History and Religion

History and religion together offer a rich and intellectually demanding exploration of two of the most powerful forces in human experience. History examines how societies, states and cultures have changed over time, asking what forces drive change and continuity, and how we know what we know about the past. Religious studies examines the beliefs, practices, institutions and texts that constitute the world's religious traditions, treating them as objects of serious intellectual inquiry rather than simply accepting or rejecting their claims.

Together they provide an unusually comprehensive set of tools for understanding how human beings have organised their collective life and sought meaning within it.

At Stirling this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study history and religion in a different educational and cultural context and to broaden your comparative perspective. You will engage with historical periods and regions across the curriculum, developing skills in archival research, source criticism and historical argument alongside the close textual reading and comparative analysis that religious studies demands. The study of religion at Stirling encompasses both the major world traditions and smaller or more localised religious phenomena, and the historical dimension ensures you always situate belief and practice in their social and political contexts.

A typical entry tariff of 168 points reflects the programme's academic ambition.

Graduates pursue careers in education, the civil service, journalism, broadcasting, heritage and museum work, interfaith organisations, community relations, publishing and the charitable sector. The research, writing and analytical skills developed across both disciplines are valued in any professional context that requires careful thinking about complex, contested questions. Postgraduate study in history, religious studies, theology, heritage studies or cultural policy is a natural continuation, and for those with academic ambitions, the combination of disciplines is well suited to doctoral research in areas where historical and religious questions intersect.