuous period in history to consider the nature of the transformations which it bequeathed to subsequent centuries up to and including our own.

This course will explore the role of animals and monsters in the Ancient Near East, ancient Greek, Roman Worlds.

 

In this course we will be encountering the great Swiss theologian Karl Barth. Born in 1886, Barth was a pastor and an academic who lived through some of the most important events of the twentieth century: the First World War, the rise of Socialism, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the start of the Cold War. At each point, he was no merely passive observer: he was opposed in his first parish for supporting socialism; he was expelled from Nazi Germany for opposing Hitler; and he was mistrusted by the West for taken a neutral position in the Cold War. In our course, we will focus on the revolutionary theology that underpinned the views of this outspoken activist. Week by week, we will be exploring how across a whole series of doctrines – including revelation, creation, Christology, and ecclesiology – Barth offered revised and visionary accounts of traditional positions. This will allow us to understand how he both charted new theological terrain and caused great theological controversy. And it will help us appreciate how he changed forever the theological landscape.

The European Reformation was a time of immense ecclesiastical, social, intellectual and political transformation that changed the religious and cultural landscape of the West forever. By way of regular seminars, this course draws students into detailed exploration of critical events, developments, ideas and debates of this tumultuous period in history to consider the nature of the transformations which it bequeathed to subsequent centuries up to and including our own.

 

In this course we will be encountering the great Swiss theologian Karl Barth. Born in 1886, Barth was a pastor and an academic who lived through some of the most important events of the twentieth century: the First World War, the rise of Socialism, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the start of the Cold War. At each point, he was no merely passive observer: he was opposed in his first parish for supporting socialism; he was expelled from Nazi Germany for opposing Hitler; and he was mistrusted by the West for taken a neutral position in the Cold War. In our course, we will focus on the revolutionary theology that underpinned the views of this outspoken activist. Week by week, we will be exploring how across a whole series of doctrines – including revelation, creation, Christology, and ecclesiology – Barth offered revised and visionary accounts of traditional positions. This will allow us to understand how he both charted new theological terrain and caused great theological controversy. And it will help us appreciate how he changed forever the theological landscape.