St Stephen’s College set to become first Indian academic institution to teach theology

St Stephen’s College in Delhi will incite history if its proposal of starting a theological degree-course in the college is accepted by the University Grants Commission.

The College in its proposal to the UGC wherein it had submitted a request to get autonomous status also proposed the idea of replacing the philosophy course with theology from next year.

“Internal discussions about discontinuing the philosophy department and giving way to a theology department have been happening for some time now,” said a professor from the College to ThePrint.

“Some people have even advised ad-hoc teachers teaching in the department to leave the college and look for a job somewhere else, as the department will not be in existence by next year. The number of Christian teachers in the department has clearly increased, which will suit them in case it metamorphoses into theology,” he added.

The college, however, is yet to receive any clarification on the matter from the UGC. Its autonomous request is still under consideration with the ministry of human resource development.

If it actually happens it will certainly be a new boost for the Indian educational system. Reportedly, no academic colleges in the country other than the Aligarh Muslim University — which teaches Shia theology – teaches a theological course and that initiative by St Stephen’s college will be a new beginning.

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While foreign Universities such as Oxford and Harvard teaches such theological subjects in their institutions, Indian institutions have so far refrained from introducing religion courses.

“It will be a very big development if the philosophy department is discontinued and there is a theology department, instead because these two are completely different kind of subjects. One supports the idea of God and another challenges it through a scientific approach. It will definitely change the nature of St Stephen’s College,” said a professor.

Another teacher said that the college has every right to start a theological course whenever it gets the autonomous status.

“If the college becomes autonomous, anything can be done. I see nothing wrong with starting a theology department in the college. As a minority institution, Stephen’s is well within its rights to start such a course,” he said.

Questions over the whether the college will start only a Christian theological course or other religion courses as well is still unclear.

“Theology as a discipline can be taught, there is nothing wrong with it. The problem will arise if they teach Christian theology because that is something which is only limited to seminaries,” said a sociology professor.

The introduction of theology will attract people to the college. Most people go to western universities if they are interested in learning about religion because it is not taught anywhere in the country. If St Stephen’s start the course, it will be great said Joseph Kurian, a priest from Kerala.