Biblical Studies and International Relations

Biblical studies and international relations is a combination that is more coherent than it might initially appear. Both disciplines take seriously how ideas, beliefs, and values shape the behaviour of states, communities, and individuals in the political world. Biblical studies examines the texts that have been foundational to the moral and political frameworks of much of the world, and the religious traditions that have grown from them continue to shape international affairs in ways that understanding politics without understanding religion can easily miss.

International relations, in turn, provides the analytical frameworks for understanding conflict, cooperation, diplomacy, and the organisation of global order in the contemporary world.

At St Andrews this four-year full-time programme gives you the opportunity to engage seriously with both fields. Your biblical studies will focus on the Old and New Testaments alongside a wide range of other Jewish and Christian writings from antiquity, including texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, situating the scriptures in their historical, cultural, and literary contexts. Your international relations work will develop your understanding of the theory and practice of international politics, including security studies, global governance, foreign policy, and development.

The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at an international partner institution.

The combination of textual rigour, historical awareness, and analytical political thinking that this programme develops is distinctive and genuinely useful for engaging with a world in which religion and politics are inseparable in many of the most consequential arenas.

Graduates move into careers in diplomacy, international organisations, journalism, the civil service, NGOs, research, religious organisations engaged in public life, and a wide range of other roles where the intersection of values, belief, and international affairs is relevant. Many continue to postgraduate study in international relations, theology, divinity, or political theory.