Creative Writing and Religious Studies (with Foundation Year) BA (Hons)

Liverpool Hope University

This is a four year degree taught at our Hope Park campus. The Foundation Year aims to develop your skills so that after a year, you will be equipped with the necessary skills needed for studying the full BA Hons degree programme.

Please note that Combined Honours degrees at Liverpool Hope University are split 50/50. This means both subjects will be studied equally.

Creative Writing

Creative Writing at Liverpool Hope will give you the chance to experience the joys of crafting the written word. The degree focuses on developing you as a writer of poetry and prose (fiction and non-fiction), broadly within the field of literature (poems, short stories, novels, long-form essays). Some professional writing - reviews, blogs and articles for different kinds of media - is also studied. Our focus on creativity and employability means you will be able to produce engaging, innovative and marketable texts.

By studying Creative Writing, you will be empowered with an enhanced command of your craft, increased confidence in expressing your thoughts and emotions, an understanding of the values that inform your writing practice, and the technical skillset to deliver your work to various audiences. Your writing will be enhanced by studying under celebrated writers and academics, as well as developing a range of workplace skills to prepare for fulfilling careers.

The degree will often challenge you and ask you to reach beyond your own experience and interests into those of contemporary and historical communities. Using these as creative stimuli, you will be required to reflect upon social contexts, power, and how truth and justice can be communicated or miscommunicated through creative writing. By the end of the degree, you should have a wide appreciation of forms, genres and applications. Included in the degree are field trips to Wales, and Liverpool museums and galleries, which provide material for writing exercises as well as widening your student experience.

Religious Studies

Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope explores the practice and significance of religion in contemporary society through the study of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, African religion, and Indic traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. A balance between the study of religious texts and lived religion in the contemporary world is maintained throughout the degree. Religious Studies pays close attention to what supporters to these religions believe, and explores the very real differences that exist between various groups within each faith.

Throughout your studies, you will analyse and contextualise the theology behind key religions to appreciate their history and their relevance to the social and political landscape. All of our teaching is research-informed and you will be taught by highly-qualified academics, all of whom have a PhD in the area, who are both active and published researchers and committed teachers. We work hard to provide top-quality educational opportunities for all our students, and the Department has recently invested heavily in learning resources; combined library holdings in Theology and Religion are now in excess of 100,000 volumes.

Above all, the Religious Studies degree treats religions as lived faiths by looking at the way that they are followed in Britain and across the globe today. You acquire skills in the different methods of studying religion. The degree looks at questions of faith and life and at the same time is intellectually challenging. By drawing out the complex issues that surround religious belief and expression, the degree equips you to engage with the pressing questions of our time and to play your part in promoting religious and social harmony.