Religious Studies

Programme Structure

Modules

Compulsory Core Modules

TH7045 Advanced Theories in the Study of Religions

Understand the theoretical dimensions of a wide variety of approaches to the study of religions

TH7047 Advanced Research Methods in the Study of Religions

 

Become empowered to undertake your own research in religions and religious communities.

Optional modules (choose 3)

 

LIST ONE: You must choose at least 2 from this list	LIST TWO: You may choose 1 from this list
Qur'anic Hermeneutics	Urban Theology
Buddhist Concepts of Awakening	Bodies, Gender and God
Secularization and the futures of religion	The Christian Doctrine of God
Shakta: the divine feminine in Hindu traditions	Environment and animals: Theology and Ethics
Jews, Christians and Pagans	Spirituality
Religions in contemporary India (Field trip to Bangalore)	Religions and Disability
Independant Religious Study	Theology after Darwin
Indigenous Religions
Spirituality and Contemporary Popular Culture

 

Module Outlines

TH7045 Advanced Theories in the Study of Religions

This core module is an exciting opportunity for students to develop their critical skills in the study of religion. The course is divided into four sections: (1) Hermeneutics (an exploration of the contribution of Heidegger, Ricoeur and Gadamer); (2) Postmodernism, post-structuralism and critical theory (an analysis of the post-modern condition with reference to Derrida, Foucault, Bourdieu, Baudrillard, Irigary, Cixous, Lyotard, Vattimo, Žižek); (3) Phenomenology of religion (a discussion on the theories of Husserl, Van der Leuw and Eliade); (4) Alterity and the Other (an exploration of emic and etic perspectives in the study of religion through the works of Said, Levinas, Chakravorty-Spivak, Gramsci and de Martino).

TH4047 Advanced Methods in the Study of Religions

The purpose of this module is to provide students with the tools needed to study religions at an advanced level and to enable them to become initiated into the scholarly standards in their respective fields. An exploration is undertaken of the professional and ethical standards for undertaking research in field settings including discussions about confidentiality and anonymity, informed consent, briefing and debriefing, the right to withdraw, vulnerable groups, sensitive issues etc.   Practical and empirical research methods are explored, including quantitative and qualitative research methods, sampling, interviewing, grounded research method, participant observation, case studies, focus groups, documentary making and mixed method approaches. Issues for research such as emic/etic perspectives, the signifcance of insider information, gendered discourses, questions of power and indigenous categories are explored. Students are introduced to the professional bodies and peer-reviewed literature associated with their fields.

TH7042 Secularization and the Futures of Religion

This module explores changing patterns of Western religious practice over the past 150 years, engaging with current debates in the sociology of religion. Evaluating classical secularization theory as well as modified versions that allow for difference between national and social contexts, the module also considers the emergent post-secularization paradigm and its highly contested offshoot, rational choice theory. Individualism, pluralism and feminism are examined as contributors both to secularization and resacralization. We examine C21st trends in religious participation including the rise of the holistic milieu, neo-Pentecostalism, fundamentalisms, new atheism and religious indifference. Why has religion declined? What makes it surprisingly resilient?

TH7044 Shakta: the Divine Feminine in Hindu Culture and Religion

Shaktism, the worship of the divine feminine, is one of the major religious expressions of Hinduism. In this module students explore the origins and affirmation of Hindu goddesses in philosophical systems, scriptures, arts, ritual and myth. This includes an examination of Tantrism (eroticism and esotericism); bhakti (love and devotion); and village folklore. The goddess is then discussed as mother, a concept exemplified through discourses on the myths and ritual worship of pan-Hindu deities (Parvati, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Durga), Tantric  (Kali, Tara, Chinnamasta) and regional goddesses (e.g. Shitala, Manasa, Mariyamman, Taleju). Finally the module evaluates the evolution of Shaktism in contemporary Hinduism.

TH7033 Religion in Contemporary India

This module is an exceptional opportunity for students with an interest in ethnographic research. While introductory sessions on fieldwork methodologies and the ethics of field research will be offered in Chester, the main part of the module takes place in India. Students will spend three weeks at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, a pontifical athenaeum in Bangalore, South India. Along with lectures on the different religious communities of India, students will visit places of worship and meet religious authorities, ritual specialists, devotees and practitioners. This includes visits to Hindu and Buddhist temples, mosques, gurdwaras, Christian churches, etc. Students will also be introduced to religious and cultural manifestations such as Indian dance, music, yoga and meditation.

TH7046 Buddhist Concepts of Awakening

This module explores the difficulties inherent in expressing and articulating an experience/state which is described by many Buddhists as ineffable. The iconography of awakening/enlightenment, and the use of metaphor are explored.  One of the module’s major themes is the question of the centrality of the experience of awakening for Buddhists.  The module asks questions about comparability between the variety of conceptions of enlightenment/awakening to be found within this diverse religion. The relationship between Buddhist beliefs about the nature of awakening and everyday practices is explored, as is the relationship between enlightenment and other important Buddhist teachings.

TH7036 Environment and Animals: Theology and Ethics

This module critically examines a re-visioning of Christian theology in the light of ecological concerns and practices, the place and significance of other animals, including religion, ecology & other animals in the public sphere. A range of philosophical approaches to environmental ethics and animal ethics will be discussed, as well as the specific contribution that religious approaches to ethics can make to pressing environmental concerns and animal welfare. Academic staff at the University of Chester are at the cutting edge of research at the interface between Christianity, environmental and ecology thinking and our understanding of non-human animals. 

TH7037 Theology after Darwin

Few biologists doubt the significance of Charles Darwin’s work on evolutionary theory. This module will concentrate on the religious significance of evolutionary biology, from historical debates to contemporary expressions in evolutionary psychology, as a foundation for new atheism and as a stimulus for rethinking theological perspectives on other animals. The Centre for Religion and the Biosciences at the University of Chester has been at the international edge of research in this field for the last decade. The module will examine both doctrinal and ethical issues in dialogue with evolutionary science. No prior knowledge of science is required.

TH7043 Urban Theology

The aim of this module is to examine and critically evaluate a range of theoretical and theological responses to the phenomenon of urbanization and urban living. This will be undertaken with particular reference to the changing context of the three major cities of the North-West England region (Chester, Liverpool and Manchester). The module will examine the emergence of modern urban theory and some of the most significant theological traditions of engagement with urbanization, before considering and evaluating various strategies of faith-based involvement in urban regeneration. Contemporary concepts such as mongrel and hybrid cities, the post-secular city, ‘third space’ thinking and urban theology will also be examined.

TH7035 The Christian Doctrine of God
This module will introduce students to traditional expressions of the doctrine within the classical Christian tradition (East and West), but will also consider related themes, disciplines and discourses related to theology proper, including questions of method, and especially questions relating to method in relation to the object studied. The module will include, for example, issues relating to theological language, and the naming of God; the biblical evolution of the idea and concept of God; philosophical categories in discussion of God; the classical attributes; and contemporary metaphysics and their critiques (including actualistic and substantialist descriptions of God’s ontology).

TH7026 Jews, Christians, and Pagans (168BCE–132CE)

This module examines the beliefs and practices of Jews, Christians, and ‘Pagans’ between the Maccabean and Bar Kochba revolts.  Beginning with the religion, culture, and politics of the Roman Empire, students will have opportunities to explore how communities of Jews and Christians organised themselves, examining issues where they demonstrate conformity and confrontation with wider cultural, political, social, and religion norms.  The third section of the module looks specifically at the birth and development of Christianity, covering topics such as: the mission of Jesus; the ‘parting of the ways’ from Judaism; Paul’s Gentile mission; sexual ethics; Church and State; ecclesiology; suffering, persecution, and martyrdom.

TH7039 Spirituality & Contemporary Popular Culture

Interest in spirituality and popular culture has increased exponentially in recent times. Indeed, popular culture cannot be ignored in any attempt to comprehend the contemporary religious and spiritual landscape in which we find ourselves. What is the significance of the development of new media such as the Internet for religious traditions? How does popular culture influence religion and spirituality, and how do we evaluate such relationships? This module will equip students with the necessary tools to undertake analysis of the interface between cultures of everyday life and religion/spirituality. After focusing upon methodological approaches to this discipline examination of some of the following areas will be undertaken: religion and spirituality in film; religious motifs in music; cyber-spirituality; apocalyptic ideas in popular culture; spirituality and celebrity culture.

TH7041 Religion and Disability

Over the past thirty years, the increased political awareness of people with disabilities has changed the way the lives and experiences of people with disabilities are understood more widely. Established religious and theological perspectives on disability have subsequently been the subject of scrutiny and interrogation in light of such social and political changes. This module will provide opportunities for engagement with contemporary discourses in disability studies and their intersection and impact on theological and religious perspectives on disability.

TH7040 Indigenous Religions

Long dismissed as an unimportant and backward religious phenomenon, the Indigenous Religions, which do not fall in the other categories (i.e. World Religions or New Religions), provide us with peculiar spiritual landscapes which enable us to look at the world and the cosmos – and history as well – from a different perspective. Since it is true that we are all ‘indigenous’ to the place where we have been born, the ‘indigenous’ category will be here used in a social and political way: ‘Indigenous people’ are those who are part of societies dispossessed and deprived of rights from the processes of Colonization and state formation. 

TH7034 Bodies, Gender and God

This module considers the interface between bodies, gender and God. Drawing on the critical and constructive methods of feminist, theological and sociological analysis, it considers the place of the body within Christianity, both historically and within more contemporary Christian contexts. It addresses the relationship between Christian attitudes surrounding the body and the female body in particular, and contemporary western secular attitudes towards bodies and materiality more generally. Time will be spent interrogating classical associations between the female body, sin, sexuality and the material world and space dedicated to some engagement with body theology, sexual theologies, feminist eco-theologies and other liberationist approaches to the body. Of central importance will be an analysis of the body affirming and body denying motifs within the Christian tradition itself and an engagement with key voices associated with these trends.

TH7038 Qur’anic Hermeneutics

The contents of the Qur’an, exegesis, comprehending and translating the text, the chapter of ‘The Opening’, tolerance, war and peace, paradise, the Joseph story, marriage and divorce.