RS
Hello all! Welcome to the Religious Studies section for transition materials!
Whilst you may not be pursuing Theology as a pure subject at university, many of you have chosen areas which involve consideration of morality and ethics. You may also be interested in carrying out a little more research into religions and cultures in the future, too- hence why we have included links to free online courses in these areas.
Online courses specific to Religious Studies
http://www.openculture.com/religion-free-courses-online - a whole range of courses, lectures and videos available, some of which are from top universities. Covers world religions as well as Philosophy and Ethics.
https://www.classcentral.com/subject/religion - again, lots of courses on different world religions and Theology in general. These courses are a little longer (1-3 weeks long) from universities such as Harvard- but well worth investing some time in one or two of them over the summer!
https://www.courses.com/religious-studies - a small number of courses, but they do get updated. From Yale and Harvard University.
https://www.reed.co.uk/courses/religious-studies - unfortunately you do have to pay for the courses here, and there are a few odd ones(!)- but there are also some good ones. Have a look!
...and courtesy of Mr Davies...
https://oyc.yale.edu/death/phil-176 -a link to the Shelly Kagan course (he likes to be called Shelly and not Prof Kagan)...
...and for those doing Politics / Law etc- the Michael Sandel Justice course (Harvard) is also available on Youtube and very well put together (you will see that American students are less shy about speaking up in lecture theatres than us British folk):
Also worth a trawl for some excellent lectures on ethics, science and religion is the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion:
Click on the 'Resources' tab and you will find literally hundreds of recordings of lectures (audio and video) on a whole range of issues from some acclaimed academics and specialists.
Reading Lists
Below, I have attached some of the reading lists supplied by top universities. Again, not every area will apply to you, but the recommendations made are excellent:
https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate/introductory-reading - from Cambridge University
https://rl.talis.com/3/warwick/lists/0E363F8D-45F5-1B3D-CB95-A0A84FD8D8FC.html?lang=en-GB - some good Philosophy of Religion recommendations by Warwick University
http://readinglists.warwick.ac.uk/departments/ph.html- and pure Philosophy from Warwick University
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/ptr/theology/news/TR-Summer-Reading-List-2016.pdf - some excellent recommendations by Birmingham University.
We highly recommend that you have a look at the reading lists supplied by the universities you have applied to, too! If there isn't one on their website, contact the relevant department and ask for one.