Recent developments at the Faculty of Theology

Theology in Basel boasts a long and comparatively continuous history among the faculties. After successfully fending off attempts at its closure in the first third of the last century, it has taken consolidation measures in light of the recent, university-wide push for austerity.

The Bologna model and portfolio review
As with other faculties, many of the internal restructuring efforts within the Faculty of Theology have resulted from two university-wide processes: the transition to the Bologna model for degree programs and a review of the university’s service offerings. This review, dubbed “portfolio rationalization,” was announced by the University Council at the end of 2003. In April 2004, a corresponding report for the 2005–2008 performance agreement was sent to the governments of Basel-Countryside and Basel-City. 

Antonio Loprieno, at the time president of the Planning Commission and future rector, clarified the purpose of this rationalization in February 2005, during the conference “University quo vadis? Scrutinizing the Knowledge Society.” The goal, he argued, was “to position our university in the network of Swiss higher education by identifying the qualitative strengths and quantitative weaknesses of disciplinary areas.” The evaluation of disciplines was based on eight criteria, including relevance to the location, internal networking, competitive position, and future potential.

Old equipment ...
Theology could be satisfied with the outcome of the evaluation. The crucial sentence in the report on the performance agreement for the Faculty of Theology read: “The current structures and support will be maintained for the time being.” At the same time, the ongoing loss of significance was not concealed but openly addressed: “Theology has traditionally been considered the premier faculty and was long the core of the university. Today, student numbers indicate it has lost social significance, at least in its current orientation.” Ultimately, the reference to a tradition seen as both long and valuable prevailed in the report – supported by the remark that it remained to be seen “whether the waning interest in Christian theology will prove permanent.”

That the Faculty of Theology, unlike similarly positioned disciplines, was not affected by any financial restrictions was questioned from various sides. In February 2004, for instance, the Union of Public Services Personnel (VPOD Region Basel) expressed criticism in its “Comments on the University Council’s Report regarding the 2005–2008 Performance Agreement” about the decisions to cut budgets and close institutes. In particular, the union questioned the basis used for the report’s evaluations: “The justifications for budget cuts and institute closures follow no binding criteria. They are arbitrary. What the disciplines facing reductions have in common is that they have no lobby. Notably, the University Council did not dare touch theology.”

... and a new direction
The Faculty of Theology retained its overall budget; however, several stipulations were made regarding the use of these funds, which provided a binding direction for the development of research and studies in the discipline. The University Council called for the Faculty of Theology to cooperate with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in orienting itself more toward religious studies. This was to be achieved through a gradual reassignment of vacant professorships and the associated introduction of a dedicated degree program.

The development of a focus on religious studies had been pursued by the Faculty of Theology for some time, based on its own considerations. The university’s annual report for the year 2000 noted that the opening of the Institute for Jewish studies that year represented a step by the Faculty of Theology “toward a stronger focus on religious studies.” The need for such an orientation, going beyond internal theological questions, was justified by pointing to contemporary processes of change: “In light of the increasing cultural and thus religious pluralism in Europe, the faculty has taken on the task of establishing more course offerings that engage with this situation.”

Closer cooperation with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences had always been sought. What was new, however, was the decision to emphasize the focus on religious studies within the framework of an institutionalized degree program across faculties. 

The discipline of religious studies
The establishment of a bachelor’s degree in religious studies was the central task of the Faculty of Theology in 2005. As required by the University Council, the creation of the chair for religious studies was achieved through a reassignment. It replaced the chair for the New Testament and early church history, which became vacant with the retirement of Rudolf Brändle in the fall of 2006. Thus, the Faculty of Theology lost its patristic focus but still maintained a professorship in New Testament studies, with the consequence that no core theological subject was significantly affected by the reassignment. 

As a cultural and social science, religious studies does not take a standpoint internal to any one religious tradition. Looking beyond denominational commitments, it engages with the theme of “religion” in the context of history and the present, employing historical, sociological, and philological methods closely related to corresponding disciplines within its sister faculty.

The faculty’s outreach beyond its own domain has not limited its influence to the level of individual subjects, but has had additional impact on the disciplinary organization of knowledge. 

A cross-faculty departmental structure
While anchored in the Faculty of Theology, the discipline of religious studies is today independent of any one faculty; supported by the Department of Religious Studies, founded in the spring of 2008, it belongs rather both to theology and to humanities and social sciences. This sounds a bit complicated, and it is. After all, the University of Basel is organized into faculties, faculties into departments, and departments into institutes and seminars; when a department is linked to two different faculties, it raises several questions regarding the institutional status of the subjects it covers.

In addition to the subject of the same name, the Department of Religious Studies also encompasses Jewish studies and Islamic studies. While the latter has historically been mainly linked to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, both religious studies and Jewish studies are subjects belonging to the humanities and social sciences, with a full professorship in the Faculty of Theology. They thus face the task of cooperating with the Faculty of Theology in also developing their own profile as disciplines clearly distinct from theological approaches in their methods for studying culture.