THE academic year has not started well for staff in the Theology and Religious Studies (TRS) department of Liverpool Hope University. Warned back in May that their jobs were at risk, three out of the six staff have taken voluntary redundancy, and a fourth has made a sideways move. Only two now remain in post — and this although Liverpool Hope is an ecumenical educational charity, with charitable objects that include the furtherance of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, and of Christian education.
Liverpool Hope is merely the latest university to see the axe fall on TRS. Departments have recently closed at Kent, Wolverhampton, and Bath Spa, with further cutbacks and mergers elsewhere. Some of this can be ascribed to the creep of secularisation in recent decades, but it is also a consequence of a funding model so closely linked to demand. Students who are paying upwards of £9500 a year in tuition fees are understandably concerned about the return on their investment — and, although the model of studying theology simply as a preparation for Christian ministry is decades out of date, its shadow appears to linger. In truth, the rigorous study of theology offers an education that is both broad and deep, equipping its students with skills that can be used in a variety of careers. Business leaders are reported to say that they prize graduates of TRS above graduates of sociology, for example, because of the roundedness that such a degree can impart.
The decline of TRS as a degree subject has consequences. When A-level and GCSE results were announced this year, the Religious Education Council of England and Wales responded, by no means for the first time, with the observation that RE remains a popular subject with students (approximately 15,000 of whom took the subject at A level in 2025), but requires more specialist teachers. It is rarely taught in schools by TRS graduates, which can be only to the disadvantage of students, both directly and indirectly in terms of modelling TRS as a serious subject. This is a vicious circle.
There are other, more fundamental reasons that TRS matters. We live in a world in which 75 per cent of the global population takes faith seriously; it is, by definition impossible to make sense of that world when you have no understanding of religion. Religion is a crucial element in all the main geopolitical issues that currently concern us. And, at a time of such flux in the political, social, and cultural framework, an appreciation of the philosophy and ethics that shape our culture is essential. Surely, it is preferable to be part of a society in which individuals don’t just tolerate their neighbours, but understand them and appreciate the riches of their tradition? Theology can serve as the plumbline that helps people to navigate complexity in a bewildering age. It is a serious subject for study and deserves its place on the curriculum.
