MA Scottish Literature/Theology & Religious Studies
About this course
Scottish literature and theology and religious studies is a combination of unusual depth and distinctiveness. Scottish literature encompasses one of Britain's richest and most distinct literary traditions, from the medieval makars through Robert Burns and the Scottish Enlightenment to the major Scottish writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is a literature shaped by Gaelic and Scots as well as English, by the particular social, religious and political history of Scotland, and by a persistent engagement with questions of national identity, community and moral seriousness. Theology and religious studies brings to these questions a rigorous examination of belief, meaning, sacred texts and religious practice across traditions and cultures. At the University of Glasgow, this four-year full-time degree benefits from the university's unparalleled resources in Scottish literary scholarship: the only academic unit in the UK exclusively dedicated to Scottish literature is based here, along with the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, which is producing a major new scholarly edition of Burns's works. You will engage with Scottish literature across its full historical range alongside the study of religious thought, biblical texts, world religions, philosophy of religion and the history of Christian and other traditions. A year abroad gives you the opportunity to study in another academic environment and to bring a comparative perspective to both disciplines. Deep reading, careful textual analysis, critical argument and clear written expression are developed throughout. You will engage with a body of work that is significant both literarily and culturally, and you will bring theological and philosophical perspectives to bear on questions that Scottish literature repeatedly raises. Graduates move into education, research, the church and ministry, the cultural sector, archiving, heritage, journalism, and a range of careers that value close reading and analytical rigour. Postgraduate study in Scottish literature, theology, or related fields is a natural pathway.
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