THEO44430: Inter-disciplinary Research in Theology and Religion

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• To develop an understanding of the range of sub-disciplines within Theology and Religion.
• To equip students in selecting and limiting their choice of disciplines/sub-disciplines in a single study.

• The course will introduce students to the variety of ways in which the academic disciplines within Theology and Religion evaluate and research the beliefs and practices of religious communities.
• The modules lectures and seminars will focus principally on Christian theology, and will explore the purposes and methodologies of various sub-disciplines within Theology and Religious Studies, including: Biblical Studies, Systematic and Philosophical Theology, Christian Ethics, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology and History. (Areas such as Church Growth, Digital Theology, Youth Ministry and Homiletics will be touched on, but not explored in depth.)

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• A developed and critical understanding of methodologies in theology and the study of religion.

Subject-specific Skills:

• The ability to deploy an appropriate range of methodologies in the study of religion and theology
• Skills in using critically a variety of disciplines to understand practice

Key Skills:

• Communicate complex information and argument in a clear and orderly way
• Understanding of a range of complex phenomena
• Understanding the limits of interdisciplinary study; demonstrating a clear rationale for the choice of particular sub-disciplines for the students proposed research.
• Problem posing and problem solving

• The module functions primarily as the third module in the Doctor of Theology and Ministry (DThM) degree. It introduces students to a variety of methodologies drawn from the wide range of disciplines/subdisciplines within the study of Religion and Theology, and to the potential, and the necessary limits, in designing a methodology that draws on more than one subdiscipline.
• Students will already have been introduced to a variety of empirical and ethnographic approaches to theology. This module allows them to refine those concepts by exposure to methodologies drawn from the wider range of disciplines within the study of Religion and Theology.
• The module will be structured around lectures and seminars with a formative assignment on which written feedback is given and a summative assignment of 5,000 words.
• Lectures and seminars are delivered as a block of teaching during the 5 day spring DThM Residential programme, which is held out of term during the Easter break.
• It is anticipated that the summative assignment may serve as an exploratory study towards the candidates choice of subdisciplines for their DThM research project.

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