DDM Religion and Pluralism
Groningen, Netherlands
DURATION
18 Months
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
01 May 2025*
EARLIEST START DATE
01 Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 18,700 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Dutch I EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA students
** for Non-EU|for EU/EEA EUR 2,530
Introduction
DDM Religion and Pluralism
Double MA Degree on the Religious Origins of Modern Society at University of Groningen (UG) and Córdoba University (UCO): Identity, Exclusion, Integration, and Coexistence from Antiquity to Modernity.
The religious origins of modern society are richly diverse. During centuries, Greco-Roman religion, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam actively contributed to the construction of modern culture, attitude and character. This DD MA delves into the history of these four religious traditions’ coexistence.
UG focuses on Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman World, and the rise of Islam in (late) antiquity. The historical and philological analysis of their testimonies highlights the difficult first contacts, the lapses and relapses of their relationships and the resulting construction of the self and the other.
UCO explores the cultural contacts among them during the Middle Ages and beyond, their cohabitation in the Iberian Peninsula, and the tensions and eases of their coexistence. Most importantly, it analyzes the role of Judaism and Islam in the absorption and transformation of ancient knowledge, and its transfer to the Christian West, hereby contributing to the early modern and contemporary world.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Several scholarship options are available. Please visit the university website for more information.
Curriculum
Year 1
- Core module: The Construction of Religious Identities in Europe: Religious Diversity in
- the Graeco-Roman World (UG)
- Texts of Terror (UG)
- Core module: New Historical Methods in Early Christianity (UG)
- Interreligious Debates and Otherness in Iberian Societies (UG)
- Reception and Re-Use of Authoritative Texts (UG)
- From Athens to the West: the Transfer of Greek Knowledge to Renaissance Europe (UCO)
- From Baghdad to Cordoba: The Cultural Contribution of Al-Andalus Judaism (UCO)
- From East to West: The Reception of Knowledge in Al-Andalus (UCO)
- Religious Minorities on the Iberian Peninsula from the15th to the 18th Century (UCO)
- The Structure for Knowledge Transfer (UCO)
- Sources for the Research on Ethnic-Religious Minorities in the Iberian Peninsula during 15th to 18th (UCO)
- The Universalism of Scientific Knowledge. The Arabic and Jewish Philosophy and
- Science in the Latin World (UCO)
Year 2
- Internship (UG/UCO)
- Master's Thesis (UG & UCO)
Program Outcome
Credits:90 ECTS
MA in Theology & Religious Studies
If you want to pursue an academic career, you can follow this track as a specialization within the Research Master's program.
Career Opportunities
As a graduate you can become an adviser and policymaker on interreligious issues and multicultural society. You may work in cultural organisations and companies in the public sector. In addition, you can work in the media. You can become a teacher of religion or philosophy. If you want to pursue an academic career, you can follow this track as a specialization within the Research Master's Program.
Job examples
Consulting & Policy
You are able to provide well-founded advice on interreligious issues and multicultural society. You can use this expertise in an advisory position at cultural organizations, in companies or in the public sector. Your knowledge equips you for policymaking positions in this field.
Media & Journalism
The current debate often refers to perceived historical realities. Your expertise in Judaism, Christianity and Islam enables you to ask critical questions concerning modern-day claims about these religious traditions. You can use your knowledge and skills as an editor at a publishing company, broadcasting company, newspaper or news and current affairs magazine. You could also work as a freelancer.
Education
Once you have completed this Master's Program you will have enough knowledge of the subject to become a secondary school teacher in the subject of Religious Studies and Philosophy or Social Studies. You could also opt for a position in higher vocational education, for example teaching Theology at a university of applied sciences. As you also need didactic skills as a teacher, it is advisable to do a Master's in Education after you have completed your regular Master's Program.