MA Christian Theology (Catholic Studies)

Explore ethical, philosophical and systematic theology, historical theology and church history in the Catholic tradition.

This course focuses on the Catholic theological tradition, within the more general context of Christian theology. Durham has a strong interest in and engagement with contemporary Catholicism, with a Centre for Catholic Studies, the Bede Chair in Catholic Theology and the St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice.

Course Structure

• Classic Texts in Christian Theology – core module
• Three optional modules
• Dissertation.

Core modules:

• Classic Texts in Christian Theology
• Dissertation.

Examples of optional modules:

Optional modules in previous years have included 2-3 choices from:

• Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology
• Conceiving Change in Contemporary Catholicism
• Christian Gender
• Principles of Theological Ethics
• Patristic Ecclesiology
• Patristic Exegesis
• Catholic Social Thought.

Plus up to 1 choice from:

• The Anglican Theological Vision
• Liturgy and Sacramentality
• Ritual, Symbolism and Belief in the Anthropology of Religion
• Paul and his Interpreters
• Gospels and Canon
• The Bible and Hermeneutics
• Christian Northumbria 600-750
• Theology, Ethics and Medicine
• Social Scientific Methods in the Study of Religion
• Literature and Religion
• Advanced Hebrew Texts
• Advanced Aramaic
• Middle Egyptian
• The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament
• Ecclesiology and Ethnography
• Doctrine of Creation
• The Thought of Thomas Aquinas in Context
• Religion in the Neo-Liberal Age
• Selected modules from the MA in Theology and Ministry course
• Level 3 undergraduate module, or any Level 1 – 2 language module offered by the Department of Theology and Religion, taken in conjunction with the Extended Study in Theology & Religion module
• 30 credits from another Board of Studies (including appropriate credit-bearing language modules offered by the University’s Centre for Foreign Language Study).