Department of Theology

The Theology Department comprises about thirty full-time faculty members who specialize in Christian thought, tradition, religious ethics, and a broad range of other historical religious traditions.  The significant strength of research and teaching in Catholic theology reflects the Jesuit identity of Georgetown University and its mission of advancing and practicing its learned traditions.  At the same time, the department faculty exhibits a broad range of methodological approaches to the study of religion, including the social scientific, historical, and literary.

The department plays a significant role at all levels of the educational mission of Georgetown University.  First, it serves the core curriculum with two required courses.  The "Problem of God" and "Introduction to Biblical Literature" serve as alternate choices for the first mandatory course.  The remainder of the department course offerings, with its extensive range of topics, serves as the pool for the second course requirement.  Second, the department serves undergraduate majors with four options for concentration: Christian theology, religious ethics, biblical studies, and religious studies.  Finally, the department has newly launched a Ph.D. program in religious pluralism which capitalizes on its strength in Catholic theology, on the one hand, and its commitment to the study of comparative religions, on the other.

The decisiveness of religious claims and institutions on our cultural and political lives, global affairs, and personal formation lends the study of religion a particular practical significance.  Theology focuses on the wisdom traditions of the religions themselves in order to augment contemporary intellectual inquiry.  Religious studies applies the analytical methods of the modern academy in order to address both practical and theoretical questions.  The Theology Department is committed to the integration and advancement of both in its inquiry into the religious dimensions of human life.