Religion

Overview

Why study Religion?

Religion shapes cultures, politics and everyday life in ways we often take for granted. It influences values, identities and traditions, and continues to play a vital role in debates about gender, conflict, human rights, ethics and social change. On this course, you will explore religions through their texts, histories and material cultures – from art, architecture and manuscripts to contemporary global issues. You will engage critically with questions of religion and modernity, political religion, violence, ethics and pluralism, while developing new ways of thinking and the skills to analyse how humans make sense within the world around us.

Do you enjoy…

• Exploring the world’s religions through their sacred writings, histories and traditions? 
• Engaging critically with questions concerning justice, gender, science and ecology? 
• Examining how beliefs are shaped, debated and lived in communities, practices and institutions?

Religion: The course for you?

This course offers a broad and dynamic approach to religions and worldviews. You will explore major religious traditions, from Judaism, Christianity and Islam to religions of Asia, as well as new religious and secular movements. Alongside this, you will engage with theology as a living and evolving field, examining historical traditions and contemporary debates around liberation, justice, gender, postcolonial thought, interreligious dialogue and ecology.

Religion at Trinity

This unique degree combines Theology, Philosophical and Theological Ethics and Biblical Studies and the Study of Religion in a way no other programme in Ireland does. At Trinity, you will study with internationally recognised experts while exploring religion in the media, through history, ethics, politics, culture and philosophy. You will examine how religious traditions have shaped societies in the past and how they continue to influence the world today.

Pathways

The pathways available are Single Honours, Major with Minor and Joint Honours. There may also be an opportunity to take this subject up as a New Minor Subject from second year.

Graduate skills and career opportunities

Graduates from our School have gone on to a wide range of careers, including education, law, public policy and government, NGOs and international development, human rights advocacy, journalism and media, publishing, the creative arts, the civil service, heritage and cultural sectors, as well as postgraduate study and research in Ireland and abroad. The degree provides you with both a broad overview of knowledge and skills needed in the job market and the opportunity to specialise and pursue an academic career.

Your degree and what you’ll study

First year

In your first year of study, twelve modules help to immerse you in this field of scholarship. The Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament are introduced in their historical contexts. You will study Judaism, Islam, the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, religious diversity in Asian contexts. You will be introduced to ethics, philosophy and the study of religion, as well as theology through an engagement with some of their major thinkers, texts and methods. Before moving into your second year, you will be invited to consider the direction that you would like to pursue in your studies over the coming years in each specialism of the course.

Second and third years

Throughout these years, your modules offer an increasingly focused and state-of-the-art engagement in your chosen field. Different genres of literature and historical reconstruction are addressed in biblical studies. Theology looks both to the emergence and reception of classical doctrines, as well as to topical issues of religion and science, and theology and social justice. The field of ethics is explored through issues of gender and human rights, bioethics, technology, environment and war and peace. There is an opportunity to study the Qur’an within Islamic and Late Antiquity contexts, and explore the message and heritage of the prophet Muhammad. During these years it is also possible for you to study Hebrew or Greek.

Fourth year

The major accomplishment of your final year is your Capstone project, an individual research project. This is an important achievement of supervised and self-directed research and writing. In addition to the Capstone research project, final year modules offer you the opportunity to engage with current issues of research activity within the School. These areas currently include: religion, war and peace; multiple modernities; theologies of church and eucharist; the study of ritual; queer theological ethics; religion and the arts; Islamic perceptions of gender.

The range of assessment strategies reflects the goal of enhancing student education through diversity and quality of experience. Some modules are assessed by end-of-semester exams combined with summative essays; others rely exclusively on essays; others require the creation of a portfolio of short assignments; others include in-class tests.

This course accepts applications from FET students. For details visit here.

For further information on modules/subjects, click here.

Study abroad and internship opportunities

Students in the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies may avail of opportunities to study abroad. Further information on study abroad can be found here.

Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University Dual Degree Programme

Religion is also available within the Dual Degree Programme between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University. Please note: The Dual Degree is only open to Single Honours students. Joint Honours students cannot apply to the Dual Degree. For more details, see here.