It’s failing to make a case for its survival as university cuts bite. But theology’s value as an academic discipline is incalculable

Bangor University has announced that its school of theology and religious studies will close in 2013, merging with the theology department at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in a cost-cutting exercise. With university budget cuts of £200m planned, the loss of the department is unlikely to be an isolated case. At the University of Birmingham’s school of philosophy, theology and religion, one of the largest in the UK, up to a third of staff are facing redundancy, while the University of Sheffield’s biblical studies department was also threatened with closure last year. Universities are under pressure to make immediate and drastic savings, and theology seems to be failing to make the case for its survival as a discipline worth studying…

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