Oxbridge Personal Statements

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Oh dear, I hope you guys don't think I was ever going to use this website. I don't have enough money for the train at the moment, let alone a £125 personal statement!

Reply 21

tucker672

misternite

Oh dear, I hope you guys don't think I was ever going to use this website. I don't have enough money for the train at the moment, let alone a £125 personal statement!

I will write a better one for £100 :wink:

Reply 22

dave_bob

i'd rather have the 125 quid and put some freaking work into my own ps.

Reply 23

Arrogant Git

I think this work of genius requires airing :biggrin:

(errors are Oxbridge Personal Statements')

Oxbridge Personal Statement

Why Theology & Philosophy? In his great work Karl Barth refers to theology ‘Queen of the Sciences’ for the reason that it has access to a type of experience and phenomena that may be studied by no other science: this material is God’s revelation of himself to mankind firstly through the great prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament and then through his own son Jesus Christ as the four gospels record. If one has himself personal experience of this divine material: if one hears the voice of God, feels him as a direct presence, lives better because of his prayers with him, then this type of material is alluring to study in a way that no other life-material ever can be. As a true theologian one places his feet in the stream of the Almighty; having felt its living presence it would be a paltry and measly existence to study anything else. As a Christian who feels himself to be at this stream theology means for me the perfect opportunity to study the meaning of God’s existence, to comprehend his being, to learn of his intentions for me, and to learn to live by his instructions. Theology means for me then the study of the great minds and the great documents of the Christian Church: of the Gospel writers, of the Patristic fathers, of the medieval scholastics, the Reformists and the modern theologians. I want to study these en and their works that I might better understand the revelation that God has vouchsafed with me. Knowing His Word better, I live better, and I can think of no greater motivation to study than this.

My reason for wanting to study philosophy must begin with a confession of a certain prejudice or ‘out-of-syncness’. That confession, contrary to the current of modern philosophical opinion, is that I consider philosophy and theology to be far more intimately connected that many theologians and certainly philosophers would want to accept. Christian theology, for instance, I regard as essentially no different to Christian philosophy. The first is the writing down in scholarly tomes and the passing on through traditions of men’s thoughts and experiences of the primal religious experience of Jesus Christ and of the other prophets. That is, when doing theology men are encasing in verbal and conceptual form that which was originally a primal and supernatural revelation.
Philosophy it seems to me, and I would adduce in my defence the great William James, seeks in its highest sense to do exactly the same task. I acknowledge that there are myriad philosophies whose exclusive focus is not Christianity, but every true philosophy in my opinion must fix upon some original divine transcendence. For the earliest theologians there was far less of a void between theology and philosophy than presently, and thus my attitude towards there study is that they are indistinguishable.

Why Oxford? My personal theology is Christian theology, and since Oxford is the UK preeminent centre of Christian theology my choice is an easy one. Specifically, the broadness of the Oxford programme, allowing for the study of almost any aspect of Christian theology, as well as the historo-critical approach to texts and the chronological but flexible nature of the degree is highly attractive.

Qualifications. For my GCSEs I earned ten A*s and one A and I am predicated AAA for
my A-Levels (in Religious Studies, Philosophy and History).

Outside of academia I represented my school’s 1st XI at cricket and played hockey for the 1st XI also. I am President of the school Theology Society and of the school Poetry Society. Reading is my other great passion and the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rudolph Otto are of special importance to me.

What Will I Do With My Degree? I intend to undertake a Master’s and then PhD in theology before entering a career in academia perhaps at Oxford University.
:biggrin:

I'm just gutted I only gave UCAS my predicted grades.