Ancient Religions (MA)

The aim of this unique multi-disciplinary Ancient Religions (MA) programme is not to focus on any one tradition, but to engage with different religious traditions across the ancient world. You will get new insights into the nature of ancient religions across the globe, from the Mediterranean world to ancient China The programme is very flexible to suit your research interests.

Course Overview

The Ancient Religions (MA) offers students whose interests centre on this field the opportunity to take a specialist higher degree tailored to investigating the Celtic, Christian, Egyptian, Jewish, Greek, Minoan/Mycenaean and Roman religions. The programme enables students to gain a clearer understanding of the interrelations of religion and society in a cross-cultural perspective and so better enables them to understand multi-religious worlds. Moreover, students will gain a wider understanding of the cultural economic and social forces underpinning the ancient world and these ancient ideas and practices in particular.

The scheme allows you to study a wide range of modules covering a wide range of ancient religions, giving you a choice to shape the programme to your interests. All our modules in the Ancient Religions (MA) are taught by internationally renowned specialists and active researchers from different disciplines, notably Classics, Egyptology, Theology, Religious Studies, Prehistory, Cultural Astronomy, Celtic Studies and Chinese Studies. The influence of our research on our teaching offers our students the opportunity to learn from the best in the subject and follow the latest scholarly trends and discoveries. In addition, you can also study Latin, Greek or Classical Chinese as part of this MA programme.

The MA Ancient Religions is available to both on-campus students and distance learners. Our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a live forum through which students and staff can interact, through which students are better able to revise and explore difficult topics and access the electronic resources available in the virtual world.

Assessment

An MA degree in Ancient Religions involves a wide range of assessment methods. In addition to traditional essays, you will be assessed through bibliographic exercises, presentations – oral and PowerPoint-based, creation of abstracts and encyclopaedia articles, in-house conference papers, article reviews, creation of project plans and, of course, the final 15,000-word dissertation.

This variety of assessment helps develop skills in presenting material in a clear, professional and a lucid manner, whether orally or in writing.

Career Opportunities

The programme provides a broad foundation for postgraduate work by laying particular emphasis on the methodologies and research tools needed for independent advanced study, thus acting as training for students who intend to undertake an MPhil or PhD. The course also provides a professional qualification for teachers or others seeking Continuing Professional Development. In addition, the programme will be attractive to students who wish to study out of personal interest.