English Studies and Religion, BA (Hons)

Texts are all around us – from books and magazines to TV, email and the internet. The ability to analyse them and their often subtle meanings is a skill that can open doors in a wide range of professional fields. English Studies at the University of Stirling offers you the perfect chance to dedicate yourself to reading and enjoying a range of great novels, plays and poems from across the world. Your own creative writing can form part of this degree, too – as we believe it aids your understanding of literary style and technique and develops your imagination. You’ll also have the opportunity to take a range of language-based courses which will inform your understanding and appreciation of literary texts. These are just some of the factors that make our BA a little different from other English courses. You’ll study literary works from the medieval period to the present day, as well as learn about linguistics, creative writing and the history of the English language. Along the way, you’ll benefit from top-rated teaching, visits from outside experts and the annual staging of the Booker Prize Initiative on campus – giving you the opportunity to meet world-renowned contemporary authors and discuss their work. You also have the freedom to take English Studies with other courses and earn a combined honours degree tailored to your unique ambitions.Religion spans history, influences cultures and plays a major role in shaping today’s political landscape. It’s a subject that remains in the news constantly – in contexts ranging from discussions about marriage and gender identity to concerns about immigration and terrorist attacks. As many of these issues provoke heated reactions, often with great consequence, it has never been more important to explore the many facets of religion, and understand the term’s meaning in a range of cultural contexts. Studying Religion at the University of Stirling gives you a chance to do all this. You’ll explore how the meaning of “Religion” differs around the world, and take a positively interdisciplinary approach to considering how the term might be re-interpreted. Our teaching team is dedicated to carrying out cutting-edge research into what they call critical religion, and they feed their findings not only into new books and papers, but also back into your coursework. Through your studies, you’ll develop a critically discerning mind, and by extension, an invaluable understanding of other people’s point-of-view and approach to the world, by which you can help to change thinking, policy and practice both locally and globally. We are committed to equipping you with transferrable skills that will make you a valuable asset to a range of employers. Join us and benefit from a fresh, innovative approach to studying one of the world’s most foundational topics, and one that continues to integrate multiple disciplines across and the Humanities and beyond.