Religion, Theology & Spirituality and Education (with Foundation Year)

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.

EDUCATION

A degree in Education is a dynamic and stimulating opportunity to study the individual, social, and political forces that shape education, in all its forms. If you are interested in how and why we learn, both formally and informally, in the UK or abroad, then studying Education will challenge and excite you in equal measure.

Studying Education at Liverpool Hope will help you to develop academically as you engage with evidence and research, professionally as you link theory to practice, preparing you for a wide variety of work contexts, and personally as you think more deeply about your own values and aspirations. Our degree will bring education to life, tackling important questions such as ‘Can education help overcome inequality in society?’ and ‘How does modern technology transform the learning and teaching experience?’. It is structured around the four key disciplines of education: psychology, sociology, history, and philosophy. Each discipline provides a different lens through which key ideas and issues in education can be understood.

By studying Education at Liverpool Hope University, you will become a Hope Education Professional: inspired to put educational theory into practice, able to critically evaluate current policy, and willing to make a difference in the world. Single honours students complete a placement as part of the course and combined honours students will be offered optional placement opportunities. The degree is an ideal foundation for those who decide to go on to train to become a teacher, and a variety of other professions, at Liverpool Hope University or elsewhere.

Visit the Springpod website for a spotlight on Primary Education.