Department of Theology and Religion

The Department is a world-leading centre for research, scholarship and postgraduate development within the cross-disciplinary field of Theology and Religion. Because this field is broad and complex – comprising the pervasive human tendency to form fundamental beliefs about divinity, the universe and the human good – the Department regards interdisciplinary method as essential and maintains a collegial, collaborative research culture. It has a distinctive ethos, characterised by open, critical but sympathetic attention to multiple religious traditions. Its research includes critical textual, historical, theological and social scientific methods, applied within the three fields of Biblical Studies, Christian Theology and the Study of Religion.

Our Durham Department of Theology and Religion is one of the largest in the UK, a diverse intellectual community of 50 academics, over 150 postgraduate students, and more than 70 undergraduates in each year. We use a variety of perspectives and methods to explore the ways that human beings have had, and continue to have, fundamental beliefs or worldviews concerning the world and our role within it. In our Department all beliefs and worldviews are taken seriously, respected, and studied, across the range of religious and non-religious perspectives.

We consistently rank among the very top Departments of Theology and Religion in the UK, and in the world. Our range of degree programmes enables students to explore their interests in the fields of theology, philosophy, religious studies, biblical studies, and ethics. Taught by researchers at the cutting-edge of their disciplines, our alumni are heavily in demand in a very wide range of jobs and professions.