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Sarum College TIC

Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture

Home Learning Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture

Join us

to deepen your theological understanding and enliven faith practices

Theology is expressed through signs, symbols, metaphors, myths and stories.

This interdisciplinary programme examines diverse forms of theological expression, how these shape the culture we live in, and how culture shapes our experience of God’s work.

Postgraduate programmes in Theology, Imagination and Culture, 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.

 

 

I am a working artist … and I was looking for something that would inform the artwork that I create and give me an opportunity to pursue that more deeply. Sarum enabled me to draw together a number of interests.

Although I run an arts organisation I hadn’t taken an academic course in some time. It was a ridiculously steep learning curve to write at that level but it has been a very beneficial experience and definitely has directly inspired the artwork I create.

— Susan Francis, master’s student in Theology, Imagination and Culture

Postgraduate Study in Theology, Imagination and Culture

 

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

 

students-discussing-leanring
  • woman-reading

Find out more

Dr Eleanor McLaughlin, Programme Leader

Dr McLaughlin’s research interests include Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology, theological anthropology, and disability theology.

Alongside her role as Theology, Imagination and Culture programme leader, Dr McLaughlin is a Research Associate at the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture.

Her publications include Unconscious Christianity in Bonhoeffer’s Late Theology: Encounters with the Unknown Christ. Foreword by Rowan Williams (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020), and ‘Disability, Technology, and Human Flourishing,’ in Human Flourishing in a Technological World: A Theological Vision, edited by Jens Zimmermann and Michael Burdett (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2021).

See her full profile

The Programmes

Postgraduate study options include a one-year certificate, a two-year diploma and a three-year master of arts degree, validated by the University of Winchester.

These programmes offers the opportunity to study theology, imagination and culture with experts to examine subjects from 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

View Dr McLaughlin’s introduction video

View all Theology, Imagination and Culture modules

One-year postgraduate study themes in Theology, Imagination and Culture

View the 2022-2023 Academic Diary

View the 2023-2024 Academic Diary

Visit the courses & events diary to view forthcoming course dates

One-year Programme Themes

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 Theology, Imagination and Culture, here are possible pathways, with September or January starting point options.

Overview of all the Theology, Imagination and Culture modules

View specific dates for each module on the courses & events calendar  

January start

Theology and Art

  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination
  • Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life
  • Either a Guided Reading  or Guided Artist Study module

Reading the Bible Through History

  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination
  • The Bible: Cultural Critique and Transformation
  • either Texts in the Christian Tradition or Theology and Human Culture

Imagination and Theology

  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination
  • Texts in the Christian Tradition
  • Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life

Interrogating Texts

  • Theology, Interpretation and Imagination
  • Texts in the Christian Tradition
  • Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality

Theology, Church and Contemporary Culture

  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination
  • Relocating Religion or Guided Reading Module
  • Church, Culture and Society

New Ways of Thinking About Religion

  • Modern and Post-Modern Perspectives on Christian Spirituality*
  • Relocating Religion
  • Texts in the Christian Tradition

*choosing this module means the degree is in Christian Spirituality

September start

Theology and Art

  • Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life
  • Theology and Human Culture
  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination or Guided Artist Study

 Reading the Bible Through History

  • Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality* or Theology and Human Culture
  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination
  • Texts and Christian Tradition

*choosing this module means the degree is in Christian Spirituality

Imagination and Theology

    • Inspiration and Imagination: Creative Expressions of the Spiritual Life
    • Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality*
    • Theology and Film or Texts in the Christian Tradition or Guided Artist Study

*choosing this module means the degree is in Christian Spirituality

Theme: Interrogating Texts

  • Theology and Human Culture
  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination or Guided Reading
  • Texts in the Christian Tradition

Theology, Church and Contemporary Culture

  • Theology and Human Culture
  • Text, Interpretation and Imagination or Guided Reading
  • either Mass Culture: Theological Engagement and Spiritual Practice  or Theology and Film

New Ways of Thinking About Religion

  • Theology and Human Culture
  • Modern and Post-Modern perspectives on Christian Spirituality
  • Texts in the Christian Tradition
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 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, ministerial, or professional responsibilities.

Throughout the course, we develop creative ways of imaginatively engaging with theology and culture to deepen theological understanding and enliven faith practices.

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

 

From There to Here, by Susan Francis

The Theology, Imagination and Culture masters degree (MATIC) at Sarum College is one of just a small handful of academic courses in the country which take on the complex but fruitful crossover of theology, imagination, and culture. As both a practicing artist, and someone with a personal history of involvement in faith organisations, it seemed to offer a much-needed platform to bring these two areas together, in perhaps more rigorous conversation than had previously been possible.

Read more: From There to Here

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.The programmes are designed for flexibility so that you have some leeway to adjust the pace to suit you.

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 1861. 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

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.

Salisbury 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 modules are open to all so you may enrol as an “auditor” without registering for an accredited programme.

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 September 2022 start is 31 August 2022
The deadline for applications for January 2023 start is 9 December 2022

  • 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. Email maadministrator@sarum.ac.uk or telephone 01722 424827 (01722 424800 for the main reception).

Funding: Trusts and 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.

Ready to start your learning journey?

Get in touch

Upcoming short course

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 ...

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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 ...

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Meet the team

Eleanor-McLaughlin

Dr Eleanor McLaughlin

Programme Leader for Postgraduate Programmes in Theology, Imagination and Culture

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

Visiting Scholars

Dr Deborah Lewer

Debbie Lewer is Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Glasgow. She has worked there since 2001, prior to which she taught at Manchester University, University of East Anglia, University College London and Christie’s Education.

View full profile

Jolyon Mitchell
Professor Jolyon Mitchell

Jolyon Mitchell is Professor of Communication, Arts and Religion at Edinburgh University. His work has focused on peace building, violence and arts in warfare.

View full profile

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  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
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