Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion

The Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion (TRPR) course at Cambridge is one of the most diverse and exciting that the University has to offer. It allows students to engage with contemporary Philosophy and Ethics, the actual beliefs of ordinary believers of different faiths around the world, ancient sacred texts from a variety of traditions, and high level metaphysical questions. An extraordinary range of academics and students, believers, seekers and non-believers, work together in the Faculty, because we find these questions fascinating and crucial. No personal faith is required or assumed, but students need a keen sense of the importance of the questions, and their impact on individuals and societies.

TRPR at Pembroke 

People come to study TRPR at Pembroke from a wide range of backgrounds. Some students follow a specific track through the degree, focusing, for example, on a particular religion, or on history, or on Anthropology, or on Religion and the Arts. Once again, in 2024, the Faculty of Divinity came top of the Guardian rankings, and this is partly a reflection of how much students enjoy the degree, the excellent teaching, and the outstanding career prospects. 

As Director of Studies, James Gardom talks through the course with all incoming students, and tries to match them with supervisors who will work well with them. James meet with the first year students once a week, to help them make sense of the relationship between lectures, supervision essays and exams. You will talk through the work you have done in the week, and James usually learns something new!

Pembroke TRPR Teaching Staff

Revd Dr James Gardom - Director of Studies

I wrote my PhD on Evil as a problem for Christian Believing, partly because I was dissatisfied with the approaches available within the Philosophy of Religion. I worked as a teacher and as a theological educator in Zimbabwe for eight years, and have a strong interest in Christianity outside Europe and the USA. I keep up links with some non-UK heritage churches in Cambridge (there are at least 30), and I run the very popular second year paper B7, Themes in World Christianity – Context, Theology, Power. This paper enables students to look at Christian groups around the world and see how different they are from the contemporary West.