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REGULATIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS: NOTICE BY THE GENERAL BOARD

The General Board give notice that, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board or other authority concerned, the regulations for certain University examinations have been amended as follows:

Theological and Religious Studies Tripos (New Regulations)

(Statutes and Ordinances, p. 400)

With effect from 1 October 2002

Regulation 18.

By amending the titles of certain papers as follows:

Group A


Paper A1. Scriptural languages and texts:
A. Hebrew I (Elementary Hebrew);
Paper A6. Understanding contemporary religion.

Group B


Paper B4. The letters of Paul.
Paper B10. Philosophy of religion: God, freedom, and the soul.
Paper B14. Life, thought, and worship of modern Judaism.
Paper B15. Introduction to Islam.
Paper B16. Life and thought of religious Hinduism and of Buddhism.

Group C


Paper C1. Advanced languages and texts:
B. Greek;
D. Arabic;
Paper C6. Late patristic and medieval theology.

Regulation 21.
By amending sub-paragraph (b) so as to read:
(b) For Papers D1 and D2 the Faculty Board shall from time to time prescribe subjects as follows:
For Paper D1, not more than seven subjects.
For Paper D2, not more than seven subjects.

The Faculty Board of Divinity give notice that the list of prescribed subjects for Papers D1 and D2 for the examination in 2003 announced in Reporter, 2000-01, p. 601 has been amended as set out below.

Paper D1:
(a) Old Testament.
(b) New Testament.
(c) Catholic and Protestant in Tudor England, 1520-90.
(d) The Christian doctrine of God.
(e) Metaphysics (new title).
(f) Evolution.
(g) Self and salvation in Indian and Western thought (this paper will not be available in 2002-03).
(h) Late patristic and medieval theology (this paper has been moved to Group C as Paper C6).

Paper D2:
(a) Body, self, and society.
(b) The use and interpretation of the Bible (this paper will not be available in 2002-03).
(c) Jewish and Christian responses to the Holocaust.
(d) Judaism and Hellenism.
(e) Themes in World Christianity (revised title).
(f) Topics in Christian ethics (revised title).
(g) Imagination (additional paper).

Each paper will be examined by two 3,000-word essays, submitted in accordance with Regulation 20 of the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos (New Regulations) except for Paper D2(c), which will be examined by a three-hour written examination.

The Faculty Board further give notice of the following amendments to the supplementary regulations for the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos (New Regulations, Statutes and Ordinances, p. 404).

Group A


Paper A5. The shaping of modern theology
Paper A7. World religions in comparative perspective

By adding the following final sentence in each case:

This paper shall be examined by the submission of two essays in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.

Group B


Paper B10. Philosophy of religion: God, freedom, and the soul
By amending the detail so as to read:

This paper will explore some classical themes in the philosophy of religion. These will include attributes of God, issues of the relationships between God and the world, and issues of God and the soul.

Paper B16. Life and thought of religious Hinduism and of Buddhism

By amending the detail so as to read:

The paper will consider the origins and development up to contemporary times of the beliefs and practices of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. It will deal with problems of interpretation relating to the formation and understanding of founding texts, and with relevant issues in such areas as gender studies and the functioning of élite and colonial influences. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.

Group C


Paper C1. Advanced languages and texts
B. Greek

By amending the detail so as to read:

This paper will contain (i) passages for translation, textual, grammatical, exegetical, and theological comment from such portions of text as the Board will from time to time prescribe, and (ii) essay questions on historical, literary, and theological aspects of the prescribed texts.

Paper C5. Study of theology II

By amending the detail so as to read:

This course will include a historical introduction to christology. In the period from 1918 to the present it will consider the understanding of Jesus Christ in major theologians and movements in theology, and a range of topics in christology.

Paper C6. Late patristic and medieval theology

By inserting the following text for this paper:

This paper covers selected Byzantine and Western theologies extending from the late patristic to the late medieval periods, focusing on primary texts.

Group D


By inserting the following text for the papers in this Group:
Paper D1

(a) Old Testament

A specified topic will be studied in a series of seminars dealing with literary, historical, and theological aspects of a text or texts prescribed by the Board, ancient Near Eastern parallels, and early Jewish and Christian understandings and uses of the texts.

(b) New Testament

This paper will explore in detail a topic of particular interest to students of Christianity in the first two centuries.

(c) Catholic and Protestant in Tudor England (1520-90)
This paper is concerned with the nature and impact of religious change and the formation of confessional identity in the English Reformation, over a range of topics in sixteenth-century belief, practice, and organization. The aim is to explore the nature, progress, and pace of the English Reformation, to provide students with insight into the processes by which religious beliefs are propagated, resisted, and absorbed, and to introduce them to the nature and special problems of the historical sources for the Reformation period.

(d) The Christian doctrine of God
This paper will study the Christian doctrine of God through classic texts from several periods. The Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.

(e) Metaphysics
This paper will study issues raised in contemporary philosophies and theologies, but drawing also on classical, medieval, and modern materials, concerning the relations between metaphysics and theology. The purpose of this paper is to encourage debate on core contemporary issues, including the questions of 'foundationalism' and 'anti-foundationalism'; God and 'being'; God, time, and history; language, analogy, and metaphor; construction and de-construction in theology; and other issues as appropriate.

(f) Evolution
The paper will consider religion and theology in the light of evolutionary biology, including such topics as (a) the history of religious responses to the theory of evolution, (b) current issues in evolutionary science, (c) the philosophy of evolutionary biology, including evolutionary ethics and epistemology, (d) reformulations of Christian doctrine in the light of evolutionary thinking, and (e) evolutionary theories of religion.

(g) The self and salvation in Indian and Western thought1
This topic will be studied from a comparative point of view. The Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.

Paper D2
(a) Body, self, and society

This paper is concerned with the Christian doctrine of human nature. It is studied in relation to a dossier of primary texts from the patristic to the Renaissance period, arranged round four topics.

(b) The use and interpretation of the Bible1
This paper will provide an introduction to diverse forms of biblical interpretation, both Jewish and Christian, which have been used from the patristic period to the present day. Special emphasis will be laid upon elucidating the historical context out of which individual interpretative strategies emerged and upon showing how these different strategies manifested themselves in the interpretation of particular biblical texts.

(c) Jewish and Christian responses to the Holocaust
This paper is concerned with the study of both Jewish and Christian responses to the Holocaust. The Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.

(d) Judaism and Hellenism (also serves as Paper O8 of Part II of the Classical Tripos)
This paper will be concerned with the interaction between Hebraic and Hellenic tradition among the Jews over the five hundred years from the time of Alexander the Great. The topic will be studied in relation to the literature, history, and religion of the period, with special reference to the development of biblical tradition in the setting of Greek and Roman culture, including where appropriate pagan and Christian as well as Jewish material.

(e) Themes in World Christianity
This paper will be concerned with both the common themes and the diversity of contemporary Christianity in its global setting. Particular emphasis will be given to the dialogical character of Christian theological reflection outside Europe since 1914 in relation both to indigenous cultures and to structures of global political and economic power.

(f) Topics in Christian ethics
This paper is concerned with topics in applied Christian ethics, as specified from time to time by the Faculty Board.

(g) Imagination
This paper explores the theme of religious imagination not only through some core texts in classical philosophical and religious traditions from Plato to Iris Murdoch, but also in some religious literary texts.

1 This paper will not be available in 2002-03.


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Cambridge University Reporter, Wednesday 1 May 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.