University of Oxford Faculty of Theology plans name change

The Faculty of Theology plans to change its name to the Faculty of Theology and Religion from October 2012, subject to approval from the Council of the University.

The change of name continues to reflect the Faculty’s longstanding traditions of Christian Theology, while acknowledging the greater breadth of teaching and research found in the Faculty today….

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, Education, England / UK, Theology

3 comments on “University of Oxford Faculty of Theology plans name change

  1. Terry Tee says:

    Thank goodness that Cambridge, however, will continue to call itself by the even more outmoded title Faculty of Divinity. Ironically the motto of Oxford in Latin is Dominus illuminatio mea: The Lord is my light – the opening words of Psalm 27.

  2. Hoskyns says:

    That was quite explicitly the reason Cambridge decided to stick with “Divinity” during their in-house debates on this in the late 90s: the name was so arcane and meaningless that it could safely be retained because no substantive implications – religious, theological or otherwise – could possibly be entailed. That’s still slightly different with Oxford’s more descriptive new name (despite otherwise comparable measures of fecklessness!), and may potentially continue to be so.

  3. Terry Tee says:

    Hoskyns – no relation to Edwyn, I presume – I doubt that the Cambridge name is as anodyne as you imply. It says, in fact, that the faculty deals with matters pertaining to God. You could hardly get less post-modernist than that.