Anglican Studies
The pathway is founded on two modules, one in the Michaelmas Term and the other in the Lent Term. The first term also includes a series of 8 lectures giving an overview of the history of the Church of England and latterly of the worldwide Anglican communion from the Reformation to the present time.
Candidates are required to submit two essays on topics from a list of topics published each year. The list of topics will include topics related to each of the seminars within the two modules, but will not necessarily be restricted to those. Candidates will be required to study a language or to complete an exercise chosen from the list of languages and exercises offered under the aegis of the MPhil in TRPR. The exercises available will include a research skills exercise directly related to the Anglican Studies pathway, but candidates may offer one of the alternative exercises, or take one of the language options, instead if they wish. Finally, each candidate researches and writes a dissertation on a topic of their choice (subject to the approval of the Degree Committee) within the field of Anglican Studies. Applicants are encouraged to give some thought to their dissertation topic in applying for the programme.
Module 1. Michaelmas Term. From Reformation to Reform
Module Coordinator: Professor Richard Rex, rawr1@cam.ac.uk
The first module will consist of four fortnightly seminars discussing original sources of an ecclesiological and theological character relating to events, episodes, or developments within the Church of England between the ‘Elizabethan Settlement’ and the Enlightenment. Themes for discussion in the seminars might include such topics as: the interaction of monarchy, nation, and church; the attitude of the Church of England to Roman Catholicism or to the Reformed Churches of Europe; and contention over models of church government and the nature of worship.
Module 2. Lent Term. Modernity and Postmodernity
Module Coordinator: Professor Richard Rex, rawr1@cam.ac.uk
The second module will consist of four fortnightly seminars discussing original sources of an ecclesiological or theological character relating to events, episodes, or developments within the Church of England and the emerging international Anglican Communion between the ‘Evangelical Revival’ and the era of the Lambeth Conferences. Themes for discussion might include such topics as: the location of authority within the Church; debates over the character or identity of the Church of England; the relationship between the Church of England and Anglican churches outside England; and the tensions arising from the encounter with political and cultural ‘modernity’ since the Enlightenment.