What else can I do to prepare?

Here is some recommended summer reading: 
  
Explore some of the major journals and works for the study of religions starting with articles by your lecturers: 

Harvard Theological Review (journal)

Balserak, J. “Geneva’s Use of Lies, Deceit, and Simulation in their Efforts to Reform France, 1536-1563.” Harvard Theological Review 112/1, 76-100.
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/170548102/JonBalserak_HTR.pdf   

Material Religion   (journal)

Langer, R. 2019. 'The Transformative Power of Food: The “Milk Mothers” in Sri Lankan Buddhism', Material Religion. 15, 5, p. 529-552. 
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/the-transformative-power-of-food-the-milk-mothers-in-sri-lankan-b   

Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient (journal)

Shiri, Y. 2020. "From Royal Ideology to Religious Polemics." Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. 106, p. 29-108.
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/347650645/From_Royal_Ideology_to_Religious_Polemic.pdf

Philosophy of Religion  (journal)

Leech, D. 2017. ‘Cudworth on superintellectual instinct as inclination to the good’, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 25(5), 954- 970. 
 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/125867032/Cudworth_on_Superintellectual_Instinct_LEECH.pdf 

Material Aspects of Reading in Ancient and Medieval Cultures (book)

Lindsey Askin - “Scribal Production and Literacy at Qumran" Considerations of Page Layout and Style” from the book Material Aspects of Reading in Ancient and Medieval Cultures (De Gruyter, 2020) 2020) https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110639247-003/html 

 

Further reading for optional units: 

Balserak, Jon, Calvinism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016) 
 
Copan, Paul, and Chad V Meister, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion. 2nd ed. (Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013)   
 
D’Costa, Gavin, Christianity and the World Religions. Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions (Oxford: Blackwell, 2009) 
 
Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)  (essential for unit Buddhism in practice)
 
Lambdin, Thomas O., Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (DLT, 1971) (essential reading for Beginners Biblical Hebrew) 
 
Lynch, Joseph H., The Medieval Church: a brief history (London: Longman, 1992) (essential for unit Heresy and Reform in the medieval and early modern eras)
   
 MacCulloch, Diarmaid, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (London: Penguin, 2011) 
 
Muessig, Carolyn, The Stigmata in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020) 
 
Rippin, Andrew, Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 3rd ed. (London: Routledge, 2005) 
 
Smart, Ninian, The World's Religions, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) 
 
Taliaferro, Charles, Philosophy of Religion: A Beginner's Guide (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009) 
 
Vermes, Geza, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective (SCM Press, 1994) (essential reading Dead Sea Scrolls)