Studying Theology and the Arts in London
Answering your questions
The King’s Building on the Strand Campus of King’s College London
(If you’re here to learn about the MA in Theology and the Arts, you can skip the next three paragraphs and find the relevant section!)
Dear Friends, it’s been one week and a bit since we officially made our move to London. After a busy final week of term, followed by a few feverish days of a particularly virulent fluish cold thing, I finally started to feel energetic enough to start unpacking things. My great accomplishment for the week is that the kitchen is unpacked. (You can see where my priorities lie: food and hot drinks are a must!). My full-time occupation this week has been awaiting the delivery of various necessities (a space heater! vacuum cleaner! bookshelves!). Luckily, the kitchen is near the front door, and I rather like the kitchen. It has a cave-ish, cozy feeling to it, with old fashioned white and black tiles and now (with my kitchen aid) pops of red. So, I’ve spent many hours this week, huddled by the space heater, sipping tea, answering emails (my “real” work), and waiting for various courier services to arrive. I can’t help but laugh at myself a little bit, waiting pensively by the window for the Amazon delivery van, like it’s my husband come home from sea.
Though most of my week has been spent inside our new home, I am loving tastes of life in London. There is a café where I’d been getting my morning provisions before the kitchen was set up. The same three older gentlemen sit at the same table each table each morning, discussing the latest news and exploits of their tenants in strong East London accents, while a different set of parent and baby appear each morning, lovingly tended to by the café’s manager. I love the ease of public transport, the panoply of human characters you encounter on it, the way it can take you somewhere novel and interesting. And foxes. There are foxes. When the movers were packing up my Scottish apartment, one of them said “there are more foxes than you’d expect in London.” I did, as it happens, have some idea of there being foxes in London because of this article in Plough a few years ago. But I have been surprised to see (I think) the same fox three times this week, trotting unbothered through my neighborhood. His coat is supple and shiny, and he is well fed. He doesn’t notice me. I think it is rather enchanting.
I look forward to sharing more about London, about slowly making this new place home, and what writing I’m working on, but having very little to say on those subjects at the moment, let me return to my subject two weeks ago; studying theology and the arts in London! I received an overwhelming response to my post two weeks ago asking if you all would be interested in learning more about studying theology and the arts in London (there are many emails unanswered… apologies! I will endeavor to answer eventually!). I know this is not a topic that applies to all of you (indeed, it will only apply to a very few!), but I figure if you are reading this Substack, you may enjoy learning a little bit about where it is a I work and teach, and what I spend my days doing. So in this post, in this post I will attempt to answer some of your questions, and get some of you to…
Come study Theology, Bible, and the Arts in London!
Today I want to share with you about the MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts at King’s College London. This degree is a one-year postgraduate course in London, exploring the riches of Christian theological and artistic tradition. The course is taught at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London, in partnership with the National Gallery. King’s College London is one of the top ten colleges in the UK, and has a rich history of theological study, being founded as the Anglican counterpoint to the “godless” University College London. This course is research-led which means that the scholars who are teaching and supervising you are leading scholars in their own field of research, so you will encounter and be taught by leading theologians and scholars, like Ben Quash, Susannah Ticciati, Edward Addams, Lydia Schumacher, King-Ho Leung. You can attend the Theology seminar (which originated with from the Research Institute of Systematic Theology, founded by Colin Gunton and Christoph Schwöbel), and benefit from the ASK center (Arts and the Sacred at King’s) and the Visual Commentary on Scripture (which if you haven’t already— sign up for their advent calendar. It’s really lovely). King’s College also neighbors with Cortauld Gallery, which is home to one of the greatest art collections in the UK, and Sommerset House, whose mission is to connect creativity and the arts with wider society. (And incidentally, the Somerset House features an iconic ice skating rink on its premises each December as you can see below)...
The MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts consists of classes and a supervised dissertation. There are core modules that most students take like “The Idea of Beauty in Western Theology” (parts one and two) and “Art as a Theological Medium” (this is taught through the National Gallery), but you can shape your time at King’s around the topics you most want to learn about. This means that if you want to dive more deeply into Christian theology, you can take classes in Biblical Studies, Theology and Philosophy, or even take modules from other departments like Philosophy, Classics, or English Literature. You will also benefit from one on one supervision with one of the staff members on a topic of your choosing for the dissertation— this is a chance to dive deeply into your studies. (I supervise dissertations, so we could work together!)
I personally think the model for this MA is very good because it allows students to shape their degree according to what they want to study, but also ensures they get some of the building blocks of Christian theology. At the heart of the MA is the yearlong course called “The Idea of Beauty in Western Theology.” The beauty (ha!) of this module is that you do a deep dive into the basics of a theology, but through the lens of beauty and the arts. You will read pre-Christian sources like Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus, early Christian thinkers like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, medieval theologians like Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Hildegard of Bingen, reformation theologians John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Richard Hooker, modern theorists like Edmund Burke, Hegel, Immanuel Kant, and contemporary theologians like Rowan Williams, David Bentley Hart, and others. This course it allows students to really get a foundation in theology as well as diving into the topic of beauty. Not all postgraduate programs in Theology and the Arts are able to achieve this breadth and depth.
The view of Trafalgar Square from the steps of the National Gallery.
The partnership with the National Gallery is one of the things that makes the degree so unique; you will not simply learn about art, but experience some of your classes taught in art galleries, getting to look up close at works of art that have shaped the history of art and the Christian tradition. The National Gallery was founded in 1824 and is located in Trafalgar Square and has a collection of 2,300 paintings dating from the 13th century to the 1900’s. Part of the fun of this program is how its planted in the center of London: The Strand Campus (where most of your classes will be) is a nine minute walk from Trafalgar Square, and a five minute walk from Covent Garden. You will have the opportunity to attend services in historic churches, exhibitions in art galleries, musical performances, public lectures and more— all that the tip of your fingers due to the diversity and excitement of London, and the networks at King’s College London.
I hope that gives a general overview of the program, now let me answer some specific questions that came up a fair bit in emails and comments:
Who should consider this program?
You can look into entry requirements on the MA for Theology, Bible, and the Arts webpage, but let me answer this in a more general, vocational sense:
Artists: Something I love about teaching on this course is that every year we have practicing artists studying on the PhD. It gave me great satisfaction to help students catch up because they had to miss class for attending an exhibition of their work. If you are an artist—visual, musical, poet, writer— who wants to have a deeper foundation in religion/theology and the arts, this is the program for you. Especially because spending time in London should expand your artistic and career connections, rather than amounting to a year of artistic work.
People working in the church: Another category of people I see come to study at King’s are people who work in the church— whether that is a pastor or priest on a sabbatical, or someone in some other form of ministry— who think beauty and culture should be integrated more thoughtfully into their church setting, and this course gives them a place to think about this more deeply and resource themselves so they can resource the churches they serve.
People who want to enter academia: I have written before about how difficult and unstable the academic career path is, but nonetheless if people are interested in pursuing it, this is a good place to be. You will get a solid foundation for further study and you will be taught and supervised by leading people in the field, and you will have within an hour of Oxford, Cambridge, and many other theological centers in London. I’m happy to talk more with people about this,
People for whom this would enrich their vocation: I can think of many in this category, teachers, writers, editors, nonprofit leaders. You will know best if this would be a good fit for you, but I see this year as valuable for people who want to invest in themselves to invest back into their own current vocational life.
People for whom this would enrich their life: If you are at a crossroads in your life, not sure what is next for you and it is financially possible/wise, I am generally in favor of pursuing a masters in something that you think will enrich your spiritual and intellectual life. Every year we have students who may not go into a profession associated with the MA, but are seeking to deepen their intellectual life, broaden their life experience and perspective, and even just get to experience a life of studying internationally. In the right circumstances, I think this can be a good reason to pursue an MA.
The following questions, I honestly do not have too much information on, and (if you’re seriously considering the MA) I would advise you to get in touch with the appropriate people at King’s College London, or just explore their website and see if you can find an answer. But in general, here is what I know:
Housing: King’s College London does have postgraduate housing that is run by the college, and there is also third-party student accommodation that King’s College can connect you with. From my experience with students, not all of them live in London (you could live somewhere just outside which is often more affordable, or even in Oxford or Cambridge which are an hour away, but not necessarily cheaper). I’ve also known many students to live in Christian Community houses or find their own accommodation. It is worth noting that London housing is, as you might expect, exorbitant. So, it’s helpful to draw either on the KCL network, community houses, or live a little bit out of Central.
Cost (and are there scholarships): The international cost for the program is £30,000 a year full time, or £15,000 a year part time (ouch, I know). And £13,500 for “home” (UK) students for full time and £6,750. One more financially sustainable option (and it is what the majority of students do, to be honest, is to do part time and work in London while you pursue the course). There are also scholarships and paths to funding, however, which you can explore on the Student Funding Page.
Can you study online: unfortunately, this is currently a residential course, which means that you must reside in London to complete the course. However, there have been conversations about creating some online offering. If you are interested in that, it would be helpful for you to share that with me, and I can feed it back to the Department. You never know what could come of that!
Okay, that’s all from me for today. If you are interested in applying, you can simply do so online through this link. Or if you’d like to have a further conversation (I’m happy to do a Zoom call to discuss), please email me: joy.clarkson@kcl.ac.uk Ok! Off to go build bookshelves.
Have a lovely Saturday!
Joy
