BA Religions, Theology and Ethics

This course is concerned with Christology, the subdiscipline of Christian theology devoted to understanding Jesus of Nazareth. Christians claim that in Jesus God has acted in a unique and decisive way to bring about the salvation of humankind. This course examines the reasons for this claim before considering how modern theologians have rethought the meaning of Jesus to meet the challenges of modern thought. After discussing the nature of Christology, the Christological titles of the New Testament, and the formation of classical Christology in the early Church, the course focuses on the innovative ways thinkers from the 18th to 21st centuries have rethought Jesus’ significance. Particular attention will be paid, on the one hand, to the efforts theologians have made to retrieve classical Christology in a modernized form and, on the other hand, to replace classical Christology with ethical, philosophical, political, and postmodern reinterpretations of Jesus of Nazareth.

Available on which programme(s)?

BA Religions, Theology and Ethics

BA Philosophy and Religion

BA Theological Studies in Philosophy and Ethics

BA Comparative Religion and Social Anthropology

• To engage with the Christological debates of the late eighteenth to early twenty-first centuries
• To foster a critical understanding of Christology
• To engage with primary and secondary sources in modern Christology.

1 x 2 hour lecture + 1 x 1 hour seminar each week

By the end of the course students should normally have acquired: 

• an understanding of the thought of leading modern writers on Christology 
• an awareness of the controversies that underlie and give rise to Christological debate
• an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of leading theories concerning the person and work of Christ.

By the end of the course students should normally have consolidated their ability to: 

• engage with primary theological texts
• identify the principles that gave rise to Christian theories concerning the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth 
• evaluate critically the rival theories concerning Christ’s significance.

• Independent research skills 
• Essay writing skills 
• Seminar presentation skills

• Critical analysis 
• The interpretation of primary and secondary texts 
• An ability to engage empathetically with different beliefs

• David R. Law, ‘Incarnation’, in Nicholas Adams, George Pattison and Graham Ward (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Theology and Modern European Thought (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013).
• John Macquarrie, Jesus Christ in Modern Thought (London: SCM, 1990).
• Francesca Murphy, The Oxford Handbook of Christology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
• Gerald O'Collins, Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
• Don Schweitzer, Contemporary Christologies: A Fortress Introduction (Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press, 2010).

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about fees and finance for international students.

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.