Theology Students Research Articles

Transformation of the Values of Agape Love as a Learning Agent for Moral Change in the Context of Theology Student

Transformation of the Values of Agape Love as a Learning Agent for Moral Change in the Context of Theology Student

Neo-Patristic Synthesis in the Orient?

Abstract The essay touches upon the impact of the Neo-Patristic Synthesis ideas that were spread at St. Sergius Seminary on the thought and education of Bishop George Khodr, the most prominent Arab-Lebanese Orthodox theologian who did his theological training there and was close to Alexander Schmemann. We do know that George Khodr joined St. Sergius Seminary in Paris and studied there between 1947 and 1952 under Alexander Schmemann and Nicholas Afanasiev, and side-by-side with John Meyendorff, to mention only few, of those whose theological legacy is associated in one way or another with George Florovsky’s Neo-Patristic Synthesis project. It is my intention to trace a link between Khodr and this Russian-European Orthodox school of thought by looking, first, at how St. Sergius and its teachers are mentioned in some of George Khodr’s own writings, and, second, by looking at specific testimony on George Khodr and his promising potential as a theologian, found in some of the letters that Alexander Schmemann wrote to George Florovsky on the situation in St. Sergius Seminary, after the latter’s departure to the USA. In these letters, we will glean some data on how Neo-Patristic Synthesis ideas influenced the young theology student, Khodr, during his student years at St. Sergius and how Khodr himself was appraised by his teachers there.

Symposium: From coming out to coming in: Roundtable conversation among Southeast Asian queer theologians

Through a roundtable conversation via Zoom, teachers, pastors, and graduate students discussed the place of gender, citizenship, and faith in their identity formation and social accountability to articulate a hermeneutical lens specific to Southeast Asian contexts that shape and critique queer identities. These participants—primarily ministers, theological students, and seminary formators—engaged in organic, fluid, and multifocal turns to capture experiences that undergird the realities of women and LGBTQIQ+ people of faith in the region.

English Language Sub-Skills Needed by Diploma Theology Students in their Academic and Professional Lives

The study assessed the needs of diploma theology students' English language sub-skills and tasks in their academic and professional areas. The study is a descriptive survey that makes use of a mixed method approach. The data were collected using a questionnaire, interview, and content analysis. The participants of the study were first and second year diploma theology students, the former theology students, theology instructors, and EFL teachers. Additionally, one unit of the teaching material contents were evaluated using the checklist. For the evaluation of the unit, the researcher prepared checklists which were adapted from the literature and gave them to the two coders. Then, based on that, they evaluated the sample unit. In this line, the researcher collected quantitative data using a questionnaire and coding form, and he collected qualitative data using interviews. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The study indicated that the most needed sub-skills for theology students were identified according to their order of importance: speaking (1.284), listening (1.494), reading (1.95), writing (2.191), vocabulary (2.23), and grammar (2.513). Based on the findings, the ELT materials hardly meet the needs and interests of diploma theology students. Finally, the researcher recommended that the teaching material has to be revised as it lacks the sub-skills that are perceived by diploma theology students as the most needed.

Understanding the theology students’ positive religious coping, problematic social media use and depression levels effect on flourishing: A hybrid SEM-ANN approach

Understanding the theology students’ positive religious coping, problematic social media use and depression levels effect on flourishing: A hybrid SEM-ANN approach

Transformasi Kehidupan Rasul Paulus dalam Melayani Tuhan dan Kontribusinya Bagi Pembentukan Mahasiswa STTAB (Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Arastamar Bengkulu)

Paul was a figure who initially hated Christianity, in fact Paul was ethically and morally a criminal based on religion. In fact he was a religious figure from the Jewish religion but he killed people who followed Jesus. However, behind Paul's crimes, before he converted, he experienced a personal encounter that changed his life completely. Paul experienced a very, very radical life transformation because at first he really wanted to destroy the people who followed Jesus, but instead he risked his own life to educate his life in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The author uses literature-based research methods sourced from books and several journals, thereby helping the author to analyze the life of the apostle Paul and the life of theology students in the dormitory. Every theology student must experience a life transformation, because there are many young people who lived their past lives from different backgrounds or were not morally good, but on campus theology must change. So the author also believes that there are many theology students who struggle with ethics, generally theology students have a background far from the church but instead become servants of God. Formed in dormitory life and disciplined in life spiritually and morally.

A Traumatology Case Study of an Indonesian Theological Student

Indonesian theological students often come to seminary with handful of problems from the onset of their life. The expectation from the traditional Christian family for their children to set the behavior right in the seminary is outdatedly common. This study explores a case of a 21-year-old theological male student who suffered verbal and physical abuse from his parents. During the initial four weeks of therapeutic alliance with the author, the student exhibited traumatic symptoms of severe hostility and somatic re-enactment of past adverse experiences. He had been known to possess talisman and some sacred relics for witchcraft in the past which contemporarily yield nightmare and terror at night. The qualitative case study explored the traumatic problem of the student through a 12-month observation and in-depth interview. Through experiential therapy of gestalt, CBT, and forgiveness therapy in the last seven months, the student showed reduced symptoms of hostility, somatic complaints, and impulse-behavior. The spiritual formation of prayer and meditation of the Scripture have been useful for the patient in dealing with his spiritual problems. Keywords: counselling, trauma, seminary, students, syncretism, theology, therapy

A theology rhizome

This article contains suggestions to the Faculties of Theology in South Africa about an alternative way and direction to educate their students in this metamodern era. Because any learning in a specific profession implies lifelong and lifewide learning, the suggestion also includes the alumni of the faculties. This is all about rhizomatic learning, which involves both the educators and their students in an interactive and student-centred relationship where both parties act on an equal basis when deciding on the content and direction of the learning process for a specific year. It also involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models such as ChatGPT. This is therefore an appeal to the educators of the Faculties of Theology in South Africa to become highly empowered resourceful online educators (HEROEs), also called recently minded educators (with no age restriction), taking a fresh look at the way in which they are currently teaching their 21st-century students and to maybe reconsider it in light of this article.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Good contemporary theological education would mostly result in good Theology students and good pastors. This article suggests an alternative way to teach our students in the current metamodern era. Rhizomatic learning fits into the technological era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as Education 4.0, Learning 3.0 and the posthuman era.

Religious Education and Ecumenical Formation in Post-confessional Settings – Essentials for the Theological Education of Pastors and Teachers of Religion

Abstract The article discusses the significance of international discourse on ecumenical formation for debates about the future of religious education in diverse environments, both from a German and global perspective. It emphasizes the historical importance of education in the ecumenical movement, tracing back to the early pioneers with a background in the World Student Christian Fellowship. The author draws from his longstanding involvement in international ecumenical work on education to advocate for ecumenical formation for students of theology, including those training to be religious education teachers. The article surveys key policy documents from German and international church bodies and concludes with six essential learnings for theological education in post-confessional environments.

Lutherans and vampires, medicine and faith: an early dissertation on the bloodsucking at Medvedia (1732)

ABSTRACT One of the earliest refutations of the Visum et Repertum (1732) by Johann Flückinger was from Johann Wilhelm Nöbling, a young student of philosophy and theology at the University of Jena, who attacked the findings from a position of scientific scepticism enshrouded with Lutheran theology in his thesis Concerning the Blood-Sucking Corpses of those so-called Vampires or People-Suckers. While he is best remembered for first proposing the incubus or nightmare of sleep paralysis as being the real cause of the superstition, his major contribution was theological, concerning the relation between body and soul. And yet while Nöbling provides a rigorous, scripture-based denial of vampirism, his framework necessarily accommodates contemporary medical theory, demonstrating both the adaptation of theology to science and the extent to which pneumatology still inhered in scientific enquiry.

The Correlation between Body Composition and Physical Fitness Parameters in High Theological School Students

Previous research findings support the claim that physical activity (PA) and maturation result in changes in physical fitness (PF) and body composition (BC) parameters. Fitness assessment tests are especially important for monitoring the health of adolescents. The purpose of this study was to find the correlation between BC and PF parameters in studnts enrolled in High Theological School in Niš. Thirty-seven male students living in boarding schools were included in the participant sample. The average age of the participants was 17.48±1.48 years. The body composition analyser Omron BF 511 (Omron, Tokyo, Japan), was used to measure the BC values. A modified Eufitmos testing protocol was determined to evaluate PF parameters such as: Progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run (Pacer), 1-Mile run (1MR), Push-ups (PU), Handgrip (HG), Standing broad jump (SBJ), 20-Meter run (20mR), Back-saver sit and reach (BSR), and Body mass index (BMI). The results showed that the weight status parameters were highly correlated with each other. Regarding PF parameters, they correlated moderately with each other. The correlation analysis between BC and PF parameters showed that BMI, Fat%, and Muscle% achieved moderate correlations with PACER, VO2max, PU, SBJ, and 20mR, while BW had a significant correlation only with HG and PU. Also, BH had a moderate correlation with VO2max, PACER, SBJ, and HG. The findings indicate a correlation between body composition and physical fitness parameters among theology students. However, a suggestion for further research is to conduct multiple regression analysis, which would reveal the relationship between the overall body composition composite and the fitness of the students, rather than just individually determined parameters.

Illegal Translation Activities of Ján Ivan Mastiliak CSsR

Ján Ivan Mastiliak was born on 5 November 1911 in Nižný Hrabovec. In August 1922 he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), where he took his religious vows and completed his philosophical and theological studies. As a young priest, he studied in Rome from 1937 to 1944. From September 1945, he taught students of theology in Obořiště. In 1950, as a monastic priest, he was unjustly sentenced to life imprisonment in a staged monster trial. He became one of the victims of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He was released from prison on 10 May 1965 on the basis of an amnesty granted by the President of the Republic. It was not a true freedom. He lived under constant surveillance by State Security officers. Mastiliak understood that his place was in the secret Church. He undertook the secret formation of theologians, monks and nuns who needed suitable literature for their formation and spiritual growth. This was an important impulse why he undertook the translation of valuable literature, which was distributed as samizdat. It is documented that from 1965 until his death in 1989, he translated more than 100 works from various languages. The presented study deals with Ján Ivan Mastiliak as a scholar who could not create on his own because the communist totalitarian power prevented him from doing so, but he devoted his efforts to illegal translation activities. Thanks to his contacts, he found ways to obtain quality religious literature. From this he selected works that were suitable for the formation and spiritual development of the initiated and the laity, whom he secretly formed. The subsequent translation, reproduction and distribution of samizdat were also done illegally, under threat of further condemnation and imprisonment. He was aware of this danger, but accepted responsibility for the formation of clandestine clerics and religious was greater.

Knowledge and Needs of Theology Students on Voice and Vocal Hygiene at a South African Institution of Higher Education

Preachers are professional voice users (PVUs) who regularly experience high vocal demands, often leading to vocal difficulties or disorders. Research has established that this often occurs due to a lack of sufficient knowledge of the vocal mechanism and vocal hygiene in this population. Student preachers are therefore also considered to be a potential at-risk group for the development of vocal difficulties once they enter the occupation. This study therefore aimed to determine the knowledge and needs of theology students at a South African institution of higher education regarding voice production and vocal hygiene. A cross-sectional online survey using non-probability purposive and convenience sampling was distributed to participants through email to obtain data on the education, training, needs, and knowledge of voice production, vocal hygiene, and voice use among the participants. A clear need was observed for education and training on vocal health and hygiene amongst the study population. The participants presented with limited knowledge about voice production and vocal hygiene; however, they also reported to not regularly implement this limited knowledge in day-to-day voice use or practice. This study found a willingness among participants to learn more about voice and vocal hygiene. This study confirmed that theology students, as future PVUs, receive minimal-to-no training on voice and vocal hygiene, despite their increased risk for voice difficulties.

What Do Spiritual Formation Practices Look Like Among Graduate Theology Students? Implications for Faculty Teaching

What Do Spiritual Formation Practices Look Like Among Graduate Theology Students? Implications for Faculty Teaching

Salgın Döneminde İlahiyat Fakültesi Öğrencilerinin Uzaktan Öğretime Yönelik Görüşlerinin İncelenmesi

31 Aralık 2019 tarihinde, Çin’in Hubei eyaletinin Vuhan şehrinde ortaya çıkan ve 12 Mart 2020 itibariyle Dünya Sağlık Örgütü tarafından pandemi olarak ilan edilen Covid-19 salgını hızla yayılarak ülkemizde ve tüm dünyada etkili olmuştur. Küresel boyuttaki bu salgın birçok alanda olduğu gibi eğitim sisteminde de zorunlu değişimlere neden olmuştur. Vaka sayılarının artması ve sürecin ilk aşamalarında henüz tedavi yönteminin bilinememesinden kaynaklı birçok ülkede yüz yüze eğitim kesintiye uğramış ve eğitime uzaktan devam edilmesine karar verilmiştir. Bu çalışma, Covid19 pandemi döneminde Fırat Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi öğrencilerinin almış oldukları uzaktan öğretime yönelik görüşlerini belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Araştırma nitel desenle yürütülmüş olup, çalışmanın yapısı göz önünde bulundurularak çalışma grubu oluşturulurken kolay ulaşılabilir durum örnekleme yöntemi tercih edilmiştir. Araştırma, 2020-2021 Bahar Yarıyılı Döneminde Fırat Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi hazırlık, 1, 2, 3 ve 4. sınıf düzeylerindeki öğrenciler ile yürütülmüştür. Çalışmanın bulgular kısmında öğrencilerle yapılan görüşmeler sonucu elde edilen verilere yer verilmiştir. Öncelikle öğrencilerin bilgisayar kullanma düzeyleri, derse girdikleri araçlar ve günlük internet kullanım süreleri tablolar aracılığıyla sunulmuştur. Görüşme verilerinin NVIVO-8 programı ile analiz edilmesiyle oluşan “uzaktan öğretime yönelik olumlu görüşler”, “uzaktan öğretime yönelik olumsuz görüşler” ve “öneriler” ana temaları ve bu temalara ait alt temalar katılımcıların referans cümleleri ile birlikte aktarılmıştır. “Uzaktan öğretime yönelik olumlu görüşler” ana teması altında uzaktan öğretimin avantajları, materyal, öğretim üyesi, ölçme ve değerlendirme alt temaları oluşmuştur. “Uzaktan öğretime yönelik olumsuz görüşler” temasının uzaktan eğitimin dezavantajları, materyal, öğretim üyesi, ölçme ve değerlendirme alt temalarından oluştuğu görülmüştür. “Öneriler” ana temasında ise katılımcıların etkileşimin artırılması, fırsat eşitliğinin sağlanması, uzaktan eğitim okuryazarlığı, yoklama, internet altyapısı, ölçme ve değerlendirmenin sağlık yürütülmesi alt temalarında görüş bildirdikleri tespit edilmiştir.

Why Do Young Muslims Study Islamic Theology? The Role of Islamic Theology in Empowering Young Muslims and Bridging Postmigration Divides

Abstract What motivates young Muslims to study Islamic theology or religious education? Are they aiming for a specific professional qualification that requires the study of Islamic theology, or do they want to deepen their faith and aim for further personal development? The question of motives for studying Islamic theology is linked to the life goals and biographies of young Muslims, which opens up the issue of migration and Islam. This article aims to investigate the relationship between the study motives, professional aspirations, and life goals of Islamic theology students within the context of migration. Additionally, it seeks to explore their experiences with foreign and self-positioning in society. Empirical data gathered through qualitative and quantitative research methods will serve as the basis for this examination.

Love Thy Neighbor: Exploring Religious and Social Openness among Prospective Theologians in Germany and Turkey

Amidst increasing globalization and religious diversity, acknowledging and embracing openness towards religious and/or cultural others has become crucial for societal cohesion and international relations. Theological scholars, holding significant potential in mitigating inter-religious and intercultural prejudices, can play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge. However, it is acknowledged that theologians themselves may harbor such biases. This study, conducted within the framework of the Religious Openness Hypothesis, employed an online questionnaire among theology students, seen as future multipliers of religiosity, in Germany and Turkey (N = 513) using convenience sampling. The results reveal the consistent relation of religiosity to all forms of prejudice among German Christians, with a linked defense against secularism potentially leading to self-isolation and the protection of their own worldview against religious or cultural outgroups. In contrast, the (generally high) prejudice among Turkish Muslims appears to be rooted not primarily in religiosity or defense against secularism but in fundamentalism and, most likely, in other socio-cultural factors such as politics and education. For both subsamples, religiosity was positively linked with xenosophia, particularly when accounting for fundamentalism. The article concludes by proposing curriculum implications for universities and schools in both cultural contexts.

Social Enterpreneurship: Upaya Peningkatan Skill Mahasiswa Teologi dalam Pelayanan Holistik

Today there is an economic gap in the midst of the congregation. The Church must play a role in overcoming the economic problems of the people. That is why the role of the pastor is very strategic, because the church as a whole is driven by the pastor. The purpose of this study is to produce a Christian entrepreneurship module design in an effort to produce quality and effective student skills in realizing holistic service. The type of research used in this study is research and development. The steps used include: potential and problems, data collection, product design, design validation, design revision, product trial, and product revision. Product development carried out in this research only reaches the stage of producing the final product, namely the Christian entrepreneurship module. It can be concluded that: The textbooks produced in this study are developments from various sources; And this research and development produces products in the form of textbooks in the form of textbooks as an effort to improve the skills of theology students in holistic service.

The Faculty of Theology Students' Attitudes, Knowledge Levels and Behaviours on Organ Donation and Xenotransplantation

The Faculty of Theology Students' Attitudes, Knowledge Levels and Behaviours on Organ Donation and Xenotransplantation

Training of African Independent Churches Students at the Umphumulo Lutheran Theological College

The African Independent Churches Association (AICA) holds a unique place in the contribution of South African theological education. The AICA established the AICA Theological College; however, later on it initiated a theological negotiation with the Umphumulo Lutheran Theological College (ULTC) to train its students. The African Independent Churches (AICs) are seriously concerned with theologically training their church leaders. The vision and mission of the AICs are to sustain and grow the quality of their doctrine. This is to ensure that the significant connection between theological training and their own churches’ life experiences are encouraged. The role of theological training has much potential to train theological students of pastoral leadership. Thus, theological training and the church have always taken a rightful place to serve communities. This article explores why the AICs are training their theological students at the ULTC. The article focuses on four areas. Firstly, it discusses an early partnership between the ULTC and the AICs. Secondly, it offers some reasons why the AICs initiated the process of training their theological students at the South African theological institutions of the mainline churches. Thirdly, it discusses the establishment of the AICA Theological College and its success and challenges. Fourthly, it outlines the theological curriculum challenges offered to AICs theological students and the Lutheran support initiatives to the AICs.