Folia Theologica 10. (1999)
John P. Galvin: Theology in the United States
84 J. P. GALVIN from an historical or cultural perspective), and that state universities in the United States do not have theological faculties. Thus there are in the United States no ecclesiastical faculties (or comparable faculties of Protestant theology) at state universities, of the type that exist at state universities in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and other European countries. At most, public universities in the United States have Departments of Religious Studies, usually relatively small and marginal to the work of the university, which in principle examine religions from a non-confessional perspective and which in practice tend to study non-Christian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Native American religions more than Christianity. They are not institutions at which students, Catholic or Protestant, can prepare for ordination. Where, then, is Catholic theology taught in the United States, if not in theological faculties at state universities? There are three primary types of schools at which theology is taught. The numerous Catholic colleges found scattered throughout the United States represent a first level at which instruction in theology, in a certain limited sense, is provided. In the American educational system, high school (roughly comparable to the Central European gymnasium) ends about two years earlier than it does in Europe; students then attend college as “undergraduates” for four years. Studies at this level are not highly specialized, though students do select individual fields of concentration. Catholic colleges have departments of theology or religious studies, and all students are normally required to take two or three courses in theology or religious studies during their four years of study. Courses taught at this level are introductory in nature, more comparable to basic religious education than to theology as taught at the level of an ecclesiastical faculty. Most Catholic colleges do not offer master’s degrees or doctorates in theology (I will return in a moment to the exceptions), but many American Catholic theologians-actually most American Catholic theologians — teach at this undergraduate level. The second category of schools consists of the seminaries, which are sponsored by the larger dioceses and by religious orders. I myself taught at a school of this type, the archdiocesan seminary in Boston, from 1970 to 1987, before assuming my present position in Washington. Most seminaries are relatively small-the Boston seminary (one of the larger ones) has about 100 students in theology, all candidates for the priesthood, but from several different dioceses — and enrolment on the
