Study religious education, leading to a first in divinity (4)
I believe the answer is:
read
'study' is the definition.
('read' can be a synonym of 'study')
'religious education leading to a first in divinity' is the wordplay.
'religious education' becomes 're'.
'leading to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (some letters go before or lead others).
'first in' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'divinity' is 'd'.
're'+'a'+'d'='READ'
(Other definitions for read that I've seen before include "Con" , "Interpreted, for example" , "Study (subject at university)" , "Interpret writing" , "Examine" .)