Theology and Religion

Theology and religion is the systematic study of religious thought, practice, history, and experience. It encompasses the critical examination of texts, doctrines, and institutions across the world's major religious traditions, as well as philosophical inquiry into questions about the existence of God, the nature of religious knowledge, the relationship between faith and reason, and the ethical dimensions of religious life. At its best, theology and religious studies demands both rigorous textual and historical scholarship and genuine philosophical seriousness about questions that have occupied some of the greatest thinkers in human history.

At the University of Oxford, theology and religion is taught at the very highest academic level, drawing on Oxford's extraordinary depth of scholarship across biblical studies, patristics, systematic theology, philosophy of religion, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, and the comparative study of religion more broadly. You will engage with primary sources in their original languages, including the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, and you will work across a wide range of traditions and periods. The tutorial system at Oxford provides an exceptionally rigorous and personalised intellectual environment, and you will be expected to read widely, think independently, and defend your arguments with care and precision.

Oxford's collections, including the Bodleian Library and numerous faculty libraries, are among the finest resources for theological study anywhere in the world.

Graduates in theology and religion from Oxford go on to a wide range of careers, including ordained ministry, academic research and teaching, law, journalism, the civil service, international development, chaplaincy, and the cultural sector. The combination of philosophical rigour, historical scholarship, and ethical awareness that the programme develops is genuinely transferable across professional fields. Many graduates also proceed to postgraduate study in theology, philosophy of religion, religious studies, or related disciplines, including doctoral research that contributes directly to scholarship in the field.