As early as 1193, Alexander Neckam from St Albans gave biblical and moral lectures on the Psalms of David and the Wisdom of Solomon.
Up until then, theological study was the reserve of graduates and those seeking ordination in the Church of England, who would attend a short series of lectures by the Regius Professors on basic divinity; its focus was on the Thirty-Nine Articles, Joseph Butler's Analogy of Religion and a knowledge of the Greek New Testament.
Its curriculum was biblical and historical in its focus, with its first examinations requiring knowledge of scripture, ecclesiastical history and patristics, dogmatic and symbolic theology, apologetics, liturgy and sacred criticism.
Despite the faculty's historic obligations to the Church of England, the foundation of Nonconformist and Roman Catholic institutions in Oxford from the late 19th century onwards, alongside changing academic and ecclesiastical attitudes towards theological study, resulted in the gradual transformation of theology from a purely professional discipline into an aspect of humanistic study.
Candidates can then choose four further papers from a wide selection of topics in biblical studies, history, doctrine and world religions.