Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Religion, Theology & Spirituality and Criminology (RT13)

If students want a cathedral, we’ve got one to spare!’ runs a traditional Liverpool song. This city has been shaped by its religious past – it has seen over two centuries of religious riots, they will find the oldest mosque in England here, and the landscape is dominated by two amazing cathedrals. Liverpool now is home to vibrant new religious communities from across the world. All that makes Liverpool Hope the perfect place to study the spirituality, wisdom, and mysticism of the major religious traditions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. But our city with its art and music scenes also tells us that the human quest for meaning and purpose goes beyond the traditional ‘religions.’ People today are often seeking a ‘spiritual’ identity – but not necessarily a ‘religious’ one.

Crime and how to deal with it are amongst the most significant and contentious issues of our time, so it is vital that we understand this subject. Criminology is the study of crime, its causes and effects, and what we do about it. At Liverpool Hope University, students will study how crime is defined and who defines it, why some people commit offences, and what happens to those who commit crimes if they are caught.

Criminology also studies the impact of the various agencies and organizations that deal with crime: the police, the courts, the probation and prison services, as well as the role of the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office. Studying Criminology enables them to focus on questions such as ‘is criminal behavior learned or inherited?’ and ‘why are some actions defined as criminal and not others?’; ‘what is the purpose of punishment and to what extent does it deter criminal behavior