Practical Theology and Religious Education
Practical theology/religious education has the task of reflecting the contents of the Christian tradition of faith from the ecclesiastical and social practical fields of theological activity and towards these practical fields.
Since our institute almost exclusively trains teachers of religious education, the focus is primarily on the practical field of 'religious education in schools'. In lectures and seminars, the content of the tradition is examined to see in which form and in which accentuation of content it can be meaningfully articulated in the secularised space of the ideological-plural society (practical field of school).
In the rotation of one academic year (beginning with the winter semester), the theory and practice of contemporary religious education is specifically developed in a subject didactics seminar and examined and discussed in observation and teaching experiments at practical schools in Aachen. In seminars, interactional methods of dealing with Christian tradition are practised and reflected upon.
For the basic studies, the lecture overviews as well as individual seminars (designated for this purpose in the course catalogue) are mainly suitable. In the seminars of the main study period, individual areas are dealt with in depth. In accordance with the primary training objective (teachers of religious education), basic questions of religious education and upbringing and the theory and practice of religious education form the focal points of the work. In addition, liturgy and services of the church and legal structures of the church as well as Christian social teaching are also part of the content of the training.