Course Modules

This module will introduce you to the historical study of religion and ethics and you’ll investigate the important contemporary question of the relationship between religion, ethics and violence.

This module evaluates the political, intellectual and religious development, popular, elite and court culture, warfare and international relations and gender issues across Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire within the Renaissance and Reformation periods. You will gain a better understanding

The module investigates different understandings of human nature. What makes humanity distinct? Are we rational animals? Do we have souls? What is the relationship between thinking and our embodied existence? We will explore a range of understandings with particular attention

The module investigates the relationship between philosophy and science by examining debates about different conceptions of truth. Is truth something that can be measured? Is there reality beyond the material world? Contemporary society values the explanatory powers of social and

This module explores the British state’s evolving stewardship over the environment since the end of the Second World War. You will examine the connected environmental challenges that the state has faced in this time including pollution, urban change, resource depletion,

The module investigates different philosophical approaches to freedom and justice. What constitutes a free action? Can freedom be granted? What are the key components of a just society? We explore different traditions with careful attention to their historical and cultural

This module gives a historical overview of the emergence and development of Islam and in so doing provide an understanding of divergent constructions of the Islamic faith in the modern world. You will reflect upon belief and practice in contemporary

This module assesses the causes and consequences of crusading to the Holy Land between 1095-1291. You will examine the motives of the First Crusaders and the subsequent defence of the Holy Land, including leaders such as Richard the Lionheart, as

This module allows you to investigate the connections between philosophy and contemporary theories on religion. Whilst recent philosophical debates have questioned the division between humans and the rest of nature, contemporary theory of religion has moved away from an understanding

This module examines the nature of papal pronouncements and diplomatic interventions in the continuing evolution of the modern nation state. You will consider these ideas in the new ideological landscapes of totalitarian power, in the two world wars and the