BA Religion and Theology (V600)

2024 entry | view 2025 entry

Course summary

Studying Religion and Theology makes you an expert at understanding how people across the globe interact. You will learn how cultures and individuals deal with life-shaping questions and why changes and conflicts occur in religious cultures both past and present. These skills form a solid basis from which to pursue a range of careers including journalism, law, politics, publishing, teaching, communication and more.

Bristol is a culturally diverse and vibrant city, and we organize and encourage excursions to churches, mosques, and synagogues as well as Hindu and Sikh temples and Buddhist Centres. As part of your degree, you will have the opportunity to conduct fieldwork, enabling you to build community connections and discuss some of the big global questions with local people of diverse faiths and cultures.

Our department has links with universities all over the world, and you have the option to study abroad for a semester in your second year. Our students have studied in Jerusalem, Sydney, Tokyo, Kyoto, California, North Carolina, Boston, Montreal and closer to home in Leuven and Leiden. New destinations are added regularly. To find out more about studying abroad, visit Global Opportunities.

Course structure

Your first year provides a solid foundation in global religions' complex interactions across history and modernity. You will take units covering approaches to and issues in the study of world religions of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism across regional and cultural contexts.

Years 2 and 3 give you the opportunity to develop expertise and shape your degree by choosing optional units according to your interest. We offer a wide range of units on various aspects of and approaches to different Western and Asian religious traditions.

In your third year you will also complete a dissertation working closely with your supervisor who will advise you on choosing and researching a topic. The annual dissertation conference is an opportunity for all final-year students to share their research.

In any year you can choose to study one of the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin or Sanskrit (subject to availability).

You will join a welcoming community which enables you to interact closely with lecturers. Tutors employ a variety of teaching styles, ranging from small-group sessions to larger lecture units.

Full details about the course structure and units for this course can be viewed in the programme catalogue.

Go to programme catalogue

Entry requirements

We accept a wide variety of qualifications and welcome applications from students of all backgrounds. Below is a guide to the typical offers for this course.

ABB
DDM in any Applied General BTEC National Level 3 Extended Diploma

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32 points overall with 16 at Higher Level
29 points overall with 14 at Higher Level

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77% overall
Advanced Higher: AB and Standard Higher: AABBB
Access to HE Diploma in Humanities, Social Sciences, Law or History (or similar titles). The 45 graded Level 3 credits must include 15 credits at Distinction and 30 at Merit or above.

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Requirements are as for A-levels, where you can substitute a non-subject specific grade for the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate at that grade.
Requirements for principal subjects are as for A-level, where D1/D2 is A*, D3 is A, M1/M2 is B, and M3 is C.
The University of Bristol welcomes applications from international students, and we accept a wide range of qualifications for undergraduate and postgraduate study.

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