Theology Applicants for 2013 entry

Hi,
im looking at nottingham to do philosophy and theology applying in 2013... what do you study on the theology side of the course?
Thanks

Have a look at Heythrop?

Hi, I did TRS at Winchester 2001-4 if anyone is thinking about applying there

Hi, I'm Lloyd, year 12 from Bedfordshire and I'm strongly atheist. I want to focus more on the philosophy of religion and some universities I have been thinking about are:
Oxbridge (not sure which)
Durham
Heythrop
King's
Nottingham

Oh cool, any chance you'll be at the King's taster day then?
I don't know any prospective theology students. D: do you?

There are only two others at my school, but I guess that just means it will be less competitive as for Kings taster days; I haven't looked into them, are you going?

Yeah, exactly! Looking at the Cambridge Applicants page I'm now feeling pretty glad that theology is so much less competitive in comparison to others!
Yes, I'm going to one on May 30th. You can find all the stuff about that on the university of London website http://www.london.ac.uk/tasters.html
I know they have a few Heythrop ones as well.
So what interested you in Theology?

I was always interested in the big questions, which is what drew me to philosophy, but the questions about morality, God and human nature drew me the most because the answers to these questions matter so much to so many people. Whether the external world exists may be fascinating, but people are always going to live as though there is one. They don't really care about questions like that. 'Is there or is there not a God at work in the universe?' or 'can the essence of our being actually survive death its self?' these are the truly important questions, the answers to which have the potential to change the very way we view our reality.
Sorry for the essay; I just get a teensy bit passionate about theology what about you? Why do you want to do theology?
Oh, and thanks for the info about taster days at King's

Hey all

I'm Hannah from Birmingham . I'm currently in year 13, so going on a gap year next year and applying in autumn (I haven't applied at all this year). I have to say I am so excited about studying theology, it kind of makes me squee inside a little bit every time I think about it. I'm looking at Oxbridge (leaning towards Cambridge but I'm not sure), Durham, St Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

As for why I'm applying for theology, well, thats the million dollar question isn't it? Up until year 12 I was actually planning to study history but the idea of theology was growing in my mind, especially as I loved the A level RS and it just kind of fits (also, both my parents did theology and my dad still works within theology and writes books and stuff, so that can only have helped!) For me, I'm really fascinated in the interaction between religion and culture and how you seperate the two and whether that is even possible. So much of what gets wrapped up in religion and becomes 'sanctified' or 'holy' seems to come very much from the culture at the time, so how do you seperate that from the life changing experiences people have. I'm really excited to get down and dirty with the religious texts as well and looking at how ideas progress and change. Considering that I hated any and all languages I have done I'm ridiculously excited about maybe learning a biblical language. I'm also fascinated by the role of women in religion, especially the idea of eve and mary. Oh and I think the whole issue of sex, virtue, purity, chastity etc. isd just generally cool. And...

And...

And...

As you can see I could just go on forever so I will try and stop now! I think I will really struggle to decide what modules to study and what kind of 'track' to follow - I want to do it all!

So what kind of books and extra reading and stuff are people doing? I'm trying to keep a focus but I'm not doing too good!

Can I just ask what are you doing now, in terms of education/ career?

Don't worry I totally get it! ...theology geek over here too.
For me, religion is required, to answer the debates and the dilemmas of the world. The questions that I want answered are of how religion fits in to the new, empirical age that is often reliant on pure science for answers. Religion actually seems such an abstract thing in the world that we live in- it's so different to everything else. And I wonder if there will always be a place for it. Is the intense need for something stronger, or for a God, actually innate in us all?
I've done a lot of research on women and religion and that has absolutely facsinated me. So I'm really into the comparative religions stuff. And I'm so excited to be working with other people who are all searching for the answers too. And I think it's quite a personal course too, so I suppose searching for yourself too, if you get what i mean? In the least cheesy way :P

Hello! I know how you feel, I'm so excited, I just hope I'm on track to get to where I want to go. I adore Durham and Cambridge, and I do really like the look of Edinburgh. Because I live so far South I wasn't so sure about applying to Durham, let alone Scottish universities, so if I go for Edinburgh it'll be the exception.
Yes, the ideas about cohesion between religion and culture is exactly what I love too. But same for me- the other day I was having a good look at some of the universities' courses and I was just thinking 'how am I going to choose!?'.
In terms of wider reading, I'm making a list of all the books I want to read in the summer, because at the moment I'm just determined to get the grades I want and nothing else. I've already read some short books and done research on Quakerism and a little bit about Buddhism, as well as the stuff I mentioned on women. I can't wait to read The God Delusion. What about you? Any recommendations?

Personally, I'm not too fussed about how far away from home I go (not that I don't want to be at home or anything!) and I quite like the scottish system of being able to do more than one subject in the first two years. That said, it might make visiting home very expensive!

And ooh! someone else interested in Quakerism. As it happens, I'm currently reading Christine Trevitts book on Quakerism and women in the 17th century. Are you a Quaker yourself or is it just something that you're interested in? Any book recommendations? I've got a few books on theology in general that I need to get round to reading (think theologically and some of the Peter Vardy books - if you haven't seen his series of books I would recommend them - they're very easy to understand and follow) but I really need to get going a bit more. I really want to do a bit more research in the area I looked at for my EPQ and also have a look at some of the textual stuff. So like you I really need to do myself a reading list! I think I am going to try and commit myself to reading half an hour a night or something, as I'm quite busy in the summer.

I definitely recommend that you try and get the best grades you can in the summer though. I did very minimal revision and as a consequence came out with AABC. I've got that up to all As now with resits but its really not a position that you want to find yourself in though if you can help it. You sound a lot more focused than me though so I'm sure you will be fine