Join our online Christian art degree and access outstanding expertise and digital archives.
Explore the fascinating relationship between art and faith in the Christian world, from medieval to modern times.
Study with an ancient university founded in 1495, and access our world-class university collections, including the Aberdeen Bestiary, wherever you are in the world.
Together we’ll explore:
- the power of images in ritual, liturgy and popular culture
- the architecture of devotion
- visual culture’s impact on the history of Christianity, its debates and controversies.
You’ll examine a broad spectrum of objects, images, texts, and aesthetic discourses to deepen your knowledge of Christian art and its histories, beyond the western European context.
Flexible study options
- Study for the MLitt or exit early with a Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma.
- Set your own study hours with this flexible online degree that’s designed to fit around work and life commitments.
You can also study this degree on campus.
Who can join online MLitt Christianity and the Visual Arts?
This online degree is open to anyone with an undergraduate degree in a humanities subject, such as art history, theology, or religious studies.
We also welcome those working in the professional sectors who are seeking upskilling opportunities, such as the clergy and those employed in museums and galleries.
You can study this degree as preparation for further postgraduate research, for future employment or vocational training – or simply out of interest.
By the end of this degree, you’ll be able to...
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Explore the intersections of art and Christianity from medieval to modern.
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Describe and evaluate important discourses on theological aesthetics and its long history.
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Reflect on historical and contemporary discourses on art and faith.
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Use interdisciplinary methodologies to evaluate art historical and theological topics.
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Contribute to debate via online discussion and coursework.
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Share original research into Christianity and the arts that you’ve carried out as part of your dissertation.
What you’ll study
You’ll study the following courses that make up the 180 credits of this Masters degree.
You can also choose to exit early, earning a:
- Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) or
- Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits).
How you’ll study
Online learning
Our distance learning Masters in Christianity and the Visual Arts is delivered flexibly, 100% online.
You can study with us anywhere in the world with no need for a study visa, and manage your study hours to suit you.
Your teaching
You’ll learn and interact within a virtual classroom, using digitised resources, archives, and discussion boards. Wherever you’re based, we aim to give you the unique experience of studying art and Christianity in a meaningful way.
Your teaching is delivered through MyAberdeen, our online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It holds all the materials, tools and support you’ll need in your studies. Take a look around MyAberdeen.
You can access your learning materials on computer, smartphone and laptop, 24 hours a day. You’ll find a range of resources at your fingertips, including:
- videos and video lectures
- tutorials
- podcasts
- slides shows
- quizzes
- reading materials
- discussion boards with classmates and tutors
- the online resources of our award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library, Special Collections, and Museum Collections .
Assessment
This degree is assessed entirely online via:
- essays
- book reviews
- discussion boards
- creative assessment, eg, posters.
Amazing archive access
You’ll have access to our outstanding Special Collections online.
They’re Scotland’s most significant university holdings. Within our collections, you can explore digitised illuminated manuscripts, including the Aberdeen Bestiary, oil paintings, early modern print collections, archives including the Scottish Catholic Archives, and much more.
Outstanding expertise
You’ll learn from leading experts in Art History and Divinity, based in our School of Divinity, History, Philosophy and Art History (DHPA).
Dr Joanne Anderson, Head of Art History
Joanne is Reader in Art History specialising in late medieval and Renaissance art, with particular expertise in the visual representations of Mary Magdalen. She is author of Moving with the Magdalen: Late Medieval Art and Devotional Practice in the Alps and has featured on Britain’s Lost Masterpieces (BBC4) and In Our Time (BBC R4) on the topic of the saint. Her broader research interests extend to the sacralising of the landscape and female patronage in the Late Middle Ages, and 20th-century exhibition history.
View Joanne’s profile
Professor Tom Greggs, Head of Divinity
Tom Greggs holds the Marischal Chair of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen and is a founding co-director of the Aberdeen Centre for Protestant Theology. He has published widely on systematic theology, including The Breadth of Salvation: Rediscovering the Fullness of God’s Saving Work and Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity. His current work focuses on ecclesiology, theology and social class, theology and identity politics, redemption and illumination. Tom serves on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, and regularly appears on radio.
View Tom’s profile
Dr Karl Kinsella, Lecturer in Medieval Art History
Karl is Lecturer in Medieval Art History. He specialises in the history of architecture and manuscripts in the early and central Middle Ages. Karl works on the development of architectural drawings within theological texts and exegesis. He has appeared on radio and lectured widely on the subject of medieval architecture.
View Karl’s profile
Reverend Professor John Behr, Regius Professor of Humanity
Fr John Behr is a world-leading patristics scholar and Orthodox theologian. He recently joined the University of Aberdeen from St Vladimir’s Seminary, New York, where he served as Dean. John has published widely on the early church and Orthodoxy, including The Way to Nicaea, The Nicene Faith, and John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology.
View John’s profileYour support team
Our friendly team are here to answer any queries you have before, during and after your studies.
Joanne Anderson
Joanne is the degree coordinator. She’ll be on hand to answer any questions about degree content before you start and to help you throughout your studies.
Kate Smith
Kate is part of the School’s support team. She’ll be there throughout your studies to answer any of your non-academic queries.
Get in touch
Our online education team is here to answer any questions you have right now about this qualification, or about studying online.
Ask us a question
Dr Karl Kinsella, Lecturer in Medieval Art HistoryWe are working in the spirit of true collaboration to explore the relation of Christian art and theology across time and space. Aberdeen has phenomenal resources in its high-profile academics, its inspiring students and its world-class collections.
Where this will take you
Towards further research
Your MLitt will give you robust research training, preparing you to undertake further research in Art History and/or Theology.
You could go on to carry out PhD research on campus or with distance supervision.
Many of our students also go on to have distinguished academic careers.
Careers
Your MLitt in Christianity and the Visual Arts can help you upskill or work towards employment in the arts, culture, faith and heritage sectors.
It provides valuable transferable skills of:
- visual analysis
- critical and ethical thinking
- debate and presentation.
It can also be part of professional development in parallel with vocational training.
Lifelong career support
Our careers support doesn’t stop when you graduate.
You have access to our free careers service while you study, and beyond.
We’re here with 1:1 appointments, CV checks, interview prep, and to connect you with job opportunities around the world.
Fees and funding
The fee quoted above is based on you starting your studies with us in the 2023/24 academic year.
Fees for future academic years are provisional, but our indicative fee assumes a 5% fee rise each year.
Pay as you go
Don’t worry, you do not have to pay the full degree fee upfront.
You can pay for your degree one term at a time. This gives you a flexible way to spread the cost.
Why study Christianity and the Visual Arts online with the University of Aberdeen?
Founded in 1495
Divinity has been taught at the University of Aberdeen for more than five centuries.
Top 40 in the world
We’re one of the top 40 universities in the world for Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies (QS World University Rankings 2021).
You’re in expert hands
We’ve been delivering online and distance learning for decades.
Entry requirements
MLitt
- A 2:1 (upper-second) honours degree or equivalent (normally a 3.0 GPA in North America).
We also welcome alternative qualifications combined with relevant professional experience. If you don’t have a formal degree qualification, please submit a supporting personal statement with your application.
These are our minimum entry requirements. They are given as a guide and do not guarantee entry.
Master of Letters
180 credits
£9,920
This indicative cost is based on 180 credits of study over two years, starting in September 2023.
Apply for this programme
- Start month
- September
- INDICATIVE COST
- £9,920
This indicative cost is based on 180 credits of study over two years, starting in September 2023.
Apply via our Applicant Portal
