Foundations: Christian Spirituality
Christian Spirituality is an online unit taken over 15 weeks, using Cliff College's online learning platform.
Today's world has a renewed interest in spirituality, with a rise in the number of people who claim to be ‘spiritual but not religious’. In this context, the rich heritage of Christian spirituality is a resource for the church’s mission and ministry, providing tools to support and sustain faith today.
This unit, Christian Spirituality, introduces students to key theories, movements, figures and practices relating to spirituality in the Christian tradition. The unit enables students to explore contemporary trajectories in spirituality – such as the environment, health and wellbeing – that can be approached from a Christian perspective.
This unit will be available in April 2026 and is taught in ten sessions over ten weeks, with a further five weeks to prepare and submit your assessment. The first and last sessions are live seminars which you will need to attend either online or onsite at Cliff College; the dates for these seminars will be confirmed in late 2025.
The other eight sessions are designed for independent study and are made up of video content, reading, written tasks and other creative activities to help consolidate your learning. These can be done at any time in the week that suits you. We recommend that you allow two hours of learning for each session, plus time for reading and assessment preparation.
Throughout the unit you will have opportunities through scheduled online meetings to check in with Cliff College staff, discuss your learning and experience of the unit, seek guidance on assessments and ask any questions you have.
This course costs £400, including access to all teaching materials and tutorial support throughout your course.
Applications for this programme will open in summer 2025. If you have any questions about the unit or would like to speak to someone before applying, please contact enquiries@cliffcollege.ac.uk.
Entry requirements
A Level 3 qualification (such as an A Level) or equivalent.
It is recognised that standard procedures for assessing applications may not always provide an accurate understanding of an applicant's suitability. In such cases where a Level 3 qualification is not held, qualification it is still possible to apply, and these applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, in line with our non-standard entry process.
English language proficiency
Applicants whose first language is not English shall have achieved an overall IELTS score of 6.0 or equivalent in an equivalent recognised test. This must have been achieved no longer than two years before the date of enrolment on the unit.
Part of learning on a Foundations unit is preparing and submitting assessments. These are normally a creative written assessment and a recorded presentation. There are also two sets of multiple-choice questions (one at the mid-point of the unit, one at the end) which form part of your overall grade.
For this unit, your assessments will be:
- Write an 800-word article outlining a contemporary spiritual practice;
- Prepare and record a ten-minute presentation on an issue facing contemporary Christian spirituality.
You will receive further information and guidance on preparing and submitting assessments when you have enrolled on your unit, both as part of the orientation course and in the unit overview materials. There are also scheduled online meetings with Cliff College staff throughout the unit, where you can ask questions about the assessments or any other element of the unit.