THEOLOGY RECEIVES OFFICIAL ACADEMIC STATUS IN RUSSIA

Union of Orthodox Journalists – August 2016

A discussion as to whether theology should be considered a scientific discipline has been underway for many years in Russia. Recently the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation decided to confer an academic degree upon representatives of the given discipline, as reports the site “Market Leader.”

Furthermore, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation has reported on the approval of the structure of the advisory council on theology of the Higher Attestation Commission. Many experts, commenting on this, say that above all the affirmation of theology as a science will promote the development of academic work on the subject.

The final stage in approving theology as a science was the formation of a system for defending dissertations in the theological discipline. Now the Higher Attestation Commission is authorized to confer academic degrees and titles in accordance with the approved order of the Ministry of Education and Science. However, the Ministry has not yet considered the question of controlling plagiarism.

Note that the idea of conferring academic degrees in theology was first put forward in 2007, initiated by the Interreligious Council of Russia. The motive for the given discussion was firstly the necessity of the nation’s spiritual-moral education for a new generation.