Economics/Theology & Religious Studies

Economics and theology might seem an unlikely combination, but each discipline asks fundamental questions about human values and social organisation from a different vantage point. Economics is concerned with how resources are allocated, how markets function and how incentives shape behaviour, using the tools of quantitative analysis and formal theory. Theology and religious studies encompasses the study of religion, the Bible and theological thought not as matters separate from public life but as they intersect with politics, history, literature, philosophy, art and culture, as well as with personal belief and practice.

Studying them together cultivates an unusual ability to think rigorously about both material and ethical dimensions of human society.

This part-time degree at the University of Glasgow includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study in an international context and develop your understanding of either discipline in a different academic and cultural environment. The part-time structure allows you to combine study with other commitments over an extended period. You will develop formal economic reasoning and quantitative skills alongside the critical reading, theological analysis and philosophical inquiry that religious studies demands.

The combination encourages you to ask how belief systems shape economic behaviour, how economic structures affect religious communities, and how normative frameworks from theology can challenge or enrich economic analysis.

Graduates from this combination bring an unusual breadth of perspective to careers in social research, public policy, international development, religious organisations, education, journalism, the civil service and the voluntary sector. The combination of rigorous analytical training and genuine engagement with human values and meaning is relevant wherever complex decisions must be made with imperfect knowledge and competing priorities.