Ph.D.Historical and Systematic Theology

Charles University - Protestant Theological Faculty

Graduate profile

This doctoral programme covers a wide range of themes, either the history of Christian churches, piety, thought and cultures (from the patristic period to contemporary history), or a systematic reflection on theological concepts and their place in the totality of Christian faith. We thus offer two possible main foci of study, with a great variety of specific subtopics. In doing so, however, we aim to ensure that all students both broaden their historical horizon and deepen their understanding of theological concepts and contexts and their ability to engage with them meaningfully. This gives special importance and priority to topics that balance both in the most natural way, that is, especially those that relate directly to the field of the history of thought and theology. However, we do not a priori limit the topics accepted to them; we try to respect the students' own interests and their prior training, so that the systematic-theological demands are more moderate for students with a strong historical orientation and vice versa. Even in these cases, however, the principle is maintained that anyone who wants to investigate the history of Christianity needs to be familiar with theological thought and terminology to the necessary extent; conversely, even systematic-theological reflection must not be limited to speculation and must be anchored by knowledge of the historically concrete forms of Christian traditions and respect for the critical methodological armament developed by historical scholarship.