都柏林圣三一学院

What is Religion?

Religion plays a significant role in diverse cultural, social and political contexts. Religious world-views, values and symbols play a critical role in shaping cultural norms, traditions and practices. This is the case both in religiously plural contexts, as well as those dominated by particular traditions. The contours of religion are evident not only in the artefacts that transmit a culture’s heritage (such as architecture, visual arts, illuminated manuscripts, literature, etc.), but also in contemporary debates about the evolving identities of societies in a world characterized by religious pluralism.

This course encourages and enables students to engage with the complexities of religious and theological traditions – in their historical and current manifestations, in their intellectual and affective dimensions, and in their cultural interactions and interreligious encounters.

Students on this course will be engaged with contemporary debates about, for example, the nature and impact of political religion, religion and modernity, religion and gender, religion and violence, religion and human rights, and ethics in politics.

Religion: The course for you?

This course offers you a choice from three possible directions of study after your first year. The first is a broad-based study of Religion and Theology, the second a specialization in the Cultural Study of Religion, and the third in Christian Theology. Within the Cultural Study of Religion, you have the opportunity to explore the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the religions of Asia and Africa, as well new atheistic and religious movements. If you choose to specialize in Theology, you can investigate the development of Christian self-understanding in a number of different modes, including denominational, multi-denominational and ecumenical aspects.

Religion @Trinity

In combining theological study with the study of religion, this degree is unique in Ireland. Trinity’s School of Religion is internationally recognised for its strengths in biblical studies, philosophical and theological ethics, peace studies, historical and systematic theology and religious studies. These strengths ensure that student experience combines in-depth analysis with breadth of subject matter that presents religious traditions in their historical, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, political and ethical dimensions, as well as examining how religious traditions have interacted, and continue to interact, with the context of their origins and development.

Graduate skills and career opportunities

This course combines in-depth, multi-disciplinary expertise with the acquisition of a broad range of critical skills, thereby preparing graduates to work in diverse settings, and to be leaders in their respective fields. This course offers students the opportunity to develop all four of Trinity’s graduate attributes of thinking independently, communicating effectively, developing continuously and acting responsibly. Graduates from our School have entered a wide range of professions, including: law, education (primary and secondary), information technology, pastoral ministry, the civil service, creative arts, publishing, accountancy, as well as continuing on to further research in Ireland and abroad.