Theology and Religious Studies at Downing

Theology and Religious Studies is one of the smallest subjects in college, reflected by the fact that we have an external Director of Studies, Dr Fraser Watts, who is a fellow of Queen's College. However, being a minority subject is not necessarily such a bad thing. First of all there are less people to compare yourself to and compete with, and more importantly it means that you will be mixing with people outside of your subject which means that college can be a place to relax, slightly removed from the pressures of the Tripos.

Theology is unique in that you are able to choose your course papers from the 1st year. It is compulsory to study a language but there is the choice between New Testament Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Classical Arabic and Sanskrit. You then have a choice of 4 additional papers out of an average of 9. Your options in 1st year need not restrict what papers you take in the next 2 years, none of them are mutually exclusive (although it would be advisable to take a language paper in your 2nd year if you intend on studying it in 3rd year.) Courses range from Old and New Testament Studies, to all the world religions, Philosophy, Ethics all the way through to the Sociology and Psychology of Religion. There are coursework options available in each year of the Tripos although they will amount to no more than 50% of your year's grade. Unlike some arts subjects it is not compulsory to do a dissertation in your 3rd year, instead you can submit 2 coursework papers which is the option most students decide to take!

A standard week in 1st year will be about 13 hours of lectures and seminars with one supervision a week in which you will be set your work which averages out to be an essay a week. In both 2 nd and 3 rd years you will have less lectures but a larger independent workload. People often say that Theology is a soft option which I think is slightly unfair. I would say that it is manageable and perhaps less stressful than some of the other courses but by no means less demanding or stimulating!

For further information see the Divinity Faculty website: www.divinity.cam.ac.uk .

Page last updated 12 Sep 2004 (twh23)