Message from the Head of Department

Recently the Department of Dogmatics and Ethics merged with the Dept of Church History to become the newly formed Department of Systematic and Historical Theology – indeed an exciting development!

It has created a space in which the two departments have explored not only an even stronger integration and contextualisation of our academic offerings, but also to acknowledge the pluriversal character of our reflection, that is, to celebrate the encounter of many different ways of being human – and to express that in many different ways -before God in our contexts.

Our academic offerings are on faith and beliefs, the stories of our faith, their respective historical origins and developments through the ages, being human before God in our African context, living as Christians in our communities, addressing social-ethical issues ranging from gender, human sexuality to political injustices and colonialism – but also reflection on the most actual and relevant theological developments from all over the world, especially from the African context that we are speaking from and to.

Noteworthy is the current in phasing of modules on spiritualties over the next few years as well as a stronger emphasis within our contextual stories of our faith on the close relationship between theology, the natural sciences and technology.

Should you become a student in our Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, you can be assured that you will not only be informed with and discuss together with other students the most recent, relevant and important systematic-historical developments, but also that you will be challenged to critically reflect on your own faith and confessional boundaries and at the same time, you will be invited to explore beyond those very boundaries

Prof Danie Veldsman

Head of Department