Catholic Religious Education

The “God question,”—who or what is God?—which is then immediately formulated as “the man question”—who or what is man?—is a key part of the study of Catholic theology, whose goal it is to scientifically explore the content and tradition of the Christian faith. Students first learn the theological and philosophical fundamentals. Courses in the four theological subject groups (biblical theology, historical theology, systematic theology, practical theology) build on this basis. Dogma is viewed in the context of history and society and also through the lens of questions currently being directed at it. Ever-present questions in this degree program are ecumenism and the dialogue with other religions or other academic fields.

The Bible and historical church texts constitute an existential basis for the study of theology. The study of such basic texts requires knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The precise language requirements depend on the targeted degree and the professional area the student intends to enter later on.

In teaching degree programs for grammar and comprehensive schools, students choose two school subjects. Thus, in addition to  Catholic Religious Education, students are enrolled for a second subject as well as educational sciences.

Possible lines of work:

Teaching at grammar and comprehensive schools. To teach at a German public school, candidates must follow up their bachelor’s degree with a Master of Education degree program as well as practical teacher training.

Pastoral work (parishes, hospitals, prisons, student groups, boarding schools, etc.), administrative specialist, pastoral associate, journalism (news agencies, press, radio, television, etc.), archives, teaching at a German public school, academia (teaching/research at universities, research institutions, etc.)