1. The Theological and Religious Studies Tripos shall consist of three Parts, Part I, Part IIa, and Part IIb.
2. In any year in which candidates for honours in the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos and candidates for honours in some other Tripos desire to offer papers common to both Triposes, the timetables for the examinations shall be arranged accordingly.
3. Public notice of all the variable subjects selected for the examinations in any year shall be given by the Faculty Board of Divinity before the end of the Easter Term of the year next preceding the examination concerned; provided that the Board shall have the power of subsequently issuing amendments if they have due reason for doing so and if they are satisfied that no student's preparation for the examination is adversely affected.
4. The Faculty Board of Divinity shall have power to issue supplementary regulations defining or limiting all or any of the subjects of the examinations and to publish lists of books or of documents. Such lists of books or documents and other reading lists for papers shall be made available in the Faculty Library by the end of the Full Easter Term of the year next preceding the examination. The Faculty Board shall also have power to alter such supplementary regulations and such lists, due care being taken that sufficient notice is given of any change.
5. The following may present themselves as candidates for honours in Part I:
6. A student who has obtained honours in another Honours Examination may be a candidate for honours in Part IIa,138 in the year after so obtaining honours, provided that he or she has kept four terms and that twelve complete terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.
7. A student who has obtained honours in any Honours Examination other than Part I of the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos may be a candidate for honours in Part IIb,138 in the year after so obtaining honours, provided that he or she has kept seven terms and that fifteen terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.
8. No student shall be a candidate for more than one Part, or for one Part and also for another Honours Examination, in the same term.
9. No student who has been a candidate for any Part shall again be a candidate for the same Part.
10. A candidate shall not offer in any Part of the Tripos a paper that he or she has previously offered in another University Examination.
11. The Faculty Board shall nominate such number of Examiners as they may deem sufficient for each Part of the Tripos.
12. The Faculty Board may also nominate such number of Assessors as they may deem necessary for either Part of the Tripos. Assessors shall be responsible for setting the paper or papers in the subjects assigned to them by the Examiners, for looking over the work of the candidates therein, and for presenting such reports to the Examiners as may be required by them. Assessors may be summoned to meetings of the Examiners for the purpose of consultation and advice, but shall not be entitled to vote.
13. The questions proposed by each Examiner and Assessor shall be submitted to the whole body of Examiners for approval.
14. The Examiners and Assessors shall have regard to the style and method of a candidate's answers, and shall give credit for excellence in these respects.
15. The Examiners shall take account of a candidate's performance in an additional paper, or in the weaker of two papers either of which may be deemed to have been taken as an additional paper, only in so far as it is to the candidate's advantage. They shall not exclude a candidate from any class on the ground that he or she has not offered an additional paper.
16. (a) A candidate who, in accordance with Regulation 26(b) or Regulation 27(b), wishes to offer a dissertation shall apply, giving the title of the proposed topic, to the Secretary of the Faculty Board not earlier than the beginning of the Easter Term and not later than the first Monday of the Full Michaelmas Term in the calendar year next preceding the examination. A dissertation may be on any topic relating to the subject of any paper in the Tripos, but the Board may, when giving approval for a particular topic, impose the condition that a candidate who offers a dissertation on that topic may not offer a particular paper or a particular prescribed subject in a paper. The Secretary shall inform the candidate as soon as possible, and in any case before the end of Full Michaelmas Term, whether the topic has been approved by the Faculty Board.
(b) No change shall be made in the topic of a candidate's dissertation after the end of Full Michaelmas Term, but the Faculty Board shall have power to approve minor changes of wording in the title which clarify or define more precisely the scope of a topic previously approved, provided that such changes are submitted to the Secretary of the Faculty Board by the division of the Lent Term.
(c) A dissertation, which shall be of not more than 10,000 words (inclusive of notes but exclusive of bibliography), shall be sent to the Secretary of the Faculty Board so as to arrive not later than the third Monday of the Full Easter Term in which the examination is to be held, together with a written declaration that it is the candidate's own original work and that it does not contain material already used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose. A dissertation should show evidence of reading, judgement, and criticism, and of a power of exposition, but not necessarily of original research, and should give full references to sources used. It must be written in English unless the candidate has received permission from the Board to use some other specified language; a request for such permission must be made when the original application is submitted.
(d) The dissertation shall be submitted under detailed arrangements approved by the Faculty Board. The Examiners shall have power to examine a candidate viva voce on his or her dissertation and on the general field of knowledge in which it falls.
17. There shall be separate class-lists for each Part. In each list the names of the candidates who obtain honours shall be arranged in three classes, of which the second shall be divided into two divisions. The names in the first and third classes and in each division of the second class shall be arranged in alphabetical order. The Examiners may affix a special mark to the names of those candidates whose work is in their opinion of special distinction.
18. The papers for the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos, which shall be divided into Groups A–D, shall be as follows:
Paper A1. |
Scriptural languages and texts: |
A. Hebrew I (Elementary Hebrew) B. New Testament Greek C. Sanskrit D. Qur’anic Arabic |
|
Paper A2. |
One God? Hearing the Old Testament |
Paper A3. |
Jesus and the origins of the Gospel |
Paper A4. |
Christianity and the transformation of culture |
Paper A5. |
Who is Jesus Christ? |
Paper A6. |
Understanding contemporary religion |
Paper A7. |
World religions in comparative perspective |
Paper A8. |
Philosophy of religion and ethics |
Paper B1. |
Intermediate languages and texts: |
A. Hebrew B. New Testament Greek C. Sanskrit D. Qur’anic Arabic |
|
Paper B2. |
The literature, history, and theology of the exilic age |
Paper B3. |
Judaism in the Greek and Roman periods |
Paper B4. |
The letters of Paul |
Paper B5. |
The Johannine tradition |
Paper B6. |
Christianity in Late Antiquity (to circa 600) |
Paper B7. |
Reform and renewal in Christian history |
Paper B8. |
Study of theology I |
Paper B9. |
God and the imago Dei |
Paper B10. |
Philosophy of religion: God, freedom, and the soul |
Paper B11. |
Ethics and faith |
Paper B12. |
Psychology and religion |
Paper B13(a). |
Christian culture in the western world |
Paper B13(b) |
Religious themes in literature |
Paper B14. |
Life, thought, and worship of modern Judaism (also serves as Paper X.4 of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Tripos) |
Paper B15. |
Introduction to Islam (also serves as Paper X.5 of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Tripos) |
Paper B16. |
Life and thought of religious Hinduism and of Buddhism |
Paper B17. |
Logic (Paper 3 of Part Ia of the Philosophy Tripos) |
Paper C1. |
Advanced language and texts: |
A Hebrew B. Greek C. Sanskrit D. Arabic139 |
|
Paper C2. |
Creation and covenant |
Paper C3. |
New Testament Christology |
Paper C4. |
Religion, power, and political society140 |
Paper C5. |
Study of theology II |
Paper C6. |
Disputed questions in the Christian tradition |
Paper C7. |
Topics in the study of religion |
Paper C8. |
Judaism II (also serves as Paper X.10 of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Tripos) |
Paper C9. |
Islam II |
Paper C10. |
Hinduism and Buddhism II |
Paper C11. |
Metaphysics141 |
Paper C12. |
Theology and science |
Paper D1. |
Special subjects, specified by the Faculty Board |
Paper D2. |
Interdisciplinary subjects, specified by the Faculty Board |
19. Each paper shall be of three hours’ duration, provided that the Faculty Board shall have power to specify by supplementary regulation a paper or papers from any group which shall be examined by an alternative mode of assessment, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.
20. The alternative mode of assessment for any paper specified by the Faculty Board under Regulation 19 shall consist of either (a) the submission of two essays or (b) the submission of a portfolio of six essays on topics chosen by the candidate from a list of topics published by the Faculty Board not later than the first Friday of the Full Michaelmas Term next preceding the examination. Where two essays are submitted under (a), the length of each essay shall be, for a candidate in Part I, not more than 3,000 words in length and, for candidates in Parts IIa and IIb, not more than 5,000 words in length (in each case, inclusive of notes but exclusive of bibliography). Where a portfolio of six essays is submitted under (b), the length of each essay shall be not fewer than 1,500 words and not more than 2,000 words in length. Candidates shall be required to declare that the essays are their own work. The essays shall be typewritten, in English, and shall be submitted through the candidate’s Director of Studies to the Secretary of the Faculty Board in accordance with detailed arrangements approved by the Board, so that the first essay submitted under (a) or the portfolio of essays submitted under (b) arrive not later than 1 p.m. on the first Monday of Full Easter Term and the second essay under (a) not later than 1 p.m. on the third Monday of Full Easter Term.
21. (a) Every candidate who offers a paper in which there is a choice of subject shall take only one of these question papers (except as provided for in Regulations 23(i), 24(i), 24(ii), 26(i), and 27(ii)); the candidate's examination entry shall state which subject he or she intends to offer.
(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.
A separate question paper shall be set for each subject so prescribed for which there is a candidate.
(c) The Board may also prescribe that a candidate who offers a particular subject in one of Papers D1 and D2 may not also offer another particular paper.
22. A candidate for Part I shall offer:
provided that
23. A student who is a candidate for Part IIa in the year next after obtaining honours in Part I of the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos shall offer four papers chosen from Group B, provided that
24. A student who is a candidate for Part IIa in the year next after obtaining honours in an Honours Examination other than Part I of the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos or who is an Affiliated Student142 shall offer four papers, including:
provided that
25. A student who is a candidate for Part IIa in the year next after obtaining honours in an Honours Examination other than Part I of the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos and who has kept seven terms shall offer four papers chosen from Group B, provided that
26. A student who is a candidate for Part IIb in the year next after obtaining honours in Part IIa under Regulations 23 or 24 shall offer:
provided that
27. A student who is a candidate for Part IIb in the year next after obtaining honours in an Honours Examination other than Part I or Part IIa of the Theological and Religious Studies Tripos or who is an Affiliated Student142 shall offer:
provided that
28. The Faculty Board shall have power to exempt from the requirement to offer a language from Paper A1 any candidate for Part IIa under Regulation 24 who produces evidence that he or she has done work of a satisfactory standard in Greek or in Hebrew or in Sanskrit or in Arabic, whether in Cambridge or elsewhere. Such a candidate shall not offer in Part IIa Paper A1 in the language in which he or she has gained exemption. Any application for exemption shall be sent through the candidate's Director of Studies to the Secretary of the Faculty Board so as to arrive not later than the first Monday of the Full Michaelmas Term next preceding the examination, and shall include details of the applicant's qualifications. The Secretary shall inform the candidate's Director of Studies as soon as possible, and in any case by the division of the Michaelmas Term, whether the application has been approved.
This paper will comprise four sections, Section A, Hebrew I (Elementary Hebrew), Section B, New Testament Greek, Section C, Sanskrit, and Section D, Qur’anic Arabic; candidates will be required to confine their answers to a single section. Section A will contain (i) questions on Hebrew grammar, and (ii) passages for translation, linguistic comment, pointing, and retranslation from a portion or portions of the Old Testament prescribed by the Faculty Board. Section B will contain passages for translation, and for exegetical and grammatical comment, from one or more portions of the New Testament which the Board shall from time to time prescribe. Copies of a Greek lexicon will be available in the examination for those who wish to make use of them. Section C will contain (i) questions on Sanskrit grammar, and (ii) passages for translation, linguistic and exegetical comment, from a portion or portions of the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures prescribed by the Board. Section D will contain (i) questions on Arabic grammar, and (ii) passages for translation, linguistic and exegetical comment from a portion or portions of the Qur’an, the Hadith, and early Islamic theological literature prescribed by the Board.
This paper will provide an introduction to critical study of Old Testament literature and religion, focusing on the development of monotheism in a predominantly polytheistic setting. Texts for special study will be prescribed by the Faculty Board.
This paper will, until further notice, be entitled ‘Jesus and the origins of the Gospel’. It will be concerned with central issues (arising from the primary sources and critical scholarship) in the study of the Gospels and the Historical Jesus. The Board may also prescribe a particular text or texts for special study.
This paper will introduce students to the history of Christianity by considering key periods and issues in the interaction of Christianity with the culture in which it is set. The topic of the paper will be announced annually by the Faculty Board.
This paper will introduce some of the major themes and disciplines of Christian theology through a focus on Jesus Christ. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
This paper will offer a broad introduction to the sociological study of religion with a particular focus on understanding developments in Britain since 1945 including secularization, charismatic religion, the New Age, new religious movements, and multiculturalism.
This paper will approach at least two religions through the study of a topic or topics specified annually by the Faculty Board, in the context of the history, beliefs, and practices of the main religions of the world. This paper shall be examined by the submission of two essays in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.
This paper will introduce students to the philosophy of religion and to ethics. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
This paper will contain (i) passages for translation, linguistic, and exegetical comment, and retranslation from portions of text which the Faculty Board will from time to time prescribe, and (ii) essay questions on literary and theological aspects of the prescribed texts. Candidates may not offer in this paper any prescribed text which they have previously offered in Paper A1.
This paper will contain passages for translation, textual, exegetical, and theological comment from such portions of text as the Faculty Board will from time to time prescribe.
This paper will contain passages for translation from a number of texts which the Faculty Board shall from time to time prescribe, together with questions on the language and content of those texts.
This paper will contain passages for pointing, for translation, and for linguistic and exegetical comment from portions of the Qur’an, Qur’anic commentaries, and other Islamic literature which the Faculty Board shall from time to time prescribe. The paper will also contain a passage for translation from English into Arabic.
This paper will be concerned with Old Testament history from the reign of Hezekiah to the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus and with theological and literary responses to the Babylonian invasions and their consequences in the literature of the time, with particular reference to relevant sections of Genesis-Numbers; Deuteronomy; Joshua-2 Kings; Job; exilic elements in the Psalter; Isaiah 40–55; Jeremiah; Lamentations; Ezekiel. The Faculty Board will prescribe a portion of the Old Testament for special study.
This paper will be concerned with an essential period for our understanding of the formation of Judaism (and of nascent Christianity). It will examine the social, historical, and political contexts in which ancient Jews shaped their identity from the rise, after Persian rule, of Alexander the Great (332 bce) up to and including the series of Roman revolts that culminated in the one named after Bar-Kokhba (132–5 ce).
This paper will study the Pauline ‘corpus’, including Ephesians and the Pastoral epistles. There will be questions on historical, literary, and critical problems, but the emphasis will be on the theological thought and practice of the apostle Paul. The Faculty Board may also prescribe a particular text or texts for special study.
This paper will be concerned with central issues (arising from the primary sources and critical scholarship) in the study of the Fourth Gospel and Johannine Epistles. Although students will be expected to read the full text of the Gospels and Epistles, specific texts for more detailed study will be announced by the Faculty Board.
This paper is concerned with the main historical and theological developments in Christianity in Antiquity set within the social, historical, political, and cultural contexts of the Roman Empire and its immediate successors.
This paper is concerned with the themes of reform and renewal in the Christian tradition. The course aims to introduce students to the persistence, recurrence, and transformation of Christian aspirations for institutional, doctrinal, or spiritual and moral renewal, and thereby to assist understanding of the impact of different eras, regions, and societies on Christian identity and self-understanding. Candidates will study two topics prescribed from time to time by the Faculty Board.
This paper is concerned with the Christian understanding of God and humanity. The course aims to study this through classic texts from different periods, understood in the context of their time and in relation to current theological discussions. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe topics and texts for special study.
This paper is concerned with three central loci of Christian systematic theology: the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of God and the imago Dei, as well as the way in which these doctrines intersect.
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’.
The paper will study questions concerning the nature and form of moral judgment, as treated in the history of Western philosophy.
The paper will cover topics in the empirical psychology of religion such as religious development, religion and mental health, religious experience, conversion, charismatic and fundamentalist religion, and human spiritual qualities. The paper will also cover theoretical and methodological issues including the dialogue between psychology and theology, religion and psychoanalysis, the relationship of psychology to the study of religion in the social sciences, and contemporary critiques of the psychology of religion.
This paper will be concerned with the study of an aspect of the cultural formation and impact of Christian belief and practice, specified from time to time by the Faculty Board. This paper shall be examined by the submission of two essays in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.
This paper will consider religious themes in literature connected to a set topic, to be announced by the Faculty Board at the end of the Easter Term preceding the year in which the paper is taught. This paper shall be examined by a portfolio of six essays in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.
This paper will be concerned with the life, thought, and worship of modern Judaism. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
This paper will cover the origins, development, and contemporary situation of the theology, law, and mysticism of Islam. It will deal with literary-critical and interpretative problems relating to the founding documents of the religion, and with contemporary methodologies in philosophy of religion, gender studies, and comparative jurisprudence as applied to Islam. References to Christianity may be included. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
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.
This paper will be concerned with the exegesis of prescribed text or texts in Hebrew. It will involve translation from and linguistic, text-critical, and exegetical comment on texts which the Faculty Board will from time to time prescribe, including some parts of the prophetic and poetic books of the Old Testament; passages for unseen translation from Hebrew into English; a passage for translation from English into Hebrew; and essay questions on literary and theological aspects of the prescribed texts.
This paper will contain (i) passages for translation, and for textual, grammatical, exegetical, and theological comment from such portions of text as the Faculty Board will from time to time prescribe, and (ii) passages for unseen translation from texts of similar provenance.
This paper will contain passages for translation and comment from a number of texts which the Faculty Board shall from time to time prescribe, together with questions on the language and content of those texts.
This paper will be concerned with the translation of, and linguistic and exegetical comment on portions of the Qur’an, Qur’anic commentaries, and other Islamic literature which the Faculty Board shall from time to time prescribe.
This paper will examine from the perspective of biblical theology, as well as a historical perspective, the twin themes of creation and covenant in the Hebrew Bible. Through close textual analysis the relationship between these themes will be studied, and their role in contemporary biblical theologies, both Jewish and Christian, will be explored.
This paper will be concerned with central issues, arising from the primary sources and critical scholarship, in the study of Christology within the New Testament.
This paper is concerned with the relationship between the churches, government, and the wider society. The aim is to introduce students to the web of relationships between ecclesiastical structures, secular legal authority, political aspirations, and popular religious movements, in order to elucidate the theological and ecclesiological issues involved. Candidates will study two topics prescribed by the Faculty Board.
This paper will be concerned with an advanced topic in the study of theology. The topic will be prescribed by the Faculty Board.
The paper will examine theological problems arising within ‘classical’ Christian theology, in the context of major theological loci. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe topics and texts for special study.
This paper will be concerned with an aspect of the study of religion, as specified by the Faculty Board from time to time.
This paper will consider the life, thought, and worship of medieval and modern Judaism. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe subjects and texts for special study.
This paper will deal with two advanced topics in Islamic studies specified from time to time by the Faculty Board. The Board may also from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
This paper will be concerned with two advanced topics in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions prescribed from time to time by the Faculty Board. The Board may also from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
This paper studies the major problems of (religious) metaphysics that have been handed down to contemporary philosophy of religion from the Enlightenment period. Taking Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason as its starting point, it first provides a close, critical examination of Kant’s own reworking of the notions of ‘God’ and ‘soul’, and of his rejection of the classical arguments for God’s existence. It then provides a systematic account of the major responses to, or evasions of, Kant’s challenge in the 20th and 21st centuries amongst those philosophers of religion who have sought either to repristinate theological metaphysics, or to give philosophical credence to God-talk by means of other, ‘post-metaphysical’, strategies of defence. Once this map of current philosophical alternatives is outlined, the lectures turn to re-examine four classic problems of theological metaphysics in the light of them: ‘natural theology’ and its current possibilities; the problem of evil; the soul and immortality; and God and time.
The paper will cover (a) topics in theology where there is a substantive engagement with contemporary science (b) historical, philosophical, and methodological perspectives on the dialogue between theology and science.
Papers in this group except D1(a), (b), and (f) shall be examined by the submission of two essays in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.
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 Faculty Board, ancient Near Eastern parallels, and early Jewish and Christian understandings and uses of the texts.
This paper will explore in detail a topic of particular interest to students of Christianity in the first two centuries. The topic will be prescribed by the Faculty Board.
This paper will study in detail a topic in the history of Christianity. The topic will be prescribed by the Faculty Board.
This paper will study the doctrine of God through classic texts from several periods. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe topics and texts for special study.
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.
This topic will be studied from a comparative point of view. The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
Papers in this group except D2(c) shall be examined by the submission of two essays in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 20.
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.
This paper will be concerned with the theological interpretation of a basic Christian text, the Gospel of John. It will explore the practice of theological interpretation of scripture with reference to this Gospel, drawing on modern and premodern theologians and commentators.
The Faculty Board may from time to time prescribe texts for special study.
This paper will be concerned with the interaction between Jewish and Hellenistic traditions from the time of Alexander the Great until the early rabbis. It will examine the conceptual problems of ‘Hebraism and Hellenism’ through an examination of the literature, history, and religious life of Jews in the period.
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.
This paper is concerned with topics in applied Christian ethics, as specified from time to time by the Faculty Board.