The University of Edinburgh is scrapping its Divinity and Master of Divinity degrees, becoming the latest institution to walk away from a subject the university has taught since its founding in 1583.
The decision is part of a wider shake-up: 90 courses are being cut as management look to plug a £140 million shortfall, with other affected programmes spanning undergraduate and master's degrees across the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The University says the cuts reflect "student demand" and a changing jobs market.
In response, the University and College Union has announced a five-week strike in an effort to protect staff from compulsory redundancies.
Edinburgh joins Bath Spa which has already closed its theology department, while Exeter announced significant cuts to its own department earlier this summer.
The retreat from theology at university level comes as numbers training for ordination in the Church of England remain well below what's needed. After four years of decline, figures ticked up slightly last year, with 442 people entering training in September compared to a low of 329 the year before, still far short of the 630 new clergy the Ministry Council estimates the Church needs annually.
Campaign group Save the Parish has pointed to a lack of confidence in ministry as a "major obstacle" to recruitment.
However, not everyone sees the closures as a death knell for the subject. Dr Michael Tang, who studied theology at Birmingham University and whose PhD explores the search for God in popular music, told Premier Christian News that interest among Gen Z remains strong, just not on campus.
He described how many young people who don't attend church still gather in coffee shops during church hours to read the Bible together, suggesting theology is increasingly detached from university settings.
"Don't read it as a sign that theology doesn't matter...it still matters," Tang said.
He argued universities need to revisit their core mission for teaching theology, rather than treating it as a purely academic pursuit: young people are still seeking Christian spirituality for themselves, through practices like communal Bible reading, "so you don't need a degree in theology to pursue that kind of thing."
Tang has a passion for the subject but his own experience underlines the risk of pursuing the subject academically. After completing his PhD in Theology, he was unemployed for a year and now works as a barista. His advice to prospective students: question your motivations before signing up.
"If people are very scholarly and want to become a theologian, of course going down the academic path is right for them," he said. "But not everyone wants to become a theologian. So figuring out why you want to study theology in the first place is very important."