See the “Information” tab for an overview of the programme. The courses below are the courses which are specifically offered for this programme, but they are not necessarily compulsory.
Compulsory for all students Religious Students: Workshop Endnote – Master Religious Studies – date and location to be announced.
Students are advised to contact their supervisor well before the start of their master year, so that a suitable programme can be put together in good time: Masterplanning
| Course | EC | Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Required General Course Religious Studies | 5 | ||
| The Courage To Be Modern: Religious Liberalisms 1850-1950 | 5 | ||
| The Halakhic Process: Studies in Jewish Biomedical Law | 5 | ||
The confrontation with the modern world raises all sorts of fundamental questions for believers. How to deal with traditional faith in the face of the rapid technological, social, political, and economical changes? Are religion and theology subject to the modern spirit too? And if so, is this development to be welcomed by believers? Or should it rather be rejected as undermining the stability of faith, and, consequently, of society in general? Ever since 1800 believers from various religions, including Christianity and Judaism, are involved in the continous debate over the relationship between religion, faith, and the modern world. It has been, and still is, the cause of conflicts between religious liberals and traditionalist believers, between modernists and fundamentalists. Major issues of these controversies concern the relationship between science and religion, the scholarly criticism of sacred texts, the role of the historical, philological, psychological and anthropological disciplines in the domain of belief, and, last but not least, the authority of the religious tradition. Reflections about these central issues are of special interest in this MA track.
Those students who wish to focus on ‘Judaism in the modern world’ are advised to contact Prof. J. Frishman. Those who wish to focus on ‘Christianity in the modern world’ are advised to contact Prof. E.G.E. van der Wall.
Supervision is on an individual basis, in combination with group meetings in the working group ‘Kerkhistorisch gezelschap S.S.S.’
1. Common Course: Required General Course (5 EC)
2. Compulsory Courses (3×5 EC)
Science and Religion in Western Christianity 1880-1940
The Halakhic Process: Studies in Jewish Biomedical Law
Working group ‘Kerkhistorisch gezelschap S.S.S.’
3. Additional Courses (20 EC)
For example, courses in the history of Modern Christianity, Modern Judaism and World Christianity
4. MA thesis (20 EC)