A day in the life of a Theology and Religious Studies student

10am: Dissertation work in Hallward Library

I spent the morning in Hallward library working on my dissertation, which is entitled ‘The Gender of the Divine Jesus Christ: Reconciling a Genderless God with a male Saviour’.

I have been using the book Christology in the Making by James Dunn as a source for my dissertation, so I read a chapter of that whilst in the library. This was useful for the pre-existence chapter of my dissertation, as it covers this aspect of the nature of the divine Jesus. 

1pm: Lunch at Portland Building

I met a friend for lunch today in the Portland Building, so I grabbed a meal deal from the Portland Boots. We sat in the seating area on the main floor of the building and had a catch-up over lunch. 

2pm: 'Beginning New Testament Greek' lecture

After lunch I went to my 'Beginning New Testament Greek' lecture with Professor Richard Bell in the Lenton Grove building. Today, we worked on Third Declension Greek Nouns, learning the verb endings for each of the cases in Greek and looking at some examples of these in the New Testament.

After this, Professor Bell showed us the Greek verb Τετέλεσται, meaning ‘it has been finished’ as in John 19.30 and explained the significance of this tense that the action has been completed, in the context of the crucifixion of Christ. This was very interesting, as it showed the importance of studying the New Testament in its original language to understand the full meaning of the text. 

3pm: Independent study in the Humanities Building

After my lecture, I went next door to the Humanities Building to do some independent study. I started by working on my Greek vocabulary for my New Testament Greek Module, using ANKI, a flashcard app to learn the new words.

When I had done this, I worked on the pre-reading for my 'Twentieth Century Theology' module, taught by Professor Conor Cunningham, as I have the lecture for this tomorrow morning. I read the key sections of a chapter of Henri de Lubac’s Surnaturel, focusing on De Lubac’s notion of a natural desire for the divine. 

5pm: Dissertation supervisor meeting

I had a meeting with my dissertation supervisor, Professor Bell, in the Humanities Building. We chatted through the structure of my dissertation and went through some key New Testament texts that are particularly relevant to my topic together.

My supervisor is very approachable and helpful, so this session really helped me in knowing what direction to go in with my dissertation. 

5pm: Home

When I had finished my meeting I headed home, catching a pretty view of the sunset over the Trent building and the lake. I then cooked and ate dinner back at my student house with my housemates. 

8pm: Dance Society social

In the evening I had a social meet-up for my Dance Society, so we went for some drinks at Coco Tang, a cocktail bar in the city centre.