Programme
ECTS credits: 4
Weekly class hours: 2
Course Content
1. Introduction to the course
2. Personified wisdom: Proverbs 8-9
3. The strong woman in Proverbs 31
4. Job's lament and defense Job 29-31
5. God's reply to Job: Job 38-42
6. Qoheleth 1-6
7. Qoheleth 7-12
8. Ben Sira: Glory of God in history and nature (Ben Sira 42-50)
8. Wisdom and human fate: Wisdom 1-5
9. Wisdom and God in the exodus from Egypt: Wisdom 10-19
10. Song of Songs 1-3
11. Song of Songs 4-8
12. Psalm 46
13. Psalm 51
14. Psalm 110
15. Review and final discussion
ECTS credits: 4
Weekly class hours: 2
Course Content
1. Rev 1:1-18: Revelation as a threefold literary genre
2. The Apocalypse as the "pinnacle" of biblical prophecy
3. Rev 2-3: The deuterocanonical pattern of prophecy, and letters to Churches
4. The theme and symbolism of the Book of Revelation
5. Rev 4-5: The use of the Old Testament in Revelation
6. Rev 6-16: Overarching structure: The actantial model as an aid in structuring Revelation
7. Revelation as a narrative text
8. Rev 12-13: Revelation as a narrative text (main characters and their characterization)
9. Rev 13: Political instrumentalization of religion
10. Rev 16-18: Economization of society and God's judgment in the vision of Revelation
11. Rev 19-20: Dispensational premillennialism and other millennialisms
12. Rev 21-22: A new world?
ECTS credits: 2
Weekly class hours: 1
Course Content
1. Introduction to the course: Introduction to the principal concepts of hermeneutics
2. Introduction to hermeneutics and its principal authors (Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer, Bultmann, Ricoeur, Hebermas)
3. The basic issues of hermeneutics I: the speech-writing relationship, the hermeneutic circle
4. The basic issues of hermeneutics II: demythologization and re-mythologization
5. The basic methods for reading biblical text
6. The principles of biblical hermeneutics as a convergence of different methodological approaches
7. Review and final discussion
ECTS credits: 4
Weekly class hours: 2
Course Content
1. Introduction to the course, the resources, the requirements, and the grading structure
2. Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Church
3. The concept of the Church in New Testament texts (charismata, ministries, structures, the Church and Israel)
4. The ecclesiological emphases in the ecumenical creeds (communio sanctorum, notae ecclesiae)
5. The emphases of Reformation ecclesiology (congregatio sanctorum, the ministry of all believers)
6. The emphases of Roman Catholic ecclesiology through history
7. The emphases of contemporary protestant ecclesiology
8. The emphases of contemporary Roman Catholic ecclesiology (Lumen Gentium)
9. The ecclesiological emphases of Orthodox Christianity
10. Ecclesiological themes and controversial issues of ecumenical dialogue (ordination, succession, the papacy, ecclesial structures, communicatio in sacris)
11. Ecclesiology as an issue of interreligious dialogue
12. Ecclesiological themes in contemporary contextual theologies (liberation theology, black theology, feminist theology)
13. Ecclesiology and contemporary Christian movements
14. Ecclesiology and Christianity 'outside of the Church'
15. Final discussion
ECTS credits: 4
Weekly class hours: 2
Course Content
1. Introduction to the course, reform incentives in the Church throughout history, preReformation currents in the 15th century
2. Luther’s Reformation and its socio-political and religious context, the University of Wittenberg
3. The Swiss Reformation in Zurich: Huldrych Zwingli and Heinrich Bullinger, the Carolinum University
4. The Swiss Reformation of Jean Calvin, the Academy in Geneva
5. Radical Reformation: Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, Thomas Müntzer, Anabaptists and Spiritualists
6. Lutheranism after Luther’s death, the military defeat of the Schmalkaldic League and the imposition of an Interim law, Matthias Flacius Illyricus and the Gnesio-Lutherans
7. The Reformation in France (the Huguenots), England, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries, Hungary
8. The Thirty Years’ War: causes, course, and consequences
9. Protestantism in the “New World”: Quakers, Mennonites, Amish
10. Lutheran and Reformed Orthodoxy, alternative Movements: Pietism and Puritanism
11. Missionary activity of the Protestant countries
12. Awakening in America, Methodism, Baptism
13. The Enlightenment in the context of Protestantism
14. Development of Protestant theology and Church history in the 19th and 20th centuries, Protestantism in the context of World War II
15. Conclusions and discussion on the contemporary processes in Protestant churches, ecumenism
ECTS credits: 5
Weekly class hours: 3
Course Content
1. Introductory lecture
(introduction to the course, the basic concepts, the resources, the sources for liturgics, and the biblical-historical foundations for the study of worship)
2. History of liturgy I
(definition of the concept of "liturgy"; liturgy in ancient history, in the Septuagint, in NT texts, and in the early Church; liturgy in antiquity and in the middle ages)
3. History of liturgy II
(liturgy before the Reformation; Reformation and liturgy; Protestant liturgy from the Reformation to the present)
4. History of liturgy III
(Roman Catholic liturgy between the Council of Trent and the Second Vatican Council; Roman Catholic liturgy since the Second Vatical Council)
5. Elements of worship I
(the liturgical year; the structure and components of worship, music)
6. Elements of worship II
(the sacraments of baptism and Lord's Supper)
7. Elements of worship III
(prayer; creeds; the Lord's Day Service)
8. Elements of worship IV
(confession of sins; ordination; daily prayer (piety))
9. Other forms of worship
(wedding and marriage; thanksgiving for the birth of a child; the anointing of the sick; burial)
10. Liturgical space and architecture
11. Liturgics faced with contemporary challenges
(Christian worship in a world of ecumenism and religious pluralism; the inculturation of liturgy and the crisis of authority)
12. Field teaching I – visiting an ecclesial community
13. Field teaching II – visiting an ecclesial community
14. Field teaching III – visiting an ecclesial community
15. Evaluation of field teaching and case studies
ECTS credits: 3
Weekly class hours: 2
Course Content
1. Introduction to the course and its objectives
2. Pre-Reformation influences on the theology of the Reformation I
3. Pre-Reformation influences on the theology of the Reformation II
4. Martin Luther and the Heidelberg Disputation
5. Sola scriptura
6. Sola fide
7. Sola gratia
8. Calvin's ecclesiology
9. Calvin's doctrine of predestination
10. Sacramentology of the Magisterial Reformation
11. Radical Reformation – causes and consequences
12. Theologians of the Radical Reformation: Thomas Müntzer
13. Principal issues of the theology of the Radical Reformation: the doctrine of the sacraments
14. Final discussion and review
ECTS credits: 4
Mentored work
During the 6th semester of the undergraduate programme, the student chooses a mentor and, in consultation with the mentor, selects a topic for the baccalaureus thesis. The mentor for the thesis needs to be a lecturer on the programme, and hold minimally a PhD degree level. The baccalaureus thesis needs to be minimally 30 standard pages long. The thesis is graded by the mentor.
Learning Outcomes
By writing a scholarly paper, the student will demonstrate his/her ability to perform independent research while adhering to the standards of academic writing, using relevant scholarly literature, and applying research methodology.
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