University of the Free State UFS Department of Historical and Constructive Theology
UFS Department of Historical and Constructive Theology – Check below:
In this department, the past of the Christian faith as well as its present challenges are studied.
The disciplinary group of Historical Theology, which includes various subject fields such as, among others, General Church History, addresses the following historical ‘periods’: the early and medieval, the early modern (Reformation) and modern, as well as the twentieth century. In other subject fields, the history of Christianity is studied in both Africa and South Africa. Attention is also paid to Church Polity, which deals with church organisation in all its various aspects. These respective subjects focus not only on prominent events and persons, but also on the theological developments and sociocultural worlds. The approach is sensitive to developments in contemporary historiography, to revisionists’ proposals, and to ecumenical diversity.
The disciplinary group of Constructive Theology focuses on how the traditional faith of the church is currently expressed, and how it interacts with numerous issues. Various subject disciplines are studied. Symbolics expresses the church’s creedal formulations of her confession. Systematic theology studies in depth the ‘what’ of the Christian faith, in light of the Bible, but also in dialogue with various other current voices, and attempts to give a responsible account of the traditional ‘doctrines’ of the church. Theological Ethics addresses current complex moral challenges. The department is also responsible for modules on understanding the study of theology at a public university and in an African context, as well as in the global and local contexts, and the task of theology; these were traditionally called Encyclopaedia and Apologetics. The approach to these subject fields is intentionally Biblical and contextual, and considers the best of academic scholarship available.
The department provides solid undergraduate theological education which respects denominational differences, and offers exciting possibilities for innovative postgraduate research. There is an openness to the history of the church, but also to the present-day world with its many dilemmas.
