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One of the first courses of lectures given at Oxford was in Theology, over 800 years ago. Alexander Neckham, from St Albans, is recorded as giving biblical and moral lectures as early as 1193, on The Psalms of David and the Wisdom of Solomon. One of the first major University buildings was the Divinity School, which was begun in 1423 to cater for theology lectures. So we claim a long history — we are one of the oldest faculties in the University.

Nevertheless, we are very much aware that present success cannot rest on past achievements. We have a very large Faculty — well over 100 tutors — and whilst some are still teaching biblical studies and ethics, others are engaged in topics as diverse as science and religion, philosophy, psychology and sociology of religion, modern theology, church history, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christian spirituality. Many have international reputations, and with some 350 students on different undergraduate courses, and about 180 graduates undertaking both taught and research degrees, there is scope for a great deal of diversity as well as depth of study. We have topped the list of the best Theology / Religious Studies departments in the country several times — the criteria have been based upon our teaching, our research, and the calibre of our students — and we hope you will see in the following pages that we are constantly striving to maintain our excellent standards.

Lecture lists

The Faculty Lecture Lists for Michaelmas Term 2009 and the forecast for the academic year 2009/10 are now available to download here.

The new BBC series, A History Of Christianity

A new 6-episodes BBC series, presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, is being shown in autumn 2009 on BBC Four and then repeated on BBC Two. See the full BBC press release here.

The new Professorship of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions

GUY G. STROUMSA (BA Hebrew; MA, PhD Harvard), Martin Buber Professor of Comparative Religion, Faculty of Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel has been appointed to the Professorship of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions with effect from 1 October 2009. Professor Stroumsa will be a fellow of Lady Margaret Hall. Read more on our Appointments page.

Events Calendar

To see details of forthcoming Faculty events, click on the link below which will take you to our new events calendar:
Faculty of Theology events calendar
(Please note that, unless specified, events are only open to members of the University)