REU12731 Jewish Thought & Practice

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module introduces key social, cultural, and religious aspects of Jewish thought and practice from antiquity to our own time. The focus of this module is on Judaism as a major world religion that has shaped Western Civilization.
Rabbinic textual traditions that underpin Jewish religious thought—especially the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrashim—are explored. Calendar, festivals (esp. Day of Atonement, New Year, Festival of Booths, Passover, Hanukkah), and rites of passage (e.g. birth, circumcision, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, marriage, divorce, death) are studied both within the classroom as well as, when appropriate, in visits to local Jewish synagogues.

Contemporary Jewish movements and the history of their traditions (e.g., Modern Orthodoxy, Reform, Conservatism) come into view along with their different beliefs and practices (e.g., kashrut, Sabbath, worship, prayer). National movements within modern Judaism (e.g., Zionism, diaspora nationalism) are also considered.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Articulate key characteristics of the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrashim.

• Describe how different Jewish holidays and rites are observed.

• Distinguish between different Jewish movements.

• Define Zionism and diaspora nationalism.

• Recall prominent leaders and thinkers in Jewish history.

• Use basic research tools in Jewish Studies.

REU12501 Ethics Matters: Global Questions, Ethical Responses

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module introduces ethical arguments and schools of ethics through the lens of contemporary international issues in society, politics, ecology, technology and economy. The issues to be interrogated may vary from year to year but will be drawn from: environmental sustainability, economic development, technology and artificial intelligence, demography and migration, and issues in the biomedical sciences and ageing. Students will be introduced to modes of ethical analysis and reflection, their underlying philosophical and theological principles and values, and views of the human being.


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Distinguish between social, individual and professional ethics perspectives.

• Identify values and principles invoked and locate some of their philosophical and theological backgrounds.

• Identify, analyse and evaluate arguments and outcomes in contemporary cases and disputes.

• Argue for your own position by critically relating it to different traditions of ethical thinking.

• Trace similarities and differences between Irish, European and/or International arguments (and legislation) in relation to a key debate.

REU12701 Approaches to the Study of Religion

Description and Learning Outcomes

Religion as a cultural phenomenon is interrelated with all aspects of human life. A broad range of approaches are applied within the academic study of religion. After a short overview of the disciplinary history of this subject, the course will provide an introductory understanding of ‘classical’ approaches such as the sociology, the anthropology and the psychology of religion, and of more recently emerging concepts such as the economy or the aesthetics of religion.


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Recognize religion as a complex and interrelated cultural phenomenon.

• Identify key approaches in the development of the academic study of religion Recognize the multi-methodical structure of the discipline and distinguish different methodologies and perspectives.

• Characterise classical positions and their foundational concepts and relate them to their historical, social and philosophical contexts.

• Apply concepts to empirical cases.

• Critically reflect on their own notion of and interest in religion.

REU12101 Introducing the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to introduce students to the literary genres and theological contours of the Hebrew canon and its transmission, translation and interpretation in antiquity and in contemporary culture. The variety of terms used to designate the ‘Hebrew Bible’ (e.g. Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, Tanak) indicate the richness of traditions related to these writings, the various ways that they are viewed, and also their life within different communities at different times. This module will orient students to the literary and theological contours of the Hebrew canon, introducing them to the rich variety of genres within. The exploration of the Pentateuch and Chronicler’s History will provide a historiographical framework and develop students’ ability to identify literary themes while interrogation of the Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom Literature will demonstrate the incredible diversity of literary and theological genres contained within the Hebrew Bible. Students will also be introduced to the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in antiquity and in contemporary culture


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Understand the diversity of canonical contents and contours within the Hebrew Bible.

• Identify key figures and events described in the Hebrew Bible.

• Trace and analyse key themes in the Hebrew Bible.

• Appreciate the complexities of the Hebrew Bible’s transmission and translation and interpretation in antiquity.

• Reflect on their own work for the purposes of their scholarly development.
• Critically evaluate the reception of the Hebrew Bible in contemporary popular culture

REU12741 Religions in the Ancient Mediterranean

Description and Learning Outcomes

Employing literary sources as well as inscriptions, funerary art and ancient iconography, and other archaeological finds, this module investigates the religious beliefs and practice of the various peoples and civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean from ancient Egypt to Imperial Rome, focusing on the study of ancient rituals (e.g. burial customs, animal and human sacrifice) and on Mediterranean myths and mythologies (e.g. dying-and-rising deities in Egypt, Syria and ancient Greece). Students will reflect about the methodological challenges of studying ancient religions, focusing on the problem of interpreting fragmentary evidence, understanding ancient definitions of religion and magic, and distinguishing between private and public devotion in ancient societies. The course will help student to think about such questions as did people in antiquity believe in their myths? Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead? What is the significance of the ancient myths of Osiris, Gilgamesh and Baal? Did the ancient Phoenicians and Carthaginians practice human sacrifice?


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify the main models of investigation and the methodological challenges in the study of ancient religions.

• Recall the most important myths and religious beliefs of the ancient Mediterranean world, displaying an informed understanding of the structures of ancient Mediterranean societies and the main historical and cultural factors which contributed to their development.

• Interpret material evidence (inscriptions and other archaeological finds) as well as ancient texts in English translation concerning the study of ancient Mediterranean religions.

• Write well-structured essay and compile informed bibliographies, identifying the principal questions and recent trends in the historiographical debate about ancient Mediterranean cults.

• Illustrate to specialists and non-specialists alike the main interpretative models and most recent discoveries concerning the study of ancient Mediterranean religions.
Formulate an independent and personal understanding of ancient Mediterranean religions as a foundation for further studies in religion and theology.

REU12301 Introducing Theology: Key Questions

Description and Learning Outcomes

The module examines key questions and turning points in theological thinking from Antiquity to Modernity. Beginning with the development of monotheism, the achievements in Christology in the ecumenical councils and the schism East and West. It will investigate biblical sources of the doctrine of God; outline the debates on imago Dei, free will and original sin in theological anthropology, compare models of salvation, and discuss theologies of history on theodicy and eschatology. New challenges to and responses from theology in relation to modernity’s turn to subjectivity, critiques of religion (from philosophy and the social, medical and natural sciences), and the place of theology as a subject in the modern university will conclude the module
• Locate key themes, authors and turning points on a timeline from Antiquity to the present.
• Appreciate the distinct methods of disciplines and their normative standards.
• Deal with ambiguity and productive conflict in sources, such as biblical texts and their history of reception.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Relate the development of key themes in Christian theology to the intellectual contexts of the reception of the New Testament.

• Distinguish critically between eras and their key concerns and categories of thinking in outlining the historical development of theological discourse.

• Relate historical and philological research in biblical studies to systematic theology.

• Present through appropriate media some major theological achievements in each epoch.

• Demonstrate historical and hermeneutical skills in placing authors in the eras they encountered, shaped and created.

• Discover changes in frameworks for learning by analysing reasons for and against teaching theology as a subject at the modern university.

REU22331 Christology: Jesus in History, Politics, and Love.

Description and Learning Outcomes

The aim of this module is to investigate the historical origins of the idea of “Christ” in the worship of the first Christian communities and the developments in the theological understanding of his person and his work of redemption across all eras and geographies. Drawing on primary sources, critical scholarship, ritual studies and visual art, the course will devise a historical and theological framework in which to assess theoretical presuppositions and consequences of different interpretations of the person and work of Christ through the ages. The significance of Christology will be tested by analysing the doctrinal formulations of early, medieval and modern Christianity and by discussing feminist, anti-racist, post-colonial and queer interpretations of the figure of Christ. The relationship of various Christologies to current ethical issues, such as ecology, human rights, extreme poverty and anti-capitalism will be explored. The class is co-taught and capped at 16 students; it will conduct up to half of its contact hours in the National Gallery of Ireland.


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Distinguish the main theoretical stances in the study of Christology and illustrate their importance for early Christian history and for contemporary theology.

• Demonstrate a specific understanding of methods and tools of the study of Christology, including the ability to compare and evaluate primary sources and to engage in critical approaches to and analysis of complex theological texts and formulations.

• Assess the core themes of Christology in relation to current ethical issue.
• Demonstrate the ability to describe and analyse the plural nature of the sources and to contextualise critically conflicting interpretations and contrasting theological positions.

• Summarize and present through appropriate media the epistemological status and anthropological relevance of central questions and themes in the Christological debate to specialists and non-specialists alike, write well-structured essays, and compile academic bibliographies.

REU22321 Medieval Theology

Description and Learning Outcomes

To introduce the students to the distinctive modes of theological expression found in the western medieval period. A specific aim is to develop an appreciation in students for the particular contribution of women to theology in this era. The purpose of this module is to survey the political, cultural and religious context in which Catholic theology developed in the medieval period. An important aim will be to introduce the student to some representative figures in the theology of the period. This period was particularly fruitful in the formation of theology in the Catholic tradition. The course will study:
• The theology of the Monastic and Cathedral schools
• The emergence of the University
• The significance of Aquinas’ work
• The role of women in the medieval period



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Compare and contrast the contributions of the monastic schools and that of the new universities to the development of Catholic theology.

2. Read and critically engage with primary texts of the period.

3. Evaluate the importance of the synthesis created by Aquinas for the formation of European thought.

4. Appraise the importance of the emergence of urban organisation as the context for new forms of feministic mystical expression.

5. Engage in independent research in this area.

REU23501 Ethics in Sport and Media

Description and Learning Outcomes

Beginning with an overview of traditions of ethics, this module treats two key areas of applied ethics. Sport in contemporary society has been described both as an expression of the highest human and social values, and as a legally secured parallel world of the elite pursuit of victories and medals. On the one hand, as a sphere of physical self-realization, social formation and of moral training in fairness, it is seen as an area with standards of excellence that can be closely aligned to ethics. On the other hand, individual sport stars and the institutions of organized sport have been subject to multiple enquiries and critiques: for example, on doping, corruption, sponsorship, the power of mentors and child protection. The concluding element deals with some of the most pressing ethical issues in the media today, among them ‘Fake news’.


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate the fundamental concepts and methods of ethical reasoning – philosophical and theological

• Explore and analyse the ethical dimensions intrinsic in both sport and the media, with attention to resources for ethical discernment, reasoning and argumentation and traditions of moral enquiry;

• Demonstrate how sporting traditions correlate to articulations of particular ethical approaches in their historical, cultural and geographical contexts;
• Engage in critical reflection on the media, with attention to historical and socio-political and socio-cultural contexts;

• Evaluate how ethical issues in sport are shaped by the particular socio-political contexts of the time and locate authors both in traditions of ethical thought and in relation to relevant developments in sport today.

• Assess the continuities and discontinuities between the present and the past by appraising the influence of the Greek, Corinthian and Olympic ideals, and discuss them in relation to principles and values stated in current ethics charters.

REU23122 From Invasion to Exile: The Ancient Histories of Israel and Judah

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module offers an opportunity for critical engagement with some of the most famous texts of the Hebrew Bible including those concerned with the Israelite conquest, the stories of the Judges (including Samson), the rise and fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and the careers of royal figures such as David, Solomon, Ahab and Jezebel. Reflection on the historiographical value of these traditions will be facilitated by situating them within the context of the material culture and historiographical traditions of the Ancient Near East, while particular emphasis will be paid to the interface of power and violence within the traditions.


Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Recognise the ethical interests of ancient Israelite historiography.
• Contextualize Israel’s religious claims within relevant Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean religious cultures.

• Articulate various viewpoints on how Israel ‘emerged’ west of the Jordan (e.g. “conquest” vs. other views of settlement)

• Evaluate the coherence and integrity of the ‘Deuteronomistic History.’
• Reflect critically on scholarly discussion of texts from this corpus and express their own opinion concisely.

• Write an essay which reflects critical engagement with both the biblical and secondary literature. (JS)

REU23713 The Life of Muhammad: Sources, Methods and Debates

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to introduce students to, and familiarise them with:
• Main themes in the life of the Prophet Muhammad
• Available Islamic sources for the study of Muhammad's life
• The construction of Muhammad's image in Islam.
• Scholarly approaches to the life of Muhammad.
• Islamic and scholarly debates concerning the life of Muhammad. This module discusses the portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad in the Islamic sources. It examines the existing sources for this biography, and the various ways in which these have been interpreted within the contexts of Islam and modern scholarship.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Detailed knowledge of the biography of Muhammad according to traditional sources.

• Good knowledge of Muslim sources for the life of Muhammad and how to use them.

• Good knowledge of, and an ability to apply, scholarly approaches to the life of Muhammad.

• Become aware of various ways for discussing and understanding the Islamic narratives concerning the life of Muhammad.

REU23102 The End of the World: The Johannine Writings

Description and Learning Outcomes

The aim of this module is to engage critically with Johannine writings vis-à-vis the ancient phenomenon of “apocalyptic,” eschatology, and dualistic cosmologies. The book of Revelation depicts a series of end-time judgments that lead to cosmic catastrophe followed by a new heaven and new earth. The author of the Apocalypse, John at Patmos, is not alone in believing that there is more than just this world—there is another world. As such, the book of Revelation is participating in the apocalyptic genre and worldview wherein reflection upon another world and otherworldly beings are dominant themes.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. compare and contrast, at an intermediate level, the characteristics of John’s Gospel with that of John’s Apocalypse.

2. dialogue on possible motivating factors (religious and political) that may have influenced the intellectual traditions found in the Johannine literature.

3. assess the polarities/dichotomies found in early Christian “Gnostic” writings and those found in the Fourth Gospel.

4. distinguish between the genre “apocalyptic” and worldviews that may reflect “apocalypticism.”

5. analyse how socio-religious circumstances may have influenced the Johannine literature.

6. discuss John’s Apocalypse alongside other ancient Jewish and Christian apocalypses.

REU33104 The Qur’an: Scripture, History and Literature

Description and Learning Outcomes

Islamic tradition regards the Qur’an as the revealed word of God, sent down to earth to the prophet Muhammad through the mediation of the angel Gabriel. This course explores the structure and main characteristics of the Qur’an; discusses its principal themes; its reception history; and its close relationship with the Bible.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Describe the structure and style of the Qur’an

• Explain the main themes of the Qur’an.

• Discuss traditional Islamic and critical academic perspectives on the origins, history and reception of the Qur’an.

• Identify how the Qur’an employs biblical characters and traditions.

• Differentiate between, and apply, traditional Islamic and scholarly approaches to the Qurʾan.

REU33301 Power and Politics: Liberation, Contextual and Post-Colonial Theologies

Description and Learning Outcomes

The aim of this module is that students would exit with a complex understanding of issues of power in relation to theology. Through its course they should gain a thorough understanding of theology’s role in political movements in general and the conceptualisation of gender, race, class, disability, protest and wealth in particular. The Shoa/Holocaust meant that Theology could not carry on as it did before. Theology had to respond to this atrocity, to the “death of God” it brought, and to the demands of post-war church-goers that it offer a vision capable of preventing Christian collusion in such horrors in the future. This module will look at the ways that Modernity’s very tenets were revised in this theological effort – first via Barth and Rahner, then via Moltmann and Metz. Then, it will examine Theology’s part in the political movements of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Situate Christian Theology in Empire and in Modernity, particularly re: ‘The rise of the subject’

• Demonstrate knowledge of some of the key works of some foundational thinkers of the 20th Century Theology (especially Barth, Rahner, Moltmann and Metz)

• Analyze the major claims of Latin American Liberation Theology, Black Theology and Asian Theologies

• Analyze the major claims of feminist, womanist and Mujerista theologies

• Analyze the major claims of post-colonial and post-capitalist theologies

• Critically assess the distinctions between liberation, contextual, post-colonial and related 20th and 21st Century theologies.

REU33511 Theo-Ethics Global Warming

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to equip students to engage contemporary ethical conversations about global warming and climate change. It offers students a chance to explore the concept of climate justice in diverse theo-ethical perspective. Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter Laudato si’: On Care for our Common Home states that, “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.” Thinking alongside this encyclical, this advanced seminar module will tackle some of the most vexing theoethical challenges implicated by human-caused global warming. We’ll ask how theological worldviews contribute to, ignore, or creatively respond to global warming. We’ll explore the science and politics of climate change alongside theological cosmologies. And we’ll ask what resources theological ethics might bring to bear on questions of ecojustice, consumerism, fossil fuel use, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, water shortages, and adaptation to ecological change.



Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Summarise the contemporary science of climate change

2. Articulate the development of the field of ecotheology as it relates to climate change.

3. Comprehend and utilise major perspectives in contemporary theological ethics and climate change.

4. Analyze the impact and response of Pope Francis on the climate debate. 81

5. Engage the scholarly conversation on environmental injustice and ecospirituality, especially through the lenses of gender, class, race, and decoloniality.

6. Articulate your own theological or ethical perspective on human responses to global warming.

REU33322 Reformation and Enlightenment

Description and Learning Outcomes

1. Identify key themes of theological and philosophical dispute from the turn of the High Middle Ages to Nominalism in their relevance for the Reformation and for Modernity
2. Present accurately and creatively Mandatory disputes between the Western Christian traditions and their key representatives
3. Outline the rising significance of hermeneutics in view of conflicting views of biblical sources in modern historical scholarship.
This module will pursue key theological themes in Christian anthropology, doctrine of God, Christology and ecclesiology from late medieval Nominalism through the Reformation to modernity. It will analyse current assessments of the connections of Luther’s theology with, and its discontinuities from, the preceding eras. The Enlightenment comprising Kant’s critiques of reason, German Idealism and Romanticism as the context for Schleiermacher and Kierkegaard as thinkers of God in relation to human subjectivity and freedom will be treated and their reception in 19th and 20th century theology discussed. The module will conclude with the hermeneutical questions raised by a new consciousness of language and history, traditions and their transformations.



Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Identify key differences between the High and the late Middle Ages 77.

2. Present with appropriate media the state of debate on the relations of the Reformation to Late Antiquity—especially to Augustine—to the Middle Ages and to Modernity.

3. Explain the ambiguities arising from the use of different methods and perspectives: historical, systematic theological, denominational.

4. Demonstrate a hermeneutical awareness of different epochs of self-understanding and of changing notions of truth.

5. Compare key positions of the Enlightenment with Romanticism on the relations between reason, freedom, and religion.

6. Investigate the new conditions of knowledge and the foundations of ethics posed with the anthropological turn in their relevance for theology in the 19th and 20th centuries.

REU44701 Women Leaders, Women Prophets in Islam

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to Provide an overview of prominent women figures in Islamic historiographical and religious literature.
• Present and discuss the developing construction of such women characters over time and genres in Islam

• Demonstrate the various Islamic approaches towards women in terms of religious belives, prophecy, law, social roles and gender relations

• Develop an understanding of the contribution of women to the emergence and development of the religious tradition of Islam
Examine various scholarly approaches to early women characters. In this module we will learn about prominent female characters and their roles in Islam. We will examine how the Islamic sources portray and construct the characters of women dating from biblical times to the early Islamic period, and what functions are ascribed to them. Looking at a variety of leading femaile characters, from biblical Eve to the Sufi mystic Rabia al-Adawiya, we will follow the developmen of their images over time and genres, such as the Qur’an and its commentaris, Islamic tradition, and Islamic historiography.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify prominent women characters in Islamic religion and historiography

• Discuss female characters within the context of Islamic scriptures and historiograpny

• Demonstrate an understanding of the significance and development of concepts concerning the roles of women in regards to society, prophecy, law and gender in Islam.

• Discuss the contribution of women characters to the development of Islam Discuss various academic approaches and portrayals of women characters in Islam

REU44124 Friendship in the New Testament and Early Christianity

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module investigates views on friendship, patronage and clientship in the New Testament (e.g. the Gospels of Luke and John, the letters of Paul, the Epistle of James) and in Early Christian authors (e.g. Ambrose of Milan, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Paulinus of Nola) within their broader context in ancient Greek and Roman societies. The module focuses on how the understanding of friendship in the New Testament and early Christianity reflects a gradual change in the understanding of friendship in the ancient world from classical philosophical definitions of friendship (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero) to the redefinition of human relationships and power dynamics in Roman imperial societies (e.g. Valerius Maximus, Lucian, Themistius).


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify the main methods of investigation and the core methodological issues and problems in the understanding of friendship in the ancient world and Early Christianity.

• Show familiarity with relevant primary sources on friendship and patronage in English translation from the classical, biblical and early Christian traditions.

• Assess recent scholarly trends in the study of friendship in the New Testament and Early Christianity.

• Demonstrate knowledge of the human relationships which contributed to shape Graeco-Roman societies and of their impact on the New Testament and the development of early Christian thought and practice

• Communicate scholarly views on the social structures of the ancient world and their development in early Christianity to both specialists and non-specialists, to write well-structured essays and to use and compile well-reasoned bibliographies.

• Develop and independent and personal view of the development of the ideals of friendship and patronage in the ancient world and early Christianity as a foundation for further study in religion and theology.

REU44933 Ethics and Politics

Description and Learning Outcomes

This course is aimed to empower students to reflect on the many ethical issues, which arise in the world of politics in the broadest sense. The course is intended to develop awareness of the multiplicity of issues that arise from the interface between ethics and politics and to reflect on how they might be resolved and what theories have been developed to respond to these issues throughout history from Aristotle through to Mary Robinson as well as reflect on specific issues like: Is there a just war? What are the ethical implications of globalisation?


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Summarise the work of the leading theologians – through the presentation of material in lectures and reading material.

• Evaluate how theology is shaped by a particular socio-political context.
• Assess the links between the present and the past and appraise the influence of the modern period today.

• Identify crucial theological questions in the political sphere.

• Situate the topic under study in a wider theological framework.

REU12512 Becoming Moral: Ethical Reasoning in Theological Perspective

Description and Learning Outcomes

In everyday speech, casual use of the word “ethical” simply means “good.” To say that someone is ethical, we might assume, means that they’re a good or moral human being. But the academic study of ethics itself is older, deeper and more complex. In such study, we ask and interrogate the diverse moral principles, stories and practices that individuals, communities, and cultures orient their lives around (from “God” to “justice” to “love”). We ask where those moral principles emerge from in the first place (their sources), how those principles are created, what meaningful stories are told, and how those stories impact or shaped by the world. And we ask how ethical thinking or practices conflict or interact with one another in everyday life or the public sphere. Why might someone consider one action a “moral good” while another thinks the very same action is “morally wrong”? Theological ethics, as the focus of this module, is a genre of ethics that asks how diverse Christianities imagine everyday ethical principles and moral value. How does the way one imagines God shape ethical imaginations? This module serves as an introduction to theological ethics (or theo-ethics), through—in the first half of the module—the sources often called upon by theologians in ethical discernment, and—in the second half—engaging some of the major themes and styles in contemporary theo-ethics.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a good understanding of the dynamics of moral reasoning and action.
• Have a broad knowledge of the sources of moral wisdom.
• Critically engage with practical moral issues through sustained reflection, analysis, and deliberation.
• Articulate the renewal in Catholic Theological Ethics.
• Appreciate the importance of moral agency and conscience in decision-making.
• Apply the principles of moral theology to specific contemporary ethical challenges.

Briefly provide details of module syllabus.

• Moral Norms
• Moral Character
• Moral Agency
• The Dynamics of Reflection
• Wesleyan Quadrilateral
• The Role of Conscience
• The Renewal of Moral Theology
• Applying Principles and Practices

REU12712 Introduction to Philosophy

Description and Learning Outcomes

This course introduces students to the study of philosophy. It explores the major themes pursued and arguments put forward by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Wittgenstein. It will explore the views of these thinkers on questions like: What is the nature of reality? What is knowledge, and is it possible? How is the mind related to the body? What is meant by virtue ethics? Students will be taught how to critically engage with these views.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Read philosophical texts in their historical context
• Identify and critically evaluate philosophical theories and arguments
• Write essays in a critical and dialectical manner

REU12112 Introducing the New Testament: Texts and Contexts

Description and Learning Outcomes

The writings included in the canon of the New Testament have been composed by different authors over a relatively long period of time. Translated in countless languages, the stories and ideas found in the New Testament have played a major role in shaping socio-political, ethical and religious discourses across the centuries and in different cultures and have been a constant source of inspiration in art, music and literature. In this module, students will learn about the most relevant scholarly approaches to the study of the New Testament and its background in Second Temple Judaism and in the Graeco-Roman world, examine the variety of literary genres and the diversity of sources and traditions, which contributed to the development of early Christianity and to the formation of new religious and cultural realities in the Graeco-Roman world, and be introduced to the history of interpretation of the New Testament in antiquity and in contemporary culture.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate familiarity with the content of the writings that form the New Testament, their structure, and the main historical and cultural factors that contributed to their development.
• Discuss the complex process of the formation of the New Testament and identify the diverse traditions that are represented in it.
• Identify main trends in the history of interpretation of the New Testament and its exegetical traditions both in the academic study of the New Testament and in popular culture.
• Analyse the main models of investigation of New Testament literature (e.g. historical-critical, narratological, feminist) and the key methodological issues concerning the study of the New Testament and its origins.
• Illustrate scholarly views about the New Testament to both specialists and non-specialists, writing well-structured essays, and compiling and using relevant bibliographies.
• Formulate an independent and personal understanding of the New Testament and its history of interpretation as a foundation for further studies in religion and theology.

REU12312 Introducing Theology: Key Texts and Methods

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to introduce the student to the distinctive academic discipline of theology and to stimulate their interest in the academic wealth of this tradition. It introduces students to ground breaking texts in the Christian tradition and teaches them to ‘’read for’’ chronology, meanings, ideology, rhetoric, empire, patriarchy, anthropology and ecology.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Discriminate between theological and other academic approaches to the study of religion.
• Analyse primary texts.
• Identify the context in which texts were written.
• Compare and contrast different methods/approaches within the discipline of theology.
• Debate and articulate core theological positions.
• Critically assess theological texts.

REU12724 Introducing Islam

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module surveys the emergence, development, beliefs and practices of Islam, from 7th century to present.
This module aims to:
• Provide an overview of Islamic history.
• Present and discuss Islamic scriptures, doctrines and rituals.
• Demonstrate the significance and development within Islam of concepts such as prophethood, revelation, jihad, theology, law and gender.
• Develop an understanding of the contribution of Islamic civilization to human culture.
• Examine various scholarly approaches to the study of Islam.



Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Discuss major events and trends in Islamic history
• Discuss Islamic scriptures, ritual and doctrines
• Demonstrate an understanding of the significance and development of concepts such as prophethood, revelation, jihad, theology, law and gender from an Islamic perspective
• Discuss the contribution of Islamic civilization to human culture
• Discuss various academic approaches to the study of Islam.

REU12752 Dharmic Religions

Description and Learning Outcomes

Emphasising the heterogeneity of religion in Asia, this introductory module will present an overview concentrating on Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The module will examine the early origins of Hinduism in the Vedic religions. Students will engage critically with the Hindu scriptures, focusing on the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, while seeking to understand the important concepts of Samsara, Moksha, Dharma, Yoga as the basis of ‘the Hindu way of life’. There will be an examination of Hindu cosmology, Brahman, Atman, Trimurti, the gods and goddesses, the avatars as well as Hindu ritual and its purpose. The course will deal with the question of Hindu identity and the more recent politicisation of Hinduism in the Hindutva movement. The second part of the module will look at the emergence of Buddhism and examine its significance as part of a wider movement during the Axial Age, with its move away from the ritual to the ethical as one person’s search for the problems of human existence. There will be a general treatment of the Buddhist scripture, notably the Pali Canon. Student will come to understand the important distinction between Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan or Vajrayana Buddhism. There will be a comparative reflection on concepts of atman and anatman in Hinduism and Buddhism. The module will examine the essential teachings of the Buddhist Dhamma, notably the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. There will be a brief examination of how Buddhism has influenced contemporary Western spiritualities as well as a critical look at Buddhism in the world today. There will be brief treatment of Jainism in the context of the movement that gave rise to Buddhism. The use of iconography and music is an important element of the module that seeks to give students an understanding of the wider cultural world of Asian religions.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify and engage with several important religious traditions in Asia from a study of religions perspective
• Appreciate the depth and heterogeneous nature of Asian religion and culture
• Have a knowledge of the various cosmologies, as well as important concepts in the three religions under consideration
• Engage critically with the scriptures of these religions
• Understand the social significance of religion in Asia
• Embed in the manifestations of the religious traditions in iconography and music.

REU22502 Creaturely Ethics: Human and other Animals

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to introduce and engage in contemporary scholarly reflection on critical animal studies, posthumanism, and ecotheology. It allows students to engage with theological perspectives on the definitions of “humanity,” “animality,” and “creatureliness.” Students will explore a number of theo-ethical topics in this area from animal conservation to food. Ethics is written and studied by animals, you and me. Recent questions in ecological ethics swirl around “the question of the human” and “the question of the animal.” Theological and ethical concepts that define human beings as unique, with souls created imago dei, in the image of God with dominion over the planet are critiqued as being morally complicit with species decline, animal suffering, and habitat loss. On a planet undergoing the sixth great wave of animal extinction, this critique is no small matter. We’ll ask how we understand the human in relation to other nonhuman creatures that occupy the planet. We’ll think about animal ethics, the blurry lines between wild and domestic, human and nonhuman, living and extinct, veganism and vegetarianism, human and posthuman. We’ll ask how these conversations cause us to rethink theological understandings of “creatureliness” and “creation” and “kinship.” And we’ll ask how definitions of what it means to be “human” are already entangled in our theo-ethical and ecological concerns.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Articulate basic questions and layout in the field of critical animal studies and posthumanism
2. Comprehend the context, concept, and theoretical reflections on “the sixth extinction”
3. Outline the history of contemporary ecotheology and ethics.
4. Articulate definitions of theological-ethical concepts in animal and ecological ethics like “creation” and “creatureliness”
5. Articulate, from interdisciplinary perspectives, the crucial sides on the following topics: animals and food, sport, biodiversity, entertainment, wildness or domesticity, intersectionality, etc.
6. Reflect on, articulate and act on your own take on a significant or ethical topic in creaturely ethics.

REU22111 The Historical Jesus and the Gospels

Description and Learning Outcomes

The aim of this module is to provide a critical overview of research on the historical Jesus and, within this context, the role and significance of the gospel traditions for this discipline. Who was the historical Jesus – the Jewish Galilean whose activities and death resulted in the emergence of Christianity? This module explores questions about Jesus the man, his world, his social and literary environment, his disciples, and their literary activities. The history of research on the historical Jesus (i.e., the so-called “three quests”) orient this module before turning to a sustained study of the earliest witness to his life and those of his followers, namely the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. When studying the context of Jesus and the gospels their environments and social milieu are introduced vis-à-vis material culture and archaeology. Key themes, particularly ancient Jewish “Messianism” as it relates to the portrayal of Jesus as “Christ,” are considered in light of Qumran Discoveries (e.g., so-called “4QMessianic Apocalypse”). Students are also inducted to the various historical and literary methods and approaches used when studying the synoptic gospels.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. assess the distinguishing characteristics of each “quest” for the historical Jesus.
2. appraise at least three approaches to resolving the synoptic problem.
3. debate approaches/methods historians have developed to read the gospels.
4. dialogue at an intermediate level about philosophical and religious movements with which Jesus has been associated (e.g., Cynics, apocalyptic prophets, etc.).
5. compare and contrast Jesus with other religious leaders/figures contemporary to him.

REU22712 Researching Religion: New Religious Movements

Description and Learning Outcomes

Acquire knowledge about the classical theories of religion (1880-1960) in the fields of sociology, psychology, evolution theory, anthropology. Acquire an overview of contemporary theories of religion (especially those linked with economy, social theory, cognitive study of religion) Experience the practical and ethical aspect of original research through applying theoretical concepts to empirical problems and cases. Ability to critically assess and discuss theoretical conceptualisation and their practical and ethical impact on research, skilled application. Developing self-directed research projects. This module provides a survey of both “classical thinkers” on religion and contemporary developments in the academic study of religion that combine cultural with cognitive, evolutionary and economic approaches. Theories are explored on the basis of case studies that help to understand the role of religion in a diversity of historical and contemporary settings.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Identify presuppositions and mandatory tenets of key thinkers on religion
2. Identify and characterise key concepts in the contemporary academic study of religion
3. Identify the relevance and consequences of theorizing in the study of religion and recognise its interdependence with cultural politics.
4. Distinguish between scholarly, religious, atheist, philosophical and common sense perspectives.
5. Present and formulate critiques of the various approaches studied; highlight methodological strengths and weaknesses.
6. Reconstruct and discuss theoretical issues, apply concepts to empirical cases and develop research projects

REU23301 Philosophical and Theological Approaches to God

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module explores a number of key philosophical and theological landmarks in the debates about God in Christianity and western philosophy:
Does God exist? Is natural theology possible? What is meant by the notion of revelation? Is ‘religious language’ different to other language games?


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Critically examine the notion of natural theology;
• Demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of the so-called ‘proofs’ for the existence of God;
• Analyse the concept of divine revelation;
• Critically examine the appeal to experience in modern theology;
• Demonstrate the significance of religious language (e.g., myth, metaphor, symbol) for the theology of God;
• Articulate the distinctively modern and post-modern challenges to the theology of God;

REU23302 Cosmology, Religion and Science

Description and Learning Outcomes

Cosmology traces developments in the mythological and natural-scientific study of the universe in its complex history. This module presents these developments as they have been interpreted from biblical, theological and philosophical perspectives and how they conflict or converge with cosmologies from the natural sciences particularly since the 16th century. It explores how specific cosmologies emerged and in turn impacted on theology, science and culture, in: astronomy, thermodynamics, emerging universe models, evolutionary theory and the return to narrative in the natural sciences. It includes implications for anthropology: the human person as created in the image of God (imago Dei); as embodied and free, contingent and subject to frailty and failure (‘sin’); as steward of creation; and inhabitant of the future earthly cosmopolis.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Trace the biblical roots of models of origins and ends in creation
• Identify contrasting and rival philosophies and theologies of creation in early Christianity
• Trace the development and subsequent history of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo
• Analyse the historical and cultural contexts and debates in relation to: the Galileo ‘affair’; thermodynamics and emergent universe models; Darwin and biological evolution; the ‘New Atheism’; teleological and narrative approaches in the natural sciences: and the city as habitat.
Outline and debate what these imply for interpreting nature as creation, the human person as steward, and the eschaton as cosmopolis.

REU33704 Christianity in the Cultures of Late Antiquity

Description and Learning Outcomes

Using literary sources as well as material evidence (archaeological finds, artwork, inscriptions), this module explores customs, beliefs, institutions and identities of the early Christians within the social, political, religious and cultural context of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. The course will help students to think about central questions in the study of early Christianity such as: who were the early Christians? How did they articulate their identities across different languages and in different areas of the late antique world? How and where did they eat, pray and live? How did they understand their beliefs and interact with the cultures around them? What did their Roman, Greek or Syrian neighbours think about them? Students will reflect on different models of cross-fertilisation between emerging early Christian identities and the cultures and religious phenomena which characterised the later stages of the life of the Roman Empire.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Discuss and synthesise the key historical events and main cultural, political and economic factors which shaped the life, thought and institutions of the early Christians.
• Identify methodological challenges inherent in the study of Christianity in Late Antiquity.
• Analyse the principal trends in the historiographical debates surrounding the study of Late Antiquity.
• Interpret early Christian primary sources and other ancient texts in English translation with competence and awareness of their contexts and premises.
• Illustrate scholarly views of early Christianity to both specialists and non-specialists, write well-structured essays and use and compile relevant and informed bibliographies.
• Demonstrate a high degree of autonomy in assessing data concerning the development of early Christian thought and practice as a foundation for further studies in religion and theology.

REU33132 Words to the Wise: Israelite and Jewish Wisdom Literature

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to facilitate students’ deeper acquaintance and critical engagement with the richness of the Wisdom tradition found in the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish traditions. This module represents an opportunity to explore the richness of the Wisdom Literature found in the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish traditions. Following an introduction to the Wisdom tradition, the module will offer a close and critical reading of the books of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes followed by an exploration of how traditions of Wisdom evolved not only in Judaism of the Second Temple Period including especially the Scrolls from Qumran, but also in the New Testament.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of key themes of the Wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the ways in which various texts reflect them.
2. Evaluate scholarly arguments relating to the classification of different OT texts as ‘Wisdom literature’.
3. Critically analyse the relationship between Hebrew/Jewish Wisdom and Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean sapiential traditions.
4. Recognise the ways in which the Wisdom tradition evolved in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity
5. Reflect critically on scholarly discussion of texts from this corpus and express their own opinion briefly.
6. Write an essay which reflects critical engagement with both the biblical and secondary literature.

REU33332 God and Human Freedom

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to introduce students to the long tradition of theological reflection on being human in Christian sources. This module studies what it means to be human from the perspective of theology. The study begins within the horizon of Jewish experience as articulated especially in the early chapters of the book of Genesis. The themes of the human reality as the Imago Dei, of sanctification, of deification, as well as the theme of deep seated human alienation, are studied. In the Western tradition grace became a key concept in the articulation of the interplay of divine and human in history. The module studies its deployment through the centuries. Running through the module is the question, the debate, as to whether there are resources in theological anthropology for an understanding of human nature which have been lost in modern culture.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Describe and discuss the importance of the Jewish heritage in Christian tradition.
2. Explain the importance of the concept of grace in Christian humanism.
3. Evaluate the different approaches to the theology of grace in the writings of St Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther.
4. Analyze the distinctive theological perspective on the interlocking complexity of evil in the human narrative.
5. Appraise issues in modern culture, such as human rights, from a theological grace perspective.
6. Engage in independent research in this area.

REU33522 Environmental and Technology Ethics

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module explores key concepts and debates in environmental and technology ethics: e.g productionism and the ‘tragedy of the commons’; instrumental versus intrinsic value; demographics and consumption; food security and related aspects of animals in agriculture; justice and sustainable development; environmental citizenship and the future of work. It will examine related ethics responses rooted in religious traditions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Daoism) and characterise the role of the ethicist in ‘expert’ cultures and in policy development in Ireland, the EU and internationally.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Trace the ethical assumptions, commitments and principles at work in cases related to: biodiversity loss; food biotechnology; synthetic biology; intellectual property rights, emerging technologies for transport (e.g. drones), energy production and security; and the future of work.
• Evaluate the integration of policy and regulation in Ireland, the EU and internationally
• Argue for your position by critically relating it to different traditions of ethical thinking (philosophical and theological) and civic debate in the public sphere
• Demonstrate the ability to reconstruct an argumentation in writing and in a student seminar

REU33722 Religion, Media and the Public Sphere

Description and Learning Outcomes

Ability to navigate and assess scholarly literature, concepts and debates on the relationship between religion, media and the public sphere Build up critical media competence Conduct an independent research on the role of religion in the public sphere Engaging in media research as well as media usage. Religion is prominent in public debates, in the media, and in the cultural imaginary of people’s daily life, no matter whether they see themselves as believers or not. In turn, religions also “make use” of media and mediation, creating symbolic representations and special experiences, be it through architecture and music, images and narratives, or through clothes, body practices or TV and the internet. The course focuses on how the relationship between religion and media can be studied and how this can help to better understand the role of religion in the public sphere. Our concept of media will reach beyond TV and internet –scripture and dance, money and microphones are means of mediating religion as well. We will ask, what is a medium, how are religions depicted in the media, how do religions act on and react to new media, and how can religion be understood as mediation while often claiming to provide “immediate” experiences? Students will sign up for an “expert group” on one of the weekly reading.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Distinguish and reproduce approaches to the study of religion and 90 media and demonstrate knowledge about the interaction between religion and media in historical perspective
2. Conceptualise key terms (medium/mediation, religion, public sphere
3. Describe, analyse and discuss the role of mass media in the contemporary religious field; explain and interpret the diverse media performances in religion as a lived cultural practice.
4. Present and impart knowledge through media, and develop a critical media competence.
5. Reflect how religious media usage impacts on a larger culture
6. Present a self-chosen historical or contemporary example of religion in the public sphere; formulate a research question; outline an approach to study the case; draw conclusions by applying theoretical concepts to the empirical case.

REU44923 Theological Ethics and Ecology

Description and Learning Outcomes

This module explores key concepts and debates in environmental ethics from theological and philosophical perspectives in dialogue with the natural-sciences: the theological roots of productionism; the consolations of holism; instrumental versus intrinsic value; demographics and consumption; the so-called ‘tragedy of the commons’ and polycentric responses; plant ethics, food security and related questions of animal wefare and rights; theories of justice for sustainable development; and environmental citizenship. It will examine responses from the religious traditions (with examples chosen from Christianty, Islam, Buddhism and Daoism). It will characterise the role of the ethicist in ‘expert’ cultures and in policy development in Ireland, the EU and beyond. Students will be expected to develop their analytical and presentation skills through participation in class discussions, the delivery of a student seminar, and in a written assignment.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Evaluate key themes and concepts in environmental ethics (productionism, sustainable development, stewardship and climate justice)
• Relate theological interpretations of creation (or philosophical interpretations of nature) to ethical principles and practices
• Argue for your position by critically relating it to different traditions of ethical thinking (philosophical and theological) and civic debate in the public sphere
• Critically analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of insitutional policies in Ireland, the EU and internationally.

REU44113 Sects and Sages: The Dead Sea Scrolls

Description and Learning Outcomes

The Dead Sea Scrolls are unquestionably one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of our time. In total, more than 900 manuscripts were discovered in 11 different caves, preserving compositions known to us from the ‘Old Testament’ (i.e. Hebrew Scriptures) as well as ancient Jewish documents that were previously unknown. These manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures are especially important because they are the earliest copies of these books. Previously unknown compositions provide a wealth of information about the history of Jewish intellectual trajectories and ideas in the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E. Although the 11 caves that held scrolls were found in the late 1940s through to the mid-1950s, the materials from Cave 4, where 574 manuscripts were discovered in 1952, were not published in critical editions for the public until the mid- 1990s through to the early 2000s. Therefore, the meaning and significance of these 2000-year-old compositions is currently at the centre of an enormous amount of innovative research into the textual traditions of the Hebrew Scriptures as well as religious matrices of ancient Palestinian Judaism. Together, research in these areas is providing opportunities to make new and even profound observations about the origins of Christianity.
This module is dedicated to introducing this discovery, what it means for the historical assessment of ancient Judaism and Christianity and its significance for religious studies today.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Argue their own interpretation of Qumran as an archaeological site.
• Articulate the significance of the Scrolls for the study of Old Testament textual traditions.
• Provide a sketch of important religious themes found in the Scrolls (e.g. ‘the end of days’, views about redeemer figures).
• Assess critically the notion of ‘sectarianism’ as related to Jewish and Christian origins.
• Identify common ideas found in Palestinian Judaism and the New Testament.
• Articulate continuities and discontinuities between the ‘Teacher of Righteousness’ and Jesus.
• Discuss in basic terms key characteristics of Palestinian Jewish thought, relate discoveries at Qumran with other manuscripts discoveries in the Judean Wilderness.

REU44913 The Sensory Sacred: aesthetic and material approaches to religion

Description and Learning Outcomes

The study of religion has often been confined to texts, beliefs and doctrines, or a singular experience of religion as something sui generis. However, religions are as much danced, imagined, painted and sung as read and theorised in a broad variety of ways, and beliefs are grounded in sensory experiences, body practices and emotional engagement as much as in reflecting and thinking. Recent approaches to the study of religion as a sensory practice rethink the relationship between body and mind, and between matter and form; they recognise all the senses as religious media – sight, sound, touch, smell; they investigate how religious traditions “tune the body”, stimulate the senses, use things and objects and implement convincing and repeatable experiences of “other worlds” or powers. We will ask to what extent the body and the senses are highly political media being restricted and engaged, symbolising and enacting what is religious, and what is secular, and cultivate experiences that are not mere expressions of beliefs, but rather create ways of perceiving and representing what is taken as real. We will address the practical consequences for studying religion as a sensory practice and apply the approaches in case studies and exercise.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify, understand, distinguish and characterise typical concepts and approaches in the aesthetic and material study of religion.
• Analyse the interaction between bodily practice, patterns of perceptions and religious ways of world-making in historical perspective
• Critically discuss the relevance of aesthetic and material approaches in the study of religion, and why they have long been negated
• Understand and apply specific methods of studying and representing the sensory aspects of religion as a lived cultural practice
• Theorise concepts such as body/embodiment, cognition, imagination, perception, emotion, and apply them in a mode of interdisciplinary thinking to cases and in exercises
• Reflect on the impact religious ways of world-making have on a larger culture
• Analyse the political aspects of both religious and secular realms.

Semester Abroad - REU14904 World Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue

Description and Learning Outcomes

The term World Christianity has gained its meaning in the theological circles with the realization of many particular expressions of Christianity across the globe. In the recent decade’s theologian’s term have been using the term to signify that Christianity is not synonymous with Western Christianity or that there isn’t one Christianity but many Christianity’s. The Western Christian universalism has made many other historical forms as well as contemporary global configurations of Christianity invisible. The study of World Christianity is a study of Christianity across the cultural, ecumenical and religious borders (Dale T. Irvin, 2016). This module will specifically focus on the attempts that have been made to reimagine Christianity across religious borders which are not only in-between spaces, but also marginalized by the dominant Western form of Christianity. In other words, it will explore how to be religious in an interreligious way (Peter Phan, 2004).


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Gain familiarity with the pioneering works of Raimon Panikkar (cosmotheandric reality), Aloysius Pieris (covenant-Christology), Michael Amalodas (Jesus as avatar) Peter Phan (being religious interreligioiusly), Amos Young (pneumatocentrism), Mark Heim (many salvations), Elain Padilla (covernous mode of dewelling ), Lamin Sanneh (Gospel beyond West ), James Fredericks and Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier ( interreligious friendship), to name a few,
• Understand how Christianity’s encounter with other religious traditions (including indigenous primal traditions) has led to a rethinking of presuppositions of Christian theology generating a vital effect on classical theological field,
• Revisit the classic threefold typology of Christian approaches to religious other, exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism (Alan Race, 1983) whilst searching for alternative approaches that have been researched by theologians,
• Approach interreligious dialogue in creative and imaginative ways on the basis of commonalities, complementarities and radical differences whilst engaging in ‘interactive pluralism’ and,
• Link interreligious encounters with common ethical concerns of the world whilst realizing the ever-increasing complexity in World Christianity.

Visiting International Students - EM7460 P/Grad.
- Religion, Conflict and Peace in International Relations

Description and Learning Outcomes

The purpose of this module is to provide an understanding of the on-going saliency of religion (broadly defined here as the main world religions) in the contemporary globalized era. The overall aim is to address the ways in which religion has been marginalized or excluded from the secular perspectives of International Relations theory (Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Constructivism, etc.), whilst providing the intellectual basis for how religiously inspired spheres of thought can be brought back into the picture. This module also challenges the common view that the politicization of religion is always a threat to international security and inimical to the resolution of world conflict.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Assess the normative debate about the role of religion in International Relations, focusing on the following traditions of IR theory: Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Constructivism and the English School.
• Discuss contemporary issues in international affairs which are associated with the idea of a widespread religious resurgence (i.e. globalization, religious Fundamentalism and violence, transnational religious actors, faith-based peacemaking and diplomacy).
• Address the religious dimensions in contemporary world conflicts, whilst identifying perspectives and movements within main religious traditions which contribute to peacemaking, conflict resolution and reconciliation.
• Evaluate the salience of religious beliefs, identities and movements in selected national contexts such as the United States, Israel, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Visiting International Students - EM7460 P/Grad.
- Religion, Conflict and Peace in International Relations

Description and Learning Outcomes

The purpose of this module is to provide an understanding of the on-going saliency of religion (broadly defined here as the main world religions) in the contemporary globalized era. The overall aim is to address the ways in which religion has been marginalized or excluded from the secular perspectives of International Relations theory (Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Constructivism, etc.), whilst providing the intellectual basis for how religiously inspired spheres of thought can be brought back into the picture. This module also challenges the common view that the politicization of religion is always a threat to international security and inimical to the resolution of world conflict.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Assess the normative debate about the role of religion in International Relations, focusing on the following traditions of IR theory: Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Constructivism and the English School.
• Discuss contemporary issues in international affairs which are associated with the idea of a widespread religious resurgence (i.e. globalization, religious Fundamentalism and violence, transnational religious actors, faith-based peacemaking and diplomacy).
• Address the religious dimensions in contemporary world conflicts, whilst identifying perspectives and movements within main religious traditions which contribute to peacemaking, conflict resolution and reconciliation.
• Evaluate the salience of religious beliefs, identities and movements in selected national contexts such as the United States, Israel, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Visiting International Students - EM7467 P/Grad.
- Engaging Religious Fundamentalism

Description and Learning Outcomes

Christian expressions of fundamentalist religiosity; defining fundamentalism; methodology in fundamentalist studies; dialogue with the fundamentalist other. Despite receiving widespread scholarly attention across a range of disciplines, so‐called ‘religious fundamentalism’ attracts strikingly minimal attention from within Christian theology.
This module, therefore, explores religious fundamentalism from an explicitly theological perspective, and with a concern (though not an exclusive concern) for Christian expressions of fundamentalist religiosity. Amongst the challenges for module‐participants are: defining fundamentalism; methodology in fundamentalist studies; and dialogue with the fundamentalist other.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify and describe the significant historical factors in the emergence of religious fundamentalism.
• Assess dominant paradigms of fundamentalist study.
• Analyse the key social, political and theological elements in the construction of religious fundamentalism.

Visiting International Students - EM7436 P/Grad.
- Gender, War and Peace

Description and Learning Outcomes

What does gender analysis reveal about the causes and dynamics of war and peace? In this module we begin by exploring and criticising some basic gendered assumptions - such as that war is the business of men and peace that of women. Instead we challenge these dichotomies by examining issues such as the complicated relationship between the social construction of masculinity and soldiering and the challenge posed to militaries by the inclusion of women in their ranks. We ask why peace processes have generally excluded women and what the consequences of that are for the sustainability of peace, while at the same time querying the assumption that 'women' as an essentialised group have particular skills to bring to the peace table. Through these debates we examine the ways in which war and peace are gendered experiences which also shape our understanding of what it is to be a gendered person.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Understand the foundational and ongoing debates in Gender Studies concerning sex and gender, femininity and masculinity, gender and difference and be able engage in discussion of these.
• Comprehend and enter into arguments made concerning the gendered nature of war, the perpetration of gender based violence, the relationships between masculinity and violence/femininity and peace and the necessity of the inclusion of gender concerns in peacebuilding.
• Demonstrate knowledge of key international political and legal developments in this area such as UNSC Resolution 1325 and the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals.
• Show a familiarity with the literature in this field and engage in informed discussion of it.
• Present persuasive written work with analytic arguments based on evidence, reading and reason.

Visiting International Students - EM7471 P/Grad.
- World Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue

Description and Learning Outcomes

The term World Christianity has gained its meaning in the theological circles with the realization of many particular expressions of Christianity across the globe.
In the recent decade’s theologian’s term have been using the term to signify that Christianity is not synonymous with Western Christianity or that there isn’t one Christianity but many Christianities.
The Western Christian universalism has made many other historical forms as well as contemporary global configurations of Christianity invisible. The study of World Christianity is a study of Christianity across the cultural, ecumenical and religious borders (Dale T. Irvin, 2016).
This module will specifically focus on the attempts that have been made to reimagine Christianity across religious borders which are not only in-between spaces, but also marginalized by the dominant Western form of Christianity. In other words, it will explore how to be religious in an interreligious way (Peter Phan, 2004).


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Gain familiarity with the pioneering works of Raimon Panikkar (cosmotheandric reality), Aloysius Pieris (covenant-Christology), Michael Amalodas (Jesus as avatar) Peter Phan (being religious interreligioiusly), Amos Young (pneumatocentrism), Mark Heim (many salvations), Elain Padilla (covernous mode of dewelling ), Lamin Sanneh (Gospel beyond West ), James Fredericks and Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier ( interreligious friendship), to name a few,
• Understand how Christianity’s encounter with other religious traditions (including indigenous primal traditions) has led to a rethinking of presuppositions of Christian theology generating a vital effect on classical theological field, revisit the classic threefold typology of Christian approaches to religious other, exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism (Alan Race, 1983) whilst searching for alternative approaches that have been researched by theologians,
• Approach interreligious dialogue in creative and imaginative ways on the basis of commonalities, complementarities and radical differences whilst engaging in ‘interactive pluralism’ and,
• Link interreligious encounters with common ethical concerns of the world whilst realizing the ever-increasing complexity in World Christianity.

Semester Abroad - REU14934 Religion, Conflict and Peace in International Relations

Description and Learning Outcomes

The purpose of this module is to provide an understanding of the on-going saliency of religion (broadly defined here as the main world religions) in the contemporary globalized era.
The overall aim is to address the ways in which religion has been marginalized or excluded from the secular perspectives of International Relations theory (Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Constructivism, etc.), whilst providing the intellectual basis for how religiously inspired spheres of thought can be brought back into the picture.
This module also challenges the common view that the politicization of religion is always a threat to international security and inimical to the resolution of world conflict.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Assess the normative debate about the role of religion in International Relations, focusing on the following traditions of IR theory: Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Constructivism and the English School.
• Discuss contemporary issues in international affairs which are associated with the idea of a widespread religious resurgence (i.e. globalization, religious Fundamentalism and violence, transnational religious actors, faith-based peacemaking and diplomacy).
• Address the religious dimensions in contemporary world conflicts, whilst identifying perspectives and movements within main religious traditions which contribute to peacemaking, conflict resolution and reconciliation. •
Evaluate the salience of religious beliefs, identities and movements in selected national contexts such as the United States, Israel, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Semester Abroad - REU14924 Engaging Religious Fundamentalism

Description and Learning Outcomes

Christian expressions of fundamentalist religiosity; defining fundamentalism; methodology in fundamentalist studies; dialogue with the fundamentalist other. Despite receiving widespread scholarly attention across a range of disciplines, so‐called ‘religious fundamentalism’ attracts strikingly minimal attention This module, therefore, explores religious fundamentalism from an explicitly theological perspective, and with a concern (though not an exclusive concern) for Christian expressions of fundamentalist religiosity. Amongst the challenges for module‐participants are defining fundamentalism; methodology in fundamentalist studies; and dialogue with the fundamentalist other.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify and describe the significant historical factors in the emergence of religious fundamentalism.
• Assess dominant paradigms of fundamentalist study.
• Analyse the key social, political and theological elements in the construction of religious fundamentalism.

Semester Abroad - REU14914 Gender, War and Peace

Description and Learning Outcomes

What does gender analysis reveal about the causes and dynamics of war and peace? In this module we begin by exploring and criticising some basic gendered assumptions - such as that war is the business of men and peace that of women. Instead we challenge these dichotomies by examining issues such as the complicated relationship between the social construction of masculinity and soldiering and the challenge posed to militaries by the inclusion of women in their ranks. We ask why peace processes have generally excluded women and what the consequences of that are for the sustainability of peace, while at the same time querying the assumption that 'women' as an essentialised group have particular skills to bring to the peace table. Through these debates we examine the ways in which war and peace are gendered experiences which also shape our understanding of what it is to be a gendered person.


Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Understand the foundational and ongoing debates in Gender Studies concerning sex and gender, femininity and masculinity, gender and difference and be able engage in discussion of these.
• Comprehend and enter into arguments made concerning the gendered nature of war, the perpetration of gender-based violence, the relationships between masculinity and violence/femininity and peace and the necessity of the inclusion of gender concerns in peacebuilding.
• Demonstrate knowledge of key international political and legal developments in this area such as UNSC Resolution 1325 and the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals.
• Show a familiarity with the literature in this field and engage in informed discussion of it.
• Present persuasive written work with analytic arguments based on evidence, reading and reason.