Theology in University
Has anyone done any theological studies in university?
And was it anything of interest.
I'm considering taking a course and am rather curious what it revolves around.
Is it a historical background dealing with things such as what is perceived to be the history of god and such, with events such as the fall of the angels or etc moving onto the history of Judaism and Christianity, or am I way off?
It depends which particular religion/religions it deals with and the focus of it.
About a year ago I did a theology unit (as one of my electives) and it was a subject primarily geared towards the historiography of religion, and thus focused on historical texts and mythology, with a little investigation of modern religions as a result of influences with ancient ones - very much a "what lay in the formation of history and why did people think this way" kind of thing. Because religion has been very influential on history.
Of course that was just one unit, and a more history based one at that. An actual course in theology focusing in, say, Christianity, might be a look at the religion from the perspective of other disciplines such as history, philosophy, and/or anthropology styled around Christian traditions and thought. It would approach this from biblical studies, church history, systematic theology and Christian ethics.
That is my understanding of the way courses run at my university, the main theological ones being Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and then a looser selection of courses such as new age etc.
Re: Theology in University
Originally posted by silver_tears
Has anyone done any theological studies in university?
And was it anything of interest.I'm considering taking a course and am rather curious what it revolves around.
Is it a historical background dealing with things such as what is perceived to be the history of god and such, with events such as the fall of the angels or etc moving onto the history of Judaism and Christianity, or am I way off?
I attended a series on science and religion as an undergrad. We had a variety of guest speakers that would speak once a week. It was interesting.
To tell you the truth, imo theology is a religious study and unless it is a course on history or philosophy of theology it doesn't belong in a decent school.
I also am skeptical of any theologian that isn't atheist, they have a belief on God, I don't believe that this can allow a truly objective study of the subject.
Re: Theology in University
Originally posted by silver_tears
Has anyone done any theological studies in university?
And was it anything of interest.I'm considering taking a course and am rather curious what it revolves around.
Is it a historical background dealing with things such as what is perceived to be the history of god and such, with events such as the fall of the angels or etc moving onto the history of Judaism and Christianity, or am I way off?
One of my freinds is. She is in India for the year studying Hinduism.
Theology involves more religious history and coparative theology. Of course they learn (often in detail) the mythological histories and aspects of a given religon, but its more about how religions fit into societies and how they interact with eachother.
It doesn't teach religion as fact, it treats them all equally. She studies atheism etc. But i think most majors have a high degree of spirituality (note this does not mean a religion).
Originally posted by Imperial_Samura
I did, I like most humanities subjects, the lecturers were good, and whether one is religious of not generally it is quite a fascinating subject. There could be a fair bit of reading, but once again I enjoyed that to.
I too enjoy the humanities, my schedule for first year is all humanities, but then again going into history allows a very open course schedule.
On the topic of religion in high school, we had an awesome grade 11 course on world religions, everything from Christianity, to Judaism, to Hinduism, to Scientology.
Although I must say the teacher pretty much sucked all the interesting right out of it, although I was still fascinated.
Originally posted by silver_tears
I too enjoy the humanities, my schedule for first year is all humanities, but then again going into history allows a very open course schedule.On the topic of religion in high school, we had an awesome grade 11 course on world religions, everything from Christianity, to Judaism, to Hinduism, to Scientology.
Although I must say the teacher pretty much sucked all the interesting right out of it, although I was still fascinated.
What school are you going to?
I'm going up to Penn State in the fall