Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion interviews at Cambridge.
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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
Interview invitation
Mostly November
College interviews
7 to 18 December 2026
Outcome
27 January 2027
Interview invitation
Mostly November
College interviews
7 to 18 December 2026
Outcome
27 January 2027
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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4-6 weeks
1-2 weeks
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The Complete Cambridge Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion Interview Guide
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2027 entry
Cambridge holds its main interview period from 7 to 18 December 2026. Most applicants have one or two interviews, lasting 35 minutes to an hour in total, and Cambridge says applicants find out the outcome on 27 January 2027.
Checked against official university sources on 26 October 2026: Cambridge: interviews, Cambridge: dates and deadlines. Your invitation email has the details for your own course and college.
Mock interviews
Real length, real questions and strict marking, with a rotating panel of Oxford and Cambridge interviewers, so the real interview is never the first time you face someone new.
01
Two interviews of 25 to 30 minutes in one hour, with a strict cut-off. Standard questions, unseen material and real past interview questions we keep for our mock interview students.
02
On the day you meet people you have never seen before. So you meet a different interviewer each time, never more than four mocks with the same person, and nothing is asked twice.
03
Every interview is scored on the same three criteria and written up on a feedback sheet in your portal, so you can see exactly where you are improving and what to fix next.
Academic thinking
Breaking an unfamiliar problem down, testing ideas, using what you know in a new setting and spotting where an assumption fails.
Communication
Thinking out loud, stating your assumptions, answering the question actually asked and making good use of a hint.
Resilience under pressure
Not whether you are nervous, but whether you recover: after a correction, a dead end or a deliberately vague question.
Some of the best at Oxford and Cambridge: Firsts from both universities, one in the top five per cent of the year.
Philosophy
First in Philosophy and Theology, Oxford, now a DPhil student who teaches Oxford tutorials
Gerard
Philosophy
First in Philosophy, Cambridge, then an MPhil in Philosophy
Philosophy
Top 5% of the year
First in PPE, Oxford, top five per cent of the year
Clara
Philosophy
Physics and Philosophy, Oxford, two college Exhibitions and a Scholarship
Interviewers are confirmed with you before each session. Oxbridge Mentors is not affiliated with the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge.
Watch & Learn
A Cambridge in Your Classroom video useful for practicing theology, gender and conceptual analysis.
A Cambridge Faculty video that bridges philosophy and theology, matching the course title.
Useful for practicing 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.