Religion, Theology & Spirituality and Psychology

RELIGION, THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY

‘If you want a cathedral, we’ve got one to spare!’ runs a traditional Liverpool song.  This city has been shaped by its religious past – it has seen over two centuries of religious riots, you'll find the oldest mosque in England here, and the landscape is dominated by two amazing cathedrals. Liverpool now is home to vibrant new religious communities from across the world. All that makes Liverpool Hope the perfect place to study the spirituality, wisdom, and mysticism of the major religious traditions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. But our city with its art and music scenes also tells us that the human quest for meaning and purpose goes beyond the traditional ‘religions.’ People today are often seeking a ‘spiritual’ identity – but not necessarily a ‘religious’ one.

Liverpool Hope is the perfect place to study all this. Our university is rooted in the attempts by Catholics and protestants to mend their differences in the city, and our teaching team is made up of people from many different cultures and christian traditions.  offers you the opportunity to look at the big questions that people ask today – bringing together both traditional religions and contemporary perspectives. You will gain insights into ancient wisdom, rituals, and sacred texts that influence millions today. Plus, you’ll actively participate in critical debates about human existence in a world facing numerous crises. You will tackle ethical and theological questions concerning the beginning and end of life, sexuality, gender, evil, suffering, and contemporary issues like radicalisation, ecology, violence, inter-religious dialogue, secularisation, post-secularism, health, wellbeing, and near-death experiences. You will examine how our beliefs about our place in the universe impact how we treat our planet and all life forms.

The city will be a constant backdrop to our studies. It is home today to new and changing religious traditions. We will visit and take a close look at places of worship – both the traditional and the strikingly new. And we will also explore the other ways that people find meaning, hope and community here – looking at the ways they actively create and use different types of ritual performance and expression to shape their spiritual identity. In this city, that of course includes art, music and football! 

People who study this programme will benefit from the experience of meeting people who make sense of their lives in very different ways. The course challenges its students to broaden the way they think of other people and their beliefs. So, it provides excellent professional grounding for the kinds of careers that involve understanding and working with people, especially in contexts where complex ethical decisions are needed – for example, in community planning and support, education, politics, and the civil service.

PSYCHOLOGY

The importance and relevance of psychology to all areas of life and society continues to grow, meaning that an undergraduate degree in psychology will prepare you for a diverse range of careers. The Psychology courses at Liverpool Hope University equip students with knowledge and understanding of human thinking and behaviour. The single honours BSc Psychology course has a focus on applications of psychology and students are supported in their development of skills to apply psychological knowledge to real-life settings. As an alternative, a combined honours Psychology degree at Liverpool Hope allows you to study psychology alongside one of over thirty other disciplines (e.g., Tourism, Criminology, Geography; see the list on the combinations tab for the full range of Psychology combined honours courses) meaning you can choose to study psychology in a way that matches your interests. 

Accredited by the British Psychological Society, the single and combined honours Psychology courses provide an in-depth scientific knowledge and understanding of the core areas of psychology. You will be supported by a friendly team of experienced and research-active lecturers to acquire skills of critical thinking and independent learning. The transferable skills developed through the course will be relevant to a variety of sectors including healthcare, the criminal justice system, education, and marketing.    

You will have the opportunity to enrich your degree through a series of extra-curricular activities, such as working as a research intern, supporting your peers as a mentor, and applying psychology outside the University (e.g., working in groups on an outward-bound retreat and teaching in another country as part of our Global Hope network). You will also have access to the School of Psychology labs where you can gain first-hand experience of specialist psychology techniques and equipment, such as eye-tracking, EEG, and observational methods.