Sarum College logo
  • Learning
    • Short Courses
    • Exploring Theology
    • Prospective Students
    • Postgraduate Study & Research
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
      • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
    • Theology, Imagination & Culture
    • Christian Spirituality
    • Bible & Sacred Texts
    • Human Flourishing
    • Leadership Learning
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Private Stays, Retreats, Study Breaks and Sabbaticals
    • Library
      • Guide to Library Services
  • Ministry
    • Ordination
      • Undergraduate Award
      • Postgraduate Award
      • Rural ministry
      • Parish-based pioneer ministry
    • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
    • Independent Study
  • Hospitality
  • Courses & Events Diary
  • Get in touch
Sarum College logo
  • About Us
    • Our People
    • Governance
    • Work with us
  • Safeguarding
  • News
  • Donate
  • Learning
    • Short Courses
    • Exploring Theology
    • Prospective Students
    • Postgraduate Study & Research
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
      • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
    • Theology, Imagination & Culture
    • Christian Spirituality
    • Bible & Sacred Texts
    • Human Flourishing
    • Leadership Learning
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Private Stays, Retreats, Study Breaks and Sabbaticals
    • Library
      • Guide to Library Services
  • Ministry
    • Ordination
      • Undergraduate Award
      • Postgraduate Award
      • Rural ministry
      • Parish-based pioneer ministry
    • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
    • Independent Study
  • Hospitality
  • Courses & Events Diary
  • Get in touch

Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality

Home Learning Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality

Join us

to explore the search for spirituality, one of the most enduring aspects of human cultures

‘Spirituality’ is an expression of the way we search for meaning and seek to live out our fundamental beliefs and values in everyday life.

In Christian terms, spirituality is concerned with the lived experience of the Christian faith and the human relationship with God.

Postgraduate programmes in Christian Spirituality, validated by the University of Winchester, offer an exciting opportunity to study this dynamic and interdisciplinary subject with world-leading experts. Options include a one-year certificate, a two-year diploma and a three-year master of arts degree.

 

For me coming to modules feels like a mini-academic retreat and I really look forward to it.

Studying on the MA is challenging and I have been really stretched. I have been able to choose subjects that have spoken into the work I am doing. For example, studying trauma has helped with the pandemic, studying Benedict has helped with parish life and then exploring film and spirituality, sexuality and spirituality, art, wisdom — all those things have fed into my work.

— The Revd Catherine Williams, priest and spiritual director

Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality

We excel at giving our students personalised support and our programmes have been commended for their high quality, rigour, breadth, flexibility, and creativity. We strive to create a learning environment where students collaborate and support one another in small groups.

To help achieve this, we run teaching weeks for modules over a few residential intensives during the year. The course structure is designed in such a way that modules combine classroom and home-based study so that students benefit from personal contact with tutors and lecturers, with minimal disruption to domestic or professional responsibilities.

Validated by

  • woman-reading

The learning community: A student perspective

Sarum College has given me a real experience of being a proper student. The group that’s come together has been absolutely fantastic: we come from different theological backgrounds and we just got on so well.  I think it’s meeting together, chatting in the evenings. The tutors have stayed and chatted in the evenings.  We’ve met over the meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner and met with people on other courses as well.

That has been a huge bonus so that when you go away to do your real work – you have to recognise that much of the real work is done when you’re away from here – you have the motivation to do it and it still feels like you’re part of this (group).  And I think being a theological community, even though there is quite a freedom to explore, there’s that sense that you’re dealing with things that are really important for us all.

 

People are very supportive here and, you know, you can go at your own pace and you get the support that you need.

Also, you’re here in this environment where you look out to the cathedral. It has a real sense of history, and a theological history as well, which makes a great advantage to studying here.  I think the fact that everything is on site gives a sort of cohesiveness to it and a friendliness of it.

I think also one thing that I found was the support that you get from the team really encouraged me that this would be a good place to be.

Alison Goodlad, Sarum MA graduate

Find out more

Michael Hahn Sarum College
Dr Michael Hahn, Programme Leader

Dr Hahn’s current research and teaching expertise covers medieval spirituality, the Franciscans, and the development of mystical theology. He is particularly interested in women in the Franciscan tradition, including Clare of Assisi and Angela of Foligno.

View full profile

The Programmes

Sarum College’s postgraduate programmes in Christian Spirituality offer an exciting opportunity to study this dynamic and interdisciplinary subject with world-leading experts. The programme explores theological, historical, pastoral and other contemporary points of view.

Options include a one-year certificate, a two-year diploma and a three-year MA degree, validated by the  University of Winchester

Introductory video

View all Christian Spirituality modules 

One-year themes in Christian Spirituality

View the 2022 -2023 Academic Diary

View the 2023-2024 Academic Diary

View the courses & events calendar for specific course dates

One-year themes in Christian Spirituality

You can tailor postgraduate study programmes in all sorts of ways. If you want to just do a year of study and concentrate on a specific theme within Christian Spirituality, here are possible pathways, with September or January starting point options.

To view specific dates for each module, view them on the courses & events calendar here 

More information about postgraduate studies in Christian Spirituality here 

January start

Desiring God

Modern and Postmodern Perspectives on Christian Spirituality + Erotic Desires: Gender, Sexuality and Spirituality + Western Christian Mysticism

Reframing Christian Spirituality

Modern and Postmodern Perspectives on Christian Spirituality + Relocating Religion + Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life

Contemporary Christian Spirituality

Modern and Postmodern Perspectives + Texts and the Christian Tradition + Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life

September start

The History of Christian Spirituality

Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality + Monasticism, Mysticism and Metaphysics + Erotic Desires: Gender, Sexuality and Spirituality

Spirituality and the Arts

Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality + Theology, Imagination and the Arts + Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life

Spirituality and Gender

Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality + Spirituality, Health and Wellbeing + Erotic Desires: Gender, Sexuality and Spirituality

Student-Centred Learning

External examiners praise Sarum for the personalised support we offer to students. Our programmes have been commended for their high quality, rigour, breadth, flexibility, and creativity.

We work hard to create a learning environment where students collaborate and support one another in small groups. One of the ways we do this is by running teaching weeks for modules over a few residential intensives during the year. The course structure is designed to combine classroom and home-based study so that students benefit from personal contact with tutors and lecturers, with minimal disruption to domestic, ministerial, or professional responsibilities.

 

Student Research Blog

The Road not Taken, by Mike Truman

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

I started by auditing modules both from MATIC and its sister programme, MACS (MA in Christian Spirituality). As an auditor, I participated fully in the intensive residential study week for the module but with, as I thought, the great advantage that I did not have to write an essay. I soon realised my mistake – researching in depth for the essay was a vital part of getting the most out of the module.  I started the MA in 2018.

Read more: The Road Not Taken

Programme Structure

Postgraduate courses are structured to combine classroom and home-based study so that students benefit from close contact with tutors and lecturers with minimal disruption to domestic, ministerial, or professional responsibilities.
Award options:

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Christian Spirituality (one year)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Christian Spirituality (two years)
  • MA in Christian Spirituality (three to five years)

The programme has built-in flexibility to adjust the pace to suit your lifestyle.

Students learn collaboratively in a modular curriculum arranged around four-day residential teaching intensives throughout the year. Consolidating our class-based teaching in this way widens access to working students and allows the College to recruit world-leading scholars and seasoned practitioners to lecture on modules.

Teaching Team

The teaching team for modules draws from a global pool of experts in their field, as well as Sarum’s core academic staff and visiting scholars.

Visit Our People for details

The Setting

The study of theology in Sarum’s historic buildings began in 1860. The Cathedral Close setting, communal and library spaces make it an ideal environment for study and reflection.

During residential modules you stay in College guest rooms with en-suite facilities. Many rooms have lovely views overlooking the Cathedral, the Close and the Sarum quad.

View facilities on our hospitality website

Fresh, home-made food is cooked and served on site, and the Common Room provides a bar and space for continued conversation into the evening.

Teaching rooms are well equipped, including large screens for live-streamed events. The library is well-stocked with access to a catalogue of books and journals, and you can make use of it when you like. The library can be used outside of residential periods for research and writing.

The Cathedral is just across the lawn from College and some students participate in the pattern of liturgy there. The Butterfield Chapel is also available for private worship space.

Auditing Modules

Postgraduate course modules are open to all so you may enrol on any MA module as an “auditor” without registering for an accredited programme such as the full MA.

An auditor participates in a module in exactly the same way as students on the MA, but does not prepare an assessment at the end of it and receives no academic credit.

FAQs

Enrolment Requirements

The normal requirement for postgraduate studies is a good first degree in a related subject. However students over the age of 21 with other relevant experience and/or training may be admitted subject to interview.

How To Apply

The deadline for applications for January 2023 start is 9 December 2022

The deadline for applications for September 2023 start is 31 August 2023.

  • Academic Diary 2021-2022
  • Academic Diary 2022-2023
  • Application Form
  • Fees and Methods of Payment
  • Grantmaking Trusts
  • MA Application Checklist
  • Referee Report Form

The policies for Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) are subject to change from the University of Winchester. Registered students have access to current regulations via the online learning platform, SarumLearn.

For all postgraduate enquiries please contact Chris Whimpenny, MA Administrator or telephone 01722 424827 (01722 424800 for the main reception).

Funding: Trusts & ELCAS

Looking for sources of funding to help with costs?

Browse the list of Grantmaking Trusts

Members of the Armed Forces can apply for ELCAS funds for the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture or the MA in Christian Spirituality as Sarum College is a registered learning provider.

Upcoming short courses

Reading Scripture Together: Bathsheba and David 

06 February 2023

This online day will delve into the narrative texts as they appear in 2 Samuel 11-12 ...

View course

Science and the Theology of Catastrophe

06 February 2023

Geo-Science in a Partnership with a Practical Theology of Catastrophe for Saving Lives and Livelihoods ...

View course

Moses, Mount Sinai, and Early Christian Mystics

07 February 2023

The Exodus narrative of Moses’s experiences on Mount Sinai fascinated early Christian mystics. They ...

View course

Exploring Theology Winter 2023

07 February 2023

Winter 2023: Exploring Modern Developments in Theological Conversations Sarum College’s flagship Exploring Theology programme is ...

View course
No event found!

Study at Sarum

Book a visit or join us for a taster session

 

Meet the team

Dr Michael Hahn

Programme Leader for Postgraduate Programmes in Christian Spirituality

Read more

Jayme-Reaves

Dr Jayme Reaves

Director of Academic Development

Read more

Chris Whimpenny

MA Administrator

Read more

jayne-downey

Jayne Downey

Director of Learning Resources

Read more

Dr Ann Conway-Jones

Visiting Scholar in Contemporary Spirituality

Read more

The Revd Dr Ayla Lepine

Visiting Scholar in Contemporary Spirituality

Read more

Fr Jarel Robinson-Brown

Visiting Scholar in Contemporary Spirituality

Read more

Professor Christopher Southgate

Visiting Scholar in Contemporary Spirituality

Read more

Sarum College logo

Get in touch

  • info@sarum.ac.uk
  • 01722 424800

Find us on maps

  • Sarum College, 19 The Close, Salisbury, SP1 2EE, UK

Stay in the know

Sign up to our newsletter

Learning

  • Prospective Students
  • Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Christian Spirituality
  • Bible & Sacred Texts
  • Exploring Theology
  • Human Flourishing
  • Leadership Learning
  • Spiritual Direction

Postgraduate study & research

  • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
  • Library

Ministry

  • Ordination
  • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
  • Independent Study
  • Parish-based pioneer ministry
  • Postgraduate Award
  • Rural ministry
  • Undergraduate Award

The College

  • About Us
  • Travel to Sarum College
  • Our People
  • Governance
  • Hospitality
  • Private Stays, Retreats, Study Breaks and Sabbaticals
  • Work with us

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy|Accessibility

© 2023 Sarum College|Registered Charity No. 1161253|Company No. 9510356|Sarum College's trading subsidiary is Sarum College Services Ltd, Company No. 1931038|Website by blue bee

Sign up to our newsletter

Fill in and submit the form below and we'll add you to our mailing list for news about Sarum College.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.