Loyola University Chicago

Department of Theology

ISET - Theology

Theology Focus

In some respects, the ISET program with a focus in Theology is similar to other doctoral programs in Systematic or Historical Theology. Students receive intensive training in the history, foundations, methods, and contexts of Christian theology. Students in the program must complete 30 hours of coursework (10 courses) beyond the Master’s degree. Two of these will be the ISET seminar (see below), five must be in Historical or Systematic Theology, one must be in Christian Ethics, and two are electives. These electives may be taken in a relevant cognate field outside the Theology Department with permission of the Graduate Program Director and the academic advisor.

In addition, students in this program give special attention to the ways in which Christian theology intersects with, affects, and is affected by, Christian ethics. The program reflects the reality that what we believe about God has implications for how we should live in our personal, political, and social lives, and that the exercise of human moral agency shapes our relationship to and ideas about God. The integrative focus of our program also reflects the particular strengths and interests of our faculty, and we believe it prepares our graduates well for the sort of disciplinary flexibility needed in many contemporary teaching contexts.

Faculty

Mara Brecht (Systematic theology, theology of religious pluralism, gender and race, feminist theology, philosophy of religion, epistemology, education and pedagogy)

Emily Cain (Christian Late Antiquity and its intersection with the Greco-Roman World)

Miguel Diaz (Trinitarian Theology, Theological Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Political Theology, Latino/a Theology)

Colby Dickinson (Systematic Theology, Political Theology, Continental Philosophy and Theology, Contextual Theologies (Feminist, Postcolonial))

Hugh Nicholson (Comparative Theology, Interface between Theology and the Comparative Study of Religion, Theology and Postmodern Thought, Classical Indian Philosophy)

Devorah Schoenfeld (Medieval Bible Commentaries, Jewish-Christian Relations, Dream Interpretation in the Talmud, Proofs for the Existence of God in Medieval Jewish Philosophy)