It’s a common misconception that you need to have studied Religious Studies or Philosophy at A-Level in order to take a degree in Theology and Religion at university. In this new blog series, academic staff from the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter encourage A-Level students of other subjects to consider TRS. In this first post, Prof Esther Reed asks, “Why should A-Level Economics and Business Studies students consider Theology and Religion at university?”
How many company websites have you visited recently? How many have ethics statements? How many businesses that operate in many and diverse countries talk in their sustainability policy statements about generating good relationships with local communities?
Every good business with transnational reach is challenged today to maintain high ethical standards, to listen to the communities amidst and with which it works, and to meet ever-growing consumer demand for information about performance in these respects.
Image: World map color-coded to denote major religion affiliations (as of 2011) CC BY 3.0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_ groups#/media/File:World_religions_map_en.svg
A degree programme in Theology and Religion could help to prepare you for the workplace and make you a useful employee. In addition to honed research, writing, critical-thinking and presentation skills, Theology and Religion can provide you with a knowledge base and skill set with many applications in businesses – large and small – that need to maintain high ethical and working standards.
A degree in Theology and Religion could help you think about the value of work, wealth creation, financial integrity, the meaning of common good, enterprise, responsible credit and savings, ethics in the corporate culture, social inequality, principles for an economic ethic today, the moral limits of markets, and more. Write a dissertation on economics and responsible business practices today!
Analyse for yourself whether too few businesses are religiously literate today – whether at headquarters or working in small communities. Millions of people around the world profess a religion and are influenced in day-to-day decision making by their faith. A Theology and Religion degree could help you become a business leaders of the future with a difference; a business leader with a basic understanding of major world faiths.
Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter is committed to equipping young business leaders of the future to understand the power of religion, its significant force across the world, how major religions are internally diverse and culturally embedded, and why improved religious literacy is good for business.