Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture

Description

The Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture is a research and teaching centre within the Institute of Education and Humanities at University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The Centre’s purpose is the consideration of how humans live on planet Earth, with particular reference to the sky and cosmos as part of the wider environment.

The programme members teach is distance-learning, online, Master's programmes (MA), Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, the only academic degree in the world which explores humanity’s relationship with the sky, and Ecology and Spirituality. Both are also available as Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.

There is no need to live in the UK to study these programmes. The Centre has a global community of students and scholars who connect on the web. Modules from the MA are also taken by students in other programmes at the university, including Ancient Religion, the Study of Religions and Engaged Anthropology.

The Centre’s work is partly historical, partly anthropological and partly philosophical. It has a wide-ranging remit to investigate the role of cosmological, astronomical and astrological beliefs, models and ideas in human culture, including the theory and practice of myth, magic, divination, religion, spirituality, architecture, politics and the arts. Members’ work considers the ways in which people have tried to live in harmony with the cosmos.

Members deal with the modern world as much as indigenous or ancient practices, and their work ranges from the study of Neolithic sites to medieval cosmology, the history of astrology in the ancient world, India and the west, the nature of space and place on Earth as well as in the sky, and the ethics of modern space exploration. They do not confine themselves to any time period or culture.

The Centre also supervises PhD students, holds conferences, publishes books and articles, sponsors events and manages research projects. Its major research project of the moment is ‘Welsh Monastic Skies’, an investigation of the alignment of Welsh abbeys in relation to major features in the sky and land. The Centre has been instrumental in developing the concept of the skyscape as a vital feature of human cultures.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

University of Wales, Trinity Saint David (UWTSD)
Carmarthen

Partner Infrastructures

Harmony Institute

The Harmony Institute's objectives are to critically analyse traditional harmony philosophies, assess their application in the modern era, encourage education, support publications, organise events, a… read more about Harmony Institute

Carmarthen