The Seminary Institutes
The Seminary Institutes
The Theological Seminary was established for general theological studies. Some philosophical, social, and educational sciences were later added to it, as well as some languages. The subjects studied by the student there thus became more than twenty.
Therefore, there was no opportunity for the existence of departments and specialized fields of study such as those found in university faculties, where the teaching staff in a single department consists of dozens of members, and each faculty includes hundreds on its teaching staff, including teaching assistants, lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors, professors, and department heads… a situation that is not available at all in the Theological Seminary.
For this reason, we saw the need to establish specialized institutes that would represent the natural extension of the Seminary’s studies.
The first two institutes established, in the mid-1970s, were the Institute of Biblical Studies and the Institute of Pastoral Care and Christian Education…
The Institute of Biblical Studies still continues to this day, despite the death of many of its original professors, the illness of some, and the preoccupation of others…
The first doctoral dissertation from the Institute of Biblical Studies will, God willing, be presented on November 8 of next month, since a graduate of this institute, after first obtaining a Bachelor’s degree from the Theological Seminary, is considered to hold the equivalent of a Master’s degree and may proceed to doctoral studies.
The Institute of Pastoral Care and Christian Education was suspended for a period because of circumstances beyond our control.
However, the Institute of Pastoral Care will reopen once again at the beginning of November, God willing.
His Holiness the Pope held several meetings of the Supreme Council of the Theological Seminary and all its branches, and it was decided to reopen the Institute of Pastoral Care because of its great importance, and on the occasion of the centennial celebration of the reestablishment of the Theological Seminary.
Its bylaws have been prepared. An announcement concerning it will appear in the next issue of El-Keraza Magazine, so that applications may be opened for those wishing to enroll.
There is a third institute that we found necessary to establish, namely, the Institute for Africans.
This is because of the large number of applications we receive from Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries such as Zaire and Kenya.
This institute will be beneficial in strengthening the ministry of our Church in Africa, on the basis that the Coptic Church is the Mother Church in Africa and the source of African theology for all its countries.
Instruction at this institute will be in English, with one section conducted in French.
His Holiness the Pope held an important meeting to establish this institute on October 16 of last year at the Papal Residence in the Monastery of Saint Anba Bishoy. Members of the Supreme Council of the Theological Seminary attended the meeting.
The fathers who are to be prepared for ministry in the countries of the diaspora may enroll in this institute as well as in the Institute of Pastoral Care. Such ministry requires knowledge of foreign languages, especially English and French.
Practical preparations are now underway for the opening of these two institutes.
His Holiness the Pope has also received requests from senior professors to establish another educational institute, and the matter is still under study.
The current academic year of the Theological Seminary will, by the will of the Lord, be a very active one.
His Holiness the Pope opened it with two meetings: one with the new students and the professors, and the other with the professors.
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