Spanish & Latin American Studies and Theology & Religion

Spanish and Latin American studies combined with theology and religion is a pairing that brings together one of the world's most geographically extensive languages and cultures with the rigorous academic study of religious traditions and their role in human life. Spanish opens the literature, history, politics and contemporary culture of more than twenty nations across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, a linguistic community of exceptional diversity in which religion has played and continues to play a central role, from the Catholic heritage of Iberia and colonial Latin America to the growth of evangelical movements and the persistence of indigenous spiritual traditions. Theology and religion provides the analytical and scholarly frameworks for understanding those religious dimensions and comparing them with other traditions worldwide.

At the University of Aberdeen this five-year programme gives you the time to develop genuine depth in both disciplines, graduating with high-level language skills alongside a scholarly understanding of religious belief, practice and the historical and contemporary role of faith. You will study the major world religions alongside a particular focus on Christian faith in its historical and contemporary manifestations, and you will develop your Spanish language and cultural knowledge to a high level of proficiency. The combination produces graduates with language ability, cultural depth and the academic skills to work across religious, cultural and international boundaries.

Graduates are well placed for careers in education, journalism, interfaith dialogue, NGOs, international development, mission and ministry, cultural organisations, diplomacy and the public and third sectors. The Spanish language opens Hispanophone professional contexts across several continents, while the theology and religion component is particularly valuable in work that engages with faith communities or the religious dimensions of global issues. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in Hispanic studies, theology, religious studies, development studies or translation, where the combination of language and religious scholarship provides a distinctive research profile.