MA Religions and Theology / Course details

This course unit develops critical theological perspectives on contexts and issues in contemporary society, with particular reference to UK.

• Provide an opportunity to explore the engagement of theology with a range of social, political and ecological issues
• Enable the exploration in critical and constructive ways the difference that theology makes in the interpretation of contemporary issues and challenges
• Critically evaluate the secular, and its theological critics
• Examine critically creaturely flourishing and wellbeing in theological perspective
• Assess critically and constructively  theological issues raised by living in the city, as urban space and polis
• Test critically the (ir)relevance of the pastoral role and witness of the churches in a postsecular context
• Critically evaluate theological claims regarding the claimed public nature of theology

• Critique and deploy a range of theological methodologies.
• Present a range of theological critique of ‘the secular’, and be able to explain the methodological decisions that accompany this range.
• Offer a theological characterisation of concepts of (civil) society.
• Discuss the possible contribution of theology to sustainability and the integrity of creation.
• Comprehend the plurality of contemporary society and the polydoxy of contemporary applied theology.

• Explore the relationship between doctrine and practice.
• Demonstrate a sensitive yet critical attentiveness to the role of the churches in contemporary society.
• Analyse and critically evaluate theological responses to contemporary society and related issues.
• Demonstrate a critical awareness of the arguments, assumptions and concepts relating to society, environment and the Church.

• Develop the ability to reflect on his/her theological thinking and religious ideas in the light of discussion and reading, and relate to the views of others in a civil, reasoned and informed manner.
• Apply key methods and concepts of theological and ethical analysis as these relate to material covered in the unit.
• Retrieve, select and evaluate information from a range of sources, including libraries, daily living and the internet.

• Demonstrate an ability to respond critically but respectfully to diverse opinions.
• Analyse primary and secondary sources and communicate these effectively in discussion and writing.
• Develop independent thought and critical self-awareness about their own beliefs and practices.       
• Develop problem-solving skills and demonstrate the ability to locate, analyse and utilize information.

Beaumont, Justin, and Christopher Baker (eds.). Postsecular Cities: Space, Theory and Practice. (London: Continuum, 2011) 

Bevans, Stephen B., Essays in Contextual Theology. Boston: Brill, 2018. 

Luke Bretherton, Christianity and Contemporary Politics (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). 

Malcolm Brown (ed.), Anglican Social Theology (London: CHP, 2014). 

John Milbank, Theology & Social Theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006 2nd edition) 

Oliver O’Donovan, The desire of the nations (Cambridge University Press, 1996) 

Michael Northcott and Scott, P.M.  Systematic Theology and Climate Change (New York: Routledge, 2014). 

Elizabeth Phillips, Political Theology (T & T Clark, 2012) 

Elizabeth Phillips, Anna Rowlands, Amy Daughton (eds), T&T Clark Reader in Political Theology (2021) 

Peter Scott and William T. Cavanaugh (eds), Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006/second edition 2018) 

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2007). 

Graham Ward and Michael Hoelzl (eds), The new visibility of religion: studies in cultural hermeneutics (Continuum, 2008). 

Rowan Williams, Faith in the Public Square (London: Bloomsbury, 2012). 

Woodhead, Linda, and Rebecca Catto (eds.). Religion and Change in Modern Britain. (London: Routledge, 2012)