Samuel Tongue - PhD in Theology and Religious Studies

I came to Glasgow in 2008 to study for a PhD within Theology and Religious studies and was immediately thrown into a research environment which engaged with issues and questions central to the debate over the remit and scope of religion in the world. At Glasgow, these questions are engaged with at a postgraduate level through the work of our exciting and innovative Centres; the Centre for Literature, Theology and the Arts; the Centre for Study of Islam; and the Centre for Inter-Faith Studies. There are also regular research seminars at the CLTA, a Theology seminar and a Biblical Studies seminar. We are inherently interdisciplinary (for what disciplines are not touched by the history of religious discourse?) and enjoy regular contact with other subject areas in the School of Critical Studies and in the wider College of Arts.

As an example, my own doctoral work, based at the Centre for Literature, Theology and the Arts, brings together literary theory, continental philosophy, biblical studies and poetics to question and explore how we retell the Bible between the sacred and secular, ancient and modern, without assuming that these modernist separations are always in conflict. This led me to help organise the recent conference ‘Re-Writing the Bible: Devotion, Diatribe and Dialogue’, which brought together poets, writers and scholars to discuss the life of the Bible in contemporary society, a wonderful opportunity that the College thoroughly supports. Our internationally renowned team of scholars provide the best in research supervision and encourage and support student attendance at the International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture (ISRLC), the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).