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Welcome to the Divinity Divulged podcast! The first podcast series from the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In each episode we’ll be taking a look at one of the fascinating research projects happening within the Faculty through conversations with the researcher and an expert guest working in their field. With dialogue aimed at all of those studying or exploring religious studies across all levels, you can find details on how this episode relates to A Level and Scottish Highers Specifications as well as a glossary below.

 

Episode 1: Prof Esra Özyürek - Holocaust Memory, Islam and 'Guilt' in Modern Germany

In this episode we are joined by Professor Esra Özyürek, Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values here in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge, to discuss Esra’s recent book ‘Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Postwar Germany’. Alongside us is Dr Daniel Weiss, Polonsky-Coexist Senior Lecturer in Jewish Studies, also in the Faculty of Divinity.

Examining holocaust memory, state/religion interactions and social integration in contemporary Germany, Esra describes to us rejections of social norms, the notion of ‘right/wrong emotions’, perceptions of responsibility and guilt and ‘civil religious pilgrimages’.

A Level Specifications –

AQA

  • 2B Christianity:
    • Christianity, migration and religious pluralism
  • 2D Islam:
    • Islam and the challenge of secularisation,
    • Islam, migration and religious pluralism
  • 2E Judaism: 
    • Judaism and the challenge of secularisation
    • Judaism, migration and religious pluralism

Pearson Edexcel

  • Religion and Ethics 
    • 1 Significant concepts in issues or debates in religion and ethics
    • Equality
  • Paper 4, Option 4D: Islam
    • 6 Religion and society
  • Paper 4, Option 4E: Judaism
    • 6 Religion and society
    • Holocaust

OCR 

  • Content of Developments in Christian thought
    • The Challenge of Secularism 
  • Content of Developments in Islamic thought
    • Tolerance
    • Islam and the State
  • Content of Developments in Jewish thought
    • Post-Holocaust theology

SQA

  • Morality, environment and global issues
    • Social Issues

Episode 2: Hina Khalid

In this episode we joined by Hina Khalid, PhD student here in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge, to explore Hina’s PhD research which engages with the theological and philosophical worldviews of two titanic poets of the Indian subcontinent, Rabindranath Taghore and Muhammad Iqbal. Joining us for this one is Dr Ankur Barua, University Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies also in the Faculty of Divinity.

As we are taken through the theoretical and lyrical contributions of both thinkers, Hina guides us through cosmologies, accounts of human personhood, political and spiritual crossovers and ‘serious play’.

A Level Specifications –

AQA

  • 2C Hinduism
    • Ultimate reality
    • The dialogue between Hinduism and philosophy
  • 2D Islam 
    • The dialogue between Islam and philosophy

Pearson Edexcel

Philosophy of Religion

  • Paper 4, Option 4C: Hinduism
    • Social and historical developments including challenges and responses
  • Religion and society
    • Paper 4, Option 4D: Islam
    • Social and historical developments including challenges and responses
    • Religion and society

OCR 

  • Content of Developments in Islamic thought
    • Science and Philosophy
    • Islam and the State
  • Content of Developments in Hindu thought
    • Samsara and Karma
    • Hinduism and India

SQA

  • Hinduism
    • Beliefs
  • Islam
    • Beliefs
  • Religious and philosophical questions
    • Origins
       

Episode 3: Michael Habashi

In this episode we are joined by Michael Habashi, PhD student here in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge, to talk through Michael’s PhD work which centres dialogues between the Coptic Orthodox Church and those around it, the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican Churches with a particular focus on the immense legacy of Pope Shenouda III. Alongside us for this one is Dr Ralph Lee, Research Associate at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge. 

Michael divulges to us notions of global communions, ‘Oriental’ orthodoxy, church schisms and the influence of Alexandra and St Mark. 

A Level Specifications -

AQA

  • 2B Christianity
    • Sources of wisdom and authority 
    • God
    • The dialogue between Christianity and philosophy

Pearson Edexcel

  • Paper 4, Option 4B: Christianity
    • Religious beliefs, values and teachings
    • Sources of wisdom and authority

OCR 

  • Content of Developments in Christian thought
    • The person of Jesus Christ

SQA

  • Christianity
    • Beliefs

Glossary:

  • Arab Invasion/Conquests – A series of military conquests led by Arab leaders which stretched from the Arabian peninsula across northern Egypt and North Africa to modern day Spain in the west and to central Asia in the East.
  • Arianism – A theory about the nature of Christ which suggests that Christ did not always exist but was created by God the Father before time commenced and is therefore not co-existent with God the Father. 
  • Christological – The branch of Christian theology that engages with the nature of Jesus Christ and his attributes. 
  • Church Missionary Society – A British Anglican organisation originally formed in 1799 which in the 19th century dispatched missionary groups globally, primarily to areas with a British colonial presence including Egypt and North Africa. Now today known as the Church Mission Society. 
  • Filioque– Latin phrase literally meaning ‘and from the Son’. The Filioque represents disagreement between Eastern and Western churches, with Western thought often suggesting that the spirit comes from the Father and the Son whereas Eastern thought often sees both the Son and the Holy Spirit as coming from the Father.
  • Hellenised – To make or to have been made Greek, often culturally, spirituality or linguistically. 
  • Living in Faith and Love Documents – Statements from the Church of England surrounding sexuality, gender identity, relationships and marriage. 
  • Nestorianism – A theory about the nature of Christ which suggests Christ had two wholly distinct natures, one fully human and one fully divine which were united in the one person of Jesus. Nestorianism also rejects the label of ‘God-bearer’ as applied to Mary believing that it obscures the human nature of Christ. 
  • Papal Bull – An official public decree from the Pope 
  • Primacy of Peter – The notion that the Apostle Peter was preeminent and distinguished amongst the group of 12 Apostles.
     

Episode 4: Liam Carlton-Jones

For this episode we are joined by Liam Carlton-Jones, PhD student in the Faculty of Divinity here at Cambridge, as we talk through Liam’s research which examines the relationship between eschatology and political theology in the New Testament books of Luke and Acts. Offering us their expertise for this one is Dr Kylie Crabbe, Associate Professor of Biblical and Early Christian Studies in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University.

This time round, Liam guides us through Jewish end time themes, the question of Luke as a challenger to authority, conversation partners and imperial gossip.

A Level Specifications –

AQA

  • 2B Christianity:
    • Sources of wisdom and authority
    • God
    • Self, death and afterlife
    • Good conduct and key moral principals 
    • Expressions of religious identity
    • Christianity and science 
    • The dialogue between Christianity and philosophy
    • The dialogue between Christianity and ethics

Pearson Edexcel

  • 3 Problems of evil and suffering
    • Problem of evil and suffering
    • Theodicies and solutions to the problem of suffering
  • 6 Influences of developments in religious belief
    • Points for discussion about life after death

OCR 

  • Philosophy of religion
    • Ancient philosophical influences 
    • The nature of the soul, mind and body
    • Arguments about the existence or non-existence of God
    • The challenge for religious belief of the problem of evil
    • Ideas about the nature of God
  • Developments in religious thought
    • Sources of religious wisdom and authority 
    • Practices which shape and express religious identity, and how these vary within a tradition

SQA

  • Christianity
  • Beliefs 
    • Beliefs about God 
    • Nature of human beings: free will; sin; stewards 
    • Beliefs about Jesus 
    • Judgement; Heaven and Hell 

Glossary:

  • Apologetic – A defence of a faith of a particular aspect of a faith
  • Eschatology – In religions, the consideration and study of ‘last things’ I.E death, afterlife, apocalypse, judgement.

Episode 5: Suf Amichay

This time round we are joined by Dr Suf Amichay, Junior Research Fellow at Trinity Hall Cambridge, as she takes us through her postdoctoral work which examines systems of natural philosophy and metaphysics in the Middle Ages, particularly the interaction between the Abrahamic faiths and the development of scientific inquiry in this period. Alongside us is Dr Pui Him Ip, Director of Tutorial Programmes at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. 

Suf runs us through Plato and Aristotle, definitions of science, light in the so called ‘dark ages’, and the ‘creativity’ of Islamic scholarly endeavour. 

A Level Specifications –

AQA

  • 2B Christianity
    • Christianity and Science 
    • The dialogue between Christianity and philosophy
  • 2D Islam
    • Islam and Science 
    • The dialogue between Islam and philosophy

Pearson Edexcel

  • Paper 4, Option 4B: Christianity
    • Religious beliefs, values and teachings
    • Sources of wisdom and authority

OCR 

  • Content of Developments in Christian thought
    • The person of Jesus Christ

SQA

  • Christianity
    • Beliefs

Glossary:

  • Atomistic – A philosophical concept which suggests the universe is made up from indivisible components called atoms. 
  • Cambridge Platononists – A group of 17th century Cambridge scholars influenced by the writings of Plato including figures such as Henry More and Ralph Cudworth. 
  • Metaphysics – A branch of philosophy concerned with the structures of reality and concepts like space, time and knowing. 
  • Modality – A mode or form in which something is expressed
     

Episode 6: Susie Triffit

 

For this episode we are joined by Susie Triffit, PhD student in the Faculty of Divinity here in Cambridge, to talk through Susie’s ethnographic fieldwork within a Christian church group in Bradford as she looks to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on British Evangelical evangelism and worship. Offering us their expertise this time around is Professor Joseph Webster, Professor of the Anthropology of Religion also in the Faculty of Divinity.

Here, Susie talks us through violence and class barriers, battles between good and evil, and, naturally, Bible stories recreated through wrestling.

Glossary:

  • Anthropology/Theology Dialogue – An emerging area of scholarship which seeks to connect the methodologies, forms of knowledge and analysis between anthropology and theology with each other.
  • Autoethnography – A ethnographic method in which the researcher connects their own experiences to their research topic/subject.
  • Ethnography – An anthropological research method often involving immersive fieldwork that seeks to understand human cultures from the perspective of research participants.
  • Theodicy – An argument which attempts to explain the presence of evil in a world created/governed by an all loving God.

A Level Specifications –

AQA

  • 2B Christianity:
    • Sources of wisdom and authority
    • Expressions of religious identity
    • The dialogue between Christianity and philosophy
    • Christianity, migration and religious pluralism

Pearson Edexcel

  • 2 The nature and influence of religious experience
    • The nature of religious experience
  • 3 Problems of evil and suffering
    • Theodicies and solutions to the problem of suffering

OCR 

  • Philosophy of religion
    • The challenge for religious belief of the problem of evil
  • Developments in religious thought
    • Sources of religious wisdom and authority 
    • Practices which shape and express religious identity, and how these vary within a tradition
    • Ley themes related to the relationship between religion and society

SQA

  • Christianity
  • Beliefs 
    • Beliefs about God 
    • Nature of human beings: free will; sin; stewards 
    • Beliefs about Jesus 
    • Judgement; Heaven and Hell 
  • Practices 
    • Living according to the Gospels 
    • Christian action; the Christian community

Episode 7: Rob Trenckmann

 

For this episode we are joined by Rob Trenckmann, PhD student in the Faculty of Divinity here in Cambridge, as we explore Rob’s research into knowledge and ‘illumination’ in the writings of St Augustine, thinking about what this means for the soul and forms of theological education. Providing their expertise is Professor Simeon Zahl, Professor of Christian Theology also in the Faculty of Divinity.

This time round, Rob takes us through Jesus’ use of parables, distinctions between the mind, the body and the soul, and what Rob describes as ‘educational romanticism’.

A Level Specifications –

AQA

  • 2B Christianity:
    • Sources of wisdom and authority
    • God
    • Self, death and afterlife
    • Good conduct and key moral principals 
    • Expressions of religious identity
    • Christianity and science 
    • The dialogue between Christianity and philosophy
    • The dialogue between Christianity and ethics

Pearson Edexcel

  • 3 Problems of evil and suffering
    • Problem of evil and suffering
    • Theodicies and solutions to the problem of suffering
  • 6 Influences of developments in religious belief
    • Points for discussion about life after death

OCR 

  • Philosophy of religion
    • Ancient philosophical influences 
    • The nature of the soul, mind and body
    • Arguments about the existence or non-existence of God
    • The challenge for religious belief of the problem of evil
    • Ideas about the nature of God
  • Developments in religious thought
    • Sources of religious wisdom and authority 
    • Practices which shape and express religious identity, and how these vary within a tradition

SQA

  • Christianity
  • Beliefs 
    • Beliefs about God 
    • Nature of human beings: free will; sin; stewards 
    • Beliefs about Jesus 
    • Judgement; Heaven and Hell 

Glossary:

  • Anthropology – In Christianity, the study of how humans relate to God
  • Apologetic – A defence of a faith of a particular aspect of a faith
  • Biblical heart – How the Bible explains the heart as the centre for physical as well as emotional, moral and spiritual faculties
  • Disequilibration – Being off balance, in Christianity referring to the moment before a realisation or awakening of consciousness
  • Dualism – A philosophical concept which sees the mind and body as separate and distinct from each other
  • Ethnography - An anthropological research method often involving immersive fieldwork that seeks to understand human cultures from the perspective of research participants.
  • Falleness – In Christianity, referring to the ‘fall’ of humanity through the sins of Adam and Eve and a subsequent rupturing in the relationship between humanity and God
  • Fideist/Fideism – The view that faith is more important than intellect or reasoning in assessing religious truths
  • Hamartyology – A branch of Christian study that relates to sin
  • Neoplatonist/Neoplatonism – A school of philosophy with Greek origins which has within it ideas including monism, the notion that all reality can be traced back to a single principal or thing
  • Pelagianism – A Christian idea which suggests the Fall did not flaw human nature and that humans can achieve human perfection through the will of God.
  • Puritan – A group of English Protestant Christians who believed in removing what they considered to be Catholic elements from worship in the Church of England. The word has since come to mean living or acting in line with exacting religious or moral ideas.
  • Sanctification – The act of making something holy.