Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2022). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. This course offers an intensive training in research in the study of religions. It enables you to study two major religions, and to explore the nature of religion itself, at an advanced level. You can select your two religions from the following five religious traditions currently covered by the faculty: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. In many cases, you will study the early doctrines and practices of religious traditions in their historical contexts, engaging with primary source texts in English translation, but you may also opt to study the modern variations of a particular religion, or a set of religious practices or institutions in the contemporary world. The Oxford tutorial system applies to postgraduate study in this course, so you are encouraged to develop your particular interests in conversation with your tutors. In addition to six to eight tutorials in the first two terms, students will attend one two-hour class per week and the Graduate Research Seminar once a fortnight. Additional supervisions are offered in the third term to aid students in the writing of their dissertation, as well as a number of revision classes and the fortnightly Graduate Research Seminar. Each of these traditions has an internationally-recognised research centre, institute or outstanding cluster of scholars in Oxford. This typically means that you are not only taught by specialists in your chosen tradition, but also have access to a variety of specialist libraries and collections.