Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion interviews at Cambridge.
Real Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion interview questions in the style Cambridge asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
Read this short passage about divine embodiment. What assumptions does it make about God, bodies and gender?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
You have been given a short philosophical passage about God. What is the strongest claim it makes, and what would you challenge first?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Look at this apocalyptic passage. Is it mainly prediction, revelation, protest or symbolism?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Read this extract from a creation narrative. What kinds of truth could it be claiming?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Here is an image of a religious building. What can you infer about worship, community and theology from its design?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Supervision-style interviews with problem-solving and academic discussion, often with two interviewers.
Cambridge interviews usually happen at your first-choice college. Most applicants have two interviews, with some subjects requiring a third at the pooled college. Cambridge interviews tend to involve two interviewers and may include a written assessment or pre-interview task sent on the day.
Interview Invitation
Late Nov
Arrival to Interview
Early Dec
Technical Question
Mid Dec
Decision
Early Jan
Interview Invitation
Late Nov
Arrival to Interview
Early Dec
Technical Question
Mid Dec
Decision
Early Jan
Read this parable and explain what makes interpretation difficult.
Can philosophy teach us anything about God, or only about human concepts of God?
Is the Genesis creation story best approached as theology, myth, history, literature or something else?
Do religious traditions share more than their adherents sometimes admit?
Does religion still have value if there is no God?
Which kind of argument for God's existence do you find most persuasive, and why might it fail?
Why might people turn to prayer in hardship?
How would you distinguish Theology from the academic study of Religion?
What evidence would help you decide whether a commandment tradition functioned mainly as law, identity marker or theology?
What evidence would you need before saying that religious diversity undermines religious belief?
How could you use John’s Gospel to argue that it presents Jesus differently from the Synoptic Gospels?
What evidence would support or weaken the claim that emotion is central to religion?
If no one had preserved scriptural languages, how would the study of religion be different?
If a religious movement had no buildings or institutions, could it still be a religion?
If humanity disappeared, what would happen to doctrines about future divine action?
Which book, article or topic in your personal statement would you now criticise most strongly?
You mention an EPQ or school essay. What was your central argument, and what evidence would you add now?
Lucy Minton describes Theology as combining interests in English, RE and History. Which parts of your background make this interdisciplinary course fit you?
Is morality good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good?
Would personal faith help, hinder or simply change the academic study of theology?
Could torture ever be justified if it might save lives?
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A Cambridge in Your Classroom video useful for practising theology, gender and conceptual analysis.
A Cambridge Faculty video that bridges philosophy and theology, matching the course title.
Useful for practising careful interpretation of religious language and genre.
Directly relevant to philosophy-of-religion interview discussion.
Useful for broadening preparation beyond Christian theology into lived religious practice.
All videos are the property of their respective creators.
Further Reading
by David F. Ford
Recommended by the Faculty under The Question of God; useful for framing theology as a university discipline.
by John H. Hayes and Carl R. Holladay
Faculty-listed introduction to reading biblical texts carefully, useful for passage-based interview preparation.
by E. P. Sanders
Faculty-listed New Testament reading that models historically grounded argument.
by Brian Davies
Faculty-listed philosophy of religion text for God, evidence, belief and argument.
by Grace Davie
Faculty-listed contemporary religion text; helps applicants connect religion to sociology and modern public life.
by Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
Faculty-recommended preparation source for listening, summarising and analysing unfamiliar material.
by Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
Official preparatory reading list organised around course papers.
by Cambridge SU / Lucy Minton
Named student perspective on workload, course structure and why the subject appeals.
by University of Cambridge
Primary source for entry requirements, course outline, admissions assessment status and applicant statistics.
by University of Cambridge
Primary source for interview dates, format variation and what interviews assess.