Welcome to the Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Here you can find out a bit more about your department and how you can prepare to start your journey with us.
We are delighted you've chosen to study at Nottingham and we look forward to working with you. We can't wait to meet you in person!
Your degree will give you the opportunity to learn about lots of different things. Our modules include classes about theology, philosophy, art, culture, atheism, ethics, ancient history, the modern world and lots more. Whatever you're into, we hope that your time here will extend your interests in new directions. We want to help you develop your intellectual confidence and grow into a creative thinker who loves to wrestle with big ideas.
Welcome Week is full of excitement but can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. If you're unsure about anything in these early weeks, don't be afraid to ask staff for help!
Choosing your modules
Alongside your compulsory modules, you may be asked to choose some optional ones. Guidance about this process can be found on your Moodle community hub, which you can access when you have your university log-in details. There will also be opportunities for you to ask academic staff members questions about the curriculum during the module guidance event and a meeting with your personal tutor during Welcome.
Next steps
Keep an eye out for an email about how to register online and receive your university username and password. Once you have done so, take a look at your module guidance on Moodle and start thinking about what modules you want to pick.
Postgraduate research students are invited to contact their supervisor(s) and/or the Director of PGR Studies, Dr Conor Cunningham.
Get to know the Humanities Building
AccessAble is a service providing an interactive map for accessible routes across campus. It also provides accessibility information for individual buildings. You may wish to familiarise yourself with the Humanities building before you arrive with the Humanities Building Accessibility Guide.
Undergraduate reading list
Once you get here you’ll have access to multiple on-campus libraries to read and study in (as well as access to thousands of e-books). Until then, we’ve put together the below list of books that you might want to take a look at before you arrive.
Please note that this is for guidance only – it is not compulsory to buy any of these books. You might want to check out your local library to see if they have any of them in stock.
- Barton, John. The Bible: The Basics. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018
- Clack, Beverley and Brian Clack. The Philosophy of Religion: A Critical Introduction, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018.
- Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Judaism Today: An Introduction. London: Bloomsbury, 2010
- Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011
- Hamilton, Carole L. Anthem Guide to Essay Writing. London: Anthem Press, 2011
- Hartman, Laura, ed. That All May Flourish: Comparative Religious Environmental Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
- Kennedy, Philip. A Modern Introduction to Theology: New Questions for Old Beliefs. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006
- Nye, Malory. Religion: The Basics. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2008.
- Taylor, Joan and Helen Bond. Women Remembered: Jesus' Female Disciples. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2022.
- Goodwin, Megan and Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, "Keeping It 101: A Killjoys' Introduction to Religion" [podcast series]: https://keepingit101.com/