Systematic and Historical Theology (MLitt) 2021 entry

>>PROFESSOR CHRISTOPH SCHWOEBEL: Our Master of Letters in Historical and Systematic Theology is the course that I love teaching. It's characterised by three main aims which we try to achieve. The first is that we really try to confront the big questions of systematic and historical theology. So it's a course that has modules on the doctrine of God, on the doctrine of creation, on the question 'what it means to be human', on the last things eschatology, and it also focuses on major theological figures from the patristic times, from medieval times, and from modernity.

>>PROFESSOR JUDITH WOLFE: The MLitt in Historical and Systematic Theology is a very structured programme. It focuses both on the breadth and on the depth of the Christian tradition and has components leading from the biblical material in which Christian theology is grounded, all the way to the 20th century and 21st century, and the cutting edge debates that we're
having at the moment.

And we do that in two ways: we do that through one introductory course that looks at the emergence of theology as a discipline, starting in the biblical texts, particularly of Paul who really does a new thing in his letters that hasn't been done before, of reflection on the divine, on the structure of the world, on the structure of human existence, and who develops ways of speaking about God that then cascade out and transform the way that people speak about themselves and the world. 

We look at those New Testament texts and then bring them up to the consideration of Greek philosophy and of pagan religions and philosophies
in the early fathers and see in the texts themselves how theology develops and grows as a discipline. And that gives us a good grounding for then looking at the key doctrines that have been debated throughout Christian history, both in their historical development and in exemplary instances of great theologians, so that students throughout their course have anchoring points in theologians of the patristic era, of the medieval era, of the Reformation era, and of the modern era, at whose texts they look
in depth and whose texts help them to think about how it is that in one theological work, we inherit a tradition and we bring it forward, because that's what we want our students to learn to do themselves. We want them to stand in a tradition that's been practiced here at St Mary's since 1539 at least and to bring it into the future in their own voice that's informed by the voices of the past and by the voices of the people who are here now, many of whom are among the leading theologians in the world and most of
whom are there in the classroom.

>>STEPHEN HOLMES: That forms the core of the programme, and most of our students simply live with those modules, but there are options for those who are interested in other things. You can step sideways into more analytic treatments of certain doctrines, you can do more biblical material, you can learn a language or develop a language if that would help with the direction that you see your academic studies going.

We're very proud of the coherence of the degree. We think it provides a very strong introduction to high-level study of Christian doctrine, a strong basis for further research and a satisfying whole in itself.

>> DAVID MACAULAY-STUART: I felt the course itself was structured really well. It gave me a great overview on the theological controversies over the last 2,000 years, which is really quite an ambitious goal. I think they managed to succeed in it.

I also felt that not only was the course broad, but it also gave me a depth of understanding at pockets throughout that history, which I think not only I found interesting in learning about those those debates, but also has improved the ability of my own research in the way I can kind of go deep into topics.

>>PROFESSOR JUDITH WOLFE: We try to keep our groups small so that we can pay individual attention to each of our students. We're very careful in selecting our students, and we care a great deal about their personal development, their intellectual development, their professional development. And so in the classroom, we pay close attention to what it is
that students care about, what they want to be in the future, and we think about how it is that we can help them to grow into those scholars that they're beginning to be.

We do that through individualised essays in the courses that help them to find their own voice, and then particularly through the summer and the dissertation which takes about three months and is a work of substantial scholarship that helps those who are hoping to go into doctoral studies to develop their skills as a researcher, but which also helps those who are going back into professional work to have a good foundation of cutting-edge research on which they can build further thinking and further learning as they go back to their professional life and the demands that it has in practice. 

>> MARTINA VERCESI: I did a lot of things which let me grow as a scholar. For example, I was part of reading groups which helped me discuss in my own research and had a lot of feedback and suggestion, which is great when you are doing your PhD. And other things is that I did, I worked as a tutor for an academic course which is a great experience if you would like to pursue an academic career. And also I've been the school coordinator for the School of Divinity and had the chance to deliver and design the workshops for undergrad students. So I think that St Andrews is a great place to have a lot of opportunities if you would like to continue your career.

>>JOSHUA MITCHELL: The MLitt has prepared me for doctoral work by giving me the tools needed to be an independent researcher. Being a junior theologian, I felt like at the end of the course I was able to go and find the research materials myself and give answers to questions.

>> DAVID MACAULAY-STUART: I felt like I was being given time and invested in, so I've had a number of one-on-one meetings before I started doctoral work to talk about what my future might look like, what kind of career aspirations I might have and how to achieve those things. And so I felt I was being invested in intellectually but also invested in personally.

>>JOSHUA MITCHELL: Students are given a full voice to give opinions to professors and to disagree amicably, and sometimes forcefully, which always comes out with better ideas at the end of the day, and it's always the highlight of the week getting to sit around the table with the best minds in the subject.

>>CHRISTIAN KALMBACH: When people disagree about things at St Andrews, there's no hostility, but often lively and probably the most interesting conversations take place, especially when the disagreement is between two professors.

>>PROFESSOR CHRISTOPH SCHWOEBEL: And therefore we teach the course in a rather conversational style. There are presentations from the teachers, there are presentations from the students, but most of the time we are in debate, engaging with classical texts in order to be able to see them as resources for our own formation of theological judgments.

>>PROFESSOR JUDITH WOLFE: One of the ways in which we support each
other as a community is through the weekly research seminar. This is really the heart of the life of Systematic and Historical Theology at St Mary's College. It's a space where we all get together - staff, PhD students, Masters students, some adventuring undergraduate students if they feel up to it - and, in the first semester of the year, we read through a corpus of texts together, while in the second semester of the year we hear from visiting speakers.

>>STEPHEN HOLMES: The interchanges we have with each other are a significant part of our intellectual life, and as you join us as postgraduate students, we invite you into that community and to become part of those conversations.

>>PROFESSOR JUDITH WOLFE: One of the things that I love about St Mary's and the School of Divinity is that it feels like a community of learning. There is nobody who is merely there as a spectator, there's nobody there who feels that they already have it all figured out and they're just there to pass it on. We feel very strongly that we are in a place which is steeped in theological tradition, a place that has led theological thought and practice in Scotland for many centuries, and we are in that place and in that
tradition in order to take it forward and to take it forward together. 

>> DAVID MACAULAY-STUART: One of the things I really enjoyed about the classes was that you had staff to bounce ideas off with, and also I felt the course attracted, at least in my experience, a very high caliber of students that I was also able to grow from and bounce ideas around.

>> MARTINA VERCESI: One of the things that I appreciate about the community in St Andrews is the fact that it's a great community with a lot of scholars and students from all around the world.

>>CHRISTIAN KALMBACH: I came to St Andrews expecting a very cold academic environment and was warmly greeted by every professor and student I met. I was invited into professors homes and was always able to speak with the professor whenever I had any concerns or questions or just needed some direction, I always got that.

>>PROFESSOR CHRISTOPH SCHWOEBEL: So this course is really about the initiation into a particular practice of doing theology. It is a way of learning to acquire certain skills that serve as a foundation of doing theology and of acquiring criteria that can show how one does theology well.

Now these criteria with which we work consist of two groups: the first group would be a group of historical and hermeneutic criteria where we ask 'How to relate theological modes of reflection today?', 'How to relate theological doctrines to the witnesses of scripture, to the authoritative traditions of the church, to the creeds?', and 'How are they appropriate and adequate in our contemporary situation?' Do they really help to answer and
respond to the questions that we have in dealing with our present situation today?

The second group of criteria - one could call them the systematic analytical criteria - they focus on slightly different forms of questions by asking, first of all, is this doctrine really consistent? Can it be presented in a logically consistent form? Is it possible to say that Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine and at the same time explain that this is not a simple contradiction? The second of these criteria concerns the question of how theological truths relate to the truths, to the knowledge claims, that we find in other sciences and in the other humanities. So basically it's a criterion about the communicability of theological ways of reflection to other disciplines in the University and about the way in which theology has to listen to what other disciplines have to say on our views of what it means to be human, or understanding the world as creation.

And the last criterion is one for pragmatic, practical orientation. What difference does that doctrine make for our practical orientation in life? Does it generate orienting knowledge? Does it make a difference whether I see myself as a creature which is by definition limited, by definition embodied, and therefore also practices its rationality as an embodied form of rationality? Does it make a difference whether I know that as a creature I'm not able to perfect myself, but that I remain in the management of my own imperfection? Does that open up a humane way of dealing with one another in society?

By bringing these two sets of criteria together, we're trying to combine the best of systematic theology and historical theology in order to develop the best kind of theological competence.

>>JOSHUA MITCHELL: St Andrews is a great place to study. It has an academic rigour that I haven't found at other universities, where it's a mutual atmosphere of flourishing through hard study, but it's fun through that as well.

>> DAVID MACAULAY-STUART: So one of the things I really enjoyed about the MLitt course was that it had a very ambitious goal to try and understand theology over the last 2,000 years, and yet at the same time I think it totally succeeded in that goal. I felt that I got a really great understanding of most of the historical key moments in theological controversies, and in those moments we got to go into real depth and detail into what they involved as well as the breadth.

>>JOSHUA MITCHELL: To anyone who is thinking about coming to study here, I would say definitely do it, and you'll not regret it. It'll prepare you for further study or it'll round you on what you know already. There's no downsides at all.

>>PROFESSOR JUDITH WOLFE: If you want to know more about the course, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. The academic staff is very happy to answer questions about any of the academic aspects of the course. The postgraduate secretaries are happy to answer any logistical questions or administrative ones. And the students who are listed on our website are usually happy to have enquiries from people who are considering the course. So please do make use of those opportunities. Put in an application. We look forward to hearing from you.

[TEXT: Find out more and apply online.]