Projects / Programmes
The Role of the Theological Schools in the Slovenian History for the Building Up of the Slovenian High School System
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.11.00 |
Humanities |
Theology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H180 |
Humanities |
History of the Christian church |
Education, School System , Theology, Monasteries and Convents, Slovenian History
Researchers (5)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
A comprehensive and critical overview of the building up, functioning and closing of the theological schools in Slovenia does not exist. Neither is known a list of archival funds, where important documents for the Slovenian school system could be found. The basic goal and programme of the project is to make a serious evaluation of the theological schools in Slovenia during the history, based on the archival materials (found in Slovenia and abroad) and until now published scientific works. A critical approach of until now published papers should be part of the project. A critical analysis is supposed to show to what extend these institutions in the Slovenian context created conditions for lectures on the university level, enabling in that way the last degree of the organized university education created after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. An essential part of such activity was the right to impart academic titles; a part of our project will treat that topic. A comparison with the Middle-European social context in which the Slovenian region was integrated will be included in the project. A contextualization of the theological thought will be taken into consideration: i. e. to what extend Slovenian priests and teachers in the theological schools were in touch with the contemporary theological ideas and literature and to what extend they were influenced by it.
Our primary attention will be dedicated to the contribution given to the high education by various medieval monasteries in the Slovenian soil. The period of the Protestant Reform caused a new interest for biblical sciences as part of theology. After the period of the state absolutism and their reforms of the theological studies came a renewal of the previous seminaries and other kinds of schools. Theology was one of the five faculties which presented the fundaments of the new university in Ljubljana in 1919. The biggest lack well seen in until now published overviews of the theological studies in Slovenia is related to the Franciscan schools, these being an integral part of the post-reformation renewal. The order of Capuchins was able to set up their original theological school system, adapted to their specific needs and role in the Church, very soon after their arrival in Slovenia. For a decade (1929-41, 1943-45) Salesian ran their own theological school at Rakovnik near Ljubljana. The old religious orders which returned to Slovenia in the second half of the 19th century (Trapist in Rajhenburg after 1880, Cistercians in Stična after 1898, Carthusions in Pleterje after 1903) had their own theological schools (at home or in their houses abroad). The year 1859 in which Bishop A. M. Slomšek moved the diocesan see to Maribor and founded a new school of theology for the seminarians could be considered as the very beginning of the high school education in Maribor.
An integral part of the project is going to be a comprehensive overview and evaluation of the till now published papers, books and other publications on the theological education in Slovenia. It will be elaborated as a bibliography which could serve as a useful help for the future scientific work in this field.
Significance for science
The original idea of the project has been as an overview of the theological education and the theological educational institutions in Slovenia in the course of centuries. It has been stimulated by the need in the Slovenian historiography regarding the education to have a history of a scientific discipline which is among the oldest in our region. Thus, part of the project has been a survey of all up to now published papers in this field. The papers have been re-evaluated and set in the original historic context. A list of the most important archival funds containing information on the history of the theological studies has also been prepared. As far as possible attention has been dedicated to the theological studies introduced by the oldest monastic communities, afterwards updated by the mendicant religious orders which founded their communities in a number of the Slovenian cities and in some of them established also their own schools of theology. The results of the reform Council of Trient (1545-63) were very soon felt also in Slovenia. The Jesuit schools of theology at first and afterwards those of the Dioceses very soon began to appear. A short interruption and a deep reorganization happened at the end of the 18th century following the suppression of the Jesuit order. In the 19th century the theological schools were established in almost all bigger Slovenian cities as well as in the neighbouring regions where the Slovenian population was an essential part (i.e. Ljubljana, Maribor, Celovec, Gorica), their own educational houses founded also some religious orders. Theologians studied also in other important centers. When at the end of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy the State of Slovenians, Croats and Serbians was created and the founding of a new university was set as an important sign of the national independence, the theologians were among the most eloquent supporters of the new and autonomous university in Ljubljana and the School of Theology as an integral part of it. The theological educational schools in Slovenia represents the very beginning of the higher educational system, of the University in Ljubljana and that in Maribor, which refer to the schools of theology in the two cities as their historis roots. Among the most important goals of the project was that to represent and to evaluate the contribution of the theological teachers and schools for the beginning of the higher school system in Slovenia. In this framework, for the first time a survey of all study programmes and subjects, taught in those schools have been prepared. The most influential teachers have been identified. Besides, papers included in the final report offer a review of what was the contribution of the theological texts in the development of theological science in Slovenia and by the creation of the theological terminology in the Slovenian language. Through the research has become very clear that a number of theologians born in the Slovenian region worked in the important educational centers outside the Slovenian ethnic sphere (i.e. Vienna, Innsbruck, Zagreb, different Italian cities) and they published their original works there. When the theological schools were created in Slovenia they became parts of them cooperating in the period of the Slovenian national awakening in the creation of the scientific works and terminology in the Slovenian language.
Significance for the country
In the final report are included many findings which show that Slovenian region with its theological schools and Church institutions which ran them used to be part of the wider European context. Slovenian provinces belonged to the European cultural sphere which was built up by the help of the Catholic Church with her institutions within which the universities with the incluced schools of theology had a very original place. A very similar role played the religious orders which were always organized on the international level, their leadership was above the ethnic borders and they underlined their appertinence to the international community. The same authors were used in the Slovenian schools as in other parts of Europe. Some authors originating from the Slovenian society with their ideas enriched theological institutions in other parts of Europe. Theology used to be that science which through the centuries enabled a free exchange of ideas and people, regardless of languages or other obstacles. The results of the project demonstrate that individual theologians of the Slovenian background who were teachers at the different theological educational institutions contributed to the progress of theology on the world level. As far as the activitity of the theological institutions is concerned, the Slovenian region has always been part of the Middle-European cultural context. At the same time, the projects demonstrates that the Slovenian theological institutions which besides theology in its narrow sense fostered a number of different scientific disciplines (history, history of arts, classic and semitic languages, old church slavic and the old slavic literature, etc.) set up a solid basis for the high school education system, that the two Slovenian universities (Ljubljana, Maribor) which in their historic roots refer to the beginnings of the theological studies in two cities have right to do so. Theology as well as the theological eduacational institutions represent an important link of the Slovenian society with the wider European and world space, they were its integral part through the centuries. In a new way organized theological schools and the programmes show new possibilities for a prosperous collaboration in the future.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
2009,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
2009,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
