MLitt Systematic And Historical Theology

A 2.1 undergraduate Honours degree in Theology or a closely related discipline. If you studied your first degree outside the UK, see the international entry requirements.

The qualifications listed are indicative minimum requirements for entry. Some academic Schools will ask applicants to achieve significantly higher marks than the minimum. Obtaining the listed entry requirements will not guarantee you a place, as the University considers all aspects of every application including, where applicable, the writing sample, personal statement, and supporting documents.

Application requirements

• CV
• personal statement (optional) 
• sample of your own, single-authored academic work in English (2,000 words) 
• two original signed academic references 
• academic transcripts and degree certificates  

For more guidance, see supporting documents and references for postgraduate taught programmes.

For fees and funding options, please visit website to find out more

Students on the MLitt programme are provided the skills they need to succeed in an international job market, both academic and non-academic.  

Regular workshops, both general and subject-specific, in areas such as publishing, conference presentations, and job searches are offered by the School of Divinity and the University. 

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students in building their employability skills.

Here is a sample of modules that may be offered. 

• Selected Medieval Theologian: Bonaventure: allows students to engage at length and in depth with the thought of a formative, medieval thinker.
• A Selected Modern Theologian: allows students to engage at length and in depth with the thought of a formative, modern thinker.
• A Selected Patristic Theologian: Gregory Nazianzen: allows students to engage at length and in depth with the thought of a formative, patristic thinker.
• From Nazareth to Nicaea: The origins of Christian theology: examines the beginnings of Christian theology in the New Testament texts and in early Christian writers.
• Persons: Divine and Human: assesses the concept of the ‘person’ as used to describe the nature of God and the Trinity on the one hand, and the nature of human beings on the other.
• Reconciliation: Divine and Human: explores the doctrine of reconciliation and its implications for human relationships.
• The Good Life and the Good Death: Theological and Practical
• Ethics: explores how ethical concepts, and their practical application, relate to various (and often competing) theological and philosophical conceptions of the Good Life and the Good Death, using a range of important historical and contemporary moral theologians and philosophers.

Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered. Some may only allow limited numbers of students. Read more about curriculum development at the University of St Andrews.

Dissertation

Over the course of the year, but with particular focus over the last three months, you will research and write a 15,000-word dissertation. Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation must be submitted by a date specified in August. 

There is no exit award option (such as a PGCert or PGDip) for this programme. In order to complete the MLitt, students must pass the dissertation element of their course.