The department also organises a programme of postgraduate seminars and study days, which act as a focus and stimulus for the research of both postgraduate students and the staff of the department. The MA programme consists of a combination of modules and a dissertation with credit values totalling 180 credits. A range of options will be available each year, though which of them actually run may depend to some extent on student choice. A module presenting ethical theories which students can test practically or relate to their wider understanding of religion and society. The course aims to provide tools for moral reasoning and to help students explore and evaluate ethical traditions.
Areas covered include consequentialism, deontology and virtue theory.
In this module we will explore the notion of the 'body of Christ' in Christology and ecclesiology. We will look at how theologians down the ages have understood Christians' participation 'in Christ', and how different ways of being church have accompanied those reflections. We will look at the potential which the exploration of this idea has for transforming ecclesial practice. Pastoral and practical theology has been described as 'the place where religious belief, tradition and practice meets contemporary experiences, questions and actions, and conducts a dialogue which is intellectually critical and practically transforming'. This module explores how and why these disciplines have emerged, focusing on key practitioners and examples of their work.