Богословское образование по-протестантски: между Церковью и университетом Theological Education of Post-Soviet Protestants between the Church and the University

Черенков М.Н.

Национальный педагогический университет имени М.П. Драгоманова, г. Ирпень

E-mail: cherenkoff@gmail.com

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Or the Academy with the Church? Tertullian’s question remains unresolved by post-Soviet Protestants.

How can the positive aspects of education be used for the Church without weakening its identi­ty? That is the way the problem is formulated by today’s pastors and professors.

After many decades of being underground, the Church has set itself the goal of demarginaliza­tion. Education is the main catalyst of change in lifestyle and thinking. But it is not under the con­trol of the Church, and is not contained within its limits, and therefore it is seen as a risk factor.

Protestant-style education is seen as being between the church and the university, in the realm of oncoming traffic, in the amplitude of oscillations, in the nuclear zone between these two spheres of influence.

The Church is interested in one-way traffic, receiving from education an intellectual image and concrete applied knowledge.

The University as a partnership of sciences is seen as a source of useful knowledge and ways of thinking and acting.

It is popular to talk about using education for the Church. The influence of education on the Church, however, is seen as almost exclusively negative.

A long ladder could be extended from the Church to the University, but in reality it usually is cut off after only the first few steps, before reaching higher levels. Nevertheless, tying together these two beginnings, these two main entities of the educational sphere, and building bridges of communication and exchange between them is extremely important.