- Cambridge Admissions Office
Student Services Centre
New Museums Site
Cambridge
CB2 3PT - Events: caoevents@admin.cam.ac.uk
- General admissions: admissions@cam.ac.uk
- College contacts
- Student chat
Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge addresses fundamental questions through a range of religious traditions and philosophical standpoints.
Explore contemporary and historic thought, culture and texts through philosophy, ethics, history, literature, languages, social sciences and classics.
Overview
Number 1 in the UK for Theology and Religious Studies (The Complete University Guide 2025)
Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge
Worldwide, 6 out of 7 people describe themselves as religious, with religious beliefs influencing society and politics globally.
This course addresses fundamental questions and develops your understanding of the significance of religion and its cultural contexts.
You’ll be able to choose from a range of academic perspectives on the study of faith, including:
- history
- the careful reading of ancient scriptures
- rigorous philosophical analysis
- the latest insights of the social sciences
You will also explore connections between faith and literature, science, ethics and politics.
Religions that you will cover in depth during the course include:
- Christianity
- Judaism
- Islam
- Hinduism
Teaching and facilities
Teaching
We offer outstanding teaching and a supportive, friendly faculty of experts.
Facilities
Our Faculty of Divinity is home to:
- the latest research and historic resources both within the Faculty, and across the Colleges and University
- the Faculty Library, which houses over 60,000 volumes
You'll also have access to:
- the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries
Among the collection is the:- the Codex Bezae, an important early version of the New Testament
- Genizah collection, a globally significant source for medieval Judaism
- the Fitzwilliam Museum, with a vast collection of artefacts
Course costs
When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).
Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.
Find out more about general study costs.
There are no compulsory additional course costs for Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion. If you have any queries about resources/materials, please contact the Faculty of Divinity.
Your future career
As a graduate you will be well equipped to play an important part in this world.
You’ll be valued for your intercultural literacy, critical thinking, research skills and understanding of the depth and nuance of human experience.
Your skills will be valued across a wide range of professions. Our graduates go on to careers in:
- the Civil Service
- law
- international development
- the arts
- banking
- investment
- teaching
- media
- communications
Some of our students develop a life-long love of learning and research, and continue to further study in theology and related disciplines.
Course outline
Teaching
Teaching is provided through lectures, classes and small-group supervisions.
You will typically have up to 9 hours of classes and lectures each week, including 6 for non-language papers and 3 for languages. You will also have supervisions each week.
Assessment
You’ll be assessed either by coursework or a 3 hour examination for each paper. You can also write a dissertation in your final year.
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part I)
You take 5 papers designed to give you a broad introduction to the concepts, knowledge and skills required in the main areas of study.
The course is designed to accommodate students studying religion for the first time. You choose:
- a paper in biblical studies, either David: Israel’s Greatest Hero? or Jesus and the Origins of the Gospel. You can take the other in place of one of the choices below
- one scriptural language studied from the very beginning, Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Qur’anic Arabic or Sanskrit (no prior knowledge is expected)
You take 3 other papers from a choice of 6, currently:
- Understanding Contemporary Religion, an introduction to the sociological study of religion
- Philosophy of Religion
- Ethics, 2 papers which introduce key questions in philosophy of religion and ethics, ranging from antiquity to contemporary controversies
- Studying World Religions, history, comparison, dialogue
- The Question of God, exploring some of the major themes of Christian theology
- Christianity and the Transformation of Culture, the study of processes of conversion and Christianization in the late Roman world
Year 2 (Part IIA)
You choose 4 papers out of around 17. Scriptural languages are optional at this stage, and you will also be able to take a selection of papers from the Department of Social Anthropology if you wish.
Papers include but are not limited to:
- Theology and Literature
- Themes in World Christianities
- Introduction to Islam
- Ethics and Faith
- Philosophy of Religion: God, Freedom and the Soul
- Christianity in Late Antiquity
- Life and Thought of Religious Hinduism and of Buddhism
- Israel in Exile: Literature, History and Theology
- The Letters of Paul
- Christianity in Late Antiquity (to c.600)
You can also choose to take the first year Meaning paper from the Philosophy course. This is taught alongside Philosophy students.
Year 3 (Part IIB)
You choose 4 papers from a wide range. Topics may vary, but often include:
- Truth, God and Metaphysics
- Theology and Natural Sciences
- World Christianity Decolonising Christendom: The Complex Legacies of Global Christianity
- Self and Salvation in Indian and Western Thought
- New Testament Christology
- Disputed Questions from Medieval and Early Modern Theology
- Charity in Christian Theology
- You can choose to write a dissertation of 10,000 words instead of one paper.
You may also continue with a scriptural language.
For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion website.
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Faculty website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed one year or more of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
Entry requirements
The listed entry requirements relate to entry in 2026 or deferred entry in 2027.
Minimum offer level
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.
We don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Theology. We recommend these subjects for a strong application:
- an essay-based subject
- Religious Studies
- English (language or literature)
- History
- Languages (ancient or modern)
College entry requirements
The following Colleges usually set offers at the minimum offer level. They may sometimes ask for higher grades or an A* in a particular subject:
- Christ's
- Clare
- Downing
- Emmanuel
- Fitzwilliam
- Girton
- Gonville & Caius
- Homerton
- Hughes Hall
- Jesus
- King's
- Magdalene
- Newnham
- Pembroke
- Peterhouse
- Queens'
- Robinson
- Sidney Sussex
- St Catharine's
- St Edmund's
- St John's
- Trinity
- Trinity Hall
- Wolfson
The following Colleges set extra conditions for most or all offers. For example, they may make a higher offer or specify an A* in a particular subject - generally Religious Studies, if taken. For more information check the College websites:
- Corpus Christi
- Lucy Cavendish
- Murray Edwards
- Selwyn
Colleges set additional offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.
IB offers
Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.
Admission assessment
There is no admissions assessment for this course.
Submitted work
You will need to submit 2 pieces of written work.
What Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion students have studied
Most Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (64% of entrants).
Almost all (99%) studied at least one of the subjects recommended above. 84% of entrants took Religious Studies.
This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured.
When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.
All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.
Next steps
Discover your department or faculty
- Visit the Faculty of Divinity website - Explore Divinity in more detail on the Faculty website.
Explore our Colleges
- Find out how Colleges work - A College is where you’ll live, eat and socialise. It’s also where you’ll have teaching in a small group, known as supervisions.
- How to choose a College that's right for you - If you think you know which course you’d like to study, it’s time to choose a College.
Visit us on an open day
- Book an open day - Get a feel for the city and the University.
- Find an event - We offer a range of events where you can find out more about Cambridge, Colleges, and your course. Many of our events have hybrid options so you can join us virtually.
Find out how to apply
- Find out how to apply and how our admissions processes work - Our admissions process is slightly different to other universities. We’ve put together a handy guide to tell you everything you need to know about applying to study at Cambridge.
- Improve your application - Supercurricular activities are a great way to engage with your chosen subject outside of school or college.
Discover Uni
Discover Uni data
Contextual information
Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions. This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.
However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.
We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.
You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.
- Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.
Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data. - Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes. When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.
- Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data. Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.
The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.