Theology applicants for 2016

Hello,

I'm hoping to apply to Oxford (Theology & Religious Studies), St Andrews (Master of Theology or Theological Studies) , Kings College (Theology), Durham (Theology & Religion), and Exeter (Theology & Religion).

That's if I get 4 good A's at AS though. If I don't do as well then I'll still apply to Kings College (for both Theology and 'Religion, Politics and Society'), Exeter, Durham (with foundation year), and another university just for a fifth choice.

My dream would be to go to Oxford or St Andrews, but so much depends on how well I do in my exams!

Hi - finally some other potential theologians. If I get three As at AS (results are three weeks today!), I will apply to Oriel College, Oxford, Durham, King's, Exeter and Sheffield. I'm just drafting my personal statement and reading books. Which religions and fields of Theology are you two most interested in?

Hello, I've decided to apply to St Andrews as well so maybe I'll see you there! It must be tough waiting for your results, I'm sure you'll do great though So what got you interested in Theology??



Hello, I saw your post in the other thread and completely forgot to answer. I've looked up Exeter and Sheffield though and I can see what you mean, they do look great for Theology! Good luck as you wait for exam results

In regards to my interests, I suppose they can best be summed up as history, feminism, and philosophy. I just love how interdisciplinary Theology is, you can apply it to so many other fields. The Women & Christianity books by Mary T. Malone are excellent. I also like Karen Armstrong, her book A History of God got me interested in early Christianity, especially at the time of Constantine. I didn't know about Arius and Athanasius beforehand but I've discovered I really like Arius. I've got a soft spot for heretics

Elaine Pagels, Matthew Fox, and Marcus Borg are on my reading list this summer. I've also been to see some lectures by Amy-Jill Levine who is a really great Jewish scholar on the New Testament. She's the one who edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament a few years ago which I highly recommend. It's got some wonderful essays at the back by Jewish Scholars about the NT. I really love studying Jesus in his historical Jewish context. The more I learn about the history of Christianity, the more I find it meaningful.

Besides Christianity I know most about Buddhism but I'd like to learn more about Hinduism and Islam as well, especially in today's world. One of my favourite spiritual teachers is Thich Nhat Hanh. He's a Buddhist monk and has written numerous books on meditation and spiritual practice. Not really academic I suppose but still great reads.

What books are you reading? And how is your personal statement coming along? Mine's all over the place, I probably won't finish it until the end of August. Also, have you taken Theology for your A levels? I don't know how the British Education system works entirely, but could you tell me the general topics you've covered in your class or do you happen to know where I could find an outline of the curriculum? I'm just worried about interviews. I don't want them to ask me something that I've never heard of but everyone else has because they've covered it in school.

Hello, I've decided to apply to St Andrews as well so maybe I'll see you there! It must be tough waiting for your results, I'm sure you'll do great though So what got you interested in Theology??



Hello, I saw your post in the other thread and completely forgot to answer. I've looked up Exeter and Sheffield though and I can see what you mean, they do look great for Theology! Good luck as you wait for exam results

In regards to my interests, I suppose they can best be summed up as history, feminism, and philosophy. I just love how interdisciplinary Theology is, you can apply it to so many other fields. The Women & Christianity books by Mary T. Malone are excellent. I also like Karen Armstrong, her book A History of God got me interested in early Christianity, especially at the time of Constantine. I didn't know about Arius and Athanasius beforehand but I've discovered I really like Arius. I've got a soft spot for heretics

Elaine Pagels, Matthew Fox, and Marcus Borg are on my reading list this summer. I've also been to see some lectures by Amy-Jill Levine who is a really great Jewish scholar on the New Testament. She's the one who edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament a few years ago which I highly recommend. It's got some wonderful essays at the back by Jewish Scholars about the NT. I really love studying Jesus in his historical Jewish context. The more I learn about the history of Christianity, the more I find it meaningful.

Besides Christianity I know most about Buddhism but I'd like to learn more about Hinduism and Islam as well, especially in today's world. One of my favourite spiritual teachers is Thich Nhat Hanh. He's a Buddhist monk and has written numerous books on meditation and spiritual practice. Not really academic I suppose but still great reads.

What books are you reading? And how is your personal statement coming along? Mine's all over the place, I probably won't finish it until the end of August. Also, have you taken Theology for your A levels? I don't know how the British Education system works entirely, but could you tell me the general topics you've covered in your class or do you happen to know where I could find an outline of the curriculum? I'm just worried about interviews. I don't want them to ask me something that I've never heard of but everyone else has because they've covered it in school.

Hi again. My main interests are Christian apologetics, the philosophy of the Christian relihion and Biblical hermeneutics. As regards my personal statement, it is finished apart from the wider reading section really. I am really enjoying my reading. In relation to A-Levels and interview questions, there are a few things to note. Firstly, no particular qualifications or subjects are required at all for Theology - I hear from Exeter uni that they get many great theologians who did all science A-Levels. My AS Levels (which count as half of my A-Levels) were Religious Studies, History, Govt. and Politics and Economics. It is important to remember that only Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester interview for Theology and honestly none of these unis will expect any prior theological knowledge at all. Indeed, past Oxbridge interview questions include "What makes a woman strong?" and "Is theMoon made of cheese?" Even so, my particular R.S. course covered the phil. of religion and ethics: search for OCR GCE RS and you will find the spec. You already seem knowledgable enough and you have read extensively too. Personally, I will definitely apply to all 5 unis as then I will have greatest chance of getting into one and also their tupical grade offers significantly vary from AAA to BBB. The Times Good University Guide has probably the best departmental uni subject league table which I will post in 2 weeks. Finally, as regards UCAS and applications, ask me anything both my brothers applied via it so I'm bored to death with it. Good luck to you and "surprisedcake" too.

Hi again, I hope you are both well and having a good summer!My parents work in ministry and were missionaries in Spain until I was 10. My uncle has a degree from LST and my granddad was a reverend! So I guess I have always been surrounded by religion and I've come to love it! Like you said, Theology is so interdisciplinary that it covers everything. My A Level subjects were Philosophy, History and English Literature. It's strange how Theology covers all three in the medium of my favourite subject: religion.Just to give my take on not having Religious Studies: I couldn't do Religious Studies because my college didn't offer it. I have done Philosophy of Religion as part of Philosophy but this focused only on the problem of evil and the analytical arguments for God's existence (think Paley, Descartes, Swinburne). I don't think it will be a problem for you as you've clearly done a lot of reading and probably know a lot more than some who have studied it!My personal statement is also almost done except my chosen texts for this summer. This summer I'm reading a few books including "Toward a Hermeneutics of Liberation" as this is the area of theology I find most interesting. I'm also reading "Exclusion and Embrace" by Miroslav Volf as I think theological exploration of 'otherness' and 'identity' could be good to talk about in my personal statement with links to my experience of multiple cultures and languages.I hope both your PS and results go well in the coming weeks!

I applied to study theology last year so if you have any questions about applying please don't hesitate to ask

Any 2016 applicants get worse AS Level grades than they expected or ones which will probably not get them into their desired theology courses? Thanks.

Are you AS or A2 - when you say just an A do you mean you could have got an A*? An A is still an excellent grade so very well done. That's very interesting about the general trend of grades. I was aiming for at least ABB in my AS Levels but instead got A (Politics) B (History) C (Economics) C (Religious Studies). I somehow got 128UMS (mid-C overall) in my OCR AS Religious Studies which puts me in a very awkward position indeed as it is my worst subject in terms of the grade and the UMS Score - I got 136 UMS in Economics. I have requested photocopies of both scripts but I am not sure whether I should get a remark and, if so, which paper. I am slightly closer to the lower D boundary which is 120UMS than the B boundary which is 140UMS. I definitely still want to apply for Theology so the question is if my R.S. grade stays the same, which unfortunately seems to be the most likely outocme, should I drop it,resit the AS or continue with it to A2 and work really really hard to try to bring it up to a B? What would you do? Thanks and well done again.

I applied to Cambridge and was successful (which was a bit of a shock but I'm very excited about it) so I'll be heading there in October. I had two interviews, one at the college I applied to and an alternative college. My first interview was more difficult and intimidating as it was the first time I'd even been interviewed formally and felt like it was more of a philosophy interview. I was given a passage by Plato with a Socratic dialogue to look at 20 mins prior to the interview and was later questioned about it. In my second interview I was also given a passage to read in advance about humanism which played more to my strengths. I thought that overall the second interview was more relaxed and personal; it was less intimidating and the interviewers were less scary (they smiled more!) and seemed genuinely interested in what I was saying and encouraged me to talk more about who I am. So I guess I had one average interview where I didn't stand out at all and one good interview as I ended up getting place at the second college.

In terms of preparation, I would suggest looking through your personal statement and think of parts which you could discuss further. You don't need to read endless number of books but pick a couple which interest you and analyse them seeing how they can relate to your current studies. They're more interested in how you read and how you articulate your ideas rather than the amount you read. I would recommend a reader as they contain essays from multiple scholars on a topic that interests you (e.g. I chose a philosophy of religion reader). I also read Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (accessible, interesting and applicable) as I was studying virtue ethics in school and wanted to look at the topic with greater insight and context, one of the bonuses of primary texts! If you're interested in Christian theology, I would recommend Alistair McGrath's introduction but it really depends on what interests you. You could try reading about something completely new to you and as long as you show your love for the subject and your desire to learn more about it, you'll be great.

I'm sorry for rambling so much but I hope that this is helpful

Apologies for the late reply - if I don't answer people right away I tend to forget

Wow, congratulations on getting into Cambridge! You're living my dream And you're not rambling at all, it's great to hear more details. I've heard that my potential DoS is a little frightening in interviews so I can't help being apprehensive. I really like how Cambridge Theology applicants get a second college interview. I mean, I love the college I'm applying to but it's nice to have that extra chance (and I'm glad it turned out well for you!). Funny you should mention Alister McGrath, I recently watched him vs Dawkins on youtube and was thinking that I should read some of his books.

Sorry if this is stupid but what's a reader? I think that's a UK term I'm unfamiliar with...

Anyways, thanks again for your help and advice. It's just one more month for you until Cambridge! Best wishes for when you get there

Has anyone decided which Cambridge college to apply to for theology? I'm still uncertain of which to go for- debating between Magdalene, Trinity Hall and Pembroke!

Hi does anyone know what the difference is between the the Theology and Theological Studies courses at St Andrews? Found it a bit unclear on the website!


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