September 2009 — Volume 3, Issue 5

ALTC project builds profile of theology

It’s an area of education with a 150-year history and until now has been largely unmapped as a stand-alone discipline. But a new scoping study of tertiary theological education in Australia reveals a strong and diverse sector with 14,000 students across 69 accredited colleges and six universities.

The findings have been published in a book, Uncovering Theology, which sets out the history, structures, stakeholders and relationships in Australian theological education in Christian traditions, with a view to shaping the future of the discipline.

The $100,000 ALTC-funded project was led by the Australian Catholic University and managed by a team drawn from the Council of Deans of Theology. Its co-chairs were Professor of Theology at ACU, Neil Ormerod, and Dean of the Australian College of Theology, Dr Mark Harding.

“Neither college faculty, church leaders, university staff nor public servants have a full picture of Australian theological education: this book offers such a portrait for the first time, albeit restricted by the time and resources and available,’’ says the book, authored by project manager the Rev Dr Charles Sherlock. “One hoped-for outcome is that as particular churches, colleges, university and government departments
see themselves in the light of an overall viewpoint, greater understanding, cooperation and collaborative action may eventuate.”

While theological education has a strong tradition in Australia it was only in the mid-1970s that it was introduced as an undergraduate degree in universities. Theological programs now range from certificate to doctoral level. And with the introduction of graduate programs in 2000, enrolments in graduate diplomas, masters and doctoral programs has risen significantly.

Until the late 1970s the typical theological student was the single male ordinand in his twenties. Today the gender balance is similar to that of universities – including in colleges related to churches that do not ordain women – and the range of ages is much wider.

Professor Ormerod told Communiqué that the study was a significant first step for the theology discipline,
laying the groundwork for any future work in the area. “It’s a bit of an overlooked sector because it’s mainly private providers. They all live on the smell of an oily rag so this sort of thing would not have been possible without the funding from the ALTC.” He said the project had also given the sector a sense of identity
as a player in higher education, a role of the Council of Deans of Theology.

The study identifies 69 colleges grouped into 26 Higher Education Providers, including five consortia. These consortia of colleges, some of which have more than 1000 equivalent full-time students, comprise the Adelaide College of Divinity, the Australian College of Theology, the Brisbane College of Theology, the Melbourne College of Divinity and the Sydney College of Divinity. Six universities have Schools of
Theology. A number of these offer programs in partnership with private consortia.

Among the trends is a growth in colleges based in Pentecostal traditions, in line with similar growth in these
churches. The study says these new colleges are now attracting significant numbers of young students, and are highly entrepreneurial in their outlook, working with local congregations to develop networks of new teaching centres.

Professor Ormerod said one of the findings to emerge from the study was that about 80 per cent of students studied theology for private enjoyment without any particular type of employment in mind. Anecdotal evidence suggested many of them ended up working in the area of “social capital” such as with not-for-profit organisations. The average age of undergraduate students tended to be the mid-forties while for
doctoral students it was 50 and over.