About the OCRS
Established in 2016, the Online Centre for Religious Studies aims to promote and facilitate the academic study of religion for a wide and diverse audience.
Study religion online
Our courses will take you from the basics of what a religion is (or isn't!), right through to a detailed exploration of the key faiths alive today.
Free resources
Download free digital resources for personal use, or to assist in the classroom.
Life on Other Worlds
14 September 2020 | Luke Burns
The existence of life in the upper atmosphere of Venus has potentially been demonstrated today by the publication of data and analysis by the Royal Astronomical Society. But what does it mean that microbes, perhaps not too dissimilar from those found on Earth, have (probably) been discovered on our sister planet? A discovery of phosphine gas indicates that either a completely unknown form of chemistry is taking place, or - tantalisingly - life exists beyond the Earth.
New Membership Service from the OCRS
11 June 2020 | Luke Burns
We will soon be introducing a new membership service called the OCRS Portal! The Portal is designed to guide you into a world of scholarship and learning, with courses that will take you from the very basics right up to university-level knowledge and skills. Along the way you can dive into specialist subjects that interest you, communicate with other students, and engage with tutors and scholars. What does it include? All OCRS online courses.
What Makes a Place Sacred?
13 April 2020 | Luke Burns
To claim that a location, structure, or geographical feature is ‘sacred’ is to assert that it is ‘set apart and regarded with special reverence’ (Wolffe, 2017(a), p.213), but there are many ways to understand this sacrality, where it comes from, and how it is expressed by different groups of people. The term sacred has a strong religious association, and usually means that something serves a religious function, or holds importance for people by virtue of its religious associations.
