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School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies

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History

Located in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies brings together biblical studies, theology, ethics, religious studies, international peace studies, and reconciliation as independent but related disciplinary fields. Its undergraduate and postgraduate courses explore encounters between religions and cultures from their roots in antiquity to the present day. They investigate the intellectual and institutional resources developed in historical and current interactions and conflicts and apply them to the challenges and the opportunities societies face in an age of globalisation

The history of the subject areas goes back to the foundation of the College in 1592. Reconceived in the early 1980s as the School of Hebrew, Biblical and Theological Studies, its founding Chair, the New Testament scholar Professor Sean Freyne, the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Hebrew, Andrew Mayes, and theologians such as Werner Jeanrond, Gabriel Daly and Vincent MacNamara established its international reputation.

Renamed as the Department of Religions and Theology in 2004, it included teaching and research in theory of religion and history of religions, in Asian and African religions, and in Islam, alongside its established teaching and research in Biblical Studies, Theology and Ethics.

The School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies brings together this department with the Loyola Institute and Irish School of Ecumenics to form a united entity dedicated to a wide range of approaches to the study of religion, theology and conflict/peace.