Our Graduate Diploma in Theology and Religion offers you the opportunity to pursue your interests in the study of religion and theology.
This highly flexible conversion course gives you the control to select from a wide range of optional modules based on your intellectual curiosity and career aspirations. Successful completion enables you to go on and study for an MA in the field of theology and religion.
We are a recognised global leader in the exploration of theology and religion and you will be able to choose from topics as diverse as Hebrew prose texts, the links between science and theology, New Testament ethics and the globalisation of Christianity.
Within the Department, we offer a breadth and depth of theological and religious expertise through the Centre for Death and Life Studies, the Centre for Catholic Studies, the Michael Ramsey Centre for Anglican Studies and the International Centre for Moral Injury.
You will also benefit from highly effective cross-departmental and interdisciplinary links between the department and, for example, the University’s Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. We also work in partnership with external theological institutions.
This course gives you the means to explore the aspects of theology and religion which interest you, regardless of the subject of your graduation degree, delivered in the inspirational environment of the city of Durham itself where the magnificent Cathedral is evidence of the city’s own major religious role over nearly two millennia.
Course structure
Core modules:
This course does not feature compulsory modules and instead comprises six optional modules chosen from an extensive range of subjects.
In recent years, optional modules have included:
Literature and Theology of the Old Testament
New Testament Theology
Syriac
Death, Ritual and Belief
Creation and New Creation: Imaging God
Reading the New Testament in Greek
Religion in Contemporary Britain
Atheism, Belief and the Edge of Reason
Topics in Christian Ethics
Early Christian Doctrine: Trinity and Christology
Christ and the Human Mystery: Imaging God
Myth and Meaning: The Structural Analysis of Mythology
Research Project and Colloquium in Theology and Religion
God and the Universe of Faiths
Catholic Theology in the Modern World
Sacred India: Land, Politics and Identity
The Reformation and its Legacy
Medieval Theology and Spirituality
Sects, Prophets and Guru’s
Jewish Religion in Antiquity: Belief Systems, Ethics, Political Conflicts
Faith, Identity and Power in Latin America
Create, Image, Enact: Christian Theology and the Arts
Augustine of Hippo
Introduction to the theology of Bonaventure
Emotion, Religion and Identity
Theology and Culture in Atlantic History
Advanced Greek Texts
Issues in Old Testament Studies
New Testament Ethics
Religion and Film
Emotion and Identity in Religion
Christian Fundamentalism and the Modern World
Christian Tradition and the Practice of Politics
Jesus Christ in the Twentieth Century
The Historical Jesus
Religious Diversity in African Contexts
Thomas Aquinas: Background, Context and Legacy
Religion, Media and Popular Culture
The Globalisation of Christianity
Theology, Nature, Environment
Faith and the Experience of War: Byzantium and Eastern Orthodoxy
Medieval Theology and Spirituality
The Reformation and Its Legacy
Competing Gospels: Jesus inside and outside the Canon
Teaching includes a mixture of lectures, seminars and tutorials, giving you an average of 7.5 hours of timetabled contact per week and providing a launchpad for your growth as an independent learner.
The classroom teaching and learning will typically amount to around 25% of learning time with the remaining 75% spent working independently.
The flexible structure enables you to choose the equivalent of six modules from an extensive range. This includes the option to complete a Graduate Diploma dissertation for which you would have the support of a supervisor. The dissertation is the equivalent of two modules and would count for a third of your marks.
You will also be encouraged to engage with the extensive programme of research-related activities in the Department, including research seminar series and public lectures by high-profile guest speakers and visiting scholars.
Assessment
Assessment is rigorous and continuous with the majority of assessments based on coursework. Most of the modules from which you will be able to choose, are assessed by essays, presentations and oral examinations or any combination of those methods. The biblical language modules also include written examinations.
The optional Graduate Diploma dissertation is an independent piece of research of up to 12,000 words in length. This is the equivalent of two standard modules.
Entry requirements
The standard entry requirement is a BA (Honours) degree (UK 2:1 or equivalent, for example, a GPA of 3.7 on a scale of 4.0 scale), but applicants from non-traditional backgrounds or with other qualifications may be considered subject to interview and a review of written work.
The Diploma is an ideal course to take if you are wanting to transition from another discipline to theology and religion, which you might wish to pursue at MA level. It is also ideal if you have already studied theology and religion to first degree level in another country, and wish to become familiar with the critical approach to these subjects that is typical in British public universities.
The tuition fees for 2025/26 academic year have not yet been finalised, they will be displayed here once approved.
The tuition fees shown are for one complete academic year of study, are set according to the academic year of entry, and remain the same throughout the duration of the programme for that cohort (unless otherwise stated).
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/Postgraduate-Prospectus.png)
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/Postgraduate-Scholarships.png)
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/Postgraduate-Meet-Students.png)
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/Book-an-Open-Day.png)
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/V8K807.png)
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/V500.jpg)
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/study/individual-course-and-cta-images/V614.jpg)