This international and innovative Master's programme in the Religious Roots of Europe (RRE) gives students a unique opportunity to explore the three major European religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - and the impact of these religions on European culture and society. Find information below, and more information at religious-studies.net.
To apply for admission to the master's programme, you must be enrolled in or have completed either a qualifying bachelor's programme or another relevant Danish or foreign degree programme which the admission board asess fulfil the adacemic requirements.
You apply for admission through the application portal.
Below you can read more about the admission requirements for the programme including which documents you must upload along with your application.
You must meet a number of admission requirements, to apply for the master’s programme. We do not offer pre-assessment of your educational background.
You can read about the various admission requirements below:
The Master programme is open to students with a bachelor’s degree with a major in
The Programme with its modules and courses progresses from the learning outcome, knowledge, skills and abilities obtained by the students through these bachelor programmes.
Since the Study Plan presupposes an ability to read ancient religious texts in the original languages – and aims at training students further in this respect – but not all the mentioned bachelor degree programmes include compulsory ancient language training, it is specified as a prerequisite for admittance to the Programme that the applicant documents a proficiency in at least one of the following ancient languages: Greek, Latin, Hebrew or Arabic. This proficiency must equal the proficiency achieved by studying such a language in a module allotted 15 ECTS credits. Alternatively, a student can be admitted if she or he can document a proficiency in two of these ancient languages which equals the proficiency achieved by studying each of these languages in modules which are allotted 15 ECTS credits in total.
You must also meet the language requirements for English B.
If your have another Danish or international degree, you must upload the following documents with your application:
If your study programme automatically meets the admission requirements, you must upload the following documents with your application:
Application deadline for Danish applicants and applicants from within the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Open for applications from 16 January. You will receive a reply by 15 May.
Application deadline for applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Open for applications from 15 November. You will receive a reply by 13 March.
Find information about available places on the study programme, as well as the distribution of students admitted last year.
| Admission statistics Religious Roots of Europe 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Available study places | 15 |
| Admission statistics Religious Roots of Europe 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Admitted (of which have start in February) | 17 (0) |
| Admission distribution (legal right/other) | 0% / 100% |
| Applicants | 35 |
| Age average | 29 |
| Nationality (dk/international) | 12% / 88% |
If the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of available places, applicants will be prioritised according to the following criteria:
The selection of students is furthermore based on the relevance of the bachelor's degree in terms of field of study, as well as on the grades achieved, and on the number of courses and ECTS-points that students have gained in relevant study areas (e.g., theology, religion, ancient history, culture and language).
The documentation requirements depend on your applicant category. Select the category below that applies to you and find out what documents you need and how to apply for admission.
Starting in 2028, you can apply for focused 1-year master’s degrees, 2-year master’s degrees, and several new types of degrees for working professionals, combining study and relevant work.
The new master’s opportunities are relevant for you if you wish to apply for a master’s degree from 2028.
Your bachelor’s degree is the basis for assessing if you meet the admission requirements for the master’s degree.
In the curriculum you can see how many ECTS credits from other courses can be included in addition to your bachelor’s degree. These courses must be completed before you complete the bachelor’s degree. Courses completed between your bachelor’s and master’s degree cannot be included in the assessment.
If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, you must pay the application deposit and tuition fee.
If you want to apply for admission to a master’s degree or to apply for re-admission, study change, transfer, or re-enrolment at the University of Copenhagen, you must apply through the application portal.
Once you have submitted your application, you can follow the application in the application portal.
See the guide to the application portal
Read more about applying for re-admission, study change, transfer, and re-enrolment
The MA in the Religious Roots of Europe is a two-year programme concluding with the master’s thesis. You can select from and combine a range of courses over the duration of your studies.
In total, the Programme is assigned 120 ECTS credits, consisting of four terms of full-time study, each covering 30 ECTS credits. The Programme consists of modules that vary in the number of ECTS credits allotted. The student must sit their examinations in the modules of every single semester before they can be examined in the modules of the next semester. There is a steady progression culminating in the fourth term with the master’s thesis. It follows that the master’s thesis should be assessed as the final module in the Programme.
Text:
Jewish,
Christian
or
Islamic Tradition
If you are more interested in the academic content, regulations, and examination requirements, you should consult the curriculum, which serves as the legal foundation for the programme.
There is both a curriculum specific to each degree programme and a general curriculum that applies across the faculty.
Please note that curricula are often revised annually. Any new versions will be published no later than during the spring semester.
Upon completion of the master’s programme, you will obtain the title Master of Arts in the Religious Roots of Europe.
The importance of expertise in religion and in its role in society and culture is increasingly recognised. As a graduate of this programme you will be qualified for scholarly work, e.g. in PhD-programmes, as well as for teaching. You will also be able to enter into specialised occupations in government institutions or organisations dealing with culture, integration, diplomacy etc. and in private companies with business relations with e.g. the Middle East.
Three Nordic universities have joint their resources on this programme which gives you a wide range of choice in specialised thematic subjects. The programme is offered in English.
For more information about the contents of the programme, see religious-studies.net
The Religious Roots of Europe (RRE) is the first joined Master's programme at The University of Copenhagen and is offered by The Faculty of Theology in cooperation with two other Nordic universities (Lund University, University of Oslo). Joint Master's programmes are desirable because of their natural international scope and due to the pooling of the competencies of several universities.
The aim of the RRE programme is to expose students to the traditions, formative processes, and mutual interactions in the ancient world of the three most influential religions at the root of European culture and history: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In this regard the programme is unique.
The three religions have traditionally been studied more or less separately. The RRE programme is about studying the three religions together in their formative period from a comparative perspective, using a variety of approaches, including historical, philological, social scientific, feminist and literary ones.
The importance of expertise in religion and in its role in society and culture is increasingly recognised. As a graduate of this programme you will be qualified for scholarly work, e.g. in PhD-programmes, as well as for teaching. You will also be able to enter into specialised occupations in government institutions or organisations dealing with culture, integration, diplomacy etc. and in private companies for example with business relations with the Middle East.
Very many different jobs. So far about 20 % of our alumni have gone on to doing PhD work.
Here are some areas where RRE graduates work:
Public administration, university administration, mission organisation, NGOs, social and integration work, ministry, diplomacy, recruitment agencies, HR partners, private companies.
Research Career
Several RRE-graduates have been or are doing PhD-studies at:
In addition, RRE graduates teach at university level at: University of Florida, Seton Hall in New Jersey, Norwegian University of Science and Theology, Trondheim, and the University of Southern Denmark.
About half of the students in any given year come from countries outside of Scandinavia. Further, you will be studying at all three universities in the programme (Both Lund and Oslo in addition to Copenhagen), and this produces a truly international atmosphere. Wherever you choose to apply – and are admitted – you will be based for the duration of your studies, and therefore courses taught at the two other universities will partly consist of state of the art e-learning.
However, twice pr. semester, for one or two weeks, you will take part in compact seminars. These seminars include fairly intense face-to-face teaching, combined with a densely packed social itinerary. Since its inception in 2009, the students in the programme have enjoyed these seminars immensely, not least because they get to spend IRL time with all of their fellow students. The total number of students in a year is 15-20.
Weekly, or every two weeks, during the first semester you will attend a two-hour tutorial together with the other students based at the University of Copenhagen. The tutorials partly aim at teaching general subjects within the science of religion such as cognition, ritual, mysticism, evolution, and partly their aim is to provide help with writing papers, writing correct English etc.
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